In the region of space surrounding the planet Photoneron, a whole new force was approaching. It was a totally alien force, and one so powerful that even the Quintessons and their empire were frightened. Their entire fleet was now in orbit around Photoneron, withdrawn from battle from Earth scarcely a few hours ago. They all waited for the inevitable to arrive….

Lor-Gavvon and Scavix watched the long-range sensor screen uneasily, both well aware of what was to come. Every other Quintesson, regardless of rank, knew the same. Everyone was afraid.

One of the underlings was studying the scanner readouts, and gave a report. Speaking to both Scavix and Lor-Gavvon, he said, "Alien forces entering scanner range. Confirmed count of vessels in fleet: approximately…three million, ninety thousand…."

This news came to Lor-Gavvon as a bad omen. "They outnumber us by over three hundred to one. Not even our combined forces can stand against that…." He turned to Scavix, seeing him as the cause of the problem. "I warned you this would happen, Scavix."

"It is too late for insults now, Gavvon; the Vok are arriving to annihilate us and we must act before they completely overrun us." Scavix said. He turned to a near-by underling and nodded. The underling bowed to Scavix and immediately moved over to a control console. Scavix’s servant reached for a large, ruby crystal with clawed hands and pulled it.

The command ship began to rumble. The underside of the large ship split open, its blue-green weapon deploying. In addition, larger crystalline weapons emerged. Like mirrors, they positioned themselves around the glowing weapon. The quartz-like crystals fused together, forming a semi-transparent cannon barrel around the primary weapon.

The underling hissed to Scavix, "Mega-disruptor cannon, ready, Overlord Scavix. Energon core primed…and ready to power cannon."

"Divert all power from every other system, including shields and primary life-support." Scavix ordered, "Charge the mega-disruptor cannon to full capacity."

The underling hesitated. Turning to his master, he tried to raise a point. "But, Overlord, if we do that, the ship will be disabled. Most of our energon will be consumed if we fire at…."

Scavix roared and whipped the underling with one of his long tentacles. The underling whimpered, falling on his knees before Scavix. "Don’t argue with me, underling!" Scavix shouted, "It is only the leaders that are meant to think and plan! Do as I say, NOW!"

Lor-Gavvon put a tentacle on Scavix’s shoulder. "The simple-minded creature is correct, Scavix. If we fire, at full-capacity for that matter, this vessel will not have enough energy for a second shot, should the first attempt…fail." the Scientist warned.

"We have no other option. Only this ship can generate a blast large enough to destroy the Vok and their forces. We must act now before we lose the advantage!" said Scavix. Turning back to the underling, Scavix directly ordered, "Activate the mega-disruptor, now!"

The lights dimmed all around the command ship, all manner of devices slowing to a standstill. Outside, the cannon began to glow. As the focus of the weapon drew power from the entire ship, the mirrors around it concentrated the energy into a precise point. More and more power was put into the weapon, causing it to glow brighter and hum louder. Then, with the power of pure energon coursing through it, the mega-disruptor discharged a blue-violet beam.

The weapon flew into space, directed straight at the approaching armada of Vok-built craft. The beam, the power of an entire Quintesson ship within it, hit a single ship. The ship began to glow bright white, the energy overwhelming it.

Watching eagerly from a console, Scavix muttered excitably, "Yesss…yesss!"

The energy of the beam bounced from one Vok vessel to another, the next ship glowing like the first. A chain reaction had developed, one that enveloped their entire fleet. Then, just as quickly as it was started, it ended. The Vok vessels stopped glowing, turning as black as ash. Like flowers thrown into a bonfire, the Vok had been fried in the beam’s blast.

"Yes! It worked!" cheered Scavix, raising his arms up, "Just as I knew it!"

Staring at one of the monitors, Lor-Gavvon stopped the premature excitement. "Wait Scavix! It is not over just yet…."

One of the Vok vessels, floating dead in space, began to do something. A tiny bit of dull green began to appear in one tiny spot. It grew, pushing away the ash surrounding it. It grew larger and larger, covering a significant part of the damaged ship. Soon, the ash fell away, revealing a restored finish on the hull.

Lor-Gavvon and Scavix were stunned. "As I feared Scavix." Lor-Gavvon said wearily, "Energy weapons have no direct affect against them. Our disruptor cannons won’t permanently damage them!"

Looking at the screen, Scavix muttered, "They simply regenerate the damaged material…."

In just a few minutes, all vessels within the Vok fleet began to regenerate, repairing the damage with ease. In the same amount of time it took the mega-disruptor cannon to charge and fire, the Vok had restored all of their ships completely, and they again moved against the Quintessons.

The Quintessons were in an uproar; unable to believe this was happening. Scavix was becoming delirious. "All stations! Prepare defenses! We shall not fall to aliens!" he ranted over and over again.

Lor-Gavvon grabbed Scavix and shook him to a standstill. "Stop this Scavix! We don’t have enough power to raise shields, let alone weapons! Stop this insanity!"

