Omega Scion spoke next "That aside, are you willing to see what happens next?"

"We are ready, Omega Scion." Prime replied.

"If so, then prepare in three... two... one..."

Cheetor and Primal landed in the ground, where they eventually returned fire at Ravage's cruiser, damaging the ship substancially as it veered away from both Maximals.

"Oh yeah, we bad!" Cheetor complimented. Until Primal was knocked down by a blast from Quickstrike standing over Rampage hollering "Well, howdy!" as Rampage lumbers towards the Axalon firing it's missiles at it's shield.

"With Ravage at their side, the Predacons are giving a sustained assault. Eliminating that ship may be the best way to weaken the Predacon assault." Prime mused.

"That depends on who can destroy that cruiser, Commander. Small arms may not be enough." Ultra Magnus pointed out.

Aboard, Rhinox continued making damage assessments. "Shield won't take that for long!" until another missile strike rumbled the interior, shaking Rattrap. The damages prove too significant that it caused an emergency to blare in the Maximal ship.

"Just so it's for long enough!" Rattrap pressed a few buttons to reveal a weapon rack containing remote charges. "Get ready t' drop 'em a sec!" and started equipping the charges.

"What are you doing?" Rhinox asked.

"This mouse is goin' cat-hunting!" Rattrap then equipped a fusion cutter "Knievel Mode!" and transformed, boosting out of the Axalon shouting "Maximum scorch!" through a makeshift ramp created by the damages. Once the shield was lowered, Rattrap then transformed landing on Ravage's cruiser.

"Well, Optimus, there may be your answer." Ratchet pointed out.

"Landing in the cruiser is the start. Now Rattap has to do is either find a weakness or break his way through." Prime replied.

While Rattrap prepared the fusion cutter to carve open a hole inside "External autoguns online!" Rhinox commanded. Prompting the autoguns to fire at Rampage while Quickstrike keeps busy with Primal and Cheetor but the autoguns fire a blast striking at Quickstrike at the back. Cheetor then fires, dismounting Quickstrike off Rampage as the Predacon Fuzor was then left as fragments under the psychotic protoform's treads.

Bulkhead smirked.

"HA! That's what you bugs deserved! To be squished beneath the treads of tanks and cars!"

"Technically, Warpath, the treads of cars are called wheels." Wheeljack corrected.

"Who cares Jack?! It's more fun running bugs under!"

Wheeljack shook his head. Warpath loved running Insecticons underneath his wheels back in Cetapron, which was between the Sea of Rust and Kaon itself.

But they were both eliminated by Megatron himself, as Ravage's cruiser passes forth. Rattrap manages to make an intrusion but the fusion cutter runs out of Energon.

"Aw right, now, ya stinky Decepticon piece o' cheese, let's see how ya stand up against th' stainless steel rat!" he transforms and rips off layers of metal with his teeth as the cruiser intensifies blasting the Axalon's shielding.

"Hurry up Rattrap! That shield won't last longer!" to everyone's shock, that wasn't Warpath, that was Arcee.

"You heard your great great-aunt rat! Blow that 'Con ship to pieces now!" Warpath unsurprisingly agreed.

[Shield power critical. Failure imminent.]

"Well, that's just dandy." Rhinox blurted out sarcastically, as one last blast, not from Ravage but from Rampage's heavy rocket launcher then prompted the shields to deactivate. Rhinox appeared soon after and hailed a barrage from his chainguns of doom at Rampage, bringing him down several notches. Rampage retaliated, prompting Rhinox to take cover. He dived exchanging fire with the psychotic Predacon conscript.

Ravage then hailed "The Maximal's shields are down! Tarantulas! All power to weapons!"

Tarantulas snickered insanely then pressed a button that unfurled a warhead, then pressed a couple of levers that diverted the ship's power to the warhead launcher.

"OH NO! NOT THE WARHEAD!" screamed Bumblebee.

"WHAT'S TAKING RATTRAP SO LONG?!" asked Arcee impatiently.

"All power to weap..." Tarantulas lowered another level as the cruiser prepared it's cannons once more yet "WHAA?" he screamed as Rattrap came down. "Yo, stringbutt! Got a pair o' belly bombs here with yer name right on em! Eat 'em an' weep!" and threw the charges at Tarantulas' hands. Then Rattrap waved him goodbye and literally jumped ship.

Tarantulas screamed and panicked as he couldn't get the charges off his hands, which immediately detonated, causing a chain reaction that then destroyed the ship. Ravage stood up from his seat as the explosion nears upon him and yells "Decepticons FOREVER!!!" as it then consumed him, obliterating his cruiser.

