(A Novelization by Mythril Moth)

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In a lush, densely foliated valley, a crow landed on a branch, cawing as it watched a pair of creatures. These creatures, apelike in many ways, yet different from apes, grunted to themselves as they examined sticks, bugs, and things lying upon the ground, trying to determine what would taste good and what was merely something to leave.

As the crow watched these two ape-things, a large serpent slithered down from the tree upon which it has perched. The serpent, too, saw the ape-things, and had taken an interest in them.

As the two creatures in the valley grunted and poked, the serpent slipped up behind them. Caught unawares, the smaller of the two ape-things suddenly cried out in terror. The larger turned, startled...and saw the jaws of the hissing serpent, opened wide, prepared to strike.

The crow leapt from its perch, flapping its way skyward, where it was joined by two other crows. Cawing wildly, the three crows flew high above the valley, following one another in a tight circle.

* * * * *

The electron sword hummed quietly in his hands as he knelt, its rotating blade gleaming in the light from the window. His frame trembled slightly as he glanced away from the blade, toward the window. His burning red eyes and sharp teeth seemed incongruous with the expression on his face as he watched three crows pass overhead in a loose V formation.

Gathering his resolve, he stared up at the segmented, humming blade, and reversed his grip, pointing the blade downward. He raised it to strike, a low growl building in his throat as his arms shook.

Finally, with a snarl of frustration, Dinobot threw the electron sword aside angrily, bouncing it off the wall with a loud clang.

* * * * *

The lift rose into the Axalon control room, carrying the sculpted, muscular Transmetal robot form of Optimus Primal. "So, what is it?" he asked, rather tersely.

Rhinox swiveled in his chair. "Remember that transwarp cell explosion?"

Optimus gave him a look.

"Okay, stupid question," Rhinox admitted with a wave of his hand. "Anyway," he said, turning back to the console, "I've been calculating its path. The temporal wavefront is moving into the future at an accelerated rate." On the screen before him, a graphic of the wavefront appeared, along with a graph projecting its forward momentum. "It'll reach Cybertron in approximately 2.218 decacyles." He looked up at Optimus, who had moved to stand behind him. "They're going to know where we are."

"The question is," Optimus mused, "has Megatron made the same calculations?"

Nearby, Rattrap turned to face the other two. "Eh, if I was a bettin' rodent...which I am...oh yeah."

Optimus considered this for a moment. "Hmm...we'd better start increasing the base defenses."

* * * * *

Dinobot strode from his quarters into the corridor, to find Rattrap working on an open panel. "Well...if it ain't the irascible raptor," Rattrap commented.

"The base remains infested with vermin, I see," Dinobot growled, roughly elbowing Rattrap as he walked past.

Rattrap turned back to his work. "Yeah...it's funny, y' know, not much changes around here. Except maybe the occasional allegiance," he amended, glancing over his shoulder at the retreating form of Dinobot. The former Predacon stopped in his tracks, and turned, advancing menacingly on the shorter Maximal. "Found any golden disks lately, hmm?" Rattrap pressed on, unmindful of Dinobot's anger. "Pass 'em on t' any Predacons?"

"I don't need to explain my actions to YOU, mouse," Dinobot said, jabbing Rattrap with a taloned finger for emphasis.

"Yeah that's right, you don't," Rattrap snapped in reply, "cause they pretty much speak for themselves."

Dinobot growled. "Go ahead, rodent. Push it one. More. Inch." He loomed over the shorter robot menacingly, tapping one talon against the Transmetal's cranium. Rattrap scowled up at him, and for a long moment, the two merely glared at one another. Then, the smaller Maximal shoved Dinobot across the corridor.

"Y'know, I used t' figger I had you pegged," Rattrap said, gesticulating with the spanner he held. "Oh, yeah, he's a slag-spoutin' saurian, but at least y' know where he stands." With a sigh, he flipped the tool into the air, caught it, and turned away. "Guess we live an' learn." Tapping the panel one last time with his spanner, he stalked off down the corridor.

Dinobot stood there for a long moment, then snarled to himself. "The rodent's words...give off the stench of truth." He turned to study his reflection in the wall of the corridor. "Destiny...has one great test in store for us all. Has mine...already come? And have I failed it?" Bowing his head, he walked slowly down the corridor, converting to his velociraptor beast mode. "A deed once done, cannot be undone. But perhaps...it may yet be mitigated." He made his way to the control room, pausing to grab a blaster before descending into the valley below and sprinting away.