Amid the chaos of the Quintessons, the Vok finally made their move. Several of their ships rotated in synchronization. The flower-like vessels pointed their ‘pedals’ toward the Quintessons fleet, aiming. Then, like magic, bursts of green energy erupted from their tips, blasting the Quintessons.

The command ship received a direct hit, severely damaging the ship. While Scavix remained in a panicked state, Lor-Gavvon did his best to stabilize the situation. "Status report!" he shouted to one of the underlings.

One of the smaller Quintessons told Lor-Gavvon, "Direct hit! Outer hull and armor penetrated. Minor internal damage. Unable to confirm though…primary ship systems are still down."

"What of the rest of the fleet?" the Scientist leader inquired.

The underling did his best to patch into inter-ship communications. "From what I can determine, Lor-Gavvon," said the underling, "Our forces are still standing. Their shields are withstanding the blasts, but weapons aren’t having any effect on the aliens! We won’t be able to hold them back for long…."

"There is only one option then," Lor-Gavvon said, "Divert all remaining power to propulsion and navigation. Take the command ship back to home base."

"But what of our fleet? They need orders!" the underling asked.

Lor-Gavvon gave only one instruction. "Have them stand their ground. I shall not condone a course of action that will allow the Vok to enter our planetary system. Tell them to hold against the Vok until the last ship in the fleet is destroyed."

Slowly, the command ship turned about. Like a giant and sickened raven, it left its flock to return to the nest. As it headed for the near-by planet Photoneron, the Quintesson fleet vainly tried to fight against the awesome force of the Vok. In mere minutes, a dozen ships were destroyed, exploding in blue balls of erupting plasma. The surviving vessels deflected some of the oncoming blasts, but the sheer number was more than enough to depower their shields. Many more Quintessons died as the Vok and their armada came closer to Photoneron.

The Cybertronian fleet, still flying through the transwarp conduit, was en route to the Quintessons’ base, unaware of the eminent danger already there. Among the leading ships was the DarkStar, flying at warp speed.

Coyotek was walking down one of the DarkStar’s many numerous corridors, humming to himself a lively little tune. "La-la-la, dee-dee-dee, today’s a very happy day for me! La-la-la, nar-na-nar, I get to pilot the DarkStar!"

He passed by one of the many rooms reserved for various members of the crew. Coyotek stopped for a minute, his ears detecting the sigh of a lonely and depressed friend. The Maximal turned to his right and unlocked a set of doors. Inside was RedStreak, sitting on his bed all by himself.

"Hi Red. What’s the matter?" Coyotek asked kindly.

"Oh…not much," groaned RedStreak, "Only the fact that Optimus locked me into my own quarters! Man!" Putting a fist into a wall, RedStreak snarled, "What does he think I am? A kid? He can’t ground me like this!"

Coyotek politely chuckled. He stepped inside and looked around. RedStreak’s quarters were very plain. There wasn’t much, fore say a computer console built into the wall. Coyotek casually walked up to it and patched in. There were a few files and various programs stored inside. However, the Maximal stumbled across a game program that might be entertaining….

"You look bored," said Coyotek, "Care to play a game?"

"Yes…I am bored." RedStreak admitted, "But no. I’m not in the mood for games; besides, the ones stored on that piece of junk aren’t worth slag."

"Oh come on!" Coyotek said, "You can try at least one!" A miniature hologram activated, one of a chessboard. "Here’s one you’d know. Chess. I’ve been getting quite good at that…."

"No." RedStreak replied sharply.

Coyotek sat there for a few nanos, staring at RedStreak. "Ok…how about…checkers?"

Again, RedStreak’s reply was, "No."

Coyotek put his hand to his fuzzy chin for a minute, thinking. A weird smile suddenly appeared on his face. Snapping his fingers, he said, "I know!" As RedStreak watched with a vague interest, his fellow Maximal opened an internal compartment on his hip, pulling from it a small, cube-shaped device. As Coyotek held the cube in his palm, it began to glow and light up in a brilliant array of colors.

"What’s that?" RedStreak asked, "A Rubix cube with a twenty-fifth century twist?"

"Something like that," replied Coyotek, "It’s a code-cube-game! One I rigged myself!"

Upon giving it to RedStreak, Coyotek explained how it worked and how one played with it. The lights each had an imprinted number, one written in a specialized code. On one side of the cube, a series of numbers flashed out. The numbers read with flashing dash marks: 711-35, 32-125, 1-3141-451-91-9

RedStreak sat there for one minute staring at the numbers. "Seven-one-one? Three-five? This is your idea of fun?" he asked.

Coyotek shrugged. "So I’m a math geek!" he confessed, "Besides, helps me to practice breaking enemy codes. This code is relatively simple…once you discover the special secret that is…."

RedStreak grabbed the cube with his fingers and tried pressing buttons. Just as he thought he broke the code, the cube turned bright red and rattled in his hands. "Incorrect!" it beeped, "Please try again!"

"WHAT?!" blared RedStreak. Once the cube reset itself, he tried again. The cube turned red again, and RedStreak tried yet again. Then again, and then again.

