"Strange... a Fuzor named after me... except... I sound like one of those knights the humans had in their history, right?" Silverbolt asked.

"Yes, you are. And if I recall, those knights were honorable warriors, though they were of questionable morals and motives." Knockout replied.

"I see..."

"Omega Scion, shall we have the next viewing?" Megatron asked.

"Yeah, I wanna see the Maxies beat back the Preds like they used to!" Warpath said.

"Though, that's gonna be hard cause they're outnumbered 2 to 1, kid." Ironhide reminded.

"Who gives a scrap?! We've been through that in the war, we hope the Maxies can survive here like we did!"

"In three...two...one..."

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Maximal strike force was then pushed back to cover.

"Whooaoaa man..! Times like this I really miss th' boss monkey!" Rattrap commented, reloading his machine pistol.

"I'll fly overhead! Get the drop on 'em!" Cheetor proposed.

"An excellent flanking manuever. Yeah, with just one teensy little problem." Rattrap tossed a rock upwards which was grinded down to pieces by Predacon gunfire.

Unwilling to concede even at overwhelming odds, Dinobot asked. "Well, a bot can hope, can he not?"

"No, he can't. Not when they are now outnumbered by so many Predacons." commented Ironhide.

"You're being salty like in Crosus. Have faith, the Maxies are gonna make it!" assured Warpath.

"I doubt that kid. Best chance they got is fall back and get Sentinel to help them out." Ironhide replied.

"Hey!" Cheetor objected, but as the Predacons were upon them, he, Dinobot and Cheetor fired their weapons as much as they could.

"Excellent! Reinforcements have arrived!" Megatron said appeased by the arrival of more of his minions, then pressed forth the sustained Preadacon assault. Then he ordered "Prepare for a full attack!" they prepared their weapons

"What!?" Silverbolt asked. "We outnumber them more than two to one!"

"Yes."

"We have twice their firepower!"

"Yes."

"Well, we should give them a chance to surrender!" Silverbolt proposed, yet he was met with a knockdown by Megatron himself.

Silverbolt was fuming in fury seeing his descendant getting abused again.

"No. Question my command again and I will tear you limb from mismatched limb, fuzor." Megatron pressed. "I wish the enemy destroyed quickly and without mercy. And would anyone else like to object?"

"Well, I..." Quickstrike got picked up by Megatron.

"Yesssssss?" he asked.

"Does it hafta be quick?" Quickstrike asked. "'Coz once we cripple'em I'd kinda like it' enjoy their sufferin' fer a while." Megatron dropped him. And he replied "I like how you think, Quickstrike. But business before pleasure." then he ordered "Spread out! And keep them pinned!"

The Predacons continue firing at the Maximals.

In the Axalon, a stasis pod was revealed to be hooked into the device Rhinox was interred.

[Second warning. Unit Rhinox's core consciousness grows dangerously distant. Chances of return decreasing...]

"What the heck is he doing? Is he bringing back someone from that stasis pod?!" Air Raid asked.

"Yes he may, Air Raid. But whom may I ask... I have not known yet." Prime replied.

"Rhinox better make it quick cause Rattrap, Cheetor and Dinobot can't keep the Preds busy forever." Ironhide said.

Back in the firefight, Tarantulas hissed "Hurry, witch! This cannot keep Megatron occupied forever! What is taking so long?!" as Blackarachnia remained in the Darksyde, digging through every of Megatron's belongings in his quarters no less.

"Really? My 'descendant' brought with him an assembly of TOYS? Is he really that childish?!" asked a baffled Megatron.

"Well, if you told me what we're supposed to be looking for..." Tarantulas took control of Blackarachnia to remind her. "The Golden Disks!"

"Dinobot took them!" Blackarachnia retorted.

"Fool! Megatron would have made a backup copy... Yes!" Tarantulas realized "He stored it in his private records." Blackarachnia answered as she converged to Megatron's personal computer which was damaged by Dinobot himself. "Quickly! See if any of the data can be recovered!" he ordered, pushing Blackarachnia to move to Megatron's private records.

The Predacon crime lord grows suspicious of Tarantulas' ulterior motives and asks "To whom is that underhanded arachnid speaking? I detect no radio transmissions..."

"I will give him the benefit of the doubt, as so the humans say. Since he can't seem to read psychic links amongst his minions." Megatron commented.

"These Maximals are fools!" Silverbolt reported. Even as the Predacons flanked their enemies, the Maximals themselves persisted and kept fighting against overwhelming odds.

"THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT MAXIES!" Warpath yelled.