* * * * *

Cheetor flew high above the rocky terrain, activating his comm link as he caught sight of activity below, on a cliff overlooking a lush, green valley. "Cat patrol to Bot base," he said, "Got a blue plate sighting in Tengu sector! Crab legs and crabby, all you can eat!"

On the ground below, a metallic tyrannosaur and a massive king crab looked up to the sky, and spotting Cheetor, promptly transformed. Megatron and Rampage wasted no time in opening fire on the flying Maximal.

Cheetor let out a yowl as he dodged the incoming blasts. "But be warned! This plate is HOT! Whooaa!"

* * * * *

Dinobot leaned over a shrub, removing a strand of energy webbing with one claw. As he examined it, his commlink clicked on. //Cheetor to anybody! Come in!//

Tossing the webbing away with a snarl, Dinobot replied, "This is Dinobot. Speak, feline."

//I'm teachin' a solo lesson to Megatron and Rampage. Trouble is, they're slow learners, and—AAAHHHH!!//

"Cheetor! Are you injured?" Dinobot asked.

//Yeah...I'll survive. But somebody's gotta follow up on Megatron, find out what he's up to.//

"Fear not," Dinobot said, transforming to robot mode. "Someone most assuredly will."

* * * * *

A multi-faceted computer screen inside a cave showed an image of an antelope, helplessly caught up in a glowing energy web stretched between two large rocks. "Ahh," Tarantulas said, observing the monitor and slavering, "dinner is served."

The large rock concealing the entrance to his lair slid aside, and Tarantulas emerged. For a long moment, he stood in the entryway, drumming his metallic spider legs on the ground as he observed his prey. Finally, with an evil chuckle, he slowly stalked towards the trapped animal. The antelope struggled, sounds of terror emanating from its throat as it watched the predator with wide, fear-filled eyes. Closer, closer...

*Crunch*.

Tarantulas let out a startled gasp as a hand shot up from the ground beneath him, jabbing his underside with a blaster. He leapt away, transforming to robot mode, as Dinobot emerged from his rocky concealment, growling. Dinobot seized the Predacon by the throat and jabbed the blaster into his face. "Sickening spider," Dinobot snarled, "your base was betrayed by the stench of your perversions." Pulling Tarantulas closer, he continued, "The golden disk. I need to know what information it contains."

"I can't tell you that," Tarantulas rasped.

Dinobot moved the blaster a few inches to the right, just past Tarantulas' head, and fired. His blast struck the energy web, releasing the terrified antelope, which bolted.

"I don't know, I don't know!" Tarantulas cried. "There's no more copies! Megatron won't risk a security breach again! Only the original disk, and he keeps it with him!"

"Then I shall go to Megatron," Dinobot said.

"Good luck catching up to him," Tarantulas jeered. "He's miiiles away." Despite being held by the throat, he let out a snort of laughter.

Dinobot smiled evilly at him.

Moments later, a motorcycle wheel revved in the dust as Tarantulas, in his Transmetal vehicle mode, peeled out, with Dinobot riding on his back. "You'll pay for this, lizard!" the metallic spider said.

"Shut up and accelerate," Dinobot commanded.

* * * * *

In a lush, green valley, a small group of advanced apes looked up at a strange roaring sound, and let out panicked grunts and inarticulate yells of alarm as a tyrannosaur hovered in the air on twin jet turbines. As the bipedal apes scattered below, the tyrannosaur continued past them, transforming into a humanoid robot as it landed in the nearby hills. A massive crab scuttled up the hill as Megatron looked out into the distance and said, "The mountain. That will serve our purpose, yeesss."

"You brought us all this way to look at scenery?" the crab asked incredulously.

"I don't care for your tone, Rampage," Megatron sneered. A small cage containing a glowing, spinning Spark, the core of Rampage's very being, appeared in his weapon claw. As he squeezed the cage, Rampage began writhing in pain, energon surging and arcing around his body.

After a moment, Megatron eased up on the pressure, and looked off into the distance. "Soon, very soon, I expect a visit from Cybertron."

"I eagerly anticipate your imminent demise, then," Rampage seethed.

"A likely outcome, I admit," Megatron replied, choosing not to react to Rampage's insolence. A slot opened on the side of his torso, and a large golden disk slid out. "But only if reality remains as it is," he added, holding the disk up to study it, allowing the sunlight to reflect off small, barely legible writing on one side. The claw on his weapon retracted, and a projector popped out in its place. Megatron inserted the disk into the reader slot, and an image of the tall mountain and its surroundings appeared in midair, matching the distant landscape.

"This disk contains images recorded in the future," Megatron explained. Gesturing with his left hand, he said, "My dear Rampage, if you please."