"Incorrect! Please try again!" the cube game beeped.

The fox Maximal snarled angrily. "You stupid piece of shrapnel! I’ll try one again for you all right!" With all his strength, RedStreak chucked the cube across the room, slamming it into a wall. One of the larger fragments of the game cube came rolling back to RedStreak. The lighted side of it still functioned, turning red.

With a garbled voice, the cube said to RedStreak, "Incorrect. P-Please t-t-try a-g-g-gain…."

RedStreak howled in a rage. "AGGGH! I HATE THIS! I HATE THIS! I HATE THIS!"

Coyotek looked at his broken cube scattered about the room. "Hey! That was a great game!" he said.

RedStreak turned to Coyotek. His eyes turned bright orange, the rage within them building up. Foam began to fizzle out of the side of RedStreak’s mouth as his hackles raised up to reveal a row of sharp teeth. He then reached down to Coyotek and grabbed him with both hands. With ease, he lifted up Coyotek to eye level and snarled at him.

Gulping the lump in his throat, Coyotek chuckled nervously. "Hey! Red! It’s not my fault! Well, I uh…did program the code in, but a code-cube-game isn’t something to fight about is it? Is it?" Coyotek’s ears went limp as a very angry RedStreak on the verge of frenzying brought him closer still.

The orange eyes imbedded within RedStreak’s sockets turned bright white. Without warning, sparks began to fly out of them painfully. RedStreak let go of Coyotek and put his hands on his face. Screaming in agony, the Maximal cried out, "My eyes! My eyes! Agh!"

"RedStreak? Are you all right?" Coyotek asked out of concern. RedStreak didn’t reply, the sparks in his eyes blinding him and overloading his circuitry.

A few cycles later, RedStreak was brought to the infirmary and laid down back up. Gold Blade and Optimus had his eyes removed, connected tentatively to his empty sockets by thin optic cables. The eyeballs themselves continued to spark, twitching occasionally.

"My final diagnosis," Gold Blade reported, "Is that RedStreak’s eyes are functioning…perfectly."

Laying down on the table with disconnected eyes, RedStreak blurted out, "What?! Are you crazy? Here I am, lying down on a table with my very optics pulled out of my slaggn’ skull, electrons bolting from them, and you’re telling me I’m perfectly fine?"

Pushing a few controls, Gold Blade activated a boxy scanning device suspended by hydraulic cables and poles. Its lens projected an imaging beam on RedStreak’s eyes, examining both of them with precision detail. A cross-section was then projected onto a view screen.

Looking at the image, Optimus said, "Everything appears to be perfectly functional, down to the last nanometer." Looking at the image more closely, Optimus Primal finally noticed something small and very discrete. "Gold Blade, reexamine micro-grid seven-one-nine at maximum magnification. Use a gamma-wave frequency."

The scanner reexamined RedStreak’s eye at the exact coordinates specified, using a very narrow, blue beam centered on the spot. Another image was projected, revealing a strange set of microscopic modules inside RedStreak’s very eyes.

Coyotek, watching from just behind RedStreak, asked, "What is it?"

"Quintesson technology. A form of optical enhancer." Optimus stated, "Somehow it’s been remote-activated and is trying reinitialize itself."

"That’s what’s been making my baby blues flash? Well get ‘em out! Get ‘em out!" RedStreak insisted.

Optimus thought for a minute. "No. But on the other hand, I think I can completely reactivate them with a cortical laser pulse." Optimus Primal retrieved a pen-sized medical laser from a tray and walked over to RedStreak. He put the laser against the surface of one of the Maximal’s disembodied eyes and set for a precise frequency.

"Y-You’re kidding, right?" asked RedStreak, "You’re going to try and reactivate a Quintesson implant? You can’t do that! What if it-it’s a…a bomb or something?"

"Only one way to find out then," Optimus replied.

A few blips of light came out of the medical laser, penetrating through the eye’s cybernetic cornea. After just a few pulses, RedStreak’s eyes stopped sparking, and instead projected a broad beam into the room. A large hologram was created, right before their eyes. It showed the planet Photoneron and its moon, Chillarus, with a mass of green blips surrounding both.

"Whoa!" gawked Coyotek, "Cool! Can we get satellite TV with these?"

Staring at the image, Optimus Primal was astounded. "By the Matrix! It’s a map of the Quintessons’ base planet! Somehow they’ve been relaying this to RedStreak all this time!"

RedStreak was confused, along with Gold Blade. "But…RedStreak was severed from the Quintessons’ control weeks before." Gold Blade pointed out, "Why would they be sending him the directions to their home planet?"

"Yeah. It certainly doesn’t make sense to me either," said Coyotek.

"They weren’t. This must be some form of a Quintesson distress beacon." explained Optimus, "My guess is this beacon is received only by forms of Quintesson technology, intended to alert patrols and other Quintesson ships in deep space."

