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TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE
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Awakening



As the prison stasis control monitor lit up Repugnus was filled with a sense of depressing nostalgia. He quickly executed precise keystrokes and complex system overrides while reminiscing about his time imprisoned in Deathsaurus’s lab. Beginning the final sequences to free an Autobot in need, he recalled how he had been taken and changed from what he and his fellow Monsterbots, felt was a curse, into a Predacon Insecticlone warrior. No longer was he a freak, but it had cost him his conscious and his companions. The stasis tube emanated a brilliant blue glow as it filled with Energon. Repugnus remembered the spill of his friend’s fluids as he rewarded their heroic rescue mission to save him with an emotionally painful and physically agonizing death. The tube opened with a loud whir, and compressed moisture expanded and filled the room with a cold fog. Repugnus was reminded, as he stared at the waking beast before him, of when he was saved. Even after disabling and killing his own comrades in battle this terrible warrior had by twist of fate, rescued him and restored him to his former glory. Now was the time to repay the debt.

As he recalled the tragic events that lead to this moment, the monster came online. His eyes lit up with a fiery red. His hands opening and contorting as if to invite Repugnus to let them grant his spark a brutal end. Repugnus wasn’t afraid. Even if he was responsible for his saviors imprisonment. He came to offer this captive friend the redemption that he had been granted. Still though, one step back wouldn’t hurt. He took that step. His fragment of concern was detected, and translated into fear by the waking beast. With an explosion of energy the prisoner, who had been held captive for the last five years emerged, consuming the space that once occupied Repugnus. Now on the floor, Repugnus looked up, and was met face to face by the bot that trained him, a bot notorious for his wild fits of rage and mercilessness in battle. Now Repugnus was afraid. Before he could process the situation, his audio receptors were assaulted by the beasts brutal scream: “ME, GRIMLOCK, AWAKE!”

Maximals of all shape and size were falling into the room. Soon Repugnus found himself surrounded. He fell to his knees, with his hands held high, awaiting the stasis cuffs. Grimlock did not wait. He drew his sword and proceeded to do what he does best. “Me Grimlock Hate Puny Maximals!” Grimlock’s sword made short work of the rookie guards that had been assigned to monitor him, and was now pointed at Repugnus. “Grimlock knows you?” Repugnus opened his optic sensors. As he looked over the carnage that had befallen the prison staff, he realized that they had just been maimed and were still functioning. Repugnus thought of how Grimlock was truly an awesome force. “Yes Grimlock, it is I, Repugnus, your pupil, and now former commander of the Monsterbots.” Grimlock chuckled and helped Repugnus up. “Me Grimlock has changed, smaller now, like you. But you don’t change so much as Grimlock does.” Repugnus wanted to tell Grimlock all that had happened to him, but now wasn’t the time. They rushed through the prison corridors bypassing security built to detect Predacons, not Autobots & Maximals. They were nearing an exit, then they would just have to make it underground, and be free. Repugnus was hit hard, but by what he couldn’t tell. He could hear Longhorn calling out his Maximize code. But before his optics could realign Grimlock had trashed the poor bot into a smoking heap on the floor. Repugnus opened the exit. The darkness of the outside world made the dreary prison seem like a sunny beach on some far off planet.

Long had it been since Cybertron glowed with the radiance it had during the watch of the Autobots. “Grimlock, we must escape into the underground tunnels.” Repugnus opened the lid to the underground and motioned to Grimlock, but Grimlock was elsewhere. Triceradon and Striker had located their ex-leader, and were prepared to teach him a lesson. “Your impulsive and foolish nature will finally be your undoing!” shouted an angry Striker. Triceradon added “What your actions have done to the Dinobots, is worse then when Shockwave cast you out with the insecticons.” Grimlock was wounded, not physically, but in his spark. He wasn’t sad by any means. Just concerned that maybe he had gone to far on Earth. But rational thought was not Grimlocks strong suit. Smashing chassis was. Grimlock lunged at his accusers and divided them, as he had planned. He grabbed Striker by the face, and used him as a balance. Pivoting off his heel he jumped up, and grabbed Triceradon by the shoulders with his talons, anchoring them to his collar bars he used them to smash Triceradon into Striker collapsing the two ex-Dinobots. As Grimlock stood over them thinking of a witty remark to gloat with, the world around him lit up. Lights from different sources exploded into luminance and surrounded him. Repugnus, also caught in the spectacle, could feel the warmth of the lights around him, something almost peaceful. Milliseconds felt like minutes in the shining radiance. Repugnus looked at Grimlock, who looked back at him, with a confused, yet comfortable expression.