"YOU presume to order ME?" the crab hissed in rage. Megatron simply smiled, drumming his fingers against his shoulderplate. Rampage converted to tank mode, his triple-barreled cannon rotating as he trained his sights on Megatron.

The Predacon leader continued to smile, drumming his fingers against his shoulderplate.

After a moment's hesitation, Rampage turned, bringing the mountain into his sights. His cannon rotated as he fired several shots at the mountain. There was silence for a long moment, and then...

A spectacular explosion sprayed chunks of rock in all directions as the snowy peak erupted in a bright fireball. Megatron shielded his optics from the explosion. A satisfied smirk crossed his face as a cloud of dust cleared to reveal the remains of the mountain, now little more than a jagged rocky outcropping with a large crater on top.

The image on the projector flickered, and changed to static for a moment. The projector beeped, and the image reappeared, only...changed. Where before it had shown the distant peak Rampage had just destroyed, it now showed the cratered outcropping left by Rampage's assault. "Yeesss...YEESSS! Oh, my crazed crustacean! Do you realize what this MEANS!?" Megatron exulted.

* * * * *

Dinobot watched from the opposite rim of the valley as the image on the disk changed to reflect the destroyed mountain. "When reality alters, the future alters with it," he realized. "With the golden disk, Megatron's power is...limitless!" He clutched his forehead in one taloned hand.

* * * * *

"Now, according to this disk," Megatron mused, "the human race is destined to emerge from this valley." He clenched his fist. "Humans...thanks to their interference, the Autobots defeated the Decepticons, and thus it is the Maximals which rule us! But no longer...nooo." He gazed off into the distance, past the ruined mountain, to see two flying forms converging rapidly on his position. "Destiny is about to undergo...an improvement," he said, as Waspinator and Inferno arrived, carrying Blackarachnia and Quickstrike.

* * * * *

Dinobot opened his commlink. "Dinobot to Optimus Primal...AAARGH!" he yelled as a blast struck him in the side.

"Shouldn't take your eyes off a spider," Tarantulas chided as he lowered his blaster. "They tend to be...venomous," he finished with a sinister chuckle.

"But they still SQUASH," Dinobot growled, firing his eye lasers over Tarantulas' head. The startled Predacon had no time to react as the blast tore into the precipice behind him, loosening a rocky overhang which fell on top of Tarantulas, crushing him.

Dinobot's comm beeped. //Optimus here,// the Maximal leader's voice replied. //What is it, Dinobot?//

"Code red," Dinobot said. "Situation extreme." He glanced over at the opposite rim of the valley, where the six remaining Predacons lined up, weapons at the ready.

* * * * *

"Destroy this valley, and everything in it!" Megatron bellowed. "The human race will never have existed!"

The Predacons opened fire on the valley below. The ancestors of the human race yelped and grunted, fleeing in panic as energy blasts and explosions blossomed around them. The Predacons descended into the valley, hosing every form of plant and animal life they could target with various forms of firepower.

* * * * *

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Optimus Primal said into the comm console. "In the meantime, fall back and wait for us!" He began to turn away from the console.

//Negative,// Dinobot replied, causing Optimus to pause, an eyebrow raised.

* * * * *

"The question which has haunted my being has been answered," Dinobot said, seemingly to himself. "The future is not fixed. My choices are my own." He looked down into the valley, where amid the explosions and raging fires, the primitives were trying to find cover, some dragging their wounded. "How ironic," Dinobot said quietly, "for I now find I have no choice at all." He sighed. "I am a warrior," he continued, drawing his electron sword. "Let the battle be joined."

* * * * *

The Maximals streaked across the terrain, rushing to reach the battlefield in time. "Oh man," Rattrap moaned, "No matter how soon we get there, it's gonna be way too late!"

"Do you always have to see the bright side?" Rhinox asked.

"Dino-butt against six Preds," Rattrap continued, ignoring Rhinox. "There won't be enough left a' him t' make a toaster!"

* * * * *

As the primitives rushed about in panic, Blackarachnia and Inferno continued to deal out death. A sudden sound from behind caught Inferno's attention, and he turned...just in time to be struck by Dinobot's sword. Sparks flew as the sword cleaved its way through Inferno's torso.

Blackarachnia noticed what was happening and turned her attention on Dinobot, pelting him with her .30s. He took several hits before grabbing the damaged Inferno and using him as a shield. He raised the ant-bot's flamethrower and fired it at Blackarachnia, sending her sprawling. He then aimed the weapon at Inferno's head, and fired again.

