Prime Directive

## Plot

Robby’s cyber-sleeve illness threatens his life, so Mo renounces ever touching the Emberstone and Quintus Prime shows Mo why she’s the hero her family needs.

## Story

Mo Malto pursues Robby as the pair bicycle down a road, pulling to a stop in the middle of a bridge. She tries to talk to her brother but pauses as she sees his cyber-sleeve and then he turns and silently screams. Mo abruptly wakes up from the nightmare and goes to check on her still-sleeping brother, finding that the infection that has been spreading through his body has progressed. He's later hooked up to a monitoring bed in the Dugout with the family gathered around, though Dot tells them Robby needs rest. While Mo doesn't leave Robby's side, Dot and Alex consult with Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, the latter of whom believes the Emberstone might be able to help the boy. As Alex points out, the Emberstone was lost. The two parents reassure the kids that they'll help Robby get better, but Mo, furious as what she sees as an unkeepable promise, yells at them and runs off. Thrash gives chase.

Running through the woods, Mo trips on a branch and spots that her cyber-sleeve seems to be faintly activating. Her cries to Quintus Prime go unanswered and she loudly wishes she'd never touched the Emberstone, only to realize she's been overheard by Thrash, who sadly drives away. Mandroid is working in his lab when Croft arrives with a crate carrying the Emberstone. As he grabs the artifact, elsewhere Mo's cyber-sleeve starts glowing, and as he installs it in equipment attached to his chest, Mo's cyber-sleeve explodes with light and she passes out. Finding herself in the cave with the Emberstone, she thanks Quintus until her hand passes straight through the artifact. All becomes clear when she sees herself and Robby enter the cave in a replay of events from when they originally found the Emberstone, however this time past-Mo doesn't touch it and only Robby receives as cyber-sleeve. Startled, present-Mo falls into the water and finds herself witnessing a later event where she's talking to Thrash. She observes her past self has no cyber-sleeve, and when past-Thrash asks past-Mo to help him find Swindle, past-Mo refuses. Present-Mo then finds herself at the later fight with Swindle, but this time G.H.O.S.T. turn up and capture both Swindle and Thrash.

Mo again finds herself shifted in time, now reliving the event where the family was taking shelter from Mandroid's Arachnamechs in the Emberstone cave. Without Thrash's help, Twitch is quickly overwhelmed by the mechs, and the Emberstone is knocked into the water by a stray blast, preventing Hashtag, Jawbreaker and Nightshade from being born. As the cave collapses, Mo again falls into the water and finds herself watching the simulation of Megatron fighting the powered-up Robby. Megatron is able to overcome Robby, shattering the crystal in his cyber-sleeve and, without a cyber-sleeve, past-Mo is unable to bring Robby back to live. As present-Mo pleads for Quintus to stop, the illusion fades to show an abstract green location. The real Dot and Alex arrive with Robby, non-the-wiser as to where they are or what's happening. Mo tells them what she's been experiencing, and Robby weakly reassures her she was always there for her family in reality. Then everything shatters, dumping the family onto the bridge of a starship which Alex recognizes as Quintus Prime's. Mo again makes an appeal to the Prime, leading to a figure appearing in a blaze of light, however rather than the anticipated Quintus, it's instead Mandroid.

Alex immediately recognizes his old university colleague, Dr Meridian. Dot observes that the ship is on a crash course for Earth, and Mandroid, eager to end the Maltos, uses his new Emberstone-derived power to speed the ship up. While the two parents attempt to steer the ship, Mo confronts Mandroid and to his surprise, blocks his first blow with her cyber-sleeve. Quintus's power leaps from the Emberstone, empowering the sleeve and allowing her to manifest an energon sword which she uses to fight him. He's eventually able to get the upper hand, shattering the sword, at which point Robby attempts to defend his sister, only for Mandroid to fire a blaster at him and time abruptly stops. Mo walks up to Mandroid and, announcing that he's not worthy, levers the Emberstone from his chest with her reconstituted sword.

The Maltos find themselves back in the abstract landscape with Quintus himself towering over them. Quintus thanks Mo for answering his call and warns her of the trials yet to come. Once Mo puts her hand on Robby's cyber-sleeve, it again glows with power, and the family finally wake up to find themselves in the Dugout with the Terrans waiting anxiously for them to recover. Robby is again in full health, and Mo apologizes for wishing she hadn't touched the Emberstone.

## Trivia

* This episode features several altered flashbacks to events from earlier episodes, including "Secret Legacy, Part 1", "House Rules", "Age of Evolution, Part 1", and "Disarmed".
* The Emberstone was last seen in "Age of Evolution, Part 2", during which it fell into the water before the cave collapsed. It's not clear how Mandroid or G.H.O.S.T. determined its location, but considering he had several Arachnamechs there at the time, Mandroid may have been able to retrieve its location from their databanks.
* This episode finally explains the connection between Alex and Mandroid, which was previously teased in "Traditions", "Age of Evolution, Part 1" and "Age of Evolution, Part 2".
* Quintus Prime, whose disembodied voice was previously heard in "Secret Legacy, Part 1" and "Age of Evolution, Part 1", makes his first physical appearance.

### Real-world references

* A picture of a young Dwayne Johnson can be seen in Mo's room.