"We've flanked their position! They should retreat...but still they fight!" Silverbolt finished his report.

"The Maximals are many things, but fools they are not." Megatron activated his scanners and seeing the trajectory leading to their position and between the Axalon, he realized "They're trying to prevent us from reaching their base!" then he ordered "Waspinator! Silverbolt! Take to the air and circle wide! Converge on the Maximal base! And hurry!" both aforementioned Predacons complied and took flight. They flew past Maximal positions.

"Megatron has deduced our strategy, such as it was." Dinobot realized.

"Yeah, well now we need a new one, an' pronto! 'Cause if those two make it to the base before we do, Rhinox is one dead battery!"

"Curses! Megatron saw through their plan!" Dreadwing commented.

"Get back to base, Maxies! Rhinox can't cover himself while he's in that thing!" Warpath said.

[Unit Rhinox: core conciousness fading...]

"Time's... running out." Rhinox innately surmised as his consciousness flies through the deepest through space and time, in a plane never imagined before. "But it's gotta.... be here... in... the other side of the Matrix!"

"The Matrix?!" asked Swindle.

"No way!" commented Vortex.

"Sadly, yes way." Shockwave replied. "In all of my years as a scientist, I was never this close to the Matrix as Rhinox is in now..."

"Whatever Rhinox seeks in the Matrix, he had better hurry up. Because those fools are approaching at his door." Predaking added.

"We gotta stop'em from reaching the base!" Cheetor suggested.

"Your department, skycat." Rattrap then ordered next "Fire up! We'll be right behind ya!"

"My weapon is depleted." Dinobot notified, referring to his now empty shotgun.

"I need a running start..." the cheetah Transmetal suggested.

"Crimeny, the pair o' ya! I gotta do EVERYTHING!?" Rattrap whined then kicked Cheetor up to the sky, prompting the latter to transform and fly back to the Axalon as fast as he can.

Some of the audience chuckled.

Rattrap then transformed "As for you... hop on!" Dinobot initially refused, but reluctantly agreed.

As both airborne Predacons take to the skies...

"Waspinator is in command! Waspinator will lead!"

"Yes. Well, since you're the one who knows the way-" Silverbolt then ran into a braking Waspinator head-on. "Go ahead! Lead on!"

Silverbolt laughed at seeing his descendant run into the descendants of his former enemies.

"You not tell Waspinator what to do! Waspinator in command!"

"Okay, fine." Silverbolt then asked "What is your command?"

"Doggybot follow Waspinator. Waspinator will lead." the wasp Predacon repeated.

Meanwhile, Dinobot expressed discomfort in riding Rattrap.

The Autobots, well, some of them, had a mirth of laughter, the Dinobots mostly.

"To think that a warrior must become a... a rat patrol." he groused.

"Oh get along, Dino-boy! At least it's better than running in Beast Mode!" Grimlock assured.

"You just handle that firehose, fenderhead, and leave th' drivin' t' us!" Rattrap replied as he blazed in full speed back to the Axalon.

"They're running! All Predacons advance!" Megatron ordered as he boosted forward.

"We're moving. Have you found anything of importance yet?" Tarantulas asked Blackarachnia.

"Most of the recent records have been scrambled." the black widow Predacon was busy working on the personal computer of her lord. "There might be some earlier trax..."

"What is it!? Tell me what you've found! What is it?" To avoid suspicion from his fellow Predacons, Tarantulas fired at the fleeing Rattrap and Dinobot.

"No!" Blackarachnia felt Tarantulas' psychic grip pressuring her.

"Do not resist me, witch!" Tarantulas hissed. "Let me see!" he demanded. Rattrap circled back, allowing Dinobot to get a shot off, which Tarantulas dodged. He returned fire, but Dinobot let off a shot which caused another boulder to fall on him.

"Oh no!" he yelled before he got crushed.

Most of the Autobots had a round of laughter. Even if Tarantulas was upgraded to a Transmetal, he's still vulnerable to being crushed like an insect.

"All that upgrades, and he still get squished like a bug!" Skyquake shook his head.

"Tarantulas...? Yo, Legs!" Blackarachnia tried to respond, but Tarantulas would not return it. She realized the situation "Free! For a second anyway. Computer! Download and triple-encrypt, start!" as Megatron's computer began to upload information into her head.

Meanwhile, under heavy fire from both Megatron and Inferno, Dinobot then turned the tables around by firing at the latter, causing his systems to go out of control and then crash into his royalty. The result had both Predacons falling to the ground, which both Rattrap and Dinobot barely avoided. In addition, it had both their heads swapped in opposition into their bodies, which Megatron then strikes Inferno for laughing at him.