The Predacon screamed as his head was sent flying, sailing past Megatron in a high arc. Megatron's eyes narrowed as he observed this new development.

Below, Dinobot continued his charge through the valley, whipping out his spinning blade and drawing his blaster. Using the blade as a rotor, he descended upon Rampage and Waspinator, hitting Rampage several times before they were aware of his presence. Waspinator began firing on Dinobot, winging him once, then striking his rotor. Without the spinning blade to hold him aloft, Dinobot fell...right on top of Waspinator, knocking him to the ground.

Rampage converted to tank mode and locked his sights on Dinobot. The Maximal scowled, and picked up the fallen Waspinator. As Rampage rotated his cannon to fire, Dinobot stuffed Waspinator into the barrel. The resulting explosion threw Dinobot several feet away.

A blackened Waspinator and a badly damaged Rampage lie on the ground, sparking and twitching. Waspinator buzzed once before going into stasis lock.

Dinobot stood, battle damage beginning to take its toll as he staggered slightly. He glared up at the rim of the valley, where Megatron stood, observing the carnage below.

* * * * *

"One lowly turncoat, battling on against impossible odds...I'm almost...touched," Megatron said, pretending to wipe away a tear. "Fortunately, such moments pass quickly. Quickstrike, scrap him."

The Fuzor, who had been standing beside Megatron, leapt into the valley.

"And, just to tilt the odds even further..." Megatron mused, eyeing a pair of primitives trapped by a wall of flames...

* * * * *

As Dinobot stalked slowly through the burning valley, a powerful blast struck him in the abdomen, catching him off-guard and knocking him to the ground. Arcs of energon coursed across his torso as he struggled to regain his bearings.

"Well, howdy!" Quickstrike laughed as he approached. "Don't bother gittin' up, I'll just...gitcha while yer down!"

With some effort, Dinobot fired his eye lasers, hitting Quickstrike in the chest. The attack didn't do much damage, but it gave him time to get to his feet. He fired again, but his blast stopped less than a yard away, flickering out harmlessly. //Warning. Systems failing,// Dinobot's internal computer informed him.

"So," Quickstrike taunted, "Whut's a warrior without weapons, eh?"

"A warrior STILL!" Dinobot growled, rushing forward and landing a vicious uppercut. He then smashed his fists into Quickstrike's head, and finished by slamming the Fuzor into the ground.

//Warning. Power reserves 96 percent depleted. Stasis lock commencing.//

"Override," Dinobot said.

//Repeat. Power loss critical. Further expenditures will result in loss of Spark. Stasis lock must commence,// the computer insisted.

"OVERRIDE!" Dinobot snarled.

//Acknowledged.//

Dinobot looked around at the burning valley. Faint, metallic thumps caught his attention. "Megatron."

The metallic tyrannosaur ambled out from behind a large rock. "Hmm. My ears are burning! Yeesss!" Megatron said. "Why, Dinobot! What a delightful surprise," he began in a mock-cheerful tone. "Let's see, where are we now? Ah..." He began gesticulating with his tiny saurian forearms, ticking off points on his claws. "I have the golden disk, I have the power to change the future, and the only remaining obstacle in my path to unimaginable glory...is yourself." He continued to gloat as he transformed, "Exhausted. Damaged beyond recovery. Defeated." His eyes narrowed ominously.

"Not...just...YET!" Dinobot snarled, preparing to rush the Predacon commander.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Megatron said, wagging an index finger. He gestured with his weapon arm, drawing attention to a protohuman, tied up with energy bonds and looking quite terrified. "One more step, and it's raining bits of early anthropoid. Yeesss."

Dinobot glanced from Megatron, to the helpless protohuman, and back.

"Oh dear, how positively Maximal of you! You were weakened before you started, Dinobot," Megatron said, taking aim at the damaged Maximal. "Weakened by compassion." The business end of his weapon began to glow.

Dinobot dropped into a forward roll, grabbing a large, gnarled limb which lay on the ground, and sprang to his feet directly in front of the Predacon commander, whacking him repeatedly with the branch.

The bound primitive watched in rapt fascination as a surprised Megatron staggered several steps backward under the assault. Finally, Megatron had enough, and backhanded Dinobot, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Really, Dinobot! A stick!? Against a Transmetal!? I think not," Megatron said, brushing imaginary dirt from his shoulderplate where the Maximal had struck him.

Dinobot lay on the ground, energon surging across his body. //Final warning,// his internal computer advised, //Power failing. Jeopardy extreme. Repeat, EXTREME.// Heedless, Dinobot struggled to stand.

