Warzone

## Plot

Robby and Mo join the Terrans on a visit to the Spacebridge Memorial Park, but the memory of the siege opens old wounds...and more...for Megatron.

## Story

In the final battle of the Transformers War, Bumblebee and Optimus play hot potato with the AllSpark as they, and the rest of the Autobots, fight through the Decepticon Army in hopes of returning it to Cybertron. Intercepting the AllSpark himself from Starscream's clutches, Megatron just manages to toss the AllSpark back through the Spacebridge portal as Optimus fires off the shot that destroys said Spacebridge, and the AllSpark seemingly along with it.

In the present, where the former battlefield is now a war memorial, the Malto siblings and Terrans playfully re-enact the final climatic battle but the fun comes to an end when Twitch tosses the trashcan they were uplaying with at Megatron which he instinctually destroys with his fusion cannon and then seemingly preparing to take aim at the Malto youths. Coming to his senses, Megatron apologizes for scaring them, saying this place brings back painful memories for him. Apologizing themselves for the game possibly being disrespectful to play at a war memorial, the Terrans inquire why he brought them here in the first place, which Megatron only responds with “learn”.

Taking the group to the center of the park where a holographic projection of the AllSpark appears covered in a type of blue flower, Megatron asks the Terrans what they think they’re looking at. After a poorly-timed photo-op by Hashtag, Robby and Mo inform their Terran siblings the flowers are Cybertronian remembrance flowers that absorb and represent the sparks of Autobots and Decepticons who died in the final battle. Megatron shares with them that the war had reached the point where it was destroying Transformers as a species and he finally became convinced of the error of his way thanks to their mother; Dorothy, claiming the greater compassion she showed for his own troops than he did reminded him of lost he’d become. Continuing the tour, Megatron then asks what the Terrans know of the AllSpark. Having still only limited info provided by their father, Megatron explains that as the source of life for all Cybertronians the AllSpark could also be used as a powerful weapon to create legions of new warriors in an instant. It was when the Decepticons moved the AllSpark off of Cybertron, depriving their planet of it’s life source, that Megatron realized the war had entered it’s darkest hour. Following Optimus' orders, Megatron had to sneak behind enemy lines to retrieve the AllSpark

*As Megatron attempts to sneak into the Decepticon’s base to retrieve the AllSpark, he is stopped by Shockwave. Trying to get his old friend to see reason, Megatron finds his efforts rebutted as Shockwave only responds all the losses so far will be all be worth it as the Decepticons will rule both Earth and Cybertron. Revealing his ultimate plan of bringing to life a massive Protoform army currently on Cybertron that will overwhelm the Autobots, Megatron realizes his old friend has gone too far and forcibly shoves Shockwave into a stasis pod while distracted. Shockwave only uttering a spiteful “traitor” insult as he slowly goes into forced stasis. Optimus and Bumblebee soon arrive on the scene, congratulating Megatron for getting the AllSpark, and all three depart to go return it to Cybertron*

Given the totality of the explosion caused when the Spacebridge was destroyed, Megatron’s greatest fear since the end of the war has been that with AllSpark's destruction, Cybertro itself was also destroyed. With the arrival of the Terrans however, his hope now being this new generation will able to find a better way towards the future than either the Autobots or Decepticons could. Thrash however can only shake his head and walks off. Meanwhile, in the derelict Decepticon layer beneath the memorial, Shockwave’s stasis tube cracks open allowing the long-forgotten Decepticon to reactivate.