A shadow pierced the light. It was massive. It was different. Its features were sharp and squared. It had no beast mode. No techno-organic components hindering a sublime robotic life with feelings and emotions, yet this life form had mastered both. This was a truly benevolent being. This was Optimus Prime!

The last time Grimlock was in Iacon, he stood before the Maximal council of Primes. Optimus Primal, Leo Prime and Maximus Primal had sentenced him for treason. A crime that, at the time, he would never confess to. Now standing before Optimus Prime himself. He felt like he was almost ready. “Grimlock, it is good to see you again. Old friend.” Optimus Prime put his hand on Grimlock’s shoulder. It was huge. It made Grimlock feel small. Angry and small. “Yes. Me Grimlock happy see you too Prime.” Grimlock shrugged off Prime’s hand, a little bitter at his size. Not only physically but in the sparks and processors of any Cybertronian. Even his enemies loved him it seemed. “Grimlock, I would like to welcome you back to the Autobots.” A pleasing prospect. “You and the Dinobots will be reinstated, but sadly you already have a mission.” Also a pleasing prospect. “We have managed to repel Unicron with the help of the Mini-cons, but he is far from defeated. The other Autobots and I are going with the Mini-cons to confront him on a distant astral plane in the Beta Quadrant.” Grimlock was confused. “So what me and Dinobots do?” Optimus looked at Grimlock. To anyone else it would seem unchanged. But Grimlock could see a sadness to Optimus’s face. Grimlock, knew, without knowing, that what he was about to hear wasn’t going to be pleasant. “Before we managed to repel Unicron he captured several Maximals and Predacons. Your mission is to rescue these captured Cybertronains and bring them home.” Again Grimlock was confused. “Wouldn’t Grimlock and Dinobots follow Prime?”

Repugnus stepped up. “Well that’s were things get tricky. Our long-range scanners have picked up an echo, created during the last battle with Unicron. A Mini-con named Prime absorbed so much Energon from Unicron that he manifested himself into a duplicate. He was able to help in the battle, but was severally damaged. Last we saw of the Green Unicron it was falling into another dimension.” Grimlock wasn’t smart, but he could do the math on this one. Two Unicrons. One was bad enough, but now there were two, and Grimlock is going to have to face it alone with the Dinobots, a team he hasn’t commanded in years. A team that betrayed him. “One Unicron, Two Unicron. It not matter to Grimlock. We Dinobots crush stupid Unicron, and be back to save puny Autobots.” Optimus smiled at Grimlocks attitude. “I’m sorry we don’t have more time together Grimlock, I would like to hear your side of the story in all that has transpired. Unfortunately there isn’t much time. I must leave to rendezvous with Ultra Magnus at the edge of the dimensional rift before it closes. Perceptor will meet you at your ship on dock 529, and, Good Luck.” Optimus reached out, and Grimlock shook his hand. “Grimlock says you need Luck Optimus. Grimlock no need fortune, Grimlock King!” Optimus chuckled. “Good to have you back Grimlock.” As Optimus walked away Grimlock thought that maybe it was actually good to be back.

Perceptor met Grimlock and Repugnus. Repugnus had secretly envied Perceptor as long as he could remember. Perceptor was a normal looking Autobot, a prized scientist and a proud warrior. Even his alternate mode a specialized scientific research device and it’s unique battle capabilities as a Triple changer tank. He was perfect. While Repugnus was hard to look at for very long by most Autobots, and his unique Transformation wasn’t suited for battle or science. He was far from perfect he felt. Now more then ever he coveted Perceptors body, a frame that sang through the ages as a pure Cybertronian, unaffected by Megatron’s diabolical Techno-Organic virus that created the subservient Vehicons. “Grimlock, Repugnus, your punctuality elates me. But time is incalculably important and haste is emphatically urged.” Grimlock patted Perceptor on the arm. “Good see your face too Perceptor.” Perceptor looked happy and annoyed. “I see your lexical skills are as adept as ever Grimlock.” As the two bots followed Perceptor towards the shuttle bay Repugnus felt the need to speak. “Grimlock, I know I’m not your closest ally or anything, but I want you to know, that I’m sorry.” Grimlock without the slightest hint of concern replied. “What you sorry for bug boy?” As funny as Repugnus thought that nickname was, it told him that Grimlock knew what he was talking about.