Looking to RedStreak, Coyotek jokingly said, "And considering our good friend here is just chock-full of their technology, he must have picked up the signal like an old HAM radio."

Optimus Primal immediately went over to one of the control consoles and started working. "We just might be able to use these coordinates to pin-point the exact location of this planet, and then direct our fleet there!" After clicking on a few buttons and switches, a camera-like device emerged from the ceiling and pointed at the hologram. Like a vacuum, it sucked up the light projection, digitizing it and storing it aboard the DarkStar’s computer.

Still lying on the table like a fallen crash dummy, RedStreak politely asked, "Um…may I have my eyes back please?"

Gold Blade released the vices holding RedStreak’s eyeballs in place. In an instant, the cables snapped and reeled RedStreak’s eyes back into place. Both popped right back in. RedStreak got up and blinked his eyes a few times. Looking at the room cross-eyed, he moaned, "Ow! That stings!" The Maximal slowly got up, struggling to walk with flawed vision. "Where’s some Clearasil when I need it?" he muttered to himself.

Optimus Primal, Gold, Blade, and Coyotek proceeded into the command chamber, where Megatron sat in his suspended chair while NightScream hovered near-by. The two were staring at a tactical view screen when the other Maximals walked in.

"Ah…Primal," Megatron said. He rotated his command chair about and looked down at the commanding Maximal. "The fleet was trying to contact you just a few minutes ago. We’ve almost reached the other end of the transwarp conduit…."

"Radio the fleet and tell them to rendezvous with us at the coordinates logged into your computer. We’re changing course!" Optimus said.

"Are you serious, Primal?" asked Megatron.

"We’re going to try and engage the Quintessons ahead of the fleet. There’s something amiss and it seems logical for someone to scout ahead and find out what’s riled up the Quintessons." the Maximal explained.

"A direct assault? Even I’m not that bold. Are you serious?"

"Dead serious Megatron." frankly said Optimus.

As the DarkStar departed from the main Cybertronian fleet, there were more things amiss than Optimus Primal could imagine. Near Chillarus, the Vok and their strange vessels had swarmed about the icy moon, attracted to it for some unknown reason.

Not far from the ruins of a Vok-constructed obelisk, Rattrap and Botanica were climbing out of the burning valley. Botanica, using her shoots, reached a fairly broad ledge. She pulled herself up along with Rattrap, tethered close behind her. Exhausted from the climb, she collapsed on the frost-covered rocks.

Rattrap untied himself and converted from robot to beast mode. "Brrr! Oh man! When we leave this planet, I’m booking us on a trip straight to the shores of Cybertronx Lake on Cybertron! I could use a couple hours of sunshine and hot tanning oil!"

Gasping, Botanica got to her knees, a light layer of snow on her shoulders. "I…I don’t even want to know how many…meters I just…scaled!"

"Probably the same number of meters you’re going to fall!" someone shouted from above.

The two Maximals switched their optics to the sky above them. On shimmering wings, they saw a black, feminine transformer hover about thirty feet above the ledge. She had a mean set of red-tinted eyes and a long sickle in her hands. Suffice to say, it took only a nano-click for Botanica and Rattrap to guess she wasn’t a friendly, neighborhood Maximal.

"What the? A Predacon?" Botanica mumbled.

The flying transformer held out her right palm at them, blowing out a blast of energy. Botanica and Rattrap jumped in opposite directions as the energy ball carved out a scar in the ledge.

Transforming and ducking behind a boulder, Rattrap shouted to his companion, "It sure ain’t a friendly door-to-door salesman!" The black transformer turned and threw another energy ball at Rattrap, breaking apart the boulder.

"But I thought Predacons were extinct!" shouted Botanica.

Glancing at the Maximal, Scaleblade replied, "You’re certainly going extinct in a minute, possy-bot!" She raised up her sickle high above her head. The blade began to glow a dark purple, humming loudly. An arc of energy flew from Scaleblade’s sickle straight at Botanica. Botanica began to duck, but the blow winged her left shoulder. Botanica groaned in pain, a trickle of green-blue sap leaking from her shoulder.

Before the battle could continue, something descended from out of the cloud-laden sky. A giant, flower-like vessel pierced the dense clouds. For a moment, it hovered over the remains of the obelisk, studying it for a short time. The vessel then moved out, towards one of the cliffs bordering the valley.

As Botanica, Rattrap, and Scaleblade continued to fight, the ledge beneath them began to shake violently. The three paused long enough to realize something big was happening. Rattrap got off the ground and looked up to see a giant, metal-hunter base coming towards them. It was the second time in his life that he’d viewed such a thing.

The ledge beneath Rattrap collapsed. A massive slide of snow and rocks swept the Maximal down. Botanica, held by Scaleblade’s vice-like grip, was unable to act. Rattrap was thrown into the air and falling down towards the cold, hard ground below.

