Arc-ventures across the multiverse

by Alvaaron

RWBY and friends gather to watch the adventures of Jaune across the multiverse. A collection of crossovers and one shot ideas for your reading pleasure. Enjoy

38. Chapter 37: More than meets the eye

Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work

Chapter 37: More than meets the eye

Inspiration: Transformers

Cast list:

Jaune Arc as Hot Rod

Ozpin as Optimus Prime

James Ironwood as Ultra Magnus

Peter Port as Kup

Bartholomew Oobleck as Blurr

Yang Xiao Long as Springer

Blake Belladonna as Arcee

Pietro Polendina as Perceptor

Salem as Megatron

Cinder Fall as Starscream

Arthur Watts as Soundwave

Roman Torchwick as Wreck-Gar

God of Darkness as Unicron

Taiyang Xiao Long as Spike Witwicky

Ruby Rose as Daniel Witwicky

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Author's note: I really wanted to cast every transformer in the film, but there's way too many and some I just can't find a fit for. And there's the he-she problem for Salem, Yang and Cinder, as per the vote this format is Megatron (Salem) and then Megatron all the way, so I'll just be using he for all of them.

Yeah, this chapter was a bloody headache to write and I really wanted to scrap this chapter, but well, here it is. I didn't actually have fun writing this one and transcribing some of the lines was an absolute bitch. This is definitely just a one-time thing, I'm not doing this to myself again and I apologise in advance for the jankiness.

And V8's ending huh? Damn. Just Damn. I was not in a good place after that. As of posting this chap, I'm still not actually.

---

"Welcome back. Today's viewing is ah… a little different from normal." Blank greeted.

"Different? Different how?" Ren asked.

"For a start, there aren't a lot of humans in this one, just two in fact." Blank answered.

"So everyone's a faunus? That's…" Blake trailed off trying to picture all her friends as faunus and what kind of traits they'd have.

"Not quite. Think living robots instead. In this universe, sapient cybernetic lifeforms are part of the norm." Blank said.

"Oooh… so it's a universe full of Pennys." Ruby nodded in understanding.

"Again, not quite. I'll just start the viewing now and you'll see what I mean." Blank flickered, causing the lights to dim and the screen came to life.

Deep in the void of space, a lone planet drifted between two binary stars. Untouched by the flares shooting off from the red and blue giants, it sailed right past both, undeterred from its path. Made entirely of metal, multiple spikes jutted out from its side and a large ring framed it. But its most striking features were the two mandible-like protrusions on either side of a massive crater that led into the depths of the planet.

"Bad guy planet." Nora said immediately.

"It's a planet, it can't… okay I see your point." Weiss admitted with a sigh.

Immune to the gravitational pull of either star, the planet continued on with blinding speed, guided by an unseen intelligence towards a collision with another planet. That world, Lithone, a heavily mechanised and industrialised one with cities full of silver skyscrapers reaching towards the heavens visible even from space.

"Oh boy, that's going to suck." Qrow chugged from his flask.

"Qrow, if your bad luck ever causes a planet to come after us, I'll haunt you forever." Taiyang grunted.

"Come on, not even I'm that unlucky." Qrow brushed it off.

Populated by living machines, countless sapient robots went about their daily lives. Children played in the streets, the adults watched on or carried on with their work. All painfully unaware of the imminent threat.

The first sign that things were horribly, horribly wrong was the shaking. A small tremor at first that rapidly grew into world shattering quakes. Only, the threat didn't come from beneath their feet, but above their heads, as one bot realised when he looked up.

"Arblus! Look! It's Unicron!"

"Unicorn? Wow. Real threatening. I'm so impressed." Mercury clapped sarcastically.

"Unicron you idiot. Get your ears checked." Emerald rolled her eyes when Mercury gave her the finger.

"Unicorn, Unicron what's the difference?" Mercury shrugged.

"Unicron is the planet's name. But his titles include the Chaos Bringer among others." Blank said.

"Oh." Mercury fell silent, then frowned.

"Wait, his?"

Unicron (God of Darkness) loomed over the doomed planet. It's mandible-like protrusions opened up and so too did the crater, revealing a giant maw. Slowly, the mandibles came down like pincers, digging into the planet and cracking it open, at the same time, the maw began vacuuming up everything. Rock, metal, buildings… people.

"What the hell is it doing to that world!?" Roman recoiled in disgust.

"Eating it. It's… actually eating it." Goodwitch whispered, scarcely able to believe what she was saying.

"A-and what about the people of that world?" Ruby asked quietly.

"They're on the food chain." Came Qrow's grim reply.

His approach hidden by the solar flares, by the time the people of Lithone noticed his arrival, it was already too late to begin mass evacuations. All most of them could do was watch as their home was devoured by a living nightmare.

"The ships! Get to the ships! It's our only chance!" Still, a few were close enough to the landing pads to try to make a run for it even as the planet was coming apart at the seams.

Two managed to launch.

One was dragged back in, passengers screaming all the way down.

"So close!" Yang punched her palm and cursed.

"At least one of them got away. Maybe a warning to other worlds? Then a rescue mission?" Jaune offered.

"Yeah… maybe." Yang begrudgingly nodded.

"I'm… not sure there's anything left to be rescued in there." Weiss shook her head.

"Well they can't just give up hope." Ruby said. Weiss simply pursed her lips and remained silent.

Devoured along with the rest of the planet, it was tossed about in the rubble, battered into oblivion. Thrown into the grinder like everything else, its fate was nothing less than being broken down into more raw materials and fuel, just like every other 'meal' Unicron had ever devoured over the eons.

Just another statistic.

No one to mourn. Least of all Unicron. Now properly 'fed', the Chaos Bringer continued to drift through the void, destination unknown.

"How many worlds has that thing devoured?" Ozpin asked.

"Too many. Unicron has one goal, the eradication of all life throughout the universe and be the only thing left in the void." Blank answered.

"That's… certainly something." Ozpin muttered.

A robot bird soared through one of the Autobots' secret moon bases. Flying past assembly lines and evading enemy sensors, Laserbeak scanned the area, searching for any useful intel beyond just the fact that the Autobots were gearing up for something big.

Alighting on a windowsill, Laserbeak paused and a camera emerged from a panel on its head. Optimus Prime (Ozpin) and one of his lieutenants, Ironhide, were present and especially chatty today. Jackpot.

"This will not end well." Ironwood grimaced.

"These ones look different from those on… Lithone was it?" Winter spoke up.

"These are Cybertronians. Currently split into two major factions that are at war with one another, the Autobots and the Decepticons." Blank answered.

"Decepticons… why don't they just go ahead and paint 'I'm a bad guy' on their faces while they're at it." Yang said.

"They kind of already do, sort of." Blank said.

"Huh. Well how about that?" Yang chuckled.

"Ironhide, report to me at once." Optimus said.

"Every time I look into a monitor Prime, my circuits says when are we gonna start busting deceptichops?" Ironhide growled and shook his fist. Every feed was the same, Cybertron was currently Decpticon property and those buggers had the audacity to prance about like they owned the damn place.

If he had his way, the only property on Cybertron the Decepticons would have a place in was the scrap heap.

Optimus had other ideas. "I want you to make a special run to Autobot city on Earth."

"But Prime!" Ironhide protested.

"Listen Ironhide, we don't have enough energon cubes to power a full-scale assault. Ready the shuttle for launch."

"Your days are numbered now decepticreeps." Ironhide grinned and stowed any further protest. If all they needed was some energon from Earth before they could take back their home, then the sooner the shuttle launched the better. Handing off the console to another Autobot, Ironhide dashed off for the shuttle bay.

"Energon… is that dust or something?" Jaune asked.

"You could think of it that way. Energon is the lifeblood of most cybernetic lifeforms, it's their food, their fuel and even currency on occasion." Blank answered.

Optimus watched his old friend go before getting back to business. Calling up the current security officer, Jazz's image filled the giant monitor screens. "Jazz, report security status"

"No sign of Decepticons here Prime!" Jazz glanced at the security feeds, nothing noteworthy other than Ironhide driving faster than was probably safe.

"What about moon base two?" Optimus asked.

"Jazz to moon base two, Jazz to moon base two." Bumbleebee (Qrow) and Taiyang were manning moon base two's HQ when the call came in.

"Bumblebee and Tai here."

"Ha. Ha. Laugh it up." Qrow grumbled and folded his arms childishly as Taiyang and Yang snickered at his expense.

"We're about to send up a shuttle, any Decepticon shenanigans in your area?" Jazz asked.

"All clear Jazz." Bumblebee answered.

Taiyang nodded and hit another key to patch himself through to the shuttle. "Hey Ironhide, tell my daughter Ruby I miss her, and tell her not to worry, I'll be coming home as soon as we've kicked Megatron's tail across the galaxy."

"Will do Tai." Ironhide gave a thumbs up.

"Really feeling the love dad." Yang grumbled.

"I um-there must be a reason right?" Taiyang hastily said, sweating nervously under the glares of the rest of his family.

Blank chuckled and let the man sweat for a bit before speaking up. "Ah I should mention, you aren't related in this universe. In fact, for this viewing the only two humans present are Taiyang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose."

"See!" Taiyang gestured at the ball of light hurriedly.

"Now all we need is a little energon, and a lot of luck." Optimus muttered as he watched the shuttle launch.

For Laserbeak, it'd seen and recorded enough. The Autobots were completely unaware of its infiltration… and its successful espionage. All that was left to do was report back and prepare a proper send off for the Autobots.

"Hmmph, they've already run out of luck and don't even realise it." Cinder smirked.

"Laserbeak returns Megatron." Shockwave announced upon spotting the mechanical bird fly in.

"Welcome Laserbeak, unlike some of my other warriors, you never fail me." Megatron (Salem) grinned and allowed Laserbeak to alight on his arm, nonchalantly tossing a barb Starscream's (Cinder) way. The treacherous Decepticon wanted to protest but refrained from saying anything.

"Excuse me!?" Cinder's smirk morphed into a frown.

Oh it stung, another ignominy added onto the steaming pile of slag. One day, one day there'd be a reckoning and then he, the great Starscream, would get what he rightfully deserved. But until then, chaffing away under Megatron's command was the only option.

"Soundwave, play back Laserbeak's findings." Megatron ordered.

Soaring over to its master Soundwave (Watts), Laserbeak transformed into a cassette and slid into Soundwave's chest compartment. The Decepticon spymaster then transformed into a radio and plugged into the control centre's systems, playing the recording on screen.

"I want you to make a special run to Autobot City on Earth… but Prime… listen Ironhide, we don't have enough energon cubes to power a full scale assault, ready the shuttle for launch… now all we need is a little energon, and a lot of luck."

Megatron's sinister smile betrayed the schemes his mind was already putting together. "More than you imagine Optimus Prime."

"So much for stealth." Mercury shrugged.

"Those Autobots are already dead."

The Autobot shuttle was cruising through neutral space when a violent rumble shook the ship. The four-bot crew exchanged confused looks before an explosion in the side of the ship answered their unspoken questions.

Megatron led the charge, tearing through the damaged hull and cables to board the ship. The rest of his elite forces piled in seconds later.

"Megatron? Decepticons!" Brawn yelled a warning before charging forwards in the vain hope of buying his comrades time to mount a defence.

"A winning strategy that is not." Weiss said.

"They're going down fighting at least." Blake murmured.

"Really don't think it's going to help much." Roman sighed.

"Die Autobots!" Megatron roared his challenge before shifting into his alt mode, a high powered blaster. Wasting no time, Starscream grabbed it and fired a blast straight through Brawn's shoulder, felling the Autobot instantly.

The remaining Autobots gave their best shot, but hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned with nowhere to take cover, they fell one by one. Prowl took a shot through the chest, insides melted into slag. Ironhide and Ratchet went down at the same time, brought down by a hail of fire.

With the skeleton crew eliminated, the shuttle was now under new management. Megatron shifted back into robot mode and surveyed the carnage with a grin. "This is almost too easy Starscream."

"Much easieralmightyMegatron, then attacking the real threat." Starscream said as other Decepticons moved to fill the now empty seats.

"The Autobots' moon base."

Ignoring the subtle challenge to his authority, Megatron suppressed a sigh. For a bot constantly aiming for his position, Starscream certainly lacked… ambition at times. "You're an idiot Starscream. When we slip by their early warning systems in their own shuttle and destroy Autobot City, the Autobots will be vanquished forever!"

"I do not lack ambition!" Cinder snapped in fury.

"But you're not denying the idiot part I see." Jaune chuckled, getting several snickers from the rest.

"That's not-I di-ahrgh!" Cinder sputtered incoherently, too annoyed to form a proper sentence.

"Your ambition will be the death of you." Ozpin said and sipped from his mug. No one supplanted Salem, not without it being part of her schemes, and even then her treacherous subordinates would only last as long as they hadn't outlived their usefulness.

"Noooo…"

Megatron felt something grabbed his foot and looked down to see a half-dead Ironhide offering one last bit of pathetic resistance.

"Such heroic nonsense."

One blast from his fusion canon took care of the annoyance permanently.

"That wasn't very wise." Roman rolled his eyes.

"And what did you expect him to do?" Goodwitch said.

Neo answered for Roman, holding up a sign that had only one word. Survive.

"Mmhmm, get a warning out, sabotage the ship or just live to run another day. Anything's better than reminding your enemy to finish you off like that." Roman nodded.

"Fish are jumping today, huh Ruby?" Hot Rod (Jaune) asked. The sun was shining, clear blue skies overhead filled with puffy white clouds. The perfect day to get away from the hustle and bustle of Autobot City and go fishing.

"I guess so…" Ruby sighed unenthusiastically.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"Haah… I don't know Hot Rod…"

"Come on, you can tell me."

"guess I just miss my dad." Ruby admitted.

"Don't worry, Tai will be back soon-oh! Hey! I got something!" Hot Rod felt something tug on his line and immediately started reeling it in.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that thing!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yep, it's a whopper alright." Hot Rod agreed, inspecting the fish that was still comically small compared to the Cybertronian.

"Pfft!" Ruby snickered.

"Aww, trying so hard to cheer up Ruby, come here you." Yang pulled Jaune into her embrace and squeezed him tight.

A sudden beeping noise from Ruby's communicator made her pause and whip it out. Her eyes widened upon seeing the notification on it. "Hot Rod… the shuttle's coming! Let's watch it land!"

"Uh oh." Nora said.

Without waiting for a reply, she dashed off, eager to get back to the city. Hot Rod sighed and released his catch back into the waters. "Talk about dull Ruby."

"Hurry! Or we'll miss it!" Ruby shouted and hopped onto her hoverboard. The board roared to life and then she was zooming down the path back to the city… until she failed to avoid a bush and wound up crashing her board into boulder behind it.

Hot Rod caught her before she could fall. "If you're gonna ride Ruby, ride in style!"

Shifting into a sports car with Ruby in the driver's seat, Hot Rod sped down the road, giving Ruby a nice view of Autobot City in the distance.

Yang whistled appreciatively. "I love my bumblebee of course, but damn, that's a sweet ride."

"It's death on wheels." Taiyang grumbled.

"Hey, we could upgrade Zippy to that." Ruby suggested.

"Then I could… drive it?" She added hopefully, only to wilt under Taiyang's glare.

"No."

"Hey! Let's stop here!" Ruby said.

"Why settle for a peek Ruby, when you can see everything from Lookout Mountain." Hot Rod

"A little to the left, a little bit more…" Kup (Port) instructed his subordinates to shift the sign until it was just perfect. With this, Lookout Mountain was closed until maintenance works could be finished and… what was that noise?

It sounded like… Kup's eyes widened and he swivelled around to see Hot Rod bearing down upon them without any intention of stopping. His crew scrambled to get out of the way as Hot Rod barrelled right through the sign, smashing it to splinters without slowing.