“Well.. You know.. The whole stopping you from breaking into the Ark and waking up the Autobots to kill the Decepticons.” Repugnus paused to see if there was a response. “And putting you in Prison for five years. That’s what I’m sorry for.” Grimlock still didn’t acknowledge the emotional severity that Repugnus felt. “You not wrong Repugnus. Me Grimlock sorry. Not sorry to friends that betray him. But sorry Grimlock fail.” As long as Repugnus had known Grimlock, that was as close to an apologetic understanding as they were going to get. “Well Grimlock, had you succeeded in altering the time stream that severely you may have caused a chronological catastrophe, and all your effort would have been for naught.” Perceptor was always good for a pick me up. “If Grimlock destroy everything, then there would be only Peace.” Perceptor obviously didn’t like this logic. “Peace and emptiness you big lugging lizard.” Grimlock looked ready to fight. “Who you call lugging lizard? What means lugging?” Perceptor laughed. “Don’t worry about that Grimlock, worry about what to say to the Dinobots. After what happened to them with Magmatron and T-wrecks. You’re the only one left they felt they could really trust and you abandoned them. But they are ever loyal, that’s why they had Repugnus break you out.” Subtly and for just an instant, you could tell, that that idea confronted Grimlock in his spark and made him uneasy. “Me Grimlock not worry ever!” It got real quiet after that, and even though it was just a short walk, it felt like forever.

The Dinobots sat in waiting. Swoop could tell the others were uneasy. Nervous, Excited, whatever it was, it was making the wait unbearable. “Me Swoop say King Grimlock great.” “Stuff it you old idiot. Out dated morons like you are what cost us many a battle.” Striker shouted. Striker was up in Swoops face, or more that Swoop was in Strikers chest. “You newbie’s don’t know nothing!” Swoop gave him a chest bump. Striker reached back to swing on Swoop, but something grabbed his arm. Next thing Striker knew he was half way across the shuttle bay. “Striker, Triceradon, you are relieved of duty. Report to your commander for further instructions.” Triceradon helped Striker up and hastily replied. “Your our commander you….” Grimlock was already upon him. Triceradon wasn’t concerned, but Striker was worried as Grimlock’s reputation for fits of rage were known planet wide. “Then me Grimlock say you download a filter for your mouth before Grimlock filters his fist in it.” “Alright, I get it, big bad Grimlock is the leader now, yeah!” Grimlock wasn’t pleased, but at least they understood. “Dinobots, me Grimlock have something to say.” Swoop, Slag, Snarl and Sludge looked on with eager ears. “Me Grimlock sorry me go to jail. But me Grimlock back now. And us Dinobots must go kick Unicron butt and save friends.” The Dinobots stared at Grimlock, then each other, and then back at Grimlock. In unison they shouted. “Alright!” Before they could get on the ship, Perceptor had to give them their upgrades and new commands. Gone were the days of the Maximization code.

New Autobot data tracks flowed into them like a relaxing oil bath. The rub signs reconfigured into Autobot sparks. And their Maximal logos were exchanged for the Autobot crest. In the spirit of reunification Perceptor and Repugnus coated them in a familiar new metallic paint that was resistant to enemy scanners. Perceptor stood back with Repugnus and Striker. “Don’t they look younger in these colors?” Perceptor asked Repugnus. “Like Protoforms they do.” Striker laughed. “New paint, same ol’ geezer bots.” Someone punched Striker in the arm. He turned to confront his assailant to find Hard Head walking in. “Hey all!” Grimlock looked at him. Recognized his Transformation and drew his sword. Hard Head didn’t know Grimlock very well. The time they spent under the command of Rodimus Prime and Fortress Maximus was brief. But he knew what was going on. He drew his sword. The two soldiers clashed in a brief, but fierce battle. Sparks flew. The veteran Dinobots cheered on Grimlock, the rookies for Hard Head, all while Perceptor and Repugnus shouted for them to cease fighting. Stalemated the two withdrew and complimented each other on his skills, and awesome beast modes. Perceptor chimed in. “What was that all about?”