The audience could not hope but laugh harder than that.

"Imagine if we had seperate heads into each other's bodies! That would be a blast!" laughed Wheeljack.

Swindle was taking notes for his next prank.

Tarantulas struggled to throw off the boulder smothering him and asked. "Blackarachnia! What did you discover? Answer me, witch!" he demanded repeating his psychic grip over her.

"The datatrax was boobytrapped, I'm afraid." Blackarachnia lied. "It's completely destroyed. Shame." but in her back, revealed a smoking gun. She destroyed the computer.

Tarantulas groaned in anger, believing he reached a dead end.

"Look at that. Airachnid did the same thing when she withheld information regarding the wherabouts of Megatron here to us back on our Decepticon days." said Shockwave.

Soundwave innately frowned.

As soon as Cheetor reached the Axalon.

"Sentinel! Stand down!" he ordered. "Autoguns online!"

[Unknown signature detected.] the defenses immediately fire at Silverbolt who was chasing Cheetor.

"Silverbolt TERRO-" cut off when Sentinel fired upon him, sending him down to the ground. He tried to get up, but he was pinned by Cheetor's whip.

"Don't even move." Cheetor threatened.

"Hey, ya cloud-kitty!" Rattrap soon arrived with Dinobot. "We woulda been here sooner if Dino-butt wasn't such a porker..."

"The vilest ride of my life." Dinobot complimented.

"So get on with it." Silverbolt dared the Maximals. "Destroy me."

"Don't you dare destroy him, Dinobot!" snarled Silverbolt.

"Naaaaaaaah." Rattrap refused as he and Cheetor deflected Dinobot's blow that could have cleaved his head off. "It's not what Optimus would have done." Cheetor reasoned.

Bumblebee smiled. Just like how he learned so much from Optimus, Cheetor is doing the same with Primal. "I'm glad to know that..."

Prime agreed as much.

"Maximal sentiment." Silverbolt surmised. "I must have been defective to defect."

"No. You were on the wrong side of things, grandson." said Silverbolt.

"Get bowser-boy to the CR Chamber for repairs." Rattrap ordered, blocking a hand in Dinobot's chest. "I'll check on Rhinox."

"Snrk, bowser-boy..." snickered Skylynx.

Inside, as Dinobot carried Silverbolt in the R-Chamber, Rhinox felt a shocking phenomenon that rocked his chassis to the core. Rattrap then moved to check on the rhino Maximal laying still in a trance in the Matrix...

"Rhinox!" Not a reply came, so Rattrap repeated. "RHINOX!"

The machine briefly powered down, slowly interrupting Rhinox's journey to the Matrix.

"Yo, HORNHEAD!" shouted Rattrap. Rhinox woke up.

"Am I back?" he asked confused.

"Th' machine said so. but ya had me worried for a second." Rattrap replied. "Where'd ya go, anyway?" he asked.

"Where... all are one." Rhinox cryptically replied.

"Oh, where a... What?!" asked a surprised Rattrap, not comprehending what Rhinox was saying. Before long, an explosion rocked the Axalon, Rhinox assured "I'll explain later. Let's just hope my trans-ion trail lasts long enough!" Before long, Cheetor hailed...

"We've got a full-scale Pred attack! And the shields are failing!"

"Oh great." Rattrap sighed. "We're all gonna die."

"It happens. But miracles happen too. Let's go." Rhinox ordered.

"Rhinox has got to have a plan in this right? He couldn't have just went all the way to the Matrix for nothing!" Smokescreen said.

"If he did, he would have prayed for a miracle. And I think it is coming right now." assured Ultra Magnus.

"Let us hope, friends. What Rhinox had come for in the Matrix will come to pass. And deliver the Maximals to their salvation when destruction is upon them." Prime assured, soothing Smokescreen's worries.

"That's what I'm kinda afraid of, sir." Smokescreen nervously replied.

"Enough! There's no point talking about this!" Jetfire argued. "We've got to see what did Rhinox hope for come alive or something."

"All Predacons! OPEN FIRE!" Megatron ordered, as a barrage of missiles strike at the shield of the Axalon, weakening it critically.

[Shield failure in 18 millicycles.] Before long, came a burst of purple energy giving power to the stasis pod. Out of it came a strange shadow walking in the halls of the Axalon. Along, Silverbolt, having recovered, looked upon the shadow with awe and shock. The Predacon's barrage eventually causes the shield to power down, as the Maximals greet their foes.

"It's us or the Preds now."

"Ya know my vote!" Cheetor agreed.