Thrash sits sullenly overlooking the names of those lost in the Great War as Mo comes to join him. Venting about what he feels is the unfair burden of having to clean up the mess caused by Megatron and the Decepticons in the war despite the fact the Terrans had nothing to do with it. Mo however points it’s probably more he doesn’t want them to fix his mistakes but not to make the same ones. Taken these words to heart, Thrash is ready go back and finish hearing Megatron’s lesson only for the moment to be interrupted by Shockwave blasting his way on the scene. Surveying the environment, Shockwave reacts with horror to see the Spacebridge destroyed and demands to know who’s responsible. Trying to prevent further escalation, Megatron informs Shockwave the war’s been over for years in the time since he was imprisoned. Refusing to listen, Shockwave grabs a hold of Thrash and keeps Megatron and the others at bay with the threat of the Immobilizer. Curious about these new lifeforms with Megatron, Shockwave performs a mind scan of Thrash only to react with horror and tosses Thrash to the ground, calling the Terran an abomination. Claiming the Terrans are the future of the species, Shockwave only scoffs and says he’ll betray them eventually just as he did the Decepticons and fires a blast at Megatron that sends him flying. Jawbreaker, Hashtag, and Twitch attempt to get Megatron out of the way of a shot from the Immobilizer that only hits them instead, locking them into stasis. An enraged Megatron battles it out with Shockwave with the latter activating both a personal energy shield that entraps the both of them and initiates an overload of the Spacebridge’s old power core chambers.

With three of them incapacitated and the power core chamber set to blow, Nightshade deduces they might know a way to prevent the explosion and takes Thrash and Robby with them while Mo is ordered to say behind. Rushing into the inner layer of the Spacebridge chamber, Nightshade rushes towards the first wiring they see and tears it out. The power levels of the chamber beginning the drop, Nighshade sighing in relief they weren’t sure that was going to work while Robby and Thrash can only exasperate at such a simple solution. Above ground, Megatron is shot out of the sky by Shockwave and buried under some rubble. Gradually approaching his former leader, Shockwave stops to see Mo vainly trying to move the rubble off of Megatron. Amused, Shockwave offers the child an attempt to leave with Mo only standing definitely as Megatron uses the opportunity to fire off a shot of the Immobilizer at Shockwave, it having been knocked out of the latter’s grip earlier in the fight. Shockwave only snarls in a rage as he’s once again put into forced stasis. With Nightshade, Thrash, and Robby having disabled the rest of the power cores, Megatron uses the Immoblizer to release Hashtag, Twitch, and Jawbreaker.

As the morning approaches, the inert Shockwave is taken away by G.H.O.S.T. and the Terrans ask for one last bit of advice from Megatron before departing. Megatron telling them that there will come a day where they will have to reveal themselves to the world and imploring them to not let whatever disagreements they may have divide them and instead of trying to emulate their Autobot and Decepticon seniors to instead be better than them.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Megatron
* Twitch
* Thrash
* Hashtag
* JawBreaker
* Nightshade
* Robby
* Mo
* Shockwave

### Cameos/Flashback

* Soundwave
* Nova Storm
* Dot Malto
* StarScream
* Shrapnel
* Bumblebee
* Optimus Prime

## Trivia

### Continuity notes

* Megatron still bears a scar on the left side of his chest where Mandroid tried to surgically remove his arm in "Age of Evolution, Part 2".

### Transformers references

* The AllSpark and the war fought over its life-giving properties have been a central component of many prior *Transformers* series. Its appearance in *EarthSpark* most resembles its appearance in the live-action film series.
* Megatron's disgust over Shockwave's "lower class" comment and his statement that he began the war so that "no one would kneel again" hearkens back to the class-based origins of the Great War in many previous series, most notably the Aligned continuity family and the 2005 IDW continuity.
* The Cybertronian remembrance flowers that grow from the AllSpark are based on the flowers that first appear in issue 44 of *More than Meets The Eye*, where they were planted on the Necrobot's planet. While their appearance is visually identical, they work slightly differently; each flower represents an Autobot, Deception, and human who died during the battle, and are not linked to particular killers.
* What appears to be Blitzwing and Astrotrain (in space shuttle mode) cameo in some art depicting scenes from the Transformers' war on Earth. They are the only Decepticons featured in it who haven't appeared in the series proper.
* Shockwave's tentacled claw and mind probe is very similar to the cortical psychic patch that first appeared in the *Prime* cartoon, in which it was created by the series' own resident Shockwave.

### Real-world references

* Spacebridge Memorial Park seems to take inspiration from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, specifically the black stone walls with the names of those who died in the war etched on to them.