Hard Head fielded the question, to avoid the incredibly awkward answer Grimlock was about to give. “Well Perceptor, me and Grimlock are Rapticons. Raptor based beast mode Transformers whose alternate modes and combat skills were inherited from the ex-Predacon Dinobots RNA. In our case Grimlock and me were captured by the Predacons while in our stasis pods and altered to be this way by Megatron and Tarantulas. Similar to Swoop, and well, all the Dinobots. Due to the traditionally unstable nature of Dinobot, mixed with Predacon influence, we Rapticons when in close proximity to one another have an under lying desire to fight each other. It’s not really in our programming and is sort of a inherited trait." “But all know Grimlock is King!” Grimlock banged his chest with a primal fury. Sludge kneeled before Grimlock. “It is a pleasure to meet you King Grimlock.” Grimlock looked confused. “What mean you Sludge? We friends for longtime now.” Sludge looked confused now. Perceptor urged them onto the ship. Grimlock lagged behind. As he ascended up the plank, he stopped and looked at Perceptor. Perceptor knew. “Amnesia, as the humans would call it. His memory banks have been partially formatted. It was a side effect of the new cybernetic brain we had to implant after…” Perceptor trailed off, his tone implied to Grimlock he was supposed to know the answer, but he didn’t. And it angered him. “What? You tell Grimlock now brain bot, or learn to walk without legs.” Perceptor replied sharply. “After you stabbed him in the head!”

Swoop was the most like Grimlock. Devoid of personality, intellect, and emotion. But what he lacked in these areas he made up for with a cunning fighting ability and a youthful energy, always eager to learn and journey to new places. He didn’t concern himself with past doings. To him, his days as a Predacon spy are like a far off dream, one he can only graze the surface of. But he knows quite acutely how it ended. He was ordered, with so many others to attack the Maximals. If they had been Autobots it may have been different, but it wasn’t. Without a connection to his targets, the Dinobot aerial bombardier was able to execute his mission without the slightest hint of conscious or remorse. Even after he accidentally blew up a random comrade he kept going. But little did he know the comrade he had accidentally attacked was in fact an angry beast that had been restrained, until then. Swoop was just coming back around for another routine fly by. He’d already done so much damage there was little left to score in terms of body count, now he was just blowing stuff up. But as he made his approach he could hear a voice. A loud and angry voice and it was getting closer. “Swoop Terrorize!” was all he had time to say before he could audibly process the voice he heard and what it was saying. “Grimlock Terrorize. Grimlock smash!” Swoop was hit hard on the head, and sent spiraling to the ground slamming hard on the surface of Earth. Pistons squeaked and servos whirred at a frenzied pace as Swoop mustered the strength to rise up. He felt the sword tip on his nose.


His optics followed the blade up, past the hand, and arm of his opponent, finally centering on the face. It took a second to focus, but as soon as it was clear. He could see the face of his enemy. It was his friend. “Me Swoop no fear Grimlock!” he shouted. Grimlock’s sword withdrew from Swoop’s nose and was replaced by Grimlock’s face. “Then me Grimlock think Swoop as brave and stupid as ever!” “Yeah!” shouted Swoop. “Yeah!” shouted Grimlock. Face to face. Fists clenched. To an on looker it would appear the rumble of the century was about to take place. Grimlock reached out his hand and helped Swoop up. “What take you so long?” Swoop asked. Grimlock slyly replied. “Me Grimlock was waiting for you.”

Swoop looked over at Grimlock who was positioned in the captain’s chair. He was excited to have him back.

Slag opened the com-link so Perceptor could instruct them during take off. Slag was one of Grimlock’s oldest friends and would follow his commander to ends of the universe. But after what happened on Earth between the Dinobots and Grimlock left him confused. His devotion and loyalty allowed him to forgive Grimlock. But he was also angry. In Grimlock’s previous disappearance Slag and Sludge had grown close. Even worked side-by-side with the Autobot detective Nightbeat to find their Dinobot brothers across time and space. Unfortunately all the Dinobots were captured and experimented on by Predacons. Slag had it the worst. His twisted spark had been led to believe he was the child of Guiledart and Killer Punch. He served them, aided them, and felt a sense of connection and dependence. But before he could be fully immersed in Predacon control, fate intervened. The Predacons had hatched a terrible plan to destroy the humanoids before they could evolve. Enroute to the battleground they were intercepted by Maximals. Slag burned away the surface layer of rookies, and found himself in a joyful pantera. He laughed as the bodies of Maximals burned around him. But a cold wind blew through his hellfire. Darkness crept though the flames. A silhouette of foreboding. Slag had battled Megatron himself, but this was nothing like that. The being before him had no sinister motive. Nothing drove him but rage and madness. Slag lifted his flamethrower towards the unknown attacker. “You make big mistake fire bot!” Grimlock took a special stance.