For several minutes, Rattrap screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, the metal-hunter base stopped its forward motion, hovering silently in place. From the base of its stem-like tip, a broad, green beam stretched out. It first swept over the valley floor, and then began to spread out, enveloping the whole of the valley in its emerald glow. As Rattrap fell, the green light caught him, stopping him from falling as it enveloped him in its light. The rodent had little time to be thankful though, for the beam paralyzed him, and then rendered him unconscious.

Moments later, the beam swept over the ledge Botanica and Scaleblade were still on. Before the beam could catch her, Scaleblade took off, fleeing from Chillarus altogether. Botanica, on the other hand, was caught and trapped by the beam. Scarcely a minute later, she and Rattrap vanished, and the green beam faded away.

The metal-hunter base took off, leaving Chillarus. Soon it was joined by hundreds more vessels of similar nature, all swarming in orbit about the moon. For the moment, they chose to remain near the icy planetoid, but always they watched Photoneron, the Quintessons’ world, preparing for their own strike.

Not much further from Photoneron, a transwarp portal began to open. Space itself folded in that region, preparing to burst open. Moments later, the DarkStar rocketed out. It broke free from transwarp space and fired up its thrusters.

"Transwarp flight complete." Megatron said, "It appears we’ve arrived at the coordinates right on schedule!"

"All right! Let’s kick some Quintesson butt then!" shouted NightScream.

Optimus ceased NightScream’s jubilation. "Hold on. There’s something wrong here!" he said. Turning to Megatron, he asked, "Can you bring up the scanners?"

With a mere flick of his finger, Megatron activated a large view screen. On it, a pair of Quintesson ships were revealed orbiting Photoneron amid a vast field of debris. They were blackened and crisscrossed with giant scars as they drifted there helplessly.

"These ships have been heavily damaged; plasma burns and photon strikes are everywhere," said Optimus, "Given the strength of their force shields and armor…whatever did this was extremely powerful."

All the Maximals in Megatron’s command chamber widened their eyes. It was a startling sight and realization. The debris field that they were seeing was all that was left of the once mighty Quintesson fleet, a force more potent than all the ancient nuclear weapons on Earth and even the strength of all the Autobots and Decepticons combined.

"Unbelievable," muttered Coyotek, "Who could do such a thing?"

Megatron, gazing at another monitor, knew the answer. "I believe I just found out, Maximal." Megatron said to Coyotek. Switching images, Megatron displayed yet another sight beyond comprehension. Just over the limb of Photoneron, they saw white Chillarus surrounded by what looked like a great hornet’s nest of alien ships.

Glancing at Optimus Primal, Megatron said to him, "You and I know both know what they are, Primal."

Optimus nodded. "The Vok."

Gold Blade, Coyotek, as well as NightScream looked to the two commanders with some curiosity. "Vok? What are…the Vok, Optimus?" Gold Blade asked.

"A completely alien race both me and Megatron dealt with during the Beast Wars on Earth, nearly four million years ago." Optimus began to explain, "They were attempting to alter Earth and its history; to what purpose…I’m still unsure of, but when we arrived…they got hostile. Were it not for me sacrificing myself, they would have gone as far as destroying the Earth." Looking at the monitor again, Optimus further said, "I had hoped they were gone for good…."

In the background, RedStreak stared at the monitor for the longest time. Oddly enough, it was not the Vok he was concerned with. His eyes began to glow bright white, the Quintessson devices within them telling him something. On the monitor, it was then that he noticed something…a faint object no one else bothered to note.

RedStreak fired up his feet thrusters and floated over to Megatron’s command chair. Without regard for Megatron, he reached for the controls. The Predacon slammed his hand down, catching RedStreak in the act. "And just what do you think you’re doing?" he asked.

The Maximal withdrew his hand, balling up his fist. At first, it seemed that he was about to hit Megatron. Instead, a hatch in his wrist opened, and two tiny tubes extended out. At the tips were tiny drill-bits that spun about, whirling loudly. The tubes connected with the controls on Megatron’s command chair. They drilled in and directly tapped into the DarkStar’s systems.

At his command, RedStreak changed the view screen and magnified a small part of it a thousand-fold. The sensors analyzed and revealed it to be something entirely unexpected. A dark, just barely visible transformer could be seen flying toward the planet.

"Scaleblade…." RedStreak muttered.

He withdrew the cables and flew off. Before Optimus Primal could shout, "RedStreak! What are you doing?", the rogue Maximal blasted through the chamber and went directly into cold space. Leaving behind a huge hole, RedStreak went beyond the DarkStar and straight for Scaleblade.

As soon as RedStreak left, all the air in the command chamber started to blow out into space. A myriad of objects flew into they air, cluttering the chamber just before being blown into space. Gold Blade, Coyotek, and heavy Ursacon had to grab onto railings just to stand up. Megatron, in his lofty command chair, was also affected, the bolts ripping off and the metal supports groaning.

Ursacon’s large paws started to lose their grip. The big Maximal grunted, "Oh no! Unable to hold! Losing grip! Me no wanna fly into…." The railing suddenly snapped, sending Ursacon flying as he shouted, "SPA-A-A-A-A-CE!"

Coyotek reached out and hand and shouted, "Ursacon!"

