Huzza! I live! As usual, I don't own the Transformers. If anyone is wondering, the next chapter of Desperate Situation is in the works, but I haven't had the feel to write it all yet, it'll be here eventually, don't worry =) Anywho, there is a toy out or pending to come out for every character in this fic, shouldn't be hard to figure out who is who.

**Darkness, Water is Dripping slowly*

Silverbolt's optics snapped on as he groaned loudly. He could hear other groans throughout the area. He slowly stumbled up as he looked to his surroundings. It appeared to be a dank cell, very unfurnished, and dark. He could make out a few different forms around him, either unconscious or groaning loudly.

"Where am I?" Silverbolt said aloud.

"You're in my master's company." Silverbolt spun around and peered outside the cell, seeing a pair of soft red optics.

"Who're you!?"

"You may call me Snarl, and all shall be revealed in time." The voice responded, the optics blinking as light filled the room. Before Silverbolt stood a Cybertronian of average height, mostly black with splashes of yellow, purple, and red. His copper mane was also splashed with red and yellow, looking almost aflame. "Your comrades are awakening, I will return later to speak with you all."

"Wait!" Silverbolt yelled, but Snarl already had left. "What the.." Silverbolt looked at his hand, then the rest of his form. He had somehow reverted to his older Fuzor form, but still had the fuchsia and yellow color scheme of his technorganic condor form. "By Primus.."

"Ah so he finally noticed, yessss."

Silverbolt tensed at the voice behind him, narrowing his optics as he said only one name. "Megatron."

"Ah my dear Silverbolt, what a surprise to see you in this prison." The tyrant chuckled as Silverbolt turned. He was in his Transmetal form, but his color scheme consisted of coppers, silvers, and greens.

"You're dead."

"Alas, I am aware of this fact, and there are a few more deceased you should make yourself aware of." Megatron said as he waved his hand nonchalantly across the prison room. In separate cells sat oddly colored versions of Waspinator in normal form, Blackarachnia in her technoranic form, Rhinox in his normal form, Terrorsaur in what appeared to be a Transmetal form, Depth Charge in his normal form, Obsidian in a slightly modified form, and Optimus Primal in his oldest form.

"This..is not possible!" Silverbolt stammered as Megatron smirked.

"It seems, my dear maximal, that we are pawns in someone's game, but the question is, who's?" The tyrant mused as Silverbolt looked to his comrades with concern.

**Darkness**

"What happened to my gorgeous frame!!!!!"

Sideswipe winced internally as he heard Sunstreaker bellow at the top of his vocal synthesizer. He activated his optics to see a yellow Autobot, as far as he could tell from the symbol on it's chest, with a double barreled cannon on one hand, and a shield on the other, the bot looked very samurai- like, with car doors forming shin guards. Sideswipe about jumped out of his own shell when Sunstreaker's voice came from it.

"By the PIT! Not only do they change my gorgeous body, but they make it look just like yours!!" Sunstreaker pointed accusingly at Sideswipe.

"What in the name of.AHH!" Sideswipe yelled as he suddenly looked himself over. Indeed, he was a red version of the bot that had his brother's voice. "What's going on here!?"

"Twin-bots giving Swoop headache, can you keep voice down for Swoop?" A voice said in an adjacent cell, making Sunstreaker and Sideswipe turn their heads. In the cell sat a lithe metallic blue pterodactyl-detail adorned robot rubbing his head. Another Cybertronian that appeared to have a raptor alternate mode, was still unconscious.

"Swoop? And don't tell me that's Grimlock." Sideswipe said, still groggily gripping the bars of his prison cell.

"That be Grimlock." Swoop said, still rubbing his head.

"Can anyone tell me why I'm an SUV that wants to be some sort of rescue vehicle?"

"Oh Primus..that you Ratchet?" Sunstreaker groaned as he looked across the room. In a different cell we can see Ratchet, in traditional rescue vehicle colors, prodding at all the equipment hanging off of his form.

"Yeah, and I think this is Inferno, according to my internals. But why the pit he looks like some supped-up fire Lamborghini I'll never know." Ratchet said, propping up another bot. Sunstreaker gazed over and then hit the bars in a rage.

"HE LOOKS LIKE ME AND SIDESWIPE!" The yellow Lamborghini frothed. Indeed, the last bot in the room had fire chief's vehicle coloring, and sirens on the top, but looked exactly like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker otherwise.

Sideswipe sighed audibly and sat down. "What in the world is going on?"

**Another cell room, virtually the same as the last ones, pitch black**

"My aching servos, servos."

"Ugh..what happened."

"Cowards! Who dares take us prisoner!"