Like an earthquake of emotion slag was hit full force with recollections of the past. He recognized this stance. Because Grimlock developed it specifically for defense against Slag’s fire. “Dragon Hurricane Strike!” Grimlock leapt skyward with such force it almost knocked Slag over. The Rapticon spinning in the air and forming a funnel of flames and fury. Slag’s circle of fire was sucked into the sky. Predacons surrounded him. Attempting to save him and thwart the enemy. He wanted to tell his newfound comrades to run. But he was caught in awe. He knew they were Predacons anyway. None of them mattered except his parents. Slag looked around feverishly for his parental units. But all he saw was a Predacon ship lifting off in the distance, and then, flames. From all sides. Flames. Surrounding him. Enveloping him. The fire of rage purified the evil in his spark. He collapsed on the ground. Breathless from the awesome power he’d just been exposed to, and confused by his newfound memories of his past, and his true family. Slag was for the first time in his life, helpless for comprehension. He was succumbing to stasis as he’d been in robot mode too long. He wanted help. He needed help. Feeling his systems shutting down he called out the only name he could think of. The bot that raised him. Trained him. Protected him, and defended him at ever turn. “Grimlock!” He shouted in hopeless desperation. As the darkness filled his optic sensors and he slipped into Sleep Mode, he heard an all to familiar voice. “Me Grimlock here fire bot. Me Grimlock take you home now.”

As Perceptor spewed micro-adjustments to the thrusters, and verified variables, and made course corrections, Slag took the ship into Cybertrons orbit. “Ah! Me Slag ready to fire boosters.” He turned to Grimlock for confirmation. With a confidant look on his face Grimlock responded. “Me Grimlock say fire away!”

Snarl looked out across the endless void of space. He gazed upon stars and constellations that he could name, but the other Dinobots couldn’t even acknowledge. Snarl had a few secrets that not many knew. Few knew of his disdain for a Dinosaur alternate mode, and even less knew of his use of Nucleon. While Grimlock embraced the Nucleon energy to gain more physical strength, Snarl allowed it to expand his mind. He was one of the smartest Dinobots now, if not the smartest. Only the rookies could challenge his intellect. Maybe. Grimlock disbanded the Dinobots to join the Pretenders, and it was with much reluctance that Snarl reunited with Grimlock on Nucleon as Action Masters. After that ordeal Snarl went his own way, and found himself working with scientists. Even Wheeljack and Perceptor found themselves working with him. But he had to ask himself. Were his scientific achievements greater then his combat record? The answer seemed to be no. No one knew him as a scientist, only as a warrior. He accepted this. When he was a Predacon Saberback treated him like a slave. When he wasn’t formulating battle strategies or looking for weaknesses in Maximal defense grids, he was off performing some mundane task, or apprehending a traitorous Predacon. He was only sent out to fight once as a Predacon. It would be the first and last time. Snarl was dispatched to monitor the humanoids the night before the Predacons would come to eradicate them. As Snarl lurked around and recorded what miniscule and useless data he could obtain, he heard a rustling in the bushes.

He had nothing to fear from any prehistoric life forms and went in search of the disturbance. He broke through the bushes into a clearing. On the ground lay half a dozen dead Rapticon 1.0 bodies. Megatron and Tarantulas created these non-transforming clones in a previous failed attempt at erasing humanity. Upon investigation he noticed one had odd colors, and wondered if it could be the fallen body of Dinobot himself. No sooner had he leaned over to confirm the corpse did it leap up and attack. The dinosaur grabbed Snarl by his throat and shook him about violently. He reached for his gun, but with a swift kick the dinosaur disarmed him. It hurdled him into a nearby tree. Snarl’s internal gyroscope was offline. His balance was off, and standing was proving difficult. The dinosaur charged at him. Snarl was smarter then any beast! He grabbed the raptors mouth, and was proceeding to rip its jaw in twain, when the head itself split in two. Snarl closed his optics expecting a shower of blood and guts from an organic dinosaur. What he felt was a punch to the face. He collapsed on the ground unable to stand due to incorrectable balance errors in his processor, and his optic sensors being offline. Blinded he taunted his attacker, and lunged about desperately. His efforts were for naught, as all he was catching was air. He was getting low on Energon and needed to rest and recharge before returning to Predacon base. “What’s wrong with you? Let’s go back to base before you die.” A familiar voice called out from somewhere in the distance.