The Maximals opened fire. But they soon ran out of ammo, or suffered from weapon jam.

"Oh no." said Smokescreen.

"Predacons! ATTACK!"

The Predacons unleash a barrage, weakening the Maximals to critical states.

"Oh no... Comes... the dawn." Rhinox groaned, weakened by a hole in his chest.

"And...our doom." Dinobot replied as his forearm fell apart.

"Move out, Predacons. We've waited a long time for this, yes. Let us be close enough to enjoy it." Megatron ordered. As the Predacons converged on their wounded foes.

"At least... we go... with honor." Dinobot concluded, unafraid and unwilling to look away at his demise.

"No..." gasped Bumblebee.

"Tell me that isn't the end of the Maximals!" yelled Warpath.

"Finish it." Megatron dared. But he was cut off by an explosion.

"What the?!" asked Air Raid.

"Is it Tigatron and Airazor?" asked Sideswipe

"No! Guys, it's... someone else." Bumblebee answered.

"Well, that's just prime." A FAMILIAR voice rang out. On top they saw...

"Big bot?!" asked Cheetor.

"Yes! It worked!" Rhinox praised.

The Autobots, except for their leadership, cheered and rejoiced at the rebirth of Optimus Primal.

"PRIMAL'S BACK! HE'S BACK! YES!!! THANK PRIMUS, HE'S BACK!" rejoiced Warpath.

"GET THEM PRIMAL! BEAT THOSE FAKE-PREDS TO SCRAP!" yelled Grimlock.

"I knew it." Prime replied with a smile.

"Primal! Destroy him!"

The Predacons opened fire at the reborn Optimus Primal, but their weapons prove futile against his Transmetal shield.

"You're no match for Optimus Primal, Preda-frauds!" taunted Bulkhead.

"Come on Primal! Crush those wimps to junkyard scrap!" yelled Wheeljack.

Dreadwing and Skyquake looked with smirks on their faces, knowing too well how it would end up.

"My turn." Primal unfurled a shoulder-mounted autocannon and equipped the new weapon, took aim and fired, unleashing a rapid barrage that sent the terrified Predacons routing disastrously.

"NOW THAT'S A NEW WAY OF KA-BLAM!" cheered Warpath. "BLOW THEIR HIDES A NEW HOLE, PRIMAL!"

"NEW GUNS! PRIMAL'S GOT NEW GUNS!" Bumblebee went into mad rant about Primal's new weapons, until Ratchet then cuts him off...

"Calm down Bumblebee. We know he has new weapons, but I don't think that's all he has right now."

"Then I wanna see what new weapons Transmetal Primal's got in his arsenal!"

"And you will, but please, for Primus' sake, just calm down!"

"All right!"

"Go Big Bot!" cheered both Rattrap and Cheetor.

"Flight is no longer your advantage, Optimus!" Megatron transformed and took flight after seeing Primal take off to flight in his newly created hoverboard.

"He's got a board!" said Air Raid.

"Seems like flight's always been with Primal the day he took up Prime-Jet courses! I love it!" smirked Silverbolt.

"Now why does that sound familiar..." Knockout scratched his chin in wonder.

Primal soon landed, looking at the Predacons that aimed their weapons still at him, yet a glare from him prompted them to not even pull the trigger out of fear and surprise.

"Your turn to burn, Optimus Primal!" Inferno fired not before, but Primal dodged, prompting Inferno's shots to curve and hit Tarantulas and Quickstrike instead.

He then looked steadily in a showdown with Primal, momentarily as time slowly passes. All while Megatron looked upon, unwilling to interrupt.

"Oohohoh, just like those Western movies the humans have. Humanity has it's perks of amusement that I enjoyed!" Knockout relished with nostalgia.

As both Inferno and Primal neared hands on their weapons, they drawed, but Primal raised his hand cannon and fired first eliminating Inferno in the equation.

"Primal shot first!" quipped Knockout.

"Hello and goodbye, Transmetal Optimus Primal!" Megatron commented preparing his shoulder cannons. However, he was interrupted by a kick to the face by Silverbolt, sending him falling to the crevasse below.

"YES!" cheered Silverbolt.

"Finally! Maxi-Bolt's come to his senses!" Jazz exhasperated, waving his arms at the screen.

"I knew that wolfy-bird's too pure-sparked to even be a Predacon in the first place!" Grimlock agreed.

"That aside, that was quite a strike out for Pred-Megs!" Cliffjumper joked.

Everyone just groaned at his joke or ignored it.

"That was embarassing." Arcee said, cringing at Cliffjumper's joke.

"Consider that