The big Maximal was sucked toward the open hole along with a million various papers and data discs, all flying about it. Poor Ursacon yelled in vain, unable to believe this was happening. He drew closer and closer to the large hole, doomed to be blasted into space. Finally, as he neared the void….

His body thudded loudly against the hull, shaking the whole ship. Ursacon looked around, still seeing his friends alive and well. "Ursacon alive?" he said. He looked behind him, towards where the big hole should have been. Instead, he saw nothing but part of his rump. By sheer luck, Ursacon’s butt had been just wide enough to plug the hole.

"Talk about being saved by the seat of your pants," said Coyotek.

Meanwhile, RedStreak flew toward Photoneron at supersonic speeds. He was on Scaleblade’s tail, scarcely more than half a kilometer behind her. The female Predacon glanced back once, noting the red Maximal following her. She simply grinned, and continued forward.

The two transformers flew over the volcanic surface of Photoneron. Everywhere RedStreak looked, there were jagged mountains and volcanoes standing out over entire seas of red, molten lava. Scaleblade purposely zigzagged between the massive volcanoes, diving under flying globs of sizzling magma over two thousand degrees hot.

As Scaleblade neared the edge of the scalding lava plains, she spotted a large and unstable arch of black rock. Knowing her brother would follow her still, she flew under it. Quickly, she double-backed, and waited just out of her ‘brother’s’ view. The moment RedStreak crossed under the arch, she transformed into a dragon and blasted a fireball at the arch. The rocks blasted apart, and sure enough the arch collapsed.

Scaleblade cackled evilly, proud of what she’d done. "Farewell, dear brother!" she laughed, "It is a pity we…didn’t have time to get to know each other better! Haha!"

"Oh…but we have plenty of time for just that…dear sister!" a voice from behind her spoke.

She saw RedStreak standing right behind her. In the span of a second, he dealt a punch directly into Scaleblade’s face. The dragon-bot’s head flung backwards on her wiry neck. RedStreak immediately leapt on top of her, reaching around the base of Scaleblade’s thick neck, attempting to choke her. A pair of large, clawed feet kicked him square in the stomach, knocking him off her.

Scaleblade transformed to robot mode quickly, breaking out her large sickle for combat. She scanned the landscape around her, but found no trace of her brother. Heaving her chest, Scaleblade shouted, "Come on out, dear brother, so that I may take your head!"

On the ground, RedStreak was hiding behind a large boulder of granite. Like Scaleblade, he too was left gasping for air. The planet’s heat did little to calm him. I know I can’t beat her, but I must, RedStreak thought to himself, If I let her win, she’ll destroy us all! But…I can’t….

He withdrew his sword and looked closely at it. In his reflective blade, he saw his own reflection. If he killed Scaleblade, a part of him would die as well. RedStreak could see himself chopping off Scaleblade’s head with this sword. Setting the shiny sword down, he said to himself, "No. Not this way…."

RedStreak’s ears picked up something. He turned around just in time to see something tall and black looming over him. RedStreak freaked and rolled out of the way just as a huge sickle came down. The bounder behind him split in two then crumbled to pieces. Scaleblade roared loudly.

"FIGHT ME!" she hollered.

The Maximal, standing on his hands and knees, was just a few feet away from where his sword lay. Sadly however, so was Scaleblade. She held her sickle steady in her hands, her feet firmly planted where she stood. RedStreak knew he had little choice but to try and grab it.

The Maximal balled himself up and rolled for his weapon. With a skid he slid between Scaleblade’s legs and reached for the sword. A large sickle came down between his hand and the sword; his fingers less than an inch from Scaleblade’s heavy blade.

RedStreak looked up at his sister, and realized he blew it. He hoped the end would come quickly….

Instead of chopping off his head however, Scaleblade lifted up the sword and threw it at RedStreak. Instinctively his hand opened and caught the handle of his weapon without a thought from his mind. His eyes went to Scaleblade, wondering why.

Looking down at RedStreak, she simply said, "Fight me…now."

RedStreak, still on his knees, glanced at the sword’s silvery edge, seeing his reflection in it. As he stared long at it, he also saw his sister’s reflection. As he slowly got up, RedStreak said to Scaleblade, "You always did prefer a fair fight, didn’t you?"

In readiness, Scaleblade gripped her sickle tightly. Without looking at his sword, RedStreak threw it away. Scaleblade saw it, and gazed bitterly at RedStreak.

She snarled, "Pick…it…up!"

"No," RedStreak replied, "I won’t. I don’t wanna fight you now, and I never did."

Scaleblade’s breathing became heavier, her lips curling upwards. "So be it you pathetic fool! Let yourself get killed!" The female warrior charged at RedStreak, her sickle shimmering a brilliant purple. RedStreak started to run, but before he got more than a yard away, Scaleblade whacked him hard with the blunt end of her sickle.