It was that brat Hard Head. A rookie Predacon brought in by Magmatron. “Forget that. I’d rather perish out here from exposure then go back knowing you defeated me.” Snarl was tired of the Predacons and their deceptive ways. “What do you mean I just got here to relieve you of your post?” Though he was disoriented and blinded he could hear a tone of truth in Hard Heads words. “Then who was I just fighting?” As he embraced the silence awaiting Hard Heads response there was none. Just the sound of metal on metal, metal hitting wood, and wood crashing to the ground. As soon as it was, it was gone. Snarl was slightly concerned. “Hard Head? Are you dead?” Snarl laughed as he felt around on the ground. He felt something sharp. A sword. He picked it up and flailed it about. “Whoever you are, just try and take me down!” He heard a footstep and swung in that direction, he hit nothing, but felt a breeze brush past him. He swung again to no avail. He gathered himself, and assumed a sword-fighting stance. How could he? Why did he know this style? When did he train with a sword? His confidant pose gave way to uncertainty as his processors accessed data files long thought lost. Snarl collapsed, dropping the sword. “Grimlock?” Wouldn’t that be funny Snarl thought? “You Snarl smarter then look.” Snarl laughed, and reached out his hand. Grimlock took his hand and helped him to his feet. Snarl could tell Grimlock was supporting him to walk while carrying an offline Hard Head. Even with all they’d been though Snarl was still amazed at Grimlock’s strength. “Thank you.” Snarl was still blind, but imagined Grimlock was smiling at him.

As Snarl entered the newest calculations and course corrections provided by Perceptor he was able to confirm a lock on the dimensional rifts location. “Location confirmed, soon we’ll rip Unicron a new exhaust port!” Snarl looked at Grimlock and Grimlock smiled.

“Man those 5 idiots are gonna’ git us kilt.” Striker was pacing about in the back section of the ship, between the mess haul and the war room. “I am a strategist! I should be helpin’ them formulate plans! Unicron isn’t as simple as say. Megatron.” He said aloud to no one in particular. “Why don’t you go chase your tail Striker, do something other then moan while I’m watching TV ok?” Striker looked at Triceradon. With all they had been through together, this was probably the lowest point in their careers, and their friendship. Both of their former commanders the ex-Predacon Magmatron and T-Wrecks had been killed in action. Striker was closer to Magmatron then T-wrecks, but only because he had been assigned to the team by Leo Prime to monitor Magmatron’s behavior. When T-Wrecks took over after his death Triceradon, his closest friend became 2nd in command, and Striker was just another soldier. T-Wrecks and Triceradon were as close as Optimus Prime and Ironhide. So when T-Wrecks went missing, Triceradon took it pretty hard. “Hey, Striker is it? Why don’t you help me?” Striker slinked into the war room to find Hard Head running system checks on the weapons. “What ya need Hard Head?” Hard Head put his hand on Strikers shoulder and lead him over to a Holo-Desk. With a bit more force then necessary Hard Head sat Striker down. “Do you really know Unicron?” Hard head asked, in a very serious tone.

Striker confidently replied. “Yeah! Of course I know Unicron, I was only like, there when he possessed the body of Galvatron and tried to infect Cybertron only to be thwarted by Maximus Primal and Leo Prime, like, yeah I know Unicron.” Hard Head wasn’t amused. “Well kid, I was also there. Not on the same squad as you, but I was there, and I can tell you. That was nothing.” Striker didn’t like his demeaning tone, and slammed his fist on the table. “What you mean nothing? That weren’t nothing! That was somethin’!” Hard Head rose to his feet. “That wasn’t Unicron. That was just a fragment of Unicron. Part of his spark that lives inside Galvatron.” Hard Head flipped a switch activating the Holo-Desk. It lit up in a brilliant blue and orange. Projecting the images of two planets. The blue one was Cybertron. Striker knew that. But what was that freaky looking orange one. “Striker. This is Unicron.” Hard head remarked pointing at the orange planet hologram. “What?” Striker found this a little hard to swallow. “Grimlock and the other Dinobots, and most Autobots can confirm this. Even civilian Cybertronians, the older ones. They know.” Striker needed more convincing. “How do they know?” Hard Head smirked. “It’s funny you ask that, given that there is a rumor about you, that you seem to embrace, that says you’re an original Dinobot.” Striker smiled awkwardly. “Well, I am all original!” They laughed. “Really though Hard Head, how do they know?” Hard Head activated the Holo-Desks data drive.