"Death to those who oppose us!"

"Would you two shadup!"

"Where are we, we must find a light or something."

"Ha, they are afraid to see us,"

"But, we cannot fight what we cannot see, they wish to breed our fear."

"We will give them no such pleasure!"

"Can it already!"

"Why are they so loud, loud?"

"You're all pathetic."

Suddenly the lights in the room spring on. In different cells we see multiple Cybertronians. In one a massive black and purple winged bot, with a red visor. Next to him is a small insectoid, colored green and midnight blue. In one cell both a small blue and silver winged bot and a yellow and black winged bot both reside. A yellow and green robot with tank parts and a massive cannon inhabits another. Last, a sleek black and purple robot leans against the wall, arms crossed. The winged bot was the first to speak.

"Are you all through?"

"Is that you Razorclaw?" The tank asked incredulously.

"Yes Bludgeon, it is, we all seem to have new forms." The Predacon leader answered.

"The short stop has to be Shrapnel, no one else talks like that!" The black one chuckled.

"Go stuff it in your intake, intake. I don't have to take slag from you, Skywarp, Skywarp." The small blue bot spat.

"And the loudmouths are Thrust and Dirge!" Skywarp continued to laugh.

"I'd like to see you come over here and say that!" Thrust cried, the blue arms of Dirge holding him back.

"Does your teleport work Skywarp?" Bludgeon asked.

"Nah, they fiddled with my Power Rectifier chip, I can still use it, but it's been deactivated." Skywarp explained.

"What we need to do is find out who 'they' are." Razorclaw said.

"I think I can be of assssistance."

"Who are you?" Dirge asked, looking around panicked, trying to locate the voice.

"They call me Reptillion, and you, ssssimple Decepticons, are my massssstersssss guest." A Cybertronian colored brown and green, with a sadistic silver grin, and of all things, an eyepatch, walked into view.

"What is with these forms, forms? They're more organic than I remember, remember." Shrapnel asked.

"You and the Autobotssss we brought here had, outdated formsss. Very inefficient. We provided you with new formssss, assss closssse to your old formssss assss we could. We had very limited sssssselection." Reptillion explained. "You are all now up to par with your competition."

"Competition?" Razorclaw asked, regarding the reptile warily.

"All will be revealed." Reptillion grinned. "Trussssssst me."

**Yet another cell room**

"Can anyone tell me what just happened?"

"Well, we were fighting Ruination, and then...I have no clue."

"We were whippin your cans but good Autoboobs!"

"Yeah! What kinda dirty Autobot trick is this?!"

"Everyone calm down!"

"Is that Prime!? Let me at him, I'll tear his optics out!"

"Alright men! Stand down, we can't even see the Autobots!"

"Hah, they're afraid of us guys!"

"Five o'clock news flash Autocreeps, you couldn't scare a bunny!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"You heard him!"

The lights flashed on violently as we see the members of each cell. In one cell, a large robot with a bright yellow and black color scheme and what seems to be a fire ladder hanging off his back. The next cell has two yellow and black bots. The first is small and has bulldozer shovels on each arm, and the second has a dump truck bed on his back. The next cell, another two yellow and black bots reside. One has a stern look accompanying his visor face, and the other, tall and lithe, also sporting a visor, has a backhoe on his shoulder. Across the room three more cells are set up. Each bot in the cell is colored with uniform white, gray, and black camouflage markings. The first cell held a tall, regal, and intelligent looking robot with twin cannons on his back. The second contained a surly looking bot with a cannon on his back, and a smug robot who looked like he could con anyone he saw. The last cell had a robot with a sophisticated air around him and the hull of a space shuttle making his arms. The final bot was a sadistic looking robot with helicopter blades on his back.

"Optimus Prime, what is the meaning of this." The dual cannoned bot asked.

"I don't know what you mean, Mega-Octane, we're as clueless as you are." Prime stated back.

"I bet he's lying! Ro-Tor, you should make him squeal!" The smug looking robot said.

"I really can't do that in this cell Rollbar, you idiot!" Ro-Tor responded.

"Hah, look at them fight amongst themselves!" The robot with the dump truck bed laughed.

"It's pretty funny if I do say so myself, Heavy Load. This is why we beat them all the time." The bulldozer one chuckled back.

"You're all idiots! Can't you break these bars Armorhide?" The space shuttle asked.

"He couldn't fight his way out of a tin can, Movar!" The bulldozer cried again.

"Wedge, that's enough, Grimlock, Hightower, any way out of here?" Optimus Prime asked as Wedge grunted.

"Not that I can see Prime." Grimlock responded. The Decepticons kept trading insults with the Build Team and each other as a figure appeared on the balcony.