Seconds later, RedStreak found himself disoriented and extremely dizzy. Opening his eyes, he also realized he was flying and tumbling through the air. He screamed in a terrorized state, unable to control his fall. In the span of just two cycles, RedStreak had been flung nearly a hundred kilometers away.

He landed like a crashed airplane, plowing through a huge field filled with giant crystals. Little more than a minute later, Scaleblade arrived. She landed just as RedStreak began to get up, her gossamer wings spread wide behind her back.

Her sickle’s blade began to glow purple as she stood before RedStreak. "I gave you a half-decent chance to survive, brother," she said to him, "But you refused it. I thought even you were smarter than that! Guess I was wrong." Scaleblade lifted her sickle up, its energy arc ready to fire. "Prepare for oblivion, dear brother…."

RedStreak was in a great deal of pain. Half of his systems felt like scrap, his organic components bruised and scratched. Behind his left shoulder, in particular, he felt a pain. Groaning, he moved his body and discovered a crystal poking up from beneath him. Then as he looked at it, RedStreak noticed the crystal pulsate in blue and white, glowing.

"Energon…." he quietly muttered. RedStreak realized something very important. The crystals he crashed into, the ones filling this entire plain; they were all raw energon. Surrounding him was pure energy, the source of his powers….

As Scaleblade’s sickle unleashed its lethal ray, RedStreak latched onto the near-by energon crystal. A weak blue-white aura surrounded his body, slowly growing brighter and brighter. Scaleblade’s energy arc hit RedStreak square in the back, but it had no effect on him.

RedStreak slowly got up, still holding the crystal in his hand. He turned around and gazed upon Scaleblade with a pair of menacing eyes. The energy aura surrounding him became brilliant, a flame radiating out of his body.

Crunching the energon crystal in his fist, RedStreak said, "You forget…Scaleblade; this world, this planet…it’s filled with energon! My powers, my strength, stems from energon!"

Scaleblade powered up her sickle again, but RedStreak wasn’t about to allow it. Narrowing his eyes, a beam of bright orange light shot out. It hit Scaleblade’s hand, scalding the surface of it. Her sickle flew into the air and landed several meters away, far from Scaleblade.

Pointing a finger at Scaleblade, RedStreak said to her, "On Earth, you defeated me! You won’t be able to do that so easily here!"

Scaleblade just stood there…and laughed. She laughed jovially with a broadening smile on her face. RedStreak raised up his hands, concentrating the ample energy flowing through him into a blast of energon. With relative ease, Scaleblade spread her wings and dodged the explosion, laughing as she leapt over RedStreak.

"You underestimate me, dear brother," Scaleblade teased. From a near-by rock ledge, she plucked a handful of energon crystals jutting out of its surface. She freely held it out in her palms, the crystals glowing like little blue stars. Energon surges began to pass through Scaleblade’s arm, moving their way up to her chest. The surges turned from blue to a deep purple, perfectly matching the color of her dark armor.

Speaking boldly, Scaleblade exclaimed, "You are not the only one to possess the gift of energon! I, too, have the mutant gene in my body!"

Scaleblade rose up into the air, hovering without the use of her wings. As with RedStreak, an aura of energy enveloped her, a purple glow. Like him, she had harnessed the power of energon. Her aura of energy grew brighter, bolts of lightning streaking from her body. They connected with over a dozen large energon crystals, sucking the power from them to feed Scaleblade’s. The ground began to shake, a whirlwind surrounding Scaleblade’s body.

"Now fool, feel my power!" she shouted.

A huge blast of energon flew from Scaleblade straight at RedStreak, pinning him to the ground. The only thing keeping RedStreak from overloading was the aura surrounding him. His concentration was wearing thin; the energy field enveloping him was growing too weak against Scaleblade’s immense power.

There were more energon crystals surrounding RedStreak, all around. With a final act of his will, RedStreak instead concentrated on them. The crystals shook, breaking from their rock bonds. A bolt of energy leapt from one of the crystals into RedStreak’s hand. Soon there was a second, and then a third.

RedStreak forced back Scaleblade’s energy blasts with his own. The two beams pushed at one another until they came to a standstill halfway between both transformers. Scaleblade snarled, refusing to give up. Instead, she harnessed the energon fields flowing over the planet, feeding her own powers.

"No!" she growled, "You won’t destroy me! My powers are superior!"

Continuing to hold Scaleblade back, RedStreak said, "No. You are wrong, Scaleblade! You are no longer stronger than me, or more powerful; and neither am I! On this world, sister, we are equals!"

The two transformers hovered in mid-air, energy flowing through their bodies by the gigawatts. Over the entire energon plain, powerful winds began to circle. As the two summoned the full extent of their powers, the planet Photoneron began to quake, volcanoes erupting more and more violently.

Directly beneath RedStreak and Scaleblade, the ground split in two, white-hot lava gushing out in a broad fountain. The energon crystals dominating the extensive plain began to quiver. Many of the crystals broke off and were swept up in the hurricane winds circling RedStreak and Scaleblade, forming great clouds of blue plasma. Lightning began to spark between the clouds, destroying the land.