"Turbo-revving young punk, I'll straighten you out yet!" Kup growled. He'd deal with Hot Rod later, for now… now they needed a new sign.

"Damnnn…" Nora gave the slow clap.

"The disrespect!"

"It's gonna cost me, isn't it?" Jaune winced.

"I think the Decepticon threat takes precedence." Ren said.

"Hmm… if they're going to watch the shuttle land, maybe they'll spot the attack first, then get the warning to the city." Pyrrha said.

Hot Rod drifted to a stop on the viewing platform just in time for the shuttle to dip through the clouds. Letting Ruby off, he transformed back into robot mode and watched as Ruby made a dash for the viewing scope.

"Hot Rod look! There's a hole in the shuttle!" Ruby yelled upon spotting the Decepticon's point of entry.

"What!?" Hot Rod activated his telescopic visor, zooming in on the shuttle. Sure enough, there was the hole Ruby was talking about and upon zooming in further, spotted Starscream within.

"Decepticons!" Hot Rod snarled and started shooting immediately. Orange beams shot into the sky, and soon it began raining purple when the Decepticons returned fire. When one of Hot Rod's blast struck something critical, a massive explosion rocked the shuttle.

"Bye bye surprise attack." Yang said.

"Yeah, but they're already so close to the city…" Jaune muttered.

"Attack!" Megatron roared as his troops poured out of the stricken ship. The element of surprise was lost but they were already well behind Autobot defence lines and the city was right in front of them.

But before he started the siege, there was the matter of the annoying gnat that ruined his masterstroke. Raising his fusion cannon, he fired on Lookout Mountain, destabilising the entire mountainside and demolishing the viewing platform.

"Ruby!" Hot Rod grabbed the young girl just as the ground gave way under them. Leaping off the rubble at the last moment, he managed to angle himself just right to land on his feet. Hitting the ground with a solid thud, he was immediately met by Blitzwing and Shrapnel.

"Oh boy." Ruby shovelled a handful of popcorn into her mouth, eager to see how they'd escape this.

"Come on down autobrat!" Blitzwing roared and shifted into tank mode, main gun shifting to aim at Hot Rod and Ruby. Before he could fire, he was blindsided by Kup leaping onto him from the side and wrenching the barrel away from his target.

That few degrees off meant the blast went wide and accidentally shot Shrapnel out of the sky, sending the Insecticon crashing down the rocky hillside. Kup noted the downed bot tumbling right for them and leapt off Blitwing, allowing Shrapnel to crash into his fellow Decepticon and taking them both out of the picture.

"Heh, not bad for an old timer." Hot Rod complimented, only to be met with a scowl.

"Old timer? That's something you'll never be if you don't get back to the city."

"Save it Kup! Let's burn rubber!" Hot Rod replied when a strafing run from Starscream just barely missed scraping both of them. Both Autobots transformed into their alt modes and hightailed it towards Autobot City. Even from where they were, they could see the explosions and smoke rising lazily into the sky.

"Port's got some moves." Qrow said.

"Is it going to be enough though?" Taiyang asked.

"So far it is." Summer shrugged.

Perceptor (Dr Polendina) scanned the skies, marking every incoming Decepticon and fought down the worry building inside. Transforming back into robot mode, he rushed to intercept Ultra Magnus (Ironwood) with the news.

"Ultra Magnus! A cursory evaluation of Decepticon capability indicates a distinct tactical deficiency!" He reported.

"In other words Perceptor?" Ironhide asked.

"We're outnumbered!" Springer (Yang) answered. Raising his arm, he started blasting at the incoming Decepticons with a built in machinegun. Too many Autobots were on away missions or worse, off planet entirely, and with Megatron having brought what seemed like his entire elite guard, they were at a severe disadvantage even on their home turf.

"Hey Yang?" Ruby began.

"No." Yang shut her down.

"I haven't even said-"

"No."

"But-"

"No putting machine guns in Ember Celica."

"Awww…"

"Springer, you and Arcee transform Autobot City. Perceptor, tell Blaster to radio Prime for reinforcements!" Ultra Magnus commanded.

"WhataboutmeMagnus? Whataboutmehuhhuhhuh? IcanhelpIwannahelp! Whataboutme?" Blurr (Oobleck) fired off rapidly.

"Eh… what?" Emerald blinked in confusion.

"He's a robot. He can't possibly have a coffee addiction here too, can he!?" Goodwitch asked.

"He's Oobleck no matter what world it is." Ozpin said.

"Blurr, you can help me alert the others!" Ultra Magnus decided.

"Absolutelypositivelydefinitelynobodygetsajobdonefasterthanicannobodynobodynobody!" Blurr assured before transforming and dashing off to alert any bot that hadn't realised they were under an actual attack and this wasn't some drill.

"My ears hurt." Mercury groaned exaggeratedly.

"Suck it up." Emerald slapped the back of his head.

"Come on Arcee let's go!" Springer shouted.

"But Hot Rod and Kup are still outside the city!" Arcee (Blake) protested, scanning the outskirts with her telescopic visor, she spotted the two of them just barely keeping ahead of the Decepticon advance.

"We can't wait, they'll have to take care of themselves." Springer said bitterly. Transforming Autobot City with them outside would effectively lock them out, but there was just no time. Activating the city's defences was the only way they'd even have a fighting chance to hold out until reinforcements arrived to relieve them.

"Just a question but uh… what happens if they do end up locked out?" Jaune asked.

"They continue fighting outside?" Yang suggested.

"That… sounds like a death sentence though." She followed up.

"They could retreat into the countryside, try to regroup with reinforcements." Taiyang said.

"Pathethic fools! There's no escape!" Starscream crowed triumphantly upon spotting Arcee and Springer dashing for cover. Flying low, he tried blasting them before they could make it behind the blast doors only to just barely miss them.

Noticing the 'roof' closing over him as Autobot City transformed, Starscream transformed back into robot mode and flew straight up before he could be trapped. Unable to clear the gap in time, his foot was snagged by the closing machinery, jamming him in place as the next set of doors closed in, threatening to crush him to a pulp.

"Agh! Uagh!" Pulling on his stuck limb yielded no results. It was wedged in tight and going nowhere. Desperate to escape ignominious death by crushing, he blasted his own foot, freeing it but heavily damaging himself in the process. "OW! MY FOOT!"

Cinder growled angrily as the audience burst out laughing at her expense.

'You'll all pay for this…' She thought.

Autobot City's transformation was a sight to behold. Buildings had entire sections open up, revealing cannons and missile launchers stowed inside. Heavily armoured blast doors sealed up, granting non-combatant Autobots some reprieve from the firepower raining down on them.

Megatron blasted the sealed doors with his fusion cannon, growling when the full power blast only dented the metal. He was so close, so close to total victory he could taste it, he would not be denied here. "Breach their defences!"

He'd leave the doors to the Insecticons, if he couldn't blast through them, then those bugs could just eat their way in.

"…Eat?" Ren raised an eyebrow.

Kickback and Bombshell swept in and got to work immediately. Chewing down on the heavy doors and slowly but surely devouring the barrier.

"Mm… delicious, eh scrapmate?"

"Eh, a little heavy on the electrons, electrons."

Before long, there was a sizeable hole in the door, a bit more and the full might of the Decepticon army could pour through and sweep away the Autobot defenders hiding within. In response to the damage sustained, the bridge started retracting, dragging Kickback away from his meal and the Insecticon wound up hanging off of it.

"Ugh, oversized insects. Disgusting." Emerald's face scrunched up in disgust.

It was at this moment Hot Rod and Kup rounded the corner, speeding towards them.

"The Insecticons are in our way!" Kup said, starting to slow down, only for Hot Rod to accelerate further.

"Wrong! The Insecticons are our way in! YEAH!" Hot Rod cheered and floored it, jumping the makeshift ramp and running over Kickback in the process. The hole they ate through the doors provided the perfect entry for the two Autobots.

"Alright, that was pretty good." Mercury grudgingly admitted.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Kup followed Hot Rod's lead, accelerating as well to make the jump. When he spotted Kickback climbing back up onto the bridge, he steered right towards him, making sure to crush the Decepticon's skull under his wheels and put the mother of all dents into it.

Once both bots were through, a secondary set of blast doors sealed behind them, keeping any opportunistic Decepticon from following them in.

"Bug squashed." Emerald grinned.

Blaster grinned and squeezed the trigger sending another burst towards the Decepticons, the rumbling of his watchtower from enemy fire didn't bother him in the least. It only added to the challenge and his circuits thrummed with excitement.

"Hey Perceptor! What's shaking? Other than this fortress." He called out once Perceptor poked his head through the hatch.

"Blaster! Ultra Magnus sends orders to contact Optimus Prime on moon base one!" Perceptor shouted.

"Alright, cover your receptors Perceptor." Blaster input several commands before transforming into a radio and plugging in to set up the transmission.

"Optimus Prime, do you read me!? The Decepticons are blitzing Autobot City, we're really taking a pounding! Don't know how much longer we can hold out!"

"Shouldn't they have radioed for help the moment they noticed the attack?" Weiss couldn't believe they had to wait for a direct order before calling for reinforcements.

"It's not that simple Weiss." Winter answered.

"I don't understand." Weiss admitted.

"It's quite simple really. The Autobots don't know their moon bases' security have been breached yet. As far as they're concerned, they're still secret. Reinforcements from the moons will give away their positions and open them up to attack." Winter explained.

"I… I see. Thank you, sister." Weiss said and fell silent.

Outside the walls, Megatron and several other Decepticons had formed a firing line and were dumping volley after volley into the walls, slowly wearing away even the toughest armour.

When Blaster's transmission reached Megatron's receptors, he growled in frustration. Their advance had almost ground to a complete halt thanks to the city's transformation, if that transmission got through and the Autobots managed to send reinforcements in time, there was a good chance they'd start running low on Energon. A protracted siege was not in their favour.

"Soundwave! Jam that transmission!"

"Rumble, Fenzy, Ravage, Ratbat, eject. Operation, interference." Soundwave immediately deployed his minicons. The four cassettes transformed and promptly tore the transmitting array to pieces, cutting the transmission short.

"First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside!" Rumble cackled with glee, transforming his arms into piledrivers and started smashing on the reinforced glass until the window shattered. With their way open, the four minicons went on the offensive in unison.

"They're tiny!" Nora exclaimed.

"Still big enough to cause problems though." Blake replied.

"You know, there's something I can't quite put my finger on. Is their… is their size weird to anyone else?" Yang asked.

"Weird how?" Jaune spoke up.

"I… I don't know, there's just something off about things." Yang grumbled, unable to articulate what was bothering her.

"Due to the transformation systems, sizes and scales may differ. It is a quirk of this universe and several others like it. My suggestion is don't think too hard about it." Blank said.

"Run Blaster! Save yourself!" Perceptor yelled as he struggle to take down the much smaller bots, their tiny size making it difficult for him to hit or grab them.

"No way, two can play!" Blaster roundhouse kicked Ravage away from him before unleashing his own minicons to even the odds.

"Sic em!"

"Do you think you got through to Prime?" Perceptor asked, breathing easier when the Decepticons were ripped off him by Blaster's minicons.

"Let's hope so, cause if I didn't, we're all going to look like burnt out toaster ovens." Blaster said grimly, watching his minions engage Soundwave's in a melee.

"You'd think a city fortress would have more fighters than however many they managed to cram into one ship." Roman said.

"It's not just a numbers issue." Blank answered.

"Eh?"

"It comes down to their origin. It's not wrong to say Decepticons were engineered for war, the Autobots simply weren't. The average Autobot can't stand against the average Decepticon, and these are the elites in play."

As the siege continued into the night, more and more of Autobot City's defences went down and the Decepticons began making inroads into the city proper.

"WegotDecepticonsatthegates! Decepticonsintheair! Decepticonsinsidethewalls! Decepticons, Decepticons, Decepticons! Ifwebeatthemoffthewallsthey'restillintheair, ifweshootthemoutoftheairthey'restillatthegates! Sowheredoesthatleaveus? Nowherethat'swhere!" Blurr complained and continued firing in all directions. Decepticons swarming him and he was the only bot in this section holding them all off.

"Ugh, my ears…" Emerald winced, the rapid speech giving her a headache trying to understand it.

"Just suck it up Em." Mercury grinned and dodged the retaliatory swipe.

"Both of you quiet down. Now." Cinder ordered and her two underlings clammed up instantly, not wanting to get on her bad side.

Yang immediately mimed a whip crack, getting all three of them to glare at her.

Springer grunted and shoved against a heavy launcher, trying to push it into place and field it against the enemy. "Come on Arcee! We got to get this launcher into place, Megatron's making his big push and we've got to push back!"

Arcee grimaced and let the corpse of a fallen Autobot she was dragging fall. Too many of their own had already perished and the Decepticon assault showed no sign of petering out. Offering a silent apology to the fallen, she joined Springer in pushing the giant weapon into place.

Fortunately for the two, Kup and Hot Rod arrived shortly after to speed up the process with Ruby adding what strength she could.

"I don't think that's going to help much Rubes." Yang snickered.

"But I'm helping! So there!" Ruby pouted.

"I'm sure you're doing your best." Summer ruffled Ruby's head lovingly.

"I was afraid you'd be trapped outside the city." Arcee said, relieved to see both of them managed to find their way in despite the lockdown.

"Hey, I wasn't worried for a microsecond." Hot Rod said.

"Then you probably didn't understand the situation." Arcee snapped.

"That did it." Kup grunted once the launcher was finally in place, all they needed now was to load it up with high explosives.

Ruby dashed off ahead to take a peek at the Decepticons massing outside. "Kup! Hot Rod! Look!"

In the distance the Decepticons had stopped firing for some reason, all of them just massing outside, waiting. And then Megatron roared. "Constructicons, merge for the kill!"

Kup peeked over as well and his face fell instantly. "Devastator."

"Cheery name." Jaune muttered.

"Why can't these things have a nicer name, like Mr Fluffy or something?"

"Yeah, then they'd have The Terrible or The Painbringer or The Executioner attached to the name at the end." Yang said.

Six Decepticons gathered and transformed, merging into a single giant humanoid that towered over everything else. Everything about it screamed imminent destruction. "Prepare for extermination."

Raising a single fist, Devastator brought it down on one of the Autobots few remaining heavy turrets and crushed it effortlessly. Then he started pounding on the wall of the fortress itself, every heavy blow seriously denting the reinforced metal.

"You know, they probably should have led with that. Why didn't they?" Emerald asked.

"Devastator is the combination of six bots and despite his overwhelming power, isn't exceptionally bright due to the combination process. Furthermore, he isn't indestructible, forming him when most of the city's defences are still up means he's the biggest and most valuable target around." Blank answered.

"I got better things to do tonight than die." Springer grunted and shoved the explosive shell into place. Pressing the trigger, the launcher fired, sending the missile downrange and scoring a direct hit on Devastator.

The Decepticons scrambled for cover as the barrage started raining down on them. But not Devastator, the combiner resisted the explosions rocking his frame to dig his fingers deep into the battered wall.

With a mighty heave, he tore the entire section free. Spinning around and hefting it overhead, Devastator chucked it right towards where the rockets were coming from.

The Autobots barely had time to run before the giant sheet of metal came crashing through the walls, destroying the launcher in the process.

"Haaah… so much for that launcher." Nora sighed.

"Barely even slowed that thing down." Pyrrha muttered.

With the last of their heavy weapons destroyed, the Autobots had no choice but to continue fighting on foot with whatever they had left, slowly losing ground with every passing hour. By the time dawn was breaking on a new day, the once pristine Autobot City resembled a burnt-out ruin more than anything else.