"Oh, please!" Megatron scoffed. "Face it, Dinobot! You're old technology! Obsolete! What can you possibly do?" He began charging his weapon, aiming at the struggling warrior.

Dinobot glared up at him. "Improvise," he spat. Moving with greater speed than he should be able to in his condition, he raised his tree limb and struck the thick, gnarled end against the sharp point of a nearby rock. The rock pierced through the branch, wedging itself firmly in place, forming a crude stone hammer.

Megatron's eyes widened.

Dinobot lunged forward, striking Megatron in the shoulder with his makeshift weapon. Bits of metal flew, as did the golden disk, dislodged from its hiding place. Megatron toppled, crashing into the ground, clutching his damaged shoulder. The bonds holding the protohuman dissolved, and the frightened anthropoid quickly fled.

Dinobot caught the falling disk and raised it above his head. With an inarticulate battle cry, he attempted to use his eye lasers one last time. With a bright green flash, they fired, piercing the disk and shattering it into millions of fragments. As the remains of the disk rained down, Dinobot fell to the ground, and lay there motionless.

* * * * *

As Megatron picked himself up off the ground, the rest of the Maximals arrived. Optimus Primal wasted no time in opening fire on the Predacon commander. "So close..." Megatron roared, enraged. "I WAS SOOOO CLOOOOOSE!!" Reverting to his Transmetal beast mode, he engaged his turbines and quickly fled.

Rattrap raced up as Optimus landed near Dinobot, and transformed to robot mode. He gasped as he saw the fallen Maximal, and bowed his head, stricken.

* * * * *

Once Cheetor had extinguished the raging fires blazing across the valley with a suppressant spray, the Maximals gathered around Dinobot. "There's...there's gotta be somethin' we can do," Cheetor said quietly.

"He's too far gone," Rhinox said sadly, shaking his head. "Even for stasis lock."

Dinobot weakly turned his head, focusing his gaze on Rattrap and Optimus Primal. Optimus leaned over and said softly, "Well fought, my friend. You saved the valley. You saved the lives of those who live here...and those who are still to come."

"Then..." Dinobot rasped, "there is nothing to regret."

Rattrap clutched Dinobot's hand. "Like I said...you're just a blasted slag-spoutin' saurian, but, ah...it's nice t' know where ya stand."

Dinobot raised his head slightly to look at Rattrap. "Upwind of...you, for preference, vermin." This earned a surprised expression and a small, sad smile from the rodent.

Struggling to speak, Dinobot glanced around at his comrades. "Tell my tale to those who ask...tell it truly...the ill deeds, along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest—" he finished, glancing briefly at Rattrap before lowering his head, "—is silence."

Dinobot's body trembled briefly as the sound of systems powering down marked his death. A faint glow and a pulsing hum emanated from his torso as his Spark emerged, drifting into the heavens. The Maximals watched in awe and sadness as the essence of Dinobot's being floated into the sky.

Rattrap released the fallen Maximal's hand and stood, snapping to attention and saluting. The others followed suit, saluting and gazing up at the rapidly disappearing Spark.

"He lived a warrior, and died a hero," Optimus said, voice choked with emotion. "Let his Spark join the Matrix...the greatest of Cybertron."

With one last, bright flash, Dinobot's Spark disappeared into the eternal night.

* * * * *

As a new day dawned, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and Silverbolt soared in a loose V formation over a three-pillared device, at the center of which lay Dinobot's remains. Rhinox and Rattrap manned a control panel at a respectful distance from the body. As the three flyers passed, Dinobot's body disintegrated in a shimmering spray of plasma, component molecules drifting away on the morning breeze.

* * * * *

In a lush, green valley, a creature which resembled an advanced ape, and whose descendants would someday be mankind, examined a stick attached to a heavy stone curiously. He grunted as he looked from the strange discovery, to a coconut lying on the ground, and back again. After a long moment, he raised the mysterious thing over his head, and brought it down on the coconut, which promptly broke open. He let out a grunt of surprise and delight.

He was not aware of the serpent slithering up behind him.

As the serpent rose, hissing and baring its fangs to strike, he turned, and reacting quickly, swung the strange thing he had found, striking the serpent in the head with it. The snake was flung away, its head flopping limply to the ground as it landed, dead.

The protohuman stared at the fallen snake, grunting curiously, then examined his new possession. As the realization of what he held set in, he raised it above his head, yelling a wordless cry of triumph into the heavens.

Far above the clouds, far above the air, in the dark curtain which the primitive ancestor of mankind could only see when the sun went down, one star among thousands shone brightly in approval, for a new warrior had just awakened.

Author's Notes

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Since 9/27/12