"SILENCE!" The figure said, making the very walls shake. He was very tribal in appearance, having a headdress of Stegosaurus spikes, and a skull adoring his chest. He was varying shades of green and black, and had a rather large multicolored photon cannon is his hand.

"Who in the pit are you?" Mega-Octane asked.

"I AM STRIKER, AND YOU ARE TO REMAIN SILENT UNLESS SPOKEN TO!" To emphasize this, he flicked a switch, which caused Mega-Octane to fall over in pain.

"Bos-ARRGGHH!" Armorhide cried out, the same fate befalling him.

"THAT'S BETTER, YOU SHALL ALL CEASE SPEAKING UNTIL SUMMONED BY MASTER!" Striker demanded.

"Who is this mas-AAHHH!" Wedge cried, making the mistake of activating his vocalizer. Optimus and the rest of the Build Team flinched, but thought better of speaking. Striker simply smiled.

**An Unusually Large Cell Room**

"What is the meaning of this you treacherous piece of trash!" Sparks flared violently as a large robot with mostly pastel whites, purples, and maroons lunged forward. Despite the non-threatening color scheme, the Decepticon, as his shoulders clearly stated, was armed to the teeth, all the way to his horned visage. The target of his rage sat outside the cell.

"Galvatron, you need to calm yourself, you might break something." The lithe purple and yellow robot chided.

"Sideways, I am going to tear you apart piece by piece, then keep tearing apart you pieces as you put your damned self back together again for all eternity!" Galvatron howled, the energy bars just barely keeping him at bay.

Sideways let out a chuckle as he viewed the rest of the room. The Decepticons known as Cyclonus, Demolisher, and Tidal Wave sat in separate cells, Tidal Wave requiring a fairly massive cell. The warship was now adorned with grays and greens, missing much of his purple. Cyclonus also had a large amount of bright greens adorning his figure, while Demolisher had browns and yellows.

"Where the heck are we anyway?" Cyclonus asked no one in particular.

"You'll see, all in due time." Sideways said blandly. Suddenly, more shouts were heard as Sideways realized the Autobots he brought must have come back to as well. He turned to see the red and yellow form of Hot Shot fling himself at the bars, shocking himself in the process. He was deftly caught by another large Autobot, predominately blue and while detailing.

"That was stupid." The Autobot said dryly.

"Like you had any better ideas, Overload." Hot Shot spat.

"Hey, shut up both of you, we have to figure out what's going on." The shortest Autobot ordered.

"Funny, I don't remember you outranking me Blurr." Hot Shot snapped.

"I'm the ranking officer here, and you'll all shut your pie holes!" The largest Autobot, adorned in white and blue, ordered.

"Jetfire is correct." Overload quipped.

"Hey Autoboobs! Forget about us?" Cyclonus cried over to the Autobot's side of the room.

"Oh great, they're here too." Hot Shot groaned.

"Alright, silence all of you!" Sideways commanded.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Galvatron seethed. Sideways's optics rolled, more of a funny flicker.

"Just shut up until master summons us." The motorcycle groaned.

**Maximal and Predacon's Cell Room**

"Primal! What the slag is going on!"

"I have no clue Depthcharge, for all I know we should all be dead."

"This is indeed interesting."

"Who asked for your opinion propeller face, shouldn't you be littering space somewhere."

"Ah such venom from you, Ms. Arachnia."

"Who the slag are half of you people anyway! Waspinator! What's going on?"

"Terrorsaur out of loop for long time, Wazzzpinator doezzzzn't want to be here!"

"Primal get us out of here right now or I'm gonna tear you apart."

"Shut up Depthcharge!" Primal snapped at the multi-color manta ray. "I don't know why any of us are here, why do you assume I have the answers!"

"Ah the mighty Optimus doesn't even know what's going on, I'm in heaven."

"You shut up too Megatron." The lights grew brighter as Snarl reentered the room. The lion took center stage and stared at the contingent. Megatron was the first to speak.

"Snarl, I presume." The tyrant gestured with his tail weapon to him before continuing. "What is this place, if I may be curious to ask."

"This is your temporary home." Snarl explained. "Your permanent quarters will be much better furnished, believe me."

"Wait a sec..hold on.why are we here?" Terrorsaur asked , cocking his head.

"Master will be holding an audience soon, please wait." Snarl said, smirking.

**Autobot's Cell**

Sideswipe had given up counting the number of times water dripped about two cycles ago when footsteps perked his head up. The one approaching the room appeared to have some sort of organic mode. It looked almost like a skeleton. Sideswipe scoffed. The thought of an organic alternate mode disgusted him. The robot faced the cells as other Autobots perked up, and sent him a barrage of questions.