"Their defences are broken! Let the slaughter begin!" Megatron cheered as Devastator tore his way through another section of the fortress, sending the surviving Autobot defenders running. His smile faded when he caught sight of something in the sky, an Autobot shuttle coming in for landing.

"So the message got through." Winter said.

"Now the question is if it'll be enough." Ironwood replied.

"Dinobots, destroy Devastator!" Optimus ordered from the shuttle's bridge.

"Me Grimlock love challenge!" The leader of the Dinobots thumped his chest before leaping out of the shuttle, leading the charge. The four Autobots glided down towards the ruined city, fuming with righteous anger.

"Dinobots, transform!" Grimlock roared. Shifting into their alt modes, they rushed the combiner head on, forcing Devastator to cease his destruction of the fortress city.

But for all their strength, Devastator was simply too powerful for any one bot to take down. The combiner easily made short work of individual Dinobots. It took a combined team effort to knock him down in the end.

"Well, they stopped him." Taiyang said, looking on the bright side.

"Yeah, but they're all out of commission too. Four for one uh… six? I'm not sure if that's a good trade or not actually." Qrow frowned.

"Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost." Optimus stared at the wreckage around him, spying Megatron's retinue in the distance. Too many had fallen already, victims to Megatron's insatiable lust for power.

No more.

Today, things ended once and for all.

Transforming into a truck, Optimus made a beeline for the Decepticon ranks. The stragglers at the back that failed to notice him early wound up roadkill as the Autobot leader ran them down.

Once the other Decepticons finally took notice, they formed a firing line and opened up, blasting Optimus with everything they had, barely slowing him down.

"Is that a truck or a tank?" Yang blinked.

"That's some armour he's got." Jaune said.

"It can't last forever though. Right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Indeed." Blank confirmed.

Boosting into the air and transforming back into robot mode, Optimus drew his own ion blaster and returned fire with unerring precision while still in the air. Ramjet was the first to fall, taking a shot to the chest, then Thundercracker, followed by Soundwave.

Landing with a thud, he continued shooting, gunning down the rest of the Decepticons and halting their advance. The cockroaches that they were, they weren't dead yet, just momentarily incapacitated. For now it would have to do, Megatron was the only priority, time to cut off the head of the snake.

"Oooh… the final showdown." Nora leaned in closer, jostling her bucket of popcorn and causing some to spill.

"Nora, you're dropping popcorn everywhere again." Ren chided.

"Prime." Megatron glared at his most hated foe.

"One shall stand, one shall fall!" Optimus declared resolutely.

"Why throw away your life so recklessly?" Megatron mocked.

"That's a question you should ask yourself Megatron." Optimus fired back.

"NO! I'll crush you with my bare hands!" Megatron roared and launched himself forwards, tacking Optimus and sending both of them crashing to the ground. The faction leaders traded heavy blows, each putting eons of rage and aggression into their strikes, pummelling one another in an all out brawl.

"One shall stand, one shall fall… alright got it." Yang jotted it down in her notebook.

"Now when should I use it?"

Hot Rod caught sight of the two of them fighting and immediately ran towards the melee. "I've got to help Prime!"

"Stay away lad! That's Prime's fight!" Kup yelled but his words fell on deaf ears.

Megatron crashed into a wall hard enough to put a hole through it. Armour cracked in places and running low on energon, he was running on fumes now loathe as he was to admit it. The only upside being Optimus was likewise winded.

Scrambling back up and forcing himself to stand again, he grabbed a fallen piece of debris and hurled the spike like a javelin. The makeshift weapon struck Prime in the side and punched through his armour, wounding him.

"Uh oh, super armour's run out." Ruby pointed out.

"So far they're even." Weiss said.

"But how long is that going to last?" Blake asked.

"Double KO?" Yang hedged.

A follow up blast from the fusion cannon failed to find its mark, Optimus powering through the damage through sheer force of will. Dodging the shot by twisting out of the way, he charged forwards and shoulder tackled Megatron, sending the Decepticon flying back and crashing into the wall again. And with the small reprieve, he reached down to rip out the debris shard still stuck in his side.

Megatron rose again, powering through with nothing but will and the desire to see Optimus's head on a spike. Drawing a beam saber, he lunged forwards and slashed before the Autobot could evade, slicing at the same spot his earlier javelin toss had damaged and aggravating the wound.

Leaping into the air and slashing downwards, his strike was interrupted by an uppercut to the jaw, sending him flying back. Still refusing to go down, he swiped his leg out at Optimus and transitioned into a kick that connected.

Their brawl had no finesse, no elegance. Just a long overdue grudge match with two bots driven to destroy one another.

"There's personal and then there's this." Roman said.

"They've been fighting one another for a very long time now. Neither able to finish the other off in the past and this time, they want to end things for good." Blank answered.

"They must have been fighting for decades at least. This isn't a grudge born from just a few years of conflict." Winter opined.

"Your estimate is off by a few zeros." Blank said.

"Pardon?"

"They've been at war for millions of years by this point."

"What!?" Came the outcry from the entire audience.

"I'll rip out your optics!" Megatron tried reaching for Prime's face, only for the Autobot to slip around his grasp, grab him and throw him across the field, leaving him to crash painfully.

"Finish him off Prime! Do it now!" Kup cheered upon spotting the Decepticon leader go flying.

Optimus strode over to his abandoned ion blaster and retrieved it. Taking aim at the fallen Megatron, he prepared to execute his foe.

"No more Optimus Prime! Grant me mercy, I beg of you!" Megatron pleaded instantly. Slowly crawling forwards, towards a fallen blaster hidden under some debris.

"You, who are without mercy, now plead for it? I thought you were made of sterner stuff." Optimus said, keeping his blaster trained on Megatron, ready for any trick the Decepticon might pull.

What he wasn't prepared for was someone else to intervene.

"No you don't Megatron!" Hot Rod shouted and lunged at Megatron just as the Decepticon grabbed the blaster. Unfortunately for him, even in his weakened state, Megatron was still more than capable of handling him.

"Oh no." Jaune whispered in horror.

"Out of the way Hot Rod!" Optimus shouted, unable to get a clear shot with Hot Rod tussling with Megatron.

Megatron on the other hand had no such problems. Easily overpowering Hot Rod and using him as a shield, he raised his captured blaster and opened fire, aiming for Optimus's injury. "Fall. Fall!"

All shots landed on target and Optimus collapsed. Seeing his opponent go down, Megatron smirked and tossed Hot Rod aside, uninterested in the small fry. Savouring his triumph took precedence, even over terminating the insect that brought him victory.

"I would have waited an eternity for this." Megatron strode over to Optimus, watching the fallen bot's painful struggle to rise with glee.

"It's over Prime."

Optimus glared at Megatron, despising the cruel smirk more than ever before. Drawing strength from reserves he didn't even know he had for one last strike, Optimus clasped both hands together and swung. "NEVER!"

Unable to dodge in time, Megatron was struck in the chest, his Decepticon emblem completely destroyed and his chest caved in. Tossed back by the force in the blow, Megatron went tumbling down several levels, crashing into each floor below him and by the time he reached ground level, he was a battered broken mess.

"Oooh… that's gotta hurt!" Roman winced exaggeratedly.

Neo rolled her eyes and held up a sign saying both of them should have simply gone for the kill right away.

Cinder didn't say anything, but privately she agreed with their assessment. If Optimus Prime had opened fire as soon as he picked up his weapon, it would have been his complete victory. Instead he allowed an unforeseen variable to bring him down.

Of course, Megatron did much the same immediately after and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Optimus tried standing again before his legs gave out and he collapsed in a heap. Hot Rod ran over and tried helping his leader up. "Optimus, forgive me."

Down below, the situation was quite different. The Decepticons had taken note of their fallen leader as well and Starscream took the opportunity to make known just what he thought of it.

"How do you feel mighty Megatron? Hyah!" Kicking the fallen Decepticon in the side for maximum disrespect, Starscream turned his back on his former leader. Megatron had fallen, they were running low on reserves and the entire invasion was a catastrophic failure in his opinion.

"That was a mistake." Ozpin said and shook his head.

"A grave one."

Cinder on the other hand stewed in her thoughts. If Salem could just make the right blunders… no, that way of thinking lay oblivion.

But…

Well, Megatron was down and with a few more nudges or kicks as the case may be, the Decepticons might be in need of a new, more capable leader. So maybe not a complete bust.

"Astrotrain! Transform and get us out of here!" Starscream shouted.

"… Don't… leave… me… Soundwave…" Megatron said in a weak tone.

"As you command Megatron." Soundwave nodded and hefted Megatron up, deploying Frenzy as well to help carry Megatron's fusion cannon. Ignoring Autobot fire, they joined the other retreating Decepticons making a run for their ticket home.

"The Decepticons are retreating!" Arcee exclaimed.

"Prime did it, he turned the tide!" Kup shared in her joy, neither of them realising just what their 'victory' had cost.

"Not that I'm supporting the Decepticons, but wouldn't it be better to press on? They're this close to victory and the Autobot reinforcements are basically wiped out at this point." Weiss asked.

"They still have the advantage, don't they?"

"Not quite Ms Schnee. They've seen their leader fall and they've been fighting for quite some time now. They're running low on supplies and their morale has taken a major hit. Even if the Autobots are in equally bad shape, continuing to fight has a good chance of wiping them all out." Ozpin explained.

"And something tells me they aren't so loyal as to throw their lives away avenging their fallen leader."

"Some Decepticons are fanatically loyal to Megatron, but as you've seen, it's not all of them." Blank confirmed.

Post victory elation had given way to a more sombre mood as the Autobots gathered around their fallen leader. All were waiting for Perceptor to finish his diagnostics and hoping the damage looked worse than it actually was.

Once he transformed back into robot form, their hopes were dashed when he bowed his head. "I fear… the wounds are… fatal."

"Prime… you can't die…" Ruby pleaded.

"Do not grieve." Optimus said weakly.

"Soon, I shall be one with the Matrix. Ah… Ultra Magnus, it is to you old friend, I shall pass the Matrix of Leadership as it was passed to me."

"But Prime, I am… just a soldier. I am not worthy." Ultra Magnus shook his head.

"Nor was I." Optimus raised his hand and Ultra Magnus clasped it in his.

"But one day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks and use the power of the matrix to light our darkest hour." Optimus could feel himself start to slip away, raising his hands, he opened up his chest armour, revealing his damaged internals and the brightly glowing Matrix.

"Until that day, till all… are… one…" Optimus extracted the Matrix and held it up for Ultra Magnus to take.

His strength failed him at the last moment and his arm fell, dropping the Matrix. The other Autobots scrambled forwards to catch it and Hot Rod just managed to grab it before it could hit the ground.

Hot Rod was rendered speechless as he held the Matrix of Leadership, he could feel the power within, thrumming inside the metal. Rising back up, he offered the Matrix to Ultra Magnus. Accepting the Matrix wordlessly, it was with a heavy heart that Ultra Magnus placed it within his own chest.

With the transfer complete, Optimus had faith the Autobots were in good hands going forth. His vitals weakened further and finally flatlined, the lights in his eyes dimmed and winked out. Slowly, his body began to desaturate, until only a black and grey husk remained, surrounding by his mourning comrades.

"Doesn't look like much." Emerald muttered, it was a shiny bauble but she'd stolen jewellery far prettier than that before.

"Darkest hour… how much darker does it have to get? Their city is practically destroyed and Optimus died!" Yang protested.

"Things can always get worse." Qrow nodded sagely.

In deep space, Unicron continued his observation, catching the death of Optimus Prime and more importantly the passing of the Matrix. Once again, that infernal contraption had evaded destruction.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"It speaks!?" Weiss recoiled.

"Someone's in a grumpy mood." Nora said.

"And there's your darkest hour, I guess. A monster planet ready to eat your world." Qrow pointed out, causing Yang to sigh heavily.

"Me and my big mouth."

"Jettison some weight, or I'll never make it to Cybertron!" Astrotrain informed his passengers. Fighting at Autobot City had drained him too much to ferry everyone back, so some bots would need to walk home.

"Fellow Decepticons! Astrotrain has requested that we lighten our burden." Starscream's smarmy voice made the other's look up, wondering what scheme he was cooking up at this time.

"…They're not seriously suggesting…" Winter trailed off.

"In that case, I say it is survival of the fittest!" One of the Constructicons shouted. If Starscream thought they should get rid of some dead weight, so be it. The Constructicons were far less battered than some of the others, if it came to it, it wasn't going to be them being thrown out to die.

"Do I hear a second on that?" Starscream grinned, things were coming along oh so smoothly.

"AYE!" Came a chorus of agreements.

"And against?" Starscream asked.

"NAY!" A smaller portion of the Decepticons protested. Naturally, these were the ones who'd suffered the most damage during the siege, Thundercracker, Skywarp and the Insecticons.

"The ayes have it!" Starscream announced. Such a shame he'd lose his fellow seekers, but for his ambitions, they were a necessary sacrifice. Hitting the hatch release, he opened the door behind the soon to be dearly departed Decepticons.

"Get!"

"Make room!"

Starscream watched on in glee as the other Decepticons rose up and forced the deadweight out into space, their cries for mercy going unheard.

"They did…" Winter exhaled.

"So much for being comrades. Damn, with friends like these." Qrow shook his head.

"Bastards, all of them." Yang snarled.

"Well, if they want to make the Autobot's lives easier by taking out their own in their spare time, I don't think we should be complaining really." Roman piped up.

But now that the unimportant riffraff was gone, it was time for the pièce de resistance.

Picking up Megatron's broken body from where Soundwave had laid him, Starscream carried him over to the open door with a cruel smirk. "Oh, how it pains me to do this."

"Wait! I still function!" Megatron protested.

"Wanna bet?" Starscream's smirk grew wider, then he let go, sending Megatron off into the void.

"STARSCREAAAMMMMM!"

"Hundred lien says dear old Meggy comes back to pay our aspiring great leader a visit." Roman said, Neo nodding vigorously besides him.

"I highly doubt that. Those wounds are too severe and there's nothing to repair themselves with." Cinder snapped, not wanting to entertain the idea of a possibly fatal reunion.

"Oh we'll see about that missy. We'll just see about that." Roman rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Well, as Megatron has… how shall we say… departed." Starscream dusted himself off and addressed the remaining Decepticons.

"I nominate myself as the new leader!"

As expected, opposition sounded immediately. "Wait! The Constructicons form Devastator, the most powerful robot! We should rule!"

"Soundwave superior. Constructicons, inferior."

"Who are you calling inferior!"

"Nobody would follow an uncharismatic fool like you!"

Soundwave ejected his minicons immediately, sensing a fight about to break out.

"Constructicons, unite!" The six bots started to merge into their combiner form only for Frenzy and Rumble to interrupt them by using their piledriver arms to pound the ground until the vibrations shook the disrupted the combination process.

"Okay, that's just absurd now." Weiss facepalmed.

"So that's what was messing with me earlier." Yang clapped her hands together in realisation.

"Their sizes are all whack!"

"Yeah, I get what you mean. One Decepticon became their ship, fit all of them inside and somehow, there's still room for Devastator." Jaune nodded.

"And those… minicons, are the same size as everyone else, they were tiny earlier." Pyrrha added.

Then it was on, with Decepticon leadership up for grabs, every bot worth their scrap wanted in. An all-out brawl began within the confines of Astrotrain, the Decepticons turning on one another, all striving to be the last bot standing… all save Starscream.

The treacherous seeker slunk away into a corner, content to let the others exhaust themselves further. All he needed to do was wait until only one remained standing, then blast them in the back to claim victory.

Perfect.

"There's no way they'd follow someone who claims the spot like that." Qrow said.