The Renegatrons yelled "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!" as they raised their fists high in memory of the Minicon.

Even Soundwave was in it, to honor the brave Minicon.

Their former enemies didn't seem surprised.

"Heaaaaaaaads uuuuuup!" Rattrap yelled riding the warhead for safety.

"KAAAAAAAAAAA-BLAAMMMMM!" Warpath cheered.

"No!" Megatron gasped.

As the cruiser crashed, Rattrap bailed out safely, but Rampage ran for his life as the destroyed shipwreck neared upon him. He was cornered in a rock formation, but thankfully for him, the cruiser's size proved it stopped short of it's collision course towards him. Just as he laughed at what he considered pathetic, the warhead suddenly launched towards him, it's propulsion systems ignited.

Warpath chortled and cheered for more explosions.

Rattrap ran to safety as the explosion knocks him clear of the blast zone.

Just as they believed it was over, the Maximals saw Rattrap flying towards them, prompting Rhinox to catch him.

"My hero." Rattrap sarcastically replied, as Rhinox dropped him. "Oh get down." the rhino Maximal replied.

The young Autobots laughed their afts off. Again.

"Well, there goes our ride home." Cheetor sighed.

"Guess it's over for now." Rhinox pointed out.

"No chance." Primal cuts off. "Something turned that Decepticon against us. And Megatron isn't headed back to base. We've got to stop him. Flight mode!" then transforms flying after Megatron. Cheetor did the same but he flew ahead. But not before the latter took Rattrap with him. Before Primal would depart he beckoned "Rhinox. Get on." While the science officer was unsure it was safe because of his weight, he relented and rode with Primal.

"Gotta move fast, Maximals! If Megatron's found what I think he's found, then this battle is only just beginning!" Primal announced as they took off to flight right after Megatron.

Prime felt silent. If there is something the future Megatron had discovered, then it may not sound good for the Maximals at all.

More laughter came and went to the majority of the audience.

Meanwhile, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia spent their time alone gazing at the stars after digging their way in the destroyed site fruitlessly.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"Ohohohohoho! A date! I can't believe there be a date!" Jazz cooed.

Silverbolt frowned. Arcee just wanted to rip out her own optics at the sight of this.

"That star... well, planet, really. It's... Venus. It reminds me of you." Silverbolt replied.

"Hot, poisonous and deadly?" Blackarachnia chuckled. "You're sweet.

"No, no wait!" Silverbolt tried to retorted believing he had given her the wrong impression "That... That's not what I meant..."

"Liar. THAT is what you meant about her, Maxie-Bolt!" Jazz teased.

As the Maximals continued shadowing Megatron, Primal ordered "Stay with the group. When Megatron lands we'll need all our fire-power."

Cheetor asked "Where's he headed, Big Bot?"

"To the beginning of everything, Cheetor." Prime replied in a foreshadowing tone "And quite possibly... the end."

"The beginning of everything and possibly- no... it can't be."

"What is it, Optimus?"

"If the future Megatron is going to where I think he is, then the Beast Wars may have grown complicated, Ratchet."

"Look! I think we're almost through." Blackarachnia notified.

"Then... stand back!" Silverbolt smashed through the rock pile to investigate the cave-in.

"Wait! We just..." Blackarachnia changed her mind "Never mind. What is it with guys and high explosives?" as she and Silverbolt progressed further, until they stopped before a familiarily huge golden ship.

The Autobots and the Renegatrons looked in awe and shock.

"It can't be..." Prime breathed.

"By the Matrix!" Blackarachnia gasped in shock.

"What is it?" Silverbolt asked.

"That, bowser boy, is called... The Ark!"

"THE ARK?!" asked the Autobots.

"NO WAY!"

"I can't believe that the Ark would come to this!"

"How could it-"

"It's impossible!"

"Autobots." Prime calmed down his subordinates. "If the Ark is there, then that means... we may be there as well."

"How? The Ark was destroyed when she crashed into Earth!" Ultra Magnus asked.

"Ultra Magnus, old friend, I believe we may have a part to play in the Beast Wars, indirectly." Prime assured.

"I have heard only legends." Silverbolt commented. After transiting Blackarachnia closer to the Ark.

"It's no legend, JoJo. Eons before Maximals and Predacons even existed, your ancestors, the Autobots, launched this Ark containing their finest heroes. It was attacked by Decepticons and crashed here, on Earth." Blackarachnia clarified.