It played footage of a massive hand slamming into Cybertron and Autobots and Decepticons fighting a planet sized titan. “In the year 2005 Unicron was called by the power of the Matrix to Cybertron. He planned to destroy us all with the help of the Decepticons. If not for the bravery of Rodimus Prime, and the sacrifices made by the Autobots that day, Cybertron would have been consumed.” Striker was kind of shocked. He had heard stories, but never thought them true. “Wait a second. 2005, you weren’t even online in 2005 Hard Head, how do you know about it?” Hard Head didn’t seem himself anymore. “While I was activated well before 2005, I didn’t encounter Unicron that day. I was training at Autobot Academy, and as an instructor I had to see to it that my cadets were safe. That is were I met my future teammates. Chromedome, Highbrow and Brainstorm. We formed an awesome team, and had some pretty crazy adventures, even pioneering Headmaster and Targetmaster technology with the help of the Humans and the Nebulons.” Striker thought that if he were telling the story, he’d be generally proud. But Hard Head was just depressing. “As you probably know. There are no more Headmasters.” Hard Head looked Striker dead in the optics with an expression so serious he felt it in his spark. “Because Unicron ate them.” Striker was shocked. “I was the lone survivor.” Striker felt for the poor guy and understood why he was upset with this mission. “I’m sorry to hear that Hard Head. But I tell you what? This group of Dinobots ain’t going down without a fight.” Hard Head gave a hopeful smile. “Well alright!”

Triceradon had lost interest in his program a while ago. He knew he’d been on the outs with Striker as of late, and wasn’t happy with his behavior. But he was being whiney. Watching him walk away made him antsy. Triceradon ventured into the war room to get some insight from Hard Head before talking to Striker and the others. “Hey I heard what you were talking about with Striker.” Hard Head spun around surprised to find Triceradon. “Which part?” “About you friends. The Headmasters. I was curious if any of them were really your friends and not just your teammates?” “Well Highbrow was older then me, a different generation of spark. He hung out with guys like Prowl and Mirage. Brainstorm was a scientist and a flyer. So he’d run around with Wheeljack and Skyfire on crazy expeditions which lead to experiments, which usually lead to a rescue mission for them.” The two laughed. Triceradon remembered before he left for his last Dinobot mission with T-Wrecks, they had some fun times like that. “Chromedome was younger then me, but he was my closest friend. We trained together, had plenty of adventures, got in trouble with the guards, and kicked a lot of con butt. After I joined the Autobots, he went into racing. We both mellowed out a lot. Then one day, I got a new group of recruits to train, and all those guys were in it. We bonded. Then Unicron attacked and we decided to form a team. We didn’t have a name until we crashed on Nebulos and became the mighty Headmasters!” Together they laughed.

“T-Wrecks was my friend. He was the one that got me, and most of the other Junior Dinobots out of the Predacons before we could become full-fledged terrorists. We united under Magmatron’s command. But someone betrayed him, and he was killed with some of our Dinobot brothers by a Decepticon monster. The Dweller.” Hard Head had heard about this creature during his days with the Headmasters. “After that we were lead by T-Wrecks, and I was his lieutenant. We were just doing a routine investigation of some weird planet, when it disappeared taking T-Wrecks and Terranotron.” Hard Head was curious. “That’s strange, what did the planet look like?” “It was a twisted orange planet with rings or tentacles, I can’t really remember.” Hard Head was concerned. “Triceradon, was this the planet you saw.” Hard head activated the Holo-desk. The orange glow reflecting on the two bots faces. Triceradon’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah! That was the planet.” Hard Head looked him in the optics, and sternly said. “That is Unicron.” The atmosphere grew ominous.