"Well… Decepticons Qrow. Underhandedness must be a key criterion for leadership." Taiyang shrugged.

"Starting a fight and then beating the tired winner has to count for something."

With their energon reserves depleted, the abandoned Decepticons were left to drift until they shut down one by one. But, fortunately or unfortunately, death would not claim them so soon.

"Awaken Megatron." Unicron intoned, sending out a burst of energy to reactivate the Decepticon leader. After eons of waiting, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership had come close to destruction, only to once again evade destruction.

His patience had ended. Time for a different approach, a more… personal touch.

"It's just a planet, what can it do?" Ren asked.

"The Chaos Bringer is more than just a planet. He's for all intents and purposes, a god." Blank answered.

"Oh."

"Guess it's full repair time." Roman chuckled as Cinder's face fell.

Megatron's eyes snapped open and he found himself tumbling away from a giant planet. Digging his fingers into one of Unicron's mandibles, he dug furrows into the metal before he was able to halt his out-of-control tumble.

"Who… who said that?" Megatron cast his eyes about, searching for the source of the voice and finding no one.

"I… am Unicron." A second burst of energy sent Megatron flying back once more as Unicron spoke.

"Show yourself!" Megatron demanded, still not realising the planet itself was speaking to him.

"I have summoned you here for a purpose." Unicron continued, not bothering to address Megatron's demand.

"Nobody summons Megatron!"

"Then, it pleases me to be the first."

"State your business." Megatron hissed.

"This is my command. You are to destroy the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. It is the one thing, the only thing that can stand in my way." Unicron said.

"You have nothing to fear. I have already crushed Optimus Prime with my bare hands!" Megatron boasted.

"You exaggerate." Came Unicron's blunt reply.

"The point is he's dead! And the Matrix died with him." Megatron insisted.

"No. The point is you're a fool. The Matrix has been passed to their new leader, Ultra Magnus. Destroy it for me."

"Why should I!? What's in it for me!?" Megatron demanded.

"Your bargaining posture is highly dubious, but very well. I will provide you with a new body, and new troops to command." Unicron laid out the terms.

"And?"

"AND NOTHING! You belong to me now." Unicron stated.

"I belong to nobody!" Megatron shouted in defiance.

"Perhaps I misjudged you… proceed on your way to oblivion." Unicron unleashed another wave of energy, this time inflicting excruciating torment on Megatron.

"Ah… an offer you can't refuse, I do so love the classics." Roman grunted, flipping the bird at Cinder.

"Spitting in the face of the gods is usually a bad idea." Ozpin said.

"Mmhmm, unless you're the Slayer or the Hunter." Yang agreed.

"AAGGGH! NO! NO! I ACCEPT YOUR TERMS! I ACCEPT!" Megatron screamed in agony until the pain suddenly stopped and he was enveloped in a green glow.

"Excellent." Unicron begun the reformatting process, breaking down and reforging Megatron's body on the spot into a new, stronger form. One that would expedite the Matrix's destruction.

"Behold, Galvatron… and these shall be your minions." Unicron extended the reformatting process to the other Decepticon bodies as well, upgrading them to better serve Galvatron and by extension, himself.

"Scourge the tracker, and his huntsmen, the Sweeps. Cyclonus the warrior, and his armada. And this shall be your ship." Unicron finished. A new body, superior troops and a battleship, Galvatron had all he needed to finish the job.

"Now go, and destroy the Autobot Matrix." Unicron instructed.

"I will rip open Ultra Magnus and every other Autobot until the Matrix has been destroyed!" Galvatron promised. Boosting forwards by using his upgraded fusion cannon as a thruster, he shot towards his ship, leading the revived Decepticons.

But before dealing with Ultra Magnus on Earth. There was a score that needed settling.

"To Cybertron!"

"Oooh… someone's in trouble!" Nora sang.

Cinder said nothing, simply gripping on her armrest hard enough to deform it.

"Get on with the ceremony!" Starscream snarled in frustration as the idiot Constructicons interrupted his moment of crowning with their trumpet fanfare. When they decided that meant another round of trumpeting, Starscream's frustration boiled over.

Raising his arm, he promptly blasted all the trumpets with a single shot, destroying them and cutting off the infernal noise at last.

Bowing his head, Starscream could barely hold back his glee as the ornate crown was placed on his brow. Crafted out of gold and rubies, only he had the grandeur to wear such a masterpiece.

"Real fancy. Gotta feed that ego huh." Roman clapped mockingly.

"Real fancy looking, but lacking in substance."

"Shut. Up. Roman." Cinder hissed.

"Make me. Oh wait, you can't!" Torchwick burst out laughing.

Sweeping his arm out to address the assembled Decepticons, Starscream revelled in the moment. "My fellow Decepticons, as your new leader I-"

Starscream's speech was interrupted by a transformed Cyclonus jetting in and scattering the crowd.

"Who disrupts my coronation!?" Starscream shouted and raised a fist at the newcomer.

"Coronation Starscream? This is bad comedy." Galvatron said, leaping out of the jet to confront the usurper.

"Megatron? Is that you?" Starscream sputtered in disbelief

"Here's a hint!" Galvatron transformed into a cannon and blasted Starscream, frying him with a single shot. The seeker didn't even have the chance to scream and his blackened, charred body crumbled into ashes.

His crown came tumbling down the steps until Galvatron crushed it underfoot and ground it into the floor. Glancing towards the other Decepticons, Galvatron pointed at the smoking pile that used to be Starscream. "Would anyone else attempt to fill his shoes?"

"What'd he say his name was?" Frenzy asked.

"Galvatron!"

"Long live Galvatron!" Came the chorus of cheers.

"Now that's making an entrance." Yang nodded.

"That has to be a record for how fast it takes to be replaced." Jaune said.

"Out of curiosity, what would have happened if Starscream remained in charge?" Blake asked.

"The Decepticons would vanquish themselves." Blank replied.

Cinder was left to stew in her own frustrations again as laughter swept through the audience.

"Where'd that come from!?" Jazz stared at the metal planet that had come out of nowhere. Whatever it was, it'd avoided all of their long-range scanners and was now right on top of them.

"Who cares!? I'm more worried about where it's going!" Cliffjumper replied. The two Autobots could only watch as Unicron started to tear into the moon as his next meal, causing the entire base to start shaking itself apart.

"Talk to me Earth! We got a situation out here!" Jazz immediately sent a transmission towards Autobot City. Whatever the hell was attacking them was clearly hostile and he needed to get word out just in case this… thing headed towards Earth next.

"Lunchtime and they're on the menu." Mercury said.

"I'm picking up a faint signal." Blaster paused in the middle of the reconstruction efforts when the transmission arrived. Transforming into radio mode, he turned up the volume and played the transmission as the others gathered round.

"This is Jazz! A ginormous weird looking planet just showed up in the suburbs of Cybertron!"

"And it's attacking moon base one!" Cliffjumper chimed in before the transmission became garbled and cut to static.

"Jazz! Cliffjumper!" Ultra Magnus yelled, but the transmission was gone.

"If this is going where I think it is…" Taiyang said warningly.

"I regret everything." Qrow sighed.

Jazz and Cliffjumper fought their way towards the evac ship, having to drag themselves along the ground at times to fight Unicron's pull. The entire moon was coming apart at the seams, everything not nailed down was being sucked up into Unicron's maw, and the things that were, wouldn't stay nailed down for much longer.

"Got to blast free… if we can." Jazz hurried to get the ship up and running, skipping as many unnecessary checks and protocols as he could.

"Ignition and…" Cliffjumper muttered and hurried to get the engines running.

"HIT IT!"

The thrusters fired and the ship shot off the runway, leaving the doomed moon behind… for a moment. Unicron's pull was too strong, like fighting a blackhole, it was hopeless. The ship made it a good distance from the moon base before forward motion stalled.

"Jazz! We're not getting away!" Cliffjumper shouted.

Then the engines were overcome.

"What a monster." Summer said.

"It got past their detection and can suck in anyone who tries to escape. It's like its entire purpose is to make sure no one gets out." Taiyang said.

"Eradication of all life… right? We're doomed." Qrow slammed his head into the headrest in front of him.

"This is Tai and Bumblebee, up here on moon base two." Tai and Bumblebee's worried visages filled the screen after the Autobots on Earth managed to patch through to the second moon base.

"This… thing, this monster planet just ripped the first moon to shreds!" Bumblebee followed up.

"And it's heading this way!" Tai said.

"We'll try and slow it down…"

"But you'd better get here fast, because we're not gonna-" The transmission cut out as interference from Unicron made it impossible to maintain the connection.

"Dad!" Ruby shouted in horror.

"Come on, you saw it eat the first moon, what are you still doing on the second!? Run already!" Yang all but shouted, obviously distressed.

Jaune said nothing, simply wrapped her up in a comforting hug.

"Bumblebee, activate the explosives!" Taiyang shouted as they scrambled to get the emergency self-destruct online.

"If this doesn't stop it, nothing will."

Once the countdown began, both of them booked it, sprinting towards their ship and taking off as soon as they could. Unicron was just beginning to chow down on the moon when they shot off into space.

Just as Unicron was about to swallow the moon whole, the timer hit zero and what was left of the moon base went up in an explosion large enough to engulf the monster planet.

Their ship went tumbling as the blast wave buffeted them and Tai had to fight the controls to avoid crashing. But once they stabilised, all either of them could see was the cloud of smoke and debris that used to be moon base two behind them.

"Cutting it a little close." Goodwitch said.

"They made it, that's all that matters." Ozpin replied.

"Alright! We've done it" Bumblebee cheered and high fived Tai.

"Haha! Look! It… isn't even dented!" Tai gasped. The camera feed didn't lie, as the debris field cleared, Unicron's menacing silhouette became clearer and the monster planet was still completely intact despite eating a bomb powerful enough to reduce an entire moon to rubble.

"Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?" Tai asked. Both of them could see it now, the debris cloud wasn't actually being dispersed, Unicron was simply vacuuming it all into his maw… and they were caught in the pull as well.

When forward momentum slowed to a crawl, Tai and Bumblebee exchanged a worried look.

"We're being sucked into it!"

"…I stand corrected." Ozpin amended.

"How tough is that thing? How is it not in a bajillion pieces yet!?" Yang protested.

"Not so easy to kill a god." Blank replied.

"There must be something they can do." Pyrrha insisted.

"The Matrix must be the key. It wants it destroyed too badly to be a coincidence." Jaune said.

"They just have to get it there in time." Ruby whispered.

"How dare Unicron!? Cybertron and all its moons belong to me!" Galvatron thundered. The front row seat he had to the moons' destruction pissed him off to no end. There were to be retaken from the Autobots, not… become some monster's next meal.

His vocal outburst proved to be a mistake when Unicron responded with a burst of agony that made Galvatron cry out in pain.

"But remember, we belong to him." Scourge said unhelpfully.

"I… belong… to nobody! Aaggh!" The agony intensified hundredfold. Galvatron managed to stay upright for a few seconds before his knees buckled and he came tumbling down the steps.

"Ugh… ahg! I will… obey… Unicron!"

As quickly as it came, the agony stopped, leaving a shaking Galvatron on his knees. After a moment to compose himself, Galvatron issued new orders to his troops. "Decepticons, to Earth!"

Delaying any further might encourage Unicron to send him another agonising reminder, and Galvatron wanted no part of that.

"Nice boss." Emerald shook her head.

"A god that eats planets, not sure what you were expecting from him." Mercury pointed out.

"Autobots, prepare to board the shuttles, this new menace is more dangerous than all the Decepticons put together. Somehow we must destroy it before it devours Cybertron." Ultra Magnus addressed the assembled Autobots with a heavy feeling in his spark.

Further attempts to raise moon base two had ended in failure and they had to assume it had likewise been destroyed. As to the personnel there, Jazz, Cliffjumper, Taiyang, Bumblebee… no further transmissions from any of them and all were listed MIA.

"What about my dad!? He's on the moon between that monster planet and Cybertron!" Ruby interrupted.

"Ruby, we'll do everything we can for Tai." Ultra Magnus replied.

"And what are we gonna do when we get there? That thing crunches moons, it'll make short work of us." Springer spoke up.

"Maybe the Matrix can stop it." Ultra Magnus suggested. Having an unstoppable world eater show up after losing so many of their own to the Decepticons was about as bad as things could get. If this wasn't their 'darkest hour' yet…

"You're right it can!" Hot rod said.

"That's a lot of confidence." Weiss said dubiously.

"Does he even know how to use the Matrix?"

"It must be one of those 'when the time is right, the knowing will come' deals." Blake replied, thinking back to the plots of some of her… less risqué books.

"And they get to blunder around in the dark before that. Wonderful." Weiss drawled.

"And what do you know about it lad?" Kup looked at him dubiously.

"I just got this feeling…" Hot Rod replied. When he touched the Matrix earlier, he'd felt something from it, it was… oddly reassuring. Even if he had no proof, he had faith that the Matrix would be able to stop that monster planet for good.

Any further discussion was cut off when Springer spotted Galvatron's forces approaching from the skies. "Look!"

"To the shuttles!" Ultra Magnus ordered as fire started raining from the sky.

"Just can't catch a break, can they?" Ren muttered.

"They've all got Drunkle Qrow's luck at this point." Yang sighed.

"And let me guess, it gets worse."

"Unfortunately so." Blank confirmed.

"Right, gotta go darker for that darkest hour." Yang rolled her eyes and settled for snuggling closer to Jaune.

"I Galvatron will crush you just as Megatron crushed Prime." Galvatron boldly announced for the Autobots to hear as he strafed them in Cyclonus.

"And you'll die trying, just like Megatron!" Ultra Magnus fired back. Raising his rifle, he took aim and squeezed the trigger, scoring several bullet holes in Cyclonus's side and forcing Galvatron to back off.

"Autobot scrap!" Galvatron swore.

"You want me to gut Ultra Magnus?" Cyclonus offered, eager for some payback too.

"There are plenty of Autobots for you, Ultra Magnus is mine." Galvatron growled.

"Yep, there's that size shifting thing again. Didn't notice it earlier but there it is, as bots they're the same size but now Galvatron can just fit inside?" Weiss wrung her hands in frustration.

"Ah, don't think about it too hard. It's just a quirk of the universe." Blank said.

"Nicedinogooddinosweetdino, woudyoustepintothenicespaceshipforBlurrprettypleaseprettyprettyprettyplease!" Blurr begged Grimlock to get onto the shuttle but the dinobot was highly reluctant to do so. This was running away, and he'd much rather stand and fight.

"Me Grimlock not nice dino, me mash brains!" Grimlock spat a stream of fire into the air, singeing Cyclonus when Galvatron came by for a strafing run. When two Sweeps came in for a follow-up, Grimlock immolated them too, causing one to veer off to the side and explode.

"One down." Winter said.

"There's still a lot more of them." Ironwood frowned, something about the numbers was off too. Was it just him or were there way more of the Sweeps than should have existed?

"Blurr! Get the dinobots in the shuttle!" Ultra Magnus thundered when he saw them just hanging around outside the ship.

"I'mtryingtogetthemintotheshuttleUltraMagnusbecauseIknowwecan'tlaunchuntilIgetthemintotheshuttle, butIcan'tseemtogetthemintotheshuttlebecausethey'reimpossibleimpossibleimpossible!" Blurr tried pushed Grimlock's bulk up the ramp but no luck, the Dinobot simply refused to budge.

"Okay forget it, Kup, Hot Rod, you guys get the Dinobots aboard and get out of here!" Ultra Magnus said to Blurr's relief. The Dinobots might not listen to Blurr, but they at least respected Kup enough to not cause any more problems. If all else failed, one of his stories would keep them pacified.

"That's… not something I ever thought I'd hear." Goodwitch admitted.