"Imposssible! Starscream possessing Waspinator, now the Ark?!" Bumblebee asked. "Rattrap's right, the Beast Wars had gotten weirder!"

"Do tell how weirder still could it get, Bumblebee and shut up." Ratchet reminded.

"Yes, daddy." Bumblebee replied jokingly, embarassing Ratchet.

Prime looked with intrigue upon seeing himself and his friends at play in the Ark.

"This area appears geologically unstable." Silverbolt said obviously.

"Hello! It's a volcano, bonebrain." Blackarachnia corrected. "When it explodes in 1984, our ancestors inside the ship will awaken and start the Great War."

The Autobots and the Renegatrons were silent, deeply shocked. They were in rest for THAT long, at the time when humans were emerging as the most dominant species of Earth?

"But, we arrived in Earth right after the portal closed in towards the Ark and the Nemesis!" Bumblebee argued.

"That's right! There's no way we could have been resting that long right after we crashed into Earth!" Sideswipe added as well.

"Or perhaps it would be very coincidental..." Shockwave pointed out.

"That's impossible...." Perceptor muttered as his brain was now fried and scrambled.

"Then... this is why Optimus was worried! Its power must be immense!" Silverbolt began to realize.

"Oh, yeah! And it's all mine." Blackarachnia cheered in megalomanical glee.

But a blast from Megatron knocks out both Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, the latter much so since he bumped into the Ark's security field that knocked him deeply out cold. Megatron arrived immediately, to Blackarachnia's dismay and fired at the entrance, blocking off the Maximals.

"Darn it! He knew the Maxies would tail him!" Ironhide cursed.

"Not a bad idea. To prevent being outnumbered, of course." Breakdown replied.

"Shut it, you!" cursed Bulkhead.

"Or what, Bulk? You'll cry to your human pet?"

Bulkhead snarled, hearing him threatening Miko was getting on his nerves.

"So what do we do?" Rattrap asked.

"Dig." Primal replied.

The Combaticons chuckled. That was usually the plan of their Constructicon rivals when there were cave-ins. Onslaught even remembered the tantrums their leader, Scrapper would throw out when the designs did not go as he planned. Brawl muttered remembering how Bonecrusher had beaten him in a wrestling match, Swindle chuckled remembering having mentored Scavenger about basic supply and demand, Vortex smiled remembering his best friends in Mixmaster and Long Haul, and Blast Off remembered competing with Hook on who would get the job done more effectively.

"Teletraan-1 is still operating." Megatron spouted. "Shame."

The Autobots remembered the automated machine that was Teletraan-1. As did the Renegatrons. The Predacons themselves shrugged indifferently.

"Don't you have the access codes from the disk?" Blackarachnia asked taking him for a fool.

"The disk was destroyed." Megatron replied holding Blackarachnia close to him. "But YOU have the codes, don't you? Yess."

Blackarachnia was stunned. Megatron had deduced her doings all along.

Megatron laughed at the pitiful attempt. It reminded him of when Starscream had taken him for a fool in their errand to find more Energon.

"You downloaded them from my backup datatrax, before you destroyed them."

"Well, what if I did? Blackarachnia retorted. "They're MINE now, grapeface." Megatron then tossed her aside and jumped in between herself and Silverbolt. "So what are you gonna do? Shoot me? You still don't have the codes." she taunted.

"Oh, I was never planning on shooting you, no. I had a much more... effective target in mind." he took aim at Silverbolt, much to her horror. "The codes, Blackarachnia. Produce them at once."

"NO! NOT THIS! I HATED THIS!" Jazz shouted. "Not the lover's departure, please don't! My poor Spark won't take the pain!"

"You're being too much of a drama queen, Jazz."

Jazz snapped at Cliffjumper and shushed him. "This is not something I don't wanna see!"

"Same here, but not for the lover thing, but for the threat of my descendant's Spark Pred-Megs is putting on him!" Silverbolt replied.

As the Maximals continued digging through the cave-in, they heard rumbling from the ground. "Is this volcano active?" Cheetor asked.

"Right now I think we've got bigger problems." Primal commanded "Move it, bots! We've got an entrance to make!" and dug through faster.

With the Predacons, Blackarachnia remained upon standing up, shocked and horrified that Megatron would threaten the Spark of the bot of her life.

"Well?" she challenged.

"Well what?" Megatron replied inquisitively. 