"What's going on?"

"Who are you!?"

"What have you done to my frame!?"

"Let us out!"

"Me gonna kick your butt!"

"Alright, lets just cut to the chase." The angular bot said in a tired voice. "You're here, theres nothing you or I can do about it, deal with it, you'll be let out in a few cycles."

Sideswipe flickered his optics. "That's it?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"My name? Oh..wow never had that asked." The bot smiled. "I am Skydive."

"Sideswipe here, nice to meet you." The red Lamborghini responded.

"Ni-Nice to meet you too." Skydive said, sounding hesitant and puzzled. "Now if you all can just hold still for a nanoclick."

The room and everything around it became enveloped with a blue-purple haze, making it look like another dimension. Sideswipe only heard a few "oohhhsss" and "aahhhsss" before everything turned purplish-blue.

**A Large, Golden Room, Overlooking An Arena."

Rook rubbed his head as his optics activated. The room was a painstakingly bright shade of gold. He got up as he saw a Cybertronian about twice his size approach. He had multiple leg attachments hanging from his back, and his mouth had multiple mandibles in it. A gold optic band crossed his face as he somehow managed a smirk with the mandibles. The orbs adorning his chest flicked as he regarded the reporter.

"You are Rook I assume." The robot queried.

"Uh, yeah that's me." The silver and blue minibot replied. "What is this place? Why am I here?"

"Ehehehehe, I knew you would asked that." The Cybertronian's back legs twitched as he laughed. "Master Unicron would like a, how do you say, formal announcer for the festivities."

"Announcer? Festivities? UNICRON?" Rook cried, the word Unicron finally registering.

"Yes, you will not need to participate, only announce the stipulations and contestants."

"What..exactly is going on, and what does it have to do with Unicron?"

"Why, you're his guest right now, inside his humble body."

"I'M INSIDE OF UNICRON!"

"Well, yes, anyway, perform your function and all will be well."

"Ok..ok...OK! What do I need to do?"

"Download the info from this data pad, and then step outside please, eheheheheheh."

Rook plugged the data pad into his head after some hesitation, and fell over from the landslide of information that streamed into him. His optics widened in response.

"You...can't be serious."

"Outside. Now." The robot pointed with one three clawed hand, as a haze formed on the podium outside, and five forms appeared there. Striker, Reptilion, Snarl, Skydive, and Sideways all stood there, arms crossed as Rook stumbled outside.

"AH OUR LITTLE ANNOUNCER IS HERE." Striker, the large green and black one said in a booming voice. Rook backed off as Reptilion knelt besides him.

"All isssss well little one, jussssst do your job when it issssss asssked of." The iguana flashed him a sinister silver smile as Snarl pulled Rook to the side.

"Just stand and wait, we will give you the signal." The black lion said warmly as the purple haze covered the arena floor. Multiple Transformers appeared out of the haze, all looking confused. Some attempted to pull weapons on robots with different faction symbols, but most looked to the podium. Sideways stepped forward and held his arms out, gathering as much attention as he could.

"Weapons are useless unless here fools. Now listen to master Unicron!" The yellow and purple bike cried out as most robots looked around in shock.

"Unicron." Razorclaw growled, Shrapnel hissing at the mention of the dark god's name.

"Ahhh, Unicron himself has summoned us, that explains much." Megatron said as a black and purple jet form besides him scoffed. Megatron turned his head and almost gasped. "Jetstorm?"

"Jet-who? Nah buddy, I think you got me mistaken for someone else, name's Skywarp." The Jetstorm doppelganger chuckled. All idle chat between Cybertronians was cut short by a booming, bass filled voice.

"WELCOME, MY GUESTS. YOU ARE ALL TO COMPETE IN A GAME. I HAVE BROUGHT TOGETHER TRANSFORMERS FROM DIFFERENT REALITIES AND TIMELINES TO SEE, WHO IS THE BEST OF ALL TIME." Unicron boasted. Unfortunately, most did not take his proclamation as it was.

"Something tells me this isn't some big game to see whose top dog." Jetfire commented to Hot Shot, who nodded in agreement.

"TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE PARTICIPATES, THE WINNERS SHALL RECEIVE THIS." Unicron boomed as the whole crowd was washed over by a feeling of immense pleasure. "THE LOSERS SHALL BE LESS FORTUNATE." Cries of joy were immediately replaced by cries of anguish and misery. The pain subsided quickly as everyone rose quickly.