"People… like… his… stories?" Nora's brain short circuited instantly.

"It's the multiverse… anything is possible it seems." Ren said, feeling a little ill.

"This reminds me of the battle on Alpha Nine, the petrorabbits were-Grimlock! Get your noodle outta my face!" Kup pushed the Dinobot away when his muzzle was blocking the controls.

"Me Grimlock love Kup's war stories." Grimlock said.

"You're living one now." Kup grunted.

"Engage the boosters for Cybertron's sake!"

"Tell Grimlock about petrorabbits again." Grimlock pleaded, not at all concerned with the Decepticons outside trying to destroy their ship before they could get airborne.

"I'll give you petrorabbits…" Kup shoved Grimlock's muzzle away again and then ignited the thrusters, taking the shuttle up into the air and drawing several of the Sweeps after them, giving Ultra Magnus and the other shuttle some breathing room.

After a small hiccup with Arcee nearly being left behind but managing to jump aboard at the last second, the second shuttle managed to take off as well and leave the Decepticons in the dust.

"Those Dinobots have their priorities skewed." Ironwood said, more than a little displeased with their lack of adherence to protocol and disregard for authority.

"They are unique among the Autobots. Not exceptionally bright and prone to causing friction wherever they go, but very powerful and violently against the Decepticons. With the Autobot manpower issues, they'll take all the help they can get." Blank said.

"Yep, I remember the dust was so thick on Beta Four, you had to use windshield wipers on your optic sensors." Kup said, getting into storytelling mode as the Dinobots huddled around. With the Decepticons out of sight for the moment, the only thing for him to do now was keep the Dinobots entertained and out of trouble.

"Me Grimlock know all about wipers! Want to hear good part of story!" Grimlock demanded and swung his arm outwards, accidentally knocking over Swoop over in the process.

"Good part Kup! Tell Swoop good part!" Swoop took the hit in stride and joined Grimlock in pestering Kup.

"Okay, okay. Well the dust was really thick and then this gigantic Ick-Yak came trumping and stomping down the mountain, flames spewing out of its nostrils." Kup continued with his story.

"And I thought for sure-"

"Hey Kup! Don't you think we have better things to do now than tell old stories?" Hot Rod interrupted from the middle of his spar against a training bot.

"Like what?"

"Like maybe figure out how we're gonna rescue our friends, and then save Cybertron." Hot Rod suggested.

"Not a bad plan." Ren said.

"No tell story!" Grimlock yelled and the other Dinobots echoed him, shushing Hot Rod so they could get back to more important things.

"They disagree." Nora shrugged.

Seeing that his idea was outvoted, Hot Rod shrugged and let the subject drop. Then the training bot he wasn't paying attention to came back round and blindsided him with a solid hit to the back of his head.

"Nnng, time out, time out!" The training bot cried out when the very annoyed Hot Rod recovered and closed in to beat the crap out of it with his bare hands. But before Hot Rod could start pummelling the training bot, the shuttle started to shake and one of the monitors displayed Galvatron's ship closing in from behind.

With Unicron directing Galvatron, there was just no way to outrun the persistent Decepticons.

"They're closing on us." Hot Rod muttered as he watched several torpedoes streak towards their shuttle. Whatever guidance systems had been installed on them were on a different level than anything the Decepticons had previously fielded. Even when the shuttles evaded the torpedoes, they'd just circle back around in pursuit.

"Persistent." Ironwood stated, internally wishing Atlas's own weapons had that level of reliability.

"If Unicron is informing Galvatron of every move they make, how are they supposed to get away?" Emerald asked.

"They're not." Cinder replied.

"Yep like the Shrikebats of Dromedon." Kup said.

"How'd you beat them!?" Hot Rod was open to suggestions, even if it had to come from one of Kup's stories. Those missiles were coming around again and he was running out of places to run.

"I'm trying to remember, there were an awful lot of casualties that day… oh yeah! We inverted polarities!" Kup recalled and immediately pushed the shuttle up with a sudden boost. As the missiles shot by underneath, he caught them all in a field to hopefully disable them.

"They're coming back!" Hot Rod yelled as the torpedoes shot up towards the bridge, only to explode harmlessly just before impact. The shuttle shuddered but remained intact, much to the relief of all aboard.

"Alright, we survived that!" Hot Rod sighed in relief.

"Yeah, but how do we survive this!?" Kup's face fell when he noticed Galvatron's ship was now right behind them. Their emergency evasive manoeuvres had cost them the lead they originally had on the Decepticons.

"Cyclonus, transform and attack." Galvatron ordered. If those Autobots wouldn't go down to long range torpedoes, then a close up was in the cards. One Cyclonus would be more than happy to provide.

Dropping out of the ship and transforiming into jet mode, Cyclonus shot forwards and started blasting the shuttle at close range with his beams, destroying their engines one by one and crippling the shuttle.

"I can't control it!" Kup yelled as the controls went offline. Stabilisation, thrusters, steering, all gone. The entire shuttle was being carried forwards by their own momentum, setting them on a crash course with a twisty looking planet.

"We're gonna crash!" Hot Rod and Kup gave up trying to regain any control over the ship and ran for it when the shuttle's nose crashed into the ground, shattering the windshield and then crushing the bridge. The hard 'landing' tore the ship apart and scattered her occupants across the surface of the alien planet, with Hot Rod and Kup going one way and the Dinobots ending up somewhere else.

"Oh… they split the party." Nora muttered.

"Not by choice." Ren said.

"Yeah, but bad things always happen when you split the party." Nora insisted.

"They survived the crash at least." Jaune tried being optimistic.

"Haaah… Jaune-Jaune, we need to work on your standards." Nora sighed.

"Kup and Hot Rod just bought it!" Springer said.

"I can't deal with that right now!" Ultra Magnus replied. Staying one step ahead of the Decepticons trying to sink them took priority.

"Face it Magnus, the Decepticons are gonna dog us until they see us dead." Frustration bled into Springer's voice.

"…Then that's exactly what they're gonna see. Prepare for emergency separation!" Ultra Magnus said.

"Emergency what now?" Ruby asked.

"Emergency separation detaches the front of the shuttle and abandons the rest of it. Think of it as a large escape pod, it's a last resort since separating from the rest of the ship means loss of all supplies in that section." Blank answered.

"I see. If they let the Decepticons destroy it, they can fake their deaths and escape." Winter nodded.

"Until Unicron sends his attack dog out again." Qrow muttered.

"That's too dangerous!" Perceptor objected.

"What choice do we have?" Ultra Magnus entered the override codes and forced the shuttle to split.

Abandoning the majority of the ship would cost them valuable supplies but there was no choice now, with Galvatron on their tail, this was the only way to escape. There was simply no way their shuttle would be able to outfight a fully armed warship.

Galvatron grinned when he noticed the Autobot shuttle simply flying in a straight line. So they'd given up trying to evade him and were trying to outrun him? Fat chance of that.

Launching another salvo of torpedoes, Galvatron watched them catch up to the fleeing Autobots and explode on contact. For a moment, it seemed like he'd need another salvo, then the shuttle listed to the side and detonated violently.

When the dust cleared, no shuttle or Autobots anywhere to be found.

"The Autobots have been terminated, and the Matrix with them."

Galvatron's triumph became suffering when Unicron made his displeasure known. The Chaos Bringer had been watching, and he'd seen the Autobot's duplicity… and Galvatron falling for it. Again the Matrix had eluded oblivion and he was running out of patience.

"Agh! No Unicron!" Galvatron screamed as his head felt like it was about to split open. Falling out of his chair, Galvatron writhed about in agony.

"WHY!?"

No answer came, just unending agony.

"Take me to Unicron! Take me now!" Galvatron ordered. Scourge tried helping his leader back onto his feet but the torment wasn't ending anytime soon, all he could do was set course for Unicron.

"Some breathing room's better than nothing I guess." Jaune said.

"They need a miracle at this point." Yang sighed.

"That's… a bit pessimistic, don't you think?"

"Mmm, they are in trouble though."

"Did we have to let them detonate three quarters of the ship?" Arcee asked once it was clear the Decepticons were no longer in pursuit.

"Seeing as how they would have detonated four quarters, I think it was a good choice." Springer replied.

"But now how are going to get there is this wreck?" Arcee pointed out. The 'ship' they were currently flying was closer to an escape pod than anything else, no way it was making the rest of the journey to Cybertron.

"Perceptor, can you locate a place to set down for repairs?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"Gamma waves in this sector of space create modular navigation probabilities however-" Perceptor began, then noticed the blank looks on Ultra Magnus and Springer's face.

"A-ahem. Yes, I believe I can. The Planet of Junk is in this vicinity."

"So. Is that literal or…" Mercury trailed off.

"The Planet of Junk or Junkion is where a significant amount of space waste drift to." Blank said.

"So it is literal." Mercury deadpanned.

"Hmm… salvage maybe?" Emerald offered.

"Kup! Grimlock! Slag! Anybody!" Hot Rod struggled against his bindings. After being thrown free during the crash, he'd wound up at the bottom of the sea trapped by vine-seaweed things. And now he was surrounded by hungry piranha like robotic fish eager for a bite.

Continuing to struggle, he managed to free one hand and transformed it into a buzzsaw. Hacking away at the vines entangling him and the incoming fish, he sliced and diced all of them to bits, slowly freeing himself and encouraging the surviving fish to leave in search of easier prey.

"Hot Rod! Help!" Kup's muffled shout carried over to him and Hot Rod glanced in the direction it came from. He couldn't see the other bot around anywhere, but he couldn't be far.

"Kup!" Hot Rod transformed and drove along the sea floor, searching for any sign of his comrade. And when he found him, Hot Rod almost wished he hadn't. Caught by the largest robo squid he'd ever seen, Kup was being torn apart.

Blasting the squid with everything he had, Hot Rod focused his fire on one of the squid's eyes, trying to break through its absurdly tough armour.

Unamused by his actions, the squid dropped Kup like a broken toy and went after Hot Rod instead. Striking with its tentacles, it managed to snag the Autobot in its grip and started squeezing.

Hot Rod kept firing for as long as he could before pulling out the buzzsaw to hack himself free. As soon as he was free however, another tentacle grabbed him and started shaking him. Fortunately, he wound up being pulled closer to the squid's eye instead of being tossed away.

Blasting it at point blank range, Hot Rod fired until its eye finally shattered. The squid screeched in pain and reached up to its destroyed eye with two of its tentacles. No meal was worth this kind of pain, tossing Hot Rod away it released a cloud of black ink and swam away as fast as it could.

"Robot fish and squid… I'll take the real ones any day thank you." Blake said.

"Were they built? Born? I have so many questions now." Weiss huffed.

"But don't think too hard right?"

"Essentially." Blank said.

Getting back to his feet, Hot Rod ignored the escaping squid and rushed over to his fallen comrade. "Kup! Talk to me!"

"F-f… fix… me…" Kup said weakly. Missing an arm and a leg, he was badly battered but fortunately not fatally so.

"Sure Kup! Right away!" Hot Rod promised. Resting Kup on the seabed, he moved over to retrieved his limbs, making sure to comb the area and avoid missing any small piece. Once all were accounted for, he gently picked up Kup and headed for shore.

"Good thing they're not human or faunus." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah. No kidding." Jaune shuddered.

"Brace for impact!" Ultra Magnus said as they entered the Planet of Junk's atmosphere. Practically out of fuel, they weren't so much flying the ship as they were gliding in for a crash landing.

The shuttle skipped across several junk mountains, bleeding off some of its momentum. Flying debris smashed into the windshield, cracking the glass in places. Despite Springer and Ultra Magnus's best efforts, their landing was still a very bumpy one that wound up tossing the Autobots around.

When the shuttle finally skidded to a halt, it looked right at home among the junk pile.

"Say something, anybody!" Ultra Magnus sat up and rubbed his head. His fellow Autobots were scattered about the bridge seemingly comatose.

Springer was the first to wake with a groan, when some panels came loose and fell on top of him. "Remind me to give the autopilot a raise."

Arcee was up next. "Ruby?"

"I-I'm okay." Ruby said, rising to her feet and feeling a little woozy from the rough landing.

Once everyone was up and accounted for. Ultra Magnus took a look around their wreck and sighed. "Let's try to salvage this thing."

"Can I help too?" Ruby volunteered her assistance.

"It's rough out there, kid." Springer shot down the idea immediately to her chagrin.

"I can help!" Ruby pouted.

"A little harsh there." Jaune said and Yang winced.

"Just don't want Ruby getting hurt you know? This universe doesn't look too friendly to squishy folk like us."

"I think Ruby can make herself useful with this, it was Tai's exo-suit." Arcee chimed in, carrying a white exo-suit that had been left in storage.

"Dad's exo-suit! He told me all about it!" Ruby was practically bouncing from excitement as Arcee presented her with the suit and Springer helped her into it.

"Now, try to walk. Come on, you can do it." Arcee beckoned, watching Ruby take several unsteady steps forwards and stumble.

"Keep on practicing, you'll get the hang of it." She encouraged.

"Okay, showtime's over, we've got work to do." Ultra Magnus said. Ruby could continue practicing while the rest of them got to work, their ship wasn't going to miraculously repair itself and until it was fixed, they were effectively stuck here.

Outside, the Autobots were struck speechless by the landscape around them. Now that they weren't worrying about crashing, they had all the time in the world to take in their surroundings. Ruby whistled in awe as she stared at the miles and miles of junk and scrap stretching into the horizon. "This must be the junk capital of the universe."

The Autobots and Ruby squared their shoulders and got to work sifting through the scrap piles around them, searching for anything salvageable. Unbeknownst to them, they weren't as alone as they initially thought.

Several Junkions had noticed their arrival and were observing them while camouflaged among the trash.

"Stop thief. No welcome wagon hello stranger, with that new coffee flavour for you. Offer expires while you wait, operators are standing by." Wreck-Gar (Roman) said as his Junkions assembled.

"Oh bullshit." Roman cursed.

"King of the trash heap, really suits you." Mercury snarked.

"Go to hell. Neo, stop laughing." Roman's glare shifted to his assistant.

"You know, I have no idea what he just said other than the 'stop thief' part. Oh the irony." Weiss said.

"Hey, I don't like people touching my stuff." Roman replied.

"You're a thief." Blake pointed out.

"Ex-thief thank you very much. And even back then it was 'What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine'. Who steals from a thief anyway-ow!" Roman looked down at Neo, the pint-sized gremlin poking him in the side unhappily, causing him to sigh.

"Haaah… fine. What's mine is ours, happy?"

Neo smiled cheerfully.

"That does it." Hot Rod heaved a sigh of relief and slammed the last panel on Kup's leg close. Fixing the old bot without proper equipment and seawater everywhere was an absolute nightmare, but it was done.

"Well? What do you think?" He asked.

Kup rose and went through a full range of stretches, testing his reattached limbs and searching for any problems. "Of all the circuit glitched, diode blown dimwittery… you left a piece out!"

"No way! You're just a little stiff." Hot Rod waved off Kup's annoyance. If there were any parts missing, they were gone long before their dunk in the waters.

"Anyways, all things considered, you did an amazing job lad." Kup said after a moment. He felt… not exactly new, but far, far better than before.

"Amazing!"

"Really?" Hot Rod stood, preening a little at his successful field repairs.

"Yeah, you even got rid of a nasty burr in my rotator. Now let's find the Dinobots and get off this twisted planet." Kup said.

Both bots transformed and drove off, searching for any damage that might indicate the Dinobots were near. That plan hit a snag when they soon ran out of road, the path they were on only led back to the sea.

Then a second problem arose in the form of the natives bursting out of the water to challenge them. A veritable army of Allicons marched ashore, glaring at the Autobots. Hot Rod was ready to start blasting before Kup held him back. "Don't act hostile. I'll use the universal greeting."