"Shoot him if you want. He means nothing to me." Blackarachnia lied, Silverbolt meant EVERYTHING to her.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU WERE USING HIM FOR YOUR SCHEMES YOU SNEAKY LITTLE-!" Silverbolt got knocked out by an irate Jazz.

"Of course, it's a waste of ammo."

"Of course." Megatron replied, not buying her bravado.

"Keep digging! We're almost there!" Primal pushed as they continued digging further. It was overheard by the Predacons.

"Sounds like the Maximals have arrived. You'd better get out of here." Blackarachnia notified.

"Wait.... if she didn't care about Silverbolt... she must be stalling Megatron." Perceptor deduced.

Silverbolt woke up.

"Perhaps. But first, I think I will vaporize a possible menace." Just as Megatron prepared his fusion cannon to deactivate Silverbolt-

"NO!" Silverbolt yelled.

"Wait!" Blackarachnia conceded "I'll do it."

Silverbolt breathed out of relief.

"She DID care about him after all." Knockout stated. "How romantic."

"Almost there!" Primal yelled.

"But only becouse we have to get to cover anyway. Stand aside!" Blackarachnia pushed Megatron out of her way as she began calling to Teletraan-1... "Computer! Decrypt and transmit access code... now!"

[Acknowledged.]

As the Maximals were closing in deeper and deeper to remove the cave in...

"Is it working?" Megatron asked.

"It better!" Blackarachnia hissed.

Primal rammed through the cave in and gasped "NO! By Primus, NO!"  as he witnessed Megatron entering the Ark as it's doors open and then closed. They were too late to stop the Predacon lord.

The Maximals regrouped around him.

"The Ark..." Cheetor gasped.

As the Ark's defenses take aim at the Maximals...

"NONONONONO! NOT AT THE MAXIES! THE PREDS! SHOOT THE PREDS!" Warpath yelled.

"Didn't you think that Blackarachnia reprogrammed the Ark, Warpath?" Smokescreen asked.

"Oh... right."

"Oh, brother, we're in for it now." Rattrap moaned.

Megatron chuckled sadistically as Blackarachnia controlled the Ark's defenses to fire at the Maximals "Excellent." He ordered "Keep them busy, Blackarachnia, yes."

"Where are YOU going?!" she asked as she sees her lord leaving her company.

"I shall effect a more...permanent solution." Megatron stated.

Prime felt chills realizing what the future Megatron meant.

Megatron felt the same.

Upon taking cover from the Ark's turrets, Primal declared "We HAVE to get Megatron out of there! Everything that is, the existence of the entire Universe depends on it!"

"You got it, BigBot!" Cheetor said as both he and Primal transformed and took flight.

"Brilliant of you, drawing that cannon's fire so that Rattrap and Rhinox could disable or destroy it. Brilliant, Primal." Ultra Magnus commended.

"I don't think that would be the case, Magnus. Especially when the Ark's shielded." Knockout pointed out.

As Rattrap and Rhinox crossed the treacherous rocks covered in lava, Cheetor and Primal flew  around and by, drawing the cannon's fire towards them. Upon regrouping with Rattrap, they fired, but the shielded interior proved their gunfire ineffective and thus they took cover again when the cannon fired upon them.

"Oh man, that ship wasn't built, it was poured!" Rattrap complained.

"Diecast construction. It's a lost art!" Primal replied.

"Diecast? We Cybertronians have not used diecast for 75 thousand years!" Shockwave stated.

Diecast was a nigh-indestructible metal that was said by Solus Prime to "be able to withstand all manner of harm.", and yet the only means that could destroy diecast was the powers of Unicron, heavy forces from Titans and even Megatron's Fusion Cannon. To see it appear as the metal protecting the Ark was certainly nothing short of baffling to the Renegatron scientist.

Megatron then wandered the halls of the Ark preparing his monologue "Now I enter these hallowed halls a conqueror, yes. Autobots and Decepticons, still frozen in emergency stasis." as both Autobot and Decepticon, all inactive were overpassed by him.

The audience was stunned in seeing themselves in the Ark, except the Predacons.

Even Soundwave was stunned at his own appearance as the future Megatron hovered past him.

"Awaiting the moment, four million years hence, when they will awaken to start the Great War. The Great War. Where the Autobots defeat the Decepticons. And thus their descendents, the Maximals, rule we Predacons." then he snarled "Archaic energon-guzzlers! How dare they! Unwilling though I was to follow my namesake's instructions, it has all come down to this. The ultimate risk for the ultimate prize! A day of reckoning with those who made us slaves!" as he now takes aim at his ultimate prize...

Optimus