"THE GAMES WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY." Unicron exclaimed as purple haze enveloped the crowd once again. All were moved to a sort of stands as four confused robots stood in the arena.

"The hell?" Sunstreaker commented, looking to Sideswipe, then to the bright green and the brown and gold Decepticons across the arena from him. Sideswipe simply shrugged.

"Uhhhh Cyclonus?" Demolisher asked the helicopter.

"Don't look at me, I don't know what's going on." Cyclonus replied. Suddenly a voice rang out from the podium. Rook help out his hand as he began to do what he was brought here for.

"The following contest, scheduled for one fall, is a tag team match!" Sideswipe and Cyclonus assumed a battle stance as a blue aura sprang up around them. They were suddenly standing on red panels, identical panels only a few feet from them.

"To win this match, One Cybertronian from either team must be put into stasis lock. Tagging is initiated by stepping onto the red actuators."

"That must mean we're up first." Sunstreaker said, regarding Demolisher. The tank looked at him grimly.

"Introducing first, from the Generation One timeline, the Autobot twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker!"

In the stands, Ratchet looked at Inferno. "Generation One?"

"Don't look at me, I didn't come up with it." Inferno replied, holding out his hands defensively.

"And their opponents, hailing from the Armada Universe, Decepticons Demolisher and Cyclonus!"

"Armada? What kind of stupid name is that! Hah!" Cyclonus chuckled from behind the blue field.

"I'm glad you think this is funny!" Demolisher cried out. The voice of Unicron rang out one last time.

"BEGIN!"

Sunstreaker didn't waste any time sprinting across the field, his dual- barrel blaster on his right arm flaring to life as he did a swiping dive at Demolisher. Demolisher cried out and leapt back, landing on his posterior.

"Time to see what this second rate frame can do." Sunstreaker snorted, firing the cannons at Demolisher. The blast knocked him back as he scrambled back to his feet.

"I wasn't ready! No fair!" Demolisher cried as his arms flipped around so the cannons on his shoulders were facing Sunstreaker. Purple energy lanced from Demolisher's main battery as small purple lasers spewed from what were a second ago his fingers. Sunstreaker brought up his shielded arm to deflect the shots, but was still thrown back violently. Sunstreaker pulled himself back up and switched to vehicle mode, the bright yellow Lamborghini shooting around the Decepticon.

"He's gonna hit you from behind!" Cyclonus yelled to Demolisher as the tank spun around to only get tackled as Sunstreaker transformed the second before impact. Demolisher hit the ground with a crunching thud. Sunstreaker was about to pummel his opponent when a well placed knee followed by a straight kick from the grounded Decepticon sent him flying off.

"Like I needed him to tell me that." Demolisher muttered as he reverted to tank mode. His treads tore up the bland dirt that made up the arena as he charged towards Sunstreaker, energy pouring from his cannons. Sunstreaker took a few potshots as he switched to vehicle mode as well, but instead of fighting back, he had a different idea. The yellow Autobot shot right past Demolisher and transformed, landing deftly on the actuator besides the imprisoned Sideswipe. The aura flicked from around Sideswipe and suddenly surrounded Sunstreaker. Demolisher gasped as Sideswipe ran straight between his cannons and picked him up. Straining, Sideswipe chucked the tank onto it's top before Demolisher transformed, dazed.

"Now this is more like it." Sideswipe chuckled as he let his own dual- barrel cannon emit a powerful plasma blast. Demolisher cried out and limped towards his own actuator. Sideswipe ran after him, attempting to stop him.

"AHAHAHA Finally, some action!" Cyclonus cackled with glee as Demolisher threw himself onto the panel. Sideswipe squeezed off a few shots at Cyclonus, who dodged and switched to helicopter mode. The flight bound Decepticon ran a few strafing runs over Sideswipe, who transformed and made some distance between him and Cyclonus. Back to robot mode, Sideswipe fired his cannons from his arms. Cyclonus yelled something unintelligible and banked hard right. The first missed entirely, but the second connected, knocking the demented helicopter from the sky. Landing on his feet in robot mode, Cyclonus started pelting at Sideswipe with his wrist blasters. The lithe red Autobot dashed across the landscape again. Taking a few glancing blows, he switched to vehicle mode.

"Hey Sunny! Get ready!" Sideswipe yelled as he barreled towards the actuator.

"Oh no you don't Autobot!" Cyclonus cried, firing his wrist missiles.

"Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker cried as his brother transformed and flung himself onto the panel. In the process, one of his arms flew off as Cyclonus's missiles connected. The aura switched again as Sunstreaker fired his cannons, striking Cyclonus in the chest. The Decepticon fell down as Sunstreaker pounced on him