"Universal greeting?" Jaune said sceptically.

"Universal greeting?" Hot Rod said sceptically.

"Watch, I'll have them eating out of my hand." Kup said confidently.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

"Eh what?" Qrow blinked.

"That's gibberish." Taiyang said.

"A direct translation doesn't exist, but it does roughly mean we come in peace." Blank explained.

The Allicons didn't immediately start attacking and Hot Rod took it as a good sign. "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong?"

The Allicons echoed the greeting and seemed to relax a little.

"See? The universal greeting works every time. Now without making any sudden moves offer them an energon goodie." Kup pulled out a box of rations and offered some to the Allicons. Hot Rod followed suit and they were swarmed by the Allicons hungry for free food.

"This is getting expensive." Hot Rod muttered as their emergency supplies dwindled to practically nothing.

"Don't worry, they'll reciprocate!" Kup said.

Once they'd wolfed down the energon goodies, the Allicons turned to the Autobots, hungry for more.

"I thought they were supposed to reciprocate!? No more." Hot Rod said once he was completely out. A harsh silence descended on the massed Allicons.

"Empty." Kup said, showing the empty container and tossing it away. That proved to be a mistake when the Allicons became angry and transformed into monstrous giant alligators and rushed the two Autobots, overrunning them and taking them down quickly.

A minicon named Wheelie watched the two of them get shackled and led off to jail before transforming and driving away. Nothing he could do for either of them, but those other bots he saw earlier might be able to help.

"So much for the universal greeting." Yang said.

"Guess it doesn't work when people aren't feeling friendly." Blake replied.

"What is this place anyways?"

"This is the planet Quintessa, a twisted world ruled by the cruel Quintessons. Before you ask, they're all monsters who make most Decepticons look sane in comparison." Blank answered.

"Real encouraging." Weiss said drily.

"Reminds me of the Niter slave mine on Golgonath Seven." Kup said, the dreary prison bringing back some bad memories.

"Every place reminds you of some place else." Hot Rod sighed.

"Experience lad, you should learn to appreciate it." Kup scolded.

"A lot of good it's done us so far." Hot Rod snapped.

"Hmm… it did keep them from being destroyed by the torpedoes earlier. I'd say that counts for something." Ozpin said.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Any further argument was put on hold as their jailors led them past a massive pit filled with water and some kind of court. Four beings were on an upper level, one could pass as any other Cybertronian, the remaining three though were just as twisted and warped as the planet they were on.

"Has the imperial magistrate reached a verdict?" A strange, half organic, half mechanical being serving as prosecutor asked. The magistrate, a… thing that was comprised of nothing more than several faces stuck to a floating egg like structure, rotated its main face to address the first.

"I have."

"Guilty or innocent?"

Another face rotation. "Innocent."

"Feed him to the Sharkticons."

"What the hell!?" Roman shot up.

"I… did I hear that right?"

"…You did." Qrow grunted.

The last bio-mechanical being pulled a lever, causing the platform under their accused to fall away, dropping him into the pit. The waiting Sharkticons jumped on him as soon as he hit with a splash, eating him alive.

Satisfied with the court proceedings, the many-faced magistrate started laughing switching through all of his faces and filling the air with his mocking laughter.

"The Quintessons I presume." Distaste was written all over Winter's face.

"What… what was the point of that trial? He… he was innocent, right?" Ruby asked, feeling a little queasy.

"That wasn't a trial, that's just making sport out of killing." Mercury said.

"Anybody catch what he was accused of?"

"Somehow I don't think it would have mattered." Emerald said.

"Correct. The accusation is meaningless, the evidence unnecessary, the verdict arbitrary and the sentence consistent." Blank said.

"Bastards, all of them." Ironwood growled.

"We've got to get a new travel agent." Hot Rod growled as the Allicons shoved them into their cell. Once the door slammed shut, their bindings disappeared and the two of them were at least free to move about within the confines of their cell.

"What is this place?" He asked. Their cell had seen better days. Rust and ugly stains marred the walls and the floor was littered with broken parts, leftovers from its former occupants.

"Guess they don't even wait for the trial sometimes. Express processing at your service." Roman scowled.

"Or they resisted and were destroyed on the spot." Ren muttered.

"Doesn't matter, dead is dead."

"Maybe, but if it's all the same to you, I'll take dying in a fight over being eaten alive." Mercury piped up and Ren found himself agreeing with that statement.

"The world of the savage Sharkticons and their cruel masters, the Quintessons." A voice intruded on their thoughts, coming from their neighbouring cell. It belonged to another bot, one resembling the recently executed.

"I am Kranix, my planet was destroyed by Unicron." Kranix introduced himself.

"You're kidding. He escaped that planet eater just to end up here?" Jaune sputtered.

"How horrible." Pyrrha grimaced.

"This is bullshit. It's all bullshit." Yang growled angrily, embers rising from her hair.

"Unicron? Who's Unicron?" Hot Rod asked, that name was unknown to him and a quick glance at Kup indicated the old timer was just as confused as he was.

"A planet, that devours everything in its path." Kranix replied, recognition immediately blossomed on Hot Rod and Kup's faces. They finally had a name to put to their mystery moon eater.

"So that's the monster's name." Kup muttered.

Kranix's cell door opened and several heavily armed guards rushed in to grab him. The Sharkticons had finished with his compatriot and it was now his turn to be processed by Quintessa's 'justice' system.

"No! Please! Agh! I am the last survivor of Lithone!" Kranix pleaded as he was dragged kicking and screaming.

"No! Noooo!"

"Let him go!" Hot Rod shouted and rushed at the bars. Grabbing them he tried to bend them out of his way, only for them to send a surge of electricity through him, throwing him back into Kup.

"Arrgh!"

"Soon you two will receive your sentence." The prosecutor informed them before the door shut. The two Autobots were powerless to do anything but watch the proceedings from their cell.

"They aren't even bothering to pretend there's a chance of a different verdict." Nora hissed, fingers itching for Magnhild.

Within minutes, Kranix was standing on the collapsible platform and the magistrate was ready to psas judgement. There was no evidence presented, no arguments given, no chance to defend himself in front of a hanging judge.

"Has the imperial magistrate reached a verdict?" The Quintesson prosecutor asked.

"I have."

"Guilty or innocent?"

"Spare me this mockery of justice!" Kranix roared at them. If he was going to die here, he'd go out defiant.

"I repeat, guilty or innocent?" The prosecutor continued, unfazed by the outburst. It wasn't the first he'd heard, and it wouldn't be the last.

"Innocent." The Magistrate delivered the verdict and Kranix was dropped into the pit.

"Arggh!" Kranix screamed. Hitting the water with a big splash, the Sharkticons circled immediately, he managed to breach the surface just once before the jumped him in a feeding frenzy, disappearing in the churning waters.

The Autobots couldn't see him after he fell, but they could his screaming just fine. Hot Rod gripped the bars on the cell door, seething with rage.

"Not the end I'd wish for, that." Kup said, doing his level best to explode from anger.

"Why can't Unicorn eat this planet instead?" Ruby threw her hands up in frustration.

"That's Unicron Ruby. But yes, I don't think anyone would shed a tear to see this world go." Weiss agreed.

"Tears of happiness maybe." Blake said.

Swoop soared through Quintessa's skies, scanning for any trace of Kup or Hot Rod. Finding nothing but ugly architecture, he came back down to report his failure to the other Dinobots. "Me Swoop, no see nothing."

"Me Grimlock positive Hot Rod and Kup close." Grimlock insisted.

"Me Slag say you full of Beryllium baloney." Slag complained, they'd been walking and walking and walking, and despite how close Grimlock said they were, Hot Rod and Kup were still nowhere to be seen.

Not paying attention to where he was walking, Slag marched straight into a pit of spikes, jabbing himself in the chin and tipping over to Grimlock's annoyance.

"Me Grimlock say you full of Caesium salami!"

"Beryllium baloney!" Slag roared back. The Two Dinobots were on the verge of a full-blown fight when Wheelie arrived.

"Friend find, look behind!"

"Who say that!?" Grimlock snapped, scanning the area, he couldn't find the source of the voice anywhere.

Wheelie popped out from behind a corner and climbed onto Sludge's head to better address the Dinobots. "Friend find, look behind. You go wrong way, you fool I say."

"Me Grimlock fool!?" The Dinobot sputtered.

"Get me you got, no fool you not!" Wheelie said, then burst out laughing.

"Me Grimlock no like you." Slapping Wheelie off Sludge's head with one hand, he sent the tiny mincon crashing to earth.

In retaliation, Wheelie drew a sling and fired a small explosive at Grimlock's nose. Exploding on contact, it stung fiercely and had the Dinobot reeling back and rubbing it in pain.

"Ow! Why boy hit my nose!?"

"Wheelie say find friends today." Wheelie folded his arms and did a one-eighty, leading the Dinobots towards the Quintesson court Hot Rod and Kup were being held in.

"Me Grimlock say we on our way."

"Reinforcements on the way at least." Qrow said.

"Good. Then payback." Taiyang punched his palm and grinned.

"Unicron! Why do you torture me!?" Galvatron roared.

"You have failed." Unicron answered.

"No Unicron! Ultra Magnus is dead, and the Matrix destroyed!" Galvatron insisted. He saw the torpedoes hit, he saw the shuttle explode, there was no way Ultra Magnus managed to survive that. The Matrix was history.

"The Matrix… has not been destroyed. And Ultra Magnus lives, on the Planet of Junk. Stop him. Tear him apart. And destroy the Matrix." Unicron commanded.

Galvatron was left with no choice but to bow his head and accept the orders. Once more sent on his way in such a humiliating fashion, the Decepticon leader was fuming as he returned to his ship and set course for the Planet of Junk.

Cinder sat quietly, watching with no emotion on her face. A servant of Salem, that's what she was. That thought was particularly chaffing now. She wouldn't be a slave, not again, not ever again.

But…

If only she had more power…

'No.' She quashed the thoughts ruthlessly, shoving them back into whatever dark corner they had sprung from. Opposing Salem was suicide, the only logical choice was to be on the winning side.

Still, a part of her couldn't help but wonder.

"Be sure the fittings are securely welded." Perceptor instructed. Repairs were coming along smoothly and he was supervising.

"Absolutelypositivelydefinitely! Iwouldn'tdoitanyotherway, anyotherwayatall!" Blurr replied in his usual rapid-fire way.

"Whoa, this exo-suit's fantastic. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it." Ruby set down a massive sheet of metal, the multi-ton slab barely slowing her down with the power of the exo-suit on her side.

"If we had something like that, the Grimm would be far less of a threat." Ironwood marvelled at the strength displayed. Performance wise, the exo-suit was probably superior to even the most advanced Paladins but in a much smaller package.

Even if it couldn't be made to fit the average soldier, Penny might be able to get some use out of it. He filed the idea away for future reference.

Ultra Magnus looked up when he spotted something glinting in the sky out of the corner of his eyes. Resisting the urge to curse at the sight of the incoming Decepticon army, he ran through the tactical options available to them and found them seriously lacking.

Somehow, the Decepticons had wised up to their emergency separation ruse and had picked now of all times to arrive. The shuttle was nowhere near ready to fly and if the Decepticons noticed the repair job, they'd blow it to hell.

"Decepticons! We've got to draw them off and double back to the shuttle." Ultra Magnus said. The only hope they had now was leading the Decepticons away and then losing them among the trash. After that… after that they'd work on the 'after that'.

Well, that was the plan anyways. Galvatron had already noticed their repair work from orbit and promptly blew up the entire ship with Cyclonus's missiles.

"There goes the shuttle." Springer said. Loss of the shuttle aside, the first stage of the plan was still sound and the Autobots scattered to the winds.

"What do I do!?" Ruby was panicking, even with the exo-suit, there was just no way to outrun the flight capable Decepticons by running.

"TransformtransformyoucandoitIbelieveinyouyoucandoit!" Blurr replied before transforming and driving off, drawing some of the Decepticons away from the pack.

"Transform…" Ruby concentrated, if the suit had a transformation function, then it was definitely thought activated like the rest of it. Fighting down her panic as the two Decepticons not drawn away by Blurr and Arcee surrounded her with their weapons drawn.

Forcing herself to calm down and focus, she willed the suit to change then charged forwards. Leaping forwards, the exo-suit shifted into a car and sped forwards, running over the two surprised Decepticons and speeding onwards to safety.

"There they are! Attack!" Galvatron ordered, tracking the fleeing Autobots from the sky and searching for his target. Much as he wanted to exterminate all the vermin, Ultra Magnus took priority, anything to keep Unicron's anger away from him.

"Make a break for cover! I'll try to unleash the power of the Matrix." Ultra Magnus ordered, staying behind to buy them time to escape. Stranded on a literal planet of junk, hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, if there was a darkest hour, this had to be it.

Once the others had ducked into a cave, Ultra Magnus fired on the opening, causing it to collapse and sealing the entrance behind them. "Till all are one."

"How noble." Cinder rolled her eyes.

"Matrix isn't going to work." Mercury said, seeing the imminent failure coming a mile away.

As Galvatron came in for a landing, Ultra Magnus pulled out the Matrix and tried pulling it apart. But no matter how much strength he put into it, it refused to budge. "Open… damnit open! Prime, you said the Matrix would light our darkest hour…"

"Magnus! I want the Matrix." Galvatron held out his hand expectantly.

"Never!"

How very Autobot.

"Sweeps! Terminate him!"

Ultra Magnus buckled as he was shot repeatedly. He continued trying to open the Matrix until his body failed completely and he keeled over and exploded.

Galvatron plucked the falling Matrix out of the air and inspected it. Such a little bauble, it fit in his hand ever so nicely, hard to believe a planet would be afraid of such an insignificant thing. "Unicron, my master… with this, I shall make you my slave."

"Saw that coming." Roman said.

"The rest escaped. Acceptable sacrifices." Ironwood grunted.

"It'll be up to them to retrieve the Matrix."

"Galvatron's doomed. Only an Autobot can use it." Nora said.

"But he doesn't know that." Ren muttered.

"Before his imperial magistrate delivers a verdict, would you like to beg for your lives? It sometimes helps, but not often." The Quintesson prosecutor said mockingly.

"I can't transform!" Kup grunted. The two of them had put up a fight when the jailors came for them, enough that it warranted them being slapped in energy bindings once they were finally subdued.

"Keep trying." Hot Rod replied, if they could just transform, they might be able to make a break for it. Sharkticons and Allicons didn't have the speed to keep up with them in their alt modes, but if they couldn't transform before they were dropped into the pit, then it was moot.

"Silence! Or you will be held in contempt of this court." The magistrate snapped at them.

"I have nothing but contempt for this court!" Hot Rod shouted back.

"Guilty or innocent?" The prosecutor said, wanting to get on with the slaughter.

"Innocent." The annoyed magistrate gave his verdict and the platform fell away.

As Hot Rod and Kup fell, their bindings disappeared and they were free to move again. Once both of them hit the water, they swam further down instead of trying to surface like the Quintessons' other victims.

"They've got more Sharkticons than we have photon charges." Hot Rod said. Even if they scored a kill with every shot, it would hardly make a dent in their numbers.

"Then let's hold a demolition derby!" Kup suggested. The two Autobots transformed and started driving around inside the pit, picking up speed and stirring the waters.

The Sharkticons soon noticed that their meal wasn't surfacing for the kill like all the others. One by one, they started swimming downwards, trying to catch their prey. But to their surprise, they couldn't keep up even inside the waters, Hot Rod and Kup were simply driving too fast to catch.

