- "''I can lead you directly to Unicron's spark: the very heart of his darkness!"Megatron
Optimus battles a horde of Unicron's stone avatars, but when he's overwhelmed, the Autobots lend a hand. Optimus initially disagrees, but Ratchet points out that if Optimus doesn't survive, Earth dies. Optimus relents and the Autobots make their way through hordes of progressively larger avatars, until faced with an enormous titan of an avatar. The Autobots are quickly overwhelmed, and Unicron nearly kills Optimus before Megatron saves his nemesis.
After Optimus makes it clear he's still very open to killing Megatron outright, Megatron offers to ally with the Autobots to defeat Unicron. Optimus correctly surmises that this is just out of pride; no one but Megatron can conquer Earth. Megatron admits that after Unicron's defeat, he will resume hostilities against the Autobots. Optimus slowly comes around to the idea of allying with Megatron, despite plenty of arguments to the contrary from Ratchet and the others. The group realizes that they will have to Groundbridge to the Earth's core to defeat Unicron, meaning they would have to bring Megatron into Omega-1.
Raf and Ratchet explain the tricky nature of trying to defeat Unicron: he is the Earth's core, after all, and attempting to remove him from his current physical location could bring about the apocalypse they're trying to stop. After Optimus and Megatron agree that they can only defeat Unicron with the Matrix of Leadership, Unicron's avatars return. The Autobots retreat to their base while Megatron dukes it out with the avatars for the time being. At the base, Optimus assures the group that bridging Megatron directly to the base will prevent him from learning its' location. Jack questions what will happen to Optimus when the Matrix is emptied stopping Unicron, but Optimus evades the answer and rallies his troops to follow him and Megatron to the core.
Ratchet hides the humans when Megatron is finally bridged to the base, but Raf, sore from his near-death experience, runs towards Megatron, who is impressed with humanity's resilience, and also acknowledges Jack. Miko swears vengeance on Megatron should he double-cross the Autobots before she's dragged away by Fowler. Megatron and Ratchet input the coordinates for the Groundbridge, while Optimus asks Jack to hold onto a small device he calls the key to the Groundbridge power supply. Optimus entrusts it with Jack out of admiration for how much he's matured since they met.
Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Megatron depart through the Groundbridge and arrive inside Unicron. Arcee questions when Unicron will realize their presence, but Megatron snarls that he already knows.
To Be Concluded...
Tropes:
- Ask a Stupid Question...: The episode opens with one, as Optimus is surrounded by more and more avatars of Unicron.Ratchet: Optimus, have you uncovered any further sign of Unicron's emergence?
Unicron: Unicron is power incarnate and you, the last of the Primes, shall perish!
Ratchet: I take that as a yes. - Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The first stone copies of himself Unicron made were already much larger than normal transformers, but the giant sized ones make them look like insects.
- Batman Gambit: A villainous example with Megatron. The Autobots naturally don't trust him when he suggests a temporary alliance against Unicron considering all he's done so far. Megatron then states how currently Unicron is the bigger threat and let's Optimus think about the big picture, playing on his sense of right and wrong. When Optimus finally decides to work with Megatron and calls him up to take their ground bridge, Megatron comments how Optimus could always be relied upon to make a sound choice.
- Berserk Button: Megatron claims the past doesn't matter so long as Unicron functions. Ratchet snaps at the tyrant for trying to push everything he's done to Cybertron and the Autobots under the rug.
- Big Damn Heroes: Played straight at the beginning by Team Prime.
- Big "NO!": Arcee yells out this when Unicron was about to step on Optimus.
- Ratchet yells out “Absolutely not!” when he figured out Optimus’s planning to use the ground bridge to go directly into the Earth’s core, saying it’s an insane idea.
- Brutal Honesty: Megatron admits that when Unicron is defeated, he'll get back to work trying to conquer Earth. Arcee lampshades it.Arcee: Brutal honesty from a Decepticon?
- At the end of the episode when Megatron and the Autobots have gone inside Unicron's spark chamber, when asked when Unicron will learn of their premise, Megatron warns that Unicron already knows.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Averted. Megatron tells Jack that he never forgets a face, not even a human's.
- Continuity Nod: Megatron remembers Jack, who spared his life, in "Rock Bottom".
- Arcee mentioned how Megatron's attempts to conquer Cybertron destroyed it.
- Deadpan Snarker: Upon entering the Autobot base.Megatron: So, this is where the magic happens. Quaint.
- Enemy Mine: Megatron makes an alliance with Optimus and the Autobots to defeat Unicron, although Optimus can tell Megatron's only doing this to defend his own potential intentions to become the dictator of planet earth.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: What Megatron's argument boils down to. He points out that the manifestations thus far are just the beginning and that a fully awakened Unicron will cause "utter devastation" across the planet until no one or thing is left.Arcee: Like your quest for power destroyed Cybertron?!
Megatron: Make no mistake, this time, there will be a planet left for me to rule! - Eyes Do Not Belong There: There's one inside Unicron's spark chamber.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Optimus and the Autobots are unable to escape Unicron whatsoever, and so Optimus decides fighting Unicron's rock-copies are the only option - though that doesn't work out either.
- Foreshadowing:
- Miko warns Megatron of her wrath should he cross the Autobots.
- When Optimus talks about releasing the Matrix's energies, Jack asks if he has any idea what will happen to him as a result. Optimus doesn't answer the question, but he later gives Jack a key to safeguard for him until he returns.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Averted by Optimus. The other Autobots question why Megatron would side with them against Unicron, but Optimus knows that Megatron's sheer pride drives him to conquer and rule others rather than step aside for anyone else. Megatron quips that Optimus gets him.
- Honor Before Reason: Optimus tries to stop the Autobots from helping him fight Unicron's avatars, believing it's just his fight. Ratchet points out that for Earth to survive, Optimus must survive too.
- Irony: Megatron comments on how he performed a Villainous Rescue to save someone that had tried so hard to kill him mere hours earlier.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Megatron ultimately becomes this between him and Unicron, given that Unicron is a chaotic force of destruction who could wipe out all life on earth, while Megatron is a dictator-wannabe looking to conquer life rather than destroy it (unless it resists his rule). Ratchet discusses that Megatron fitting this trope isn't enough to trust him, since he can betray them shortly after. In short:Ratchet: Aligning with the lesser of two evils is still siding with evil!
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While not outright stated, it's implicitly clear that the only reason Megatron offers to aid the Autobots in defeating Unicron is that the Chaos Bringer rejected his offer of servitude in the previous episode.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Megatron freely admits it is not in his nature to risk his life for his enemies for the sake of it, but it is to secure cooperation in eliminating a common enemy standing in the way of his ultimate goals.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Optimus snarks that Megatron only saved him from Unicron so that Optimus and his Matrix of Leadership can extinguish Unicron's spark - or else Megatron can't rule Earth.
- Villain Has a Point: The Autobots don't want to work with Megatron but as he points out, they can't stop Unicron without his help.
- Villainous Rescue: Megatron rescues Optimus from Unicron.
- Wham Line: Optimus is saved from Unicron at the last moment, but no one knows who fired the shot.Ratchet: What is it? What happened?
Megatron: I happened! - Zerg Rush: No matter how many of Unicron's avatars the Autobots destroy, he creates more. Even when Megatron destroys a giant one, Unicron creates more.