Scaleblade clapped her hands together and created a huge shockwave of pure energy, one radiating out in all directions. In the distance, it cut through whole mountain ranges, leaving giant trenches as deep as a canyon. RedStreak fired a giant beam that blasted through Scaleblade’s shockwave and shielding himself. Scaleblade moved just enough for the powerful beam to miss her, allowing it to instead blast through interstellar space, annihilating whole asteroids in its wake.

Concentrating her energy, Scaleblade unleashed upon RedStreak a shower of anti-energon blasts. They enveloped RedStreak, blowing apart everything around him. A large cloud of dust was thrown up around him, temporarily blinding Scaleblade.

When the cloud cleared, RedStreak was still standing, his foxtail just waving in the wind. "My turn!" he said. He outstretched his hands and roared. The ambient energy in the winds gathered between his palms, forming a giant sphere of red-orange light. He held it in his hands until it grew to the size of a space shuttle. Then, he released it.

The red energy ball flew straight at Scaleblade. With the force of a small nuclear explosion, it exploded right on top of the female transformer. The resulting blast spread out over the landscape, illuminating a small part of the planet.

RedStreak hovered there still, protected from the blast by his own energy field. Below him, he saw a giant crater over two hundred meters wide, oozing with molten rock. There was no apparent sign of Scaleblade, so he assumed she was…vaporized.

However, something bubbled out of the molten lava. A black dragon stretched out its head and neck, letting out an echoing shriek. Scaleblade reappeared in her beast mode, spreading her wings as she rose into the air.

"Our battle is FAR from over, RedStreak!" she said to him.

Hi hands still crackling with energon, RedStreak floated just above his ‘sister’. With narrow eyes and steel determination, he replied, "Then let’s get it on…."

Elsewhere on Photoneron, at New Hive City, the Quintessons observed Scaleblade and RedStreak’s battle from afar.

The Quintesson lord of the Breeders, Wereasson, was especially nervous. "By all the lords of Quintessa, they’re more powerful than we imagined!" Waving his tentacles in a panic, he shouted, "We must stop them now, before they destroy our world!"

Scavix and Lor-Gavvon were too preoccupied to pay much attention to Wereasson’s ranting. The two of them stood before the primary controls to the planetary sensor array. They concentrated their efforts on the Vok orbiting around Chillarus, hoping to find a single flaw or weakness they could use to their advantage.

Wereasson approached the Overlord and Scientist, hoping to get their attention. "Don’t you see what your creations are doing? Aren’t you even slightly worried as to what they might do?" he asked.

Lor-Gavvon, still working at the controls, replied to Wereasson, "No. Not at this moment. We must first attend to the Vok forces around Chillarus above all else! Without our fleet or battle station to protect us, Photoneron is extremely vulnerable at this point!"

"For once, he is right," Scavix agreed with Lor-Gavvon, "These Vok are the greater threat to us now! We must find some way to destroy them before they destroy us and our entire civilization!"

"Scavix, Wereasson," Lor-Gavvon said to his companions, "Something’s happening to Chillarus!"

Hovering just a few kilometers above Chillarus’ atmosphere, every Vok ship turned to the icy planetoid’s surface. In perfect synchronization, the Vok fleet powered up their weapons. Each end every ship became a tiny green light, arranged like a great bead of necklaces around the moon. In a dazzling light show, they fired upon the moon with a huge blast.

On Chillarus, a wave of energy streamed down from above, smashing through the clouds and icy mountains relentlessly. All over Chillarus, the icy crust began to melt. Steam slowly evaporated from newly formed lakes and seas as whole mountains became titanic icebergs.

Still the temperature rose higher and higher as the Vok concentrated their powers on the moon. In a matter of cycles, the entire surface of Chillarus had become one continuous and unblemished ocean. Not long after that, the water began to boil. Geysers of steam erupted out of the ocean, blasting unimaginable amounts of steam into the humid atmosphere.

From orbit, the clouds on Chillarus became so thick and dense that they shrouded the whole moon. Nothing could be seen below them. Then, quite suddenly, the Vok ceased firing. Each vessel floated around Chillarus silently and motionlessly. For several minutes, they all waited patiently for something to pass.

Then, quite suddenly, the unexpected happened. The clouds of Chillarus lifted, drifting into space. The entire atmosphere, super-heated beyond the boiling point, simply ‘puffed off’ into space. As the great clouds of white vapor thinned, they unveiled the surface of Chillarus once again. Except…this time, there was no surface below the clouds….

After the clouds lifted, there was nothing left of Chillarus. The entire moon had entirely evaporated! The Vok had melted down an entire world to nothing for any apparent reason.

But it turned out…something was left behind. Where Chillarus once existed, a tiny black orb laid where the moon’s core was once present. The Vok vessels moved closer towards it, attracted to it like a swarm of bees to its queen. They came close to it, circling about the strange object excitedly.

Without pause or warning, the black orb began to glow. Light appeared along long lines running vertically, glowing as if a star were hidden inside the mysterious sphere….