Soon the churning waters became a massive Autobot powered vortex. Sharkticons were caught in the pull and dragged along with no way to escape, smashing into the walls, the floor and one another, more than a few wound up being ground to nothing by the current.

"Let the ass kicking begin." Yang cheered.

When the vortex was becoming too strong for even the Autobots to handle, Hot Rod and Kup shot out of the water and only dry ground. Still surrounded on all sides, they made the best of things by turning as many Sharkticons into roadkill as they could, using superior speed and mobility to make up for the numbers disadvantage.

"Hahahaha! Didn't even bend a fender." Hot Rod chuckled at the effectiveness of their resistance.

"Yeah, but look! There're a lot more of those can digging grill cracking things." Kup caught a Sharkticon when it leapt on him. After Hot Rod fried its face with a blast, he ripped its spiked tail off and started using it as a flail.

"We can't hold out forever Kup, but we can give them one humongous repair bill." Hot Rod said. They could take out a few dozen, maybe even a few hundred if luck was on their side, but there were thousands of the monsters and Primus only knew how many more the Quintessons could add to the pit.

"Those Dinobots better arrive fast. I don't think they can hold out for much longer." Qrow said.

"These Sharkticons are nothing more than butchers with barely any skill. But the numbers disadvantage is too extreme to overcome." Goodwitch analysed, gritting her teeth in frustration.

Hot Rod punched a Sharkticon in the teeth, shattering all of them in one blow. Pissed off, the Sharkticon lashed out with its claws and when Hot Rod dodged, tore one of its compatriots to pieces by accident.

Slowly, their minor victories became harder and harder to come by as more Sharkticons poured out of the waters. Between the sheer number of bodies, scrapped and living, room to move was becoming harder to come by and their advantage dwindled away. Eventually they were backed into a corner and dogpiled by the Sharkticons.

"Execute them!" The prosecutor roared before turning when he heard the giant doors behind him start to creak. Spinning around, he was just in time to see the giant gold doors collapse right on top of him, squashing him flat.

While still alive and conscious, he was treated to the Dinobots stomping over the doors, trampling him underfoot. Slag was the only one who noticed the Quintesson but instead of hurrying off, only bent down to whisper a quick 'excuse me' before plodding onwards.

Despite the seriousness of the situation earlier, laughter swept through the audience again. Partly from relief and partly from the sheer audacity of such an entrance. Even Cinder cracked a smile.

"Me Grimlock want to munch metal!" Grimlock looked around, searching for the fight they could hear from several rooms away. Spotting Hot Rod and Kup being menaced in the pit, they promptly leapt down to challenge the Sharkticons.

When the Sharkticons tried attacking the Dinobots, they found themselves in the wrong weight class when the Dinobots stomped several of them to pieces effortlessly.

"Hahaha! I never thought I'd be so happy to see those big bozos." Hot Rod laughed as the Sharkticons retreated in fear. None of them wanted to go up against someone with bigger teeth than them

"Me Grimlock no bozo! Me King!"

"Not arguing with that." Jaune said.

"I like living."

"Sharkticons! Execute them!" The Magistrate roared. This was not how things were supposed to be, the innocents and the interlopers should be torn to shreds, yet their minions were cowering in fear. Preposterous!

The Sharkticons transformed into bot form and exchange nervous glances. They were all up for following orders, but this was suicide. Hot Rod and Kup were problems already and now there were giants who could squash them like ants just by not looking where they were walking.

"Aaarghh!" Grimlock roared and stomped his foot hard enough to cause a localised earthquake, further rattling the Sharkticons.

"Me Grimlock say execute them!" Grimlock pointed to the Quintessons above.

After a moment to consider their options, the sharkticons grinned and rushed to obey his command. Between challenging the Autobots and rebelling against the much weaker Quintessons… no contest.

"Oooh… how the turns table." Nora cackled.

"That's tables turn Nora." Ren corrected.

"Hush you, I know what I'm saying. Boop." Nora flicked him on the nose.

"I think the problems on this planet will be solved very shortly." Kup opined. Watching the Sharkticons pile up against the wall to form a ladder out of the pit, he wagered the Quintessons would have a minute head start at the most.

"Yeah, but what about our problems? We need a ship." Hot Rod said. They were free now, but still stuck planet side.

"You get ship if I get trip." Wheelie spoke up.

"Who're you?" Hot Rod asked.

"Him Wheelie, him friend." Grimlock answered.

"He'll be mine too if he can find a ship." Hot Rod said.

"Give stare, over there!" Wheelie pointed to a tower in the distance. A twisted looking spire that was an affront to any kind of design aesthetics.

"That's a ship!?" Kup stared at it dubiously.

"Who cares as long as it flies." Hot Rod replied.

"That's an insult to ship design." Ironwood frowned.

"If it gets them off the planet, I don't think it matters to them James." Ozpin replied.

"Ultra Magnus…" Arcee's face fell upon spotting the remains of their leader. The Decepticons hadn't pursued them any further, and upon doubling back to try and find Ultra Magnus, the answer was abundantly clear.

"WithouttheMatrixthereisnohopenohopenohopenohopeatall." Blurr said. The Matrix's distinctive glow wasn't among the remains and that meant either it had been destroyed or the Decepticons had it.

"First Prime, now Ultra Magnus, what do we do?" Arcee asked. No one had an answer for her, nor the time to think of one since the universe wasn't done kicking them around just yet.

"Look!" Ruby shouted, pointing at an approaching cloud of dust. The Junkions had picked that moment to commence their offensive, giving the Autobots no time to mourn.

Once again the Autobots found themselves on the run, this time being chased by Junkions on bikes. While not as strong or tough as the Decepticons, they made up for it through sheer resilience.

"It's not hard to knock em down, it's getting them to stay down that's the trick." Springer said. The Junkions didn't have guns, all they had were melee weapons cobbled together out of junk and sheer grit. Against the Autobot's arsenal of tricks, they went down easily, but even when they lost a limb or two, they'd simply get up and reattach them with no fuss before surging back into the fray.

"They're indestructible!" Arcee shouted when she found herself being attacked by a Junkion she already took down several times before.

"And they're everywhere!" Ruby froze in place, more Junkions were emerging from the trash heaps, popping out of the ground to impede the Autobots like some demented game of whac-a-mole.

"Oh sure, attack the Autobots when they're down. Why didn't you go after the Decepticons earlier?" Yang grumbled.

"If the Decepticons had stuck around, they would have. But since they left, the only targets left are the Autobots." Blank said.

"It's not like they have a choice. Their ship is gone." Weiss said.

"Can't they just talk things out? The Autobots aren't thieves." Ruby asked.

"A bit too late for talk now." Blake replied.

"You check in, but you don't check out." Wreck-Gar hurled an axe at Springer, forcing him to evade and close to melee range. Hacking away with his axe, Wreck-Gar forced Springer back, then bashed him with his shield, knocking the Autobot to the ground.

When Springer transformed and tried to drive off, his wheels became stuck in the trash, bogged down and unable to move, there was nothing left to do but draw his sword and meet Wreck-Gar's charge head on.

Sword met axe in a shower of sparks and Springer found himself on the backfoot. Blocking the incoming heavy blows proved to be a mistake when a crack formed in the blade and Wreck-Gar's further hammering eventually snapped the blade in half.

Just as he was about to have an axe introduced to his cranium, Ruby intervened. Clutching a massive steel beam with the exo-suit, she slammed it down on Wreck-Gar's head from behind, knocking the Junkion out cold.

"Oh for-" Roman facepalmed. Neo being Neo just snickered silently at his expense.

"I'd like to win for once. Really, just once." Roman grumbled.

A shadow fell over the battlefield, halting hostilities as everyone found their eyes drawn upwards. A weird looking ship sailed overhead, coming in for a landing. The Autobots were hopeful, it hadn't started shooting which was a major improvement, the Junkions were more cautious unsure if they were more thieves come to desecrate the planet or friendlies.

"Steady as she goes…" Wreck Gar rubbed the back of his head and rose to his feet, already recovered from the knockout blow. Waving the other Junkions down, he wanted to wait and see who the newcomers were.

Once the landing gear deployed and the hatch came down, Hot Rod was first out into the light.

"It's Hot Rod!" Arcee could scarcely believe her eyes.

"And Kup and the Dinobots!" Ruby said, noticing the other Autobot's behind him.

As Wreck-Gar approached, Kup raised his rifle, only for Hot Rod to hold out his arm and stop him. "Guns aren't exactly friendly."

"Neither are they in case you haven't noticed." Kup replied, they'd both seen the battle while coming in for a landing and considering their last sojourn on an alien planet, he was leaning towards shoot first ask questions never.

"What was that universal greeting again? Never mind, I remember." Hot Rod said.

"He's not serious." Goodwitch stared blankly.

"I think he is." Qrow said.

"It didn't work last time, and they're already fighting, I don't think this is a good idea."

"It can't hurt to try. They're still outnumbered and if the greeting can smooth things over, it's worth a shot." Ozpin replied.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong!" Hot Rod smiled and offered an energon goodie to the Wreck-Gar.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong?" Wreck-Gar looked at Hot Rod dubiously.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong." Hot Rod confirmed and dropped the goodie into Wreck-Gar's hands.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong!" Wreck-Gar shouted to the other junkions who took up the cry and broke out into an impromptu dance party of all things. The Autobots were confused but took it in stride, at least hostilities were over.

"I… wha? This is hardly the time to be dancing!" Weiss exploded.

"They've lost one of their own, their comrades are still missing and their home is still under threat from a planet eater! Why are you all dancing!?"

"Uh oh, Weiss-cream's lost it." Yang looked over in worry.

"I'm sure they have a reason." Ruby said.

"Like what!?" Weiss snapped.

"Not angering the locals is a pretty big one actually. If dancing in celebration keeps the weapons stowed until they can leave, that's a good trade." Qrow said.

"Oh." Weiss's anger evaporated and she sunk into her seat sheepishly.

"It's a way of building bridges and making friends. Despite the planet and their oddities, the Junkions are among the best friends you could ever have." Blank said.

"Really?" Weiss asked.

"Indeed, they'll go to incredible lengths to help those they consider friends. You'll see."

Wreck-Gar banged on a large container as a makeshift gong to get everyone's attention. "Have a nice day and please, close cover before striking, friends! Breep drit, aw rootie! So say the Junkions."

"Where'd you learn to talk like that?" Hot Rod asked.

"TV! We talk TV! You talk some TV?" Wreck Gar retrieved a small television and displayed it proudly.

"I talk some TV, and now the news, don't touch that dial!" Kup said.

"Did… did they get their entire language by taking phrases from TV and stringing them together?" Summer asked.

"They did." Blank confirmed.

"…That explains the headache I have trying to understand them."

"Your smashed up friend soon like brand new with ninety-day warranty." Wreck Gar oversaw several Junkions collecting Ultra Magnus's parts and the rebuilding process. They worked quickly, putting him back together again and replacing destroyed parts.

In no time flat Ultra Magnus really did look brand new, definitely not like a bot that had been destroyed in battle. Once reassembly and polishing was complete, the Junkions gave him a jump start and Ultra Magnus came online.

"They can bring back the dead!?" Yang's eyes widened in shock.

"Not quite. They can't resurrect bots who've lost their spark, but they can repair those even the most talented of medics would have given up on." Blank said.

"It comes with being constructed out the scrap around them and having to reassemble themselves so often. They're the best salvage experts in the universe."

Sitting up with a groan, he found himself surrounded by the other Autobots and plenty of new faces. "We're all… alive?"

"The Matrix?" Hot Rod's question cut through the celebratory air instantly. A grim reminder that despite the current fortunate turn of events, Cybertron was still in danger and their comrades were all missing in action.

"…It's gone." Ultra Magnus bowed his head.

"And with it, all hope." Kup sighed.

"What is the Matrix really? Some kind of weapon? They're putting a lot of weight on it." Winter asked.

"The Matrix is a gift from Primus, a god and Unicron's counterpart. It contains part of his essence and is the antithesis of Unicron by its very nature. But for the Autobots, the most important part is the fact that it is connected to all of its previous wielders, every Prime who came before. Loss of the Matrix is the loss of their combined wisdom." Blank answered.

"I see." Winter nodded.

"No!" Hot Rod shouted.

"Galvatron has it." Arcee said. There weren't any pieces of the Matrix where Ultra Magnus lay, so it couldn't have been blasted apart. The only conclusion they could draw was that the Decepticon leader had taken it.

"Where's Galvatron!? Where is he!?" Hot Rod's frustration was boiling over. The Matrix was more important than they realised, he could feel it in his spark. They needed it back pronto.

"So, what's fearless leader's name going to be. Hot Rod Prime?" Nora asked.

"What?" Jaune looked at her blankly.

"Nothing, just curious." Nora shook her head and said no more on the subject.

"And the answer is… Unicron." Wreck-Gar replied.

"Then we've got to destroy Unicron." Hot Rod said tersely.

"Yes friends, act now, destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains!" Wreck-Gar nodded and moved over to a hidden console. Hitting several buttons on it, a Junkion ship began rising out of a trash mountain. Like everything else, it was constructed from the trash and looked more like a piece of abstract art than a ship, but if Wreck-Gar's boasts were anything to go by, it would more than suffice.

"Yeah! Destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate event eh toughest stains!" The Junkions echoed and dashed towards the ship, ready to crew it into battle. The Autobots themselves split into two groups, one aboard each vessel.

Two Autobot shuttles lost, one Junkion and one Quintesson warship to replace them. The only question on the Autobots' minds was if it'd be enough to stop Unicron for good.

"The Junkions are going to attack Unicron?" Emerald sputtered.

"Like I said, among the best friends you could ever have." Blank said.

"Unicron. Unicron! Answer me! See this!? The Matrix!" Galvatron raised the Matrix high.

"I now possess that which you most fear!"

Unicron's outraged bellow caused the entire planet to rumble. Undaunted, Galvatron found his footing and continued taunting Unicron. "You will do my bidding! Or taste my wrath!"

When Unicron still didn't submit, Galvatron tried to open the Matrix to force the monster planet in line. But no matter how he pulled at the handles or dug his fingers into the core, the thing wouldn't budge, not even a nanometre.

"You underestimate me Galvatron." Unicron said at last. Galvatron's failure to use the Matrix should have sunk in now, and it was time for a lesson on what defiance meant.

The surface of Unicron began shifting, rearranging itself at will. Galvatron stumbled back when the flat ground he was standing on suddenly became uneven, mountains and valleys formed where none existed before and the Decepticon had the distinct impression that he'd made a huge mistake.

Slowly, Unicron opened up, shifting away from a sphere and into something else. First, two clawed legs, then two massive fists. Galvatron was struck speechless at the transformation, and only belatedly realised while he'd been threatening Unicron, the monster planet and living god had been drawing closer and closer to Cybertron.

"That, is one, big, robot." Ruby exhaled.

"Of course it transforms, why wouldn't it transform?" Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut.

"For a time, I considered sparing your wretched little planet Cybertron. Now, you shall witness its dismemberment!" Unicron promised and went on the offensive.

"NOOOOO!" Galvatron screamed.

Slamming his hand down on one of Cybertron's cities, the titan crushed the entire thing flat in one blow, ending virtually everyone present.

"Decepticons! We're under attack! Scramble!" Shockwave glanced around nervously as the entire headquarters was shaking, cracks appearing in the walls and ceiling, raining dust on them. A planet that transformed into a giant, he didn't fancy their odds against that thing but it was fight or wait around and die.

Seekers scrambled and took to the skies, engaging Unicron with everything they had, beams, missiles, cannon fire. But the best they could do was just scratch damage that barely marred the surface. Even their most powerful weapons were little more than annoyances at best.

Frustrated with the gnats buzzing around him, Unircron 'breathed' in and sucked several of them into his maw before chomping down, crushing all of them. And when the ship he so generously bequeathed Galvatron was used against him, he simply slapped it aside, sending it careening off into space.

As for Galvatron himself, the Decepticon overcame his stupor, transforming into cannon mode and blasting Unicron in the face. All it did was serve to remind the titan he had yet to deal with the rebellious bot.

Reaching for Galvatron with one hand, he caught the small bot and tossed him into his mouth, swallowing the Decepticon whole.

"He didn't kill Galvatron?" Cinder asked. If it were her, treachery would have been punished with death.

"Why?"

"Two things. One Unicron wishes to shoe Galvatron the wreck of Cybertron before settling things. And there's always the potential that Galvatron might still be useful in the future if he can be broken first." Blank answered.

"So he swallowed him… but then… the Matrix is… inside him now?" Emerald frowned.

"Not the best idea he's had." Mercury agreed.

"I don't believe it…" Springer said. They were expecting to deal with a planet, not a planet sized robot. This was beyond their wildest imaginations.

"Doesn't this remind of anything Kup?" Hot Rod asked. If the old bot had any nuggets of wisdom to share, now was the time.

"Nope, never seen anything like this before." Kup shook his head.

"What happened to moon base two? Where's my dad!?" Ruby asked. Both of Cybertron's moons were conspicuously missing and no sign of Taiyang and the other missing Autobots.

"That's what we're gonna find out." Hot Rod replied, voice brimming with determination.

Unicron noticed their approached and exhaled green flames, catching the Junkion ship in the inferno and damaging it.

"Framed in enamel! Resists fire, rain and corrosion for up to five years. Satisfaction guaranteed." Wreck-Gar grunted as he and the other Junkions rushed to repair the damage from Unicron's attack before they could sink.

Unicron's next blast hit the Quintesson ship, sending the Autobots crashing to the floor. A quick check of the instruments indicated heavy damage across multiple subsystems, their ship wouldn't survive another hit.

Hot Rod grimaced and fought the steering to aim the ship where it needed to go, then pushed the thrusters to the max. The target, Unicron's left eye.

The Quintesson ship rammed into the reinforced glass eye, easily shattering it and punching through into Unicron himself. Once inside the Autobots plus Ruby abandoned ship immediately, spilling out of the doomed vessel as it continued sailing towards its final destination.

Unlike all the other ineffective attacks used against him, having his eye smashed in did hurt Unicron. The titan halted his attack on Cybertron to clutch his damaged eye in pain.

"The eye. Of course the eye. Can't it have been up a nostril or something? Noooo… it's gotta be the eye." Emerald grumbled.

"I keep thinking there's no way they can have a cooler entrance, then they go and prove me wrong." Yang clapped and whistled in awe.

"More importantly, they're in." Blake said.

"One of them get's the Matrix and… it does its Matrixy stuff I guess."

Inside, the Autobots fell through Unicron's body and Hot Rod became separated from the others when he crashed into a protrusion that halted his fall.

"Wait, where's Hot Rod?" Ruby looked around once they landed on solid ground, unable to find her friend anywhere.

"I don't know, but I hope they didn't get him!" Springer fought the urge to curse when claws started coming out to walls to harass them.

"Quick! This way!" Arcee shouted and lead the way forwards, the Autobots double-timing it to stay away from the claws.

"Those must be Unicron's antibodies or something." Jaune muttered.

Hot Rod crashed painfully. Groaning, he slowly picked himself up and looked around. The others were missing and he was alone in… wherever he was. Nasty looking spikes covered practically everything and an oppressive weight seemed to lay on his shoulders, pressing him down.

Making his way through Unicron slowly and carefully, he finally saw a familiar glow in the distance that alleviated his worries. "The Matrix!"

"It will do you no good Autobot. It cannot be opened." Galvatron emerged from the shadows, the Matrix hanging from his neck.

"Not by a Decepticon!" Hot Rod fired back.

"Like it or not, we are allies now! Against a common foe!" Galvatron ignored Hot Rod's hostility. They both had a vested interest in stopping Unicron, Cybertron's continued existence mattered to both of them. If a Decepticon couldn't open the Matrix, then perhaps a temporary truce was in order, until Unicron was dealt with, Autobot, Decepticon, they were meaningless epithets.

Perhaps sensing the danger, Unicron acted immediately, sending a burst of agony Galvatron's way. The Decepticon screamed in pain and sank to his knees.

"Destroy him Galvatron now, or you yourself shall be obliterated."

"Arghg! Of course my master!" Galvatron acquiesced and the pain stopped. Unicron would pay eventually, but for now, self-preservation came first.

Hot Rod backed away when he saw Galvatron's demeanour change all of a sudden. He was already running for cover when Galvatron lifted his arm cannon in his direction.

Galvatron frowned when he lost sight of Hot Rod among the chaotic mess that was Unicron. The Autobot was hiding somewhere, but as long as he held the Matrix, Hot Rod would have to come to him eventually. "Puny Autobot! You lack even Prime's courage!

"So much for cooperation." Weiss sighed.

"Self-sacrifice really isn't a Decepticon thing, is it?"

"It's a very, very, very rare trait." Blank said.

Outside, Unicron continued to tear apart everything sent against him. His one good eye continued firing beams that vaporised his targets on contact. A sizeable chunk of the Decepticon flyers had already been wiped out and even the Dinobots could barely put a dent in him.

"Me Grimlock kick butt!" Grimlock transformed and started attacking from the back. The other Dinobots did the same, utilising missiles, fire breath and just plain old brute force.

"Me Grimlock need new strategy." He muttered after awhile when none of their efforts were even slowing the colossal giant down and they just barely avoided being swatted like mosquitoes.

The Junkion ship were having just as much luck. Unicron shrugged off everything they shot at him, and being too slow to evade just once meant Unicron caught their ship in hand.

Squeezing down, Unicron crushed it to pieces and flung the broken wreckage into space, scattering the Junkions, Perceptor and Blurr, taking them out of the fight.

Halting the slaughter momentarily, Unicron glanced down at his stomach, he could still detect the Autobots running around inside. Galvatron hadn't succeeded in destroying the one Autobot yet and the others were still resisting.

A smidgen of worry grew inside the giant. Too many Autobots too close to the Matrix. Galvatron had no chance of using the Matrix against him, but the Autobots? Their continued survival posed an unnecessary level of risk.

"Yeah, maybe you should have destroyed the Matrix when you had the chance." Emerald snarked.

"Help!" Ruby shouted. A single misstep sent her stumbling and then the wired claws were upon her. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she forced the exo-suit to contort and avoid being ripped to pieces by the razor-sharp claws.

"Ruby!" Arcee shouted and the Autobots halted their escape, doubling back to try and rescue her. Drawing their guns, they took aim and started shooting at the claws, blasting them off while being careful to not hit Ruby with friendly fire.

All the shooting had an unforeseen side effect when their blasts ruptured the wall, causing a deluge of water to flood the tunnel. Hitting with the force of a freight train, it was impossible to maintain their footing and the Autobots and Ruby were washed away.

"Arcee! Kup!" Ruby yelled as the current separated her from the rest, swimming in the exo-suit was impossible and the only thing she could do was try not to throw up from the turbulence.

Finally she was sent over a ledge and down to a lower level. Pulling herself upright, Ruby hastily made her way to dry land before another surge of water could wash her away. The sound of screaming made her look up and she noticed a conveyer belt dropping captive bots into a giant vat of boiling acid to be dissolved alive.

"Urgh. Of course it had to be worse than the Sharkticon pit." Taiyang grimaced.

"So… guess that's Unicron's stomach then." Qrow's expression mirrored Taiyang's.

"DAD!" Ruby's eyes widened in horror when she spotted Taiyang and the other missing Autobots only a few bodies away from a dip in the tank.

"Ruby!"

"Dad! What can I do!?" Ruby panicked.

"Knock down the acid cover!" Taiyang pointed to the supports holding up the cover, if those were destroyed, the cover would fall and keep them from being dropped in.

"How!?" Ruby looked around desperately, trying to find anything to use. The supports were just too high for her to climb up and destroy in time.

"Blast it!"

"But I don't have a gun!"

"Use your exo-suit! Hurry!" Taiyang shouted, the reddish glow of the acid becoming visible in his visor.

Ruby uncovered her suits control panel, hitting random buttons to try and find the built-in weapon systems. After several failures, the suit rumbled and the arms transformed, deploying laser cannons.

"It is also a gun!" Ruby almost started hyperventilating

Firing two blasts, the first missed but the second scored a direct hit, destroying one of the supports and causing the cover to sag. After a moment of resistance, the second support snapped as well and the cover fell forwards, at the same time Taiyang was dropped.

"Dad!" Ruby shouted and screwed her eyes shut, thinking she was too late.

"Ruby! You did it!"

Her eyes shot open and she nearly collapsed from Relief when she saw her dad standing on the acid cover. She'd made it with seconds to spare and all the other Autobots had been saved too.

"Good thing Ruby's a good shot, huh?" Summer teased, watching both Taiyang and Qrow's shoulders slump in relief.

"Come out Autobot! We all must die someday." Galvatron taunted. Hot Rod was still hiding in the shadows instead somewhere. Illumination in this section of Galvatron was piss poor, much of what light there was came from the Matrix, and that unfortunately meant Hot Rod could see him just fine while he was half blinded.

"Not today Galvatron!" Hot Rod rushed the Decepticon from behind and when Galvatron turned to meet him, he lauched a devastating uppercut into Galvatron's jaw. Hot Rod spun on his heels, transformed and took off before Galvatron could find his feet.

After putting some distance between them, Hot Rod circled back around and drove straight at Galvatron, slamming into him from the side and knocking him away. Avoiding the return fire as best he could, he drove until a lucky shot from blew up road under him.

Transforming back into a bot to break his fall, Hot Rod raised his arm and returned fire, striking Galvatron and injuring him slightly. The strategy wasn't working as well as he hoped it'd be, at the rate they were going, Galvatron would get a lucky hit in and scrap him before he took the Decepticon down. Not to mention every second he wasted without getting the Matrix was another second Unicron was using to devastate Cybertron.

Transforming back into a car, Hot Rod shot forwards, trying to run Galvatron over and hopefully knock the Matrix off him.

"Ragh!" Galvatron stood his ground and caught onto Hot Rod on impact. Despite being knocked backwards several feet, he maintained his grip and managed to flip both of them over, forcing Hot Rod to transform back.

Wrapping his hands around Hot's Rod's neck, he started to squeeze. "I will crush you with my bare hands! Die Autobot! First Prime, then Ultra Magnus and now… you. It's a pity you Autobots die so easily or I might have a sense of satisfaction now."

Hot Rod gasped, feeling his neck start to give under Galvatron's relentless grip. Gritting his teeth, Hot Rod fought through the pain and reached for the Matrix. As soon as he made contact, the Matrix's glow intensified a thousandfold and a burst of strength surged through Hot Rod.

Galvatron could scarcely believe his eyes when the Matrix all but blinded him and the Autobot he was killing suddenly gained enough strength to kick him away, tearing the Matrix from his neck.

"Oh! It's activating!" Ruby said.

"I knew it!" Nora was practically bouncing in her seat.

"Ha! Unicron's doomed now." Yang crowed victoriously.

Hot Rod rolled away from Galvatron and got back up. He felt stronger than ever before, the power from the Matrix surged through his circuits, changing him, altering him, improving him. It was time to use the Matrix and it… no someone else was speaking to him through it.

"Arise Rodimus Prime."

"Optimus." Hot Rod, no Rodimus Prime whispered.

"Well now." Ozpin smiled and sipped from his mug.

"No!" Galvatron raised his arm cannon and fired, but the beams simply dissipated on contact, the power of the Matrix keeping Rodimus from being hurt. All his shots did were cause an unhurt Rodimus to drop the Matrix before he could fully open it.

"This is the end of the road Galvatron!" Rodimus pointed at Galvatron before charging him. His body now larger and stronger than before easily matched Galvatron blow for blow until he managed to hoist the Decepticon overhead.

Hurling Galvatron at the wall with all of his strength, Rodimus sent Galvatron crashing through it and flying out of Unicron himself. The Decepticon screamed as his unwanted flight was impossible to control and left him on a vector out into deep space, away from Cybertron.

Rodimus picked up the Matrix and slid his fingers into the grips… and pulled it apart effortlessly. "Now… light our darkest hour!"

The Matrix's central orb remained in the air after its shell was removed. The glow intensified even further and a wave of energy pulsed outwards, speeding through Unicron's insides. Explosions and catastrophic failure followed in the wake of the Matrix's illumination, the Chaos Bringer slowly being destroyed from the inside.

"And the award for worst case of lethal indigestion goes to… Unicron!" Taiyang cheered.

"Yeah! That's what you get for eating us!" Qrow echoed.

"Heh, it's poetic really. That thing's killed so many by devouring worlds, now it's precisely because it ate something that it's going down. Bravo." Roman clapped.

Springer, Kup and Arcee were on the verge of being overrun, with Springer pinned down by a claw when things started exploding, freeing them from the menace. A mix of relief and confusion filled them as they bore witness to the end of Unicron.

"Tai? Ruby?" Springer turned to see them approaching.

"Springer, what's going on!?" Taiyang shouted to be heard over the din.

"No time to answer that now, let's get out of here!" Springer said. He didn't know what was happening to Unicron, but it was a damn good idea to get out before he could take them down with him. The sight of a giant hand tearing through the walls in search of whatever was causing this gave them extra motivation to get out as soon as possible.

As they made their escape, Ruby turned and spotted Rodimus outrunning a series of cascading explosions, noticing the changes he'd undergone.

"Autobots! Transform and roll out!" Rodimus shouted, then shifted into his new alt mode, a large truck for Ruby and Taiyang to hop in.

"I knew you had potential lad." Kup grinned and transformed as well. The Autobots followed Rodimus's lead as he led them to their point of exit, Unicron's one good eye. Smashing through the glass and heading to safety, they made it just in time to witness Unicron's death throes.

"Two for two." Mercury nodded.

"Gimme a break. Why is it always the eye!?" Emerald complained.

"Cause it's easy, and it does a lot of damage." Blank replied.

"Destiny… you cannot… destroy… me!" Unicron fell backwards, lifting off from Cybertron. Smoke trailed from his body and emerald light shone through the haze from ruptures in the titan. One leg already gone, the rest of him wasn't long for this world.

"Destiny!" Unicron screamed in defiance before the Matrix's work finished and his neck exploded, sending his head flying off. The rest of his body convulsed, then bloated and burst in a violent burst of energy.

The planet eater was no more.

"Good riddance." Jaune said, getting a chorus of agreements.

"Let this mark the end of the Cybertronian wars as we march forwards to a new age of peace and happiness!" Rodimus addressed the gathered Autobots, humans and Junkions on Cybertron. The planet was heavily damaged and they'd lost a lot of dear friends, but time would heal those wounds and the scars would eventually fade.

"Till all are one!"

And with that the screens faded to black and the lights came back on.

"I hope you've all enjoyed that viewing." Blank said.

"It was one heck of a ride." Yang said.

"More?" Nora asked hopefully.

"Probably not, viewings of this universe and several associated with it are… complicated and a hassle to prepare." Blank replied.

"Awww…"

"There are still other worlds to see though." Blank said.

"Can we please have one that doesn't involve anymore eye damage!" Emerald begged.

"We'll see." Blank said noncommittally.

"Em, you're going to have to get over that phobia of yours." Mercury tutted and walked off.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to think about having eyes poked out! Sue me!" Emerald fired back.

Blank chuckled as the rest of the audience filed out to refresh themselves. Flickering in place once, he vanished, going off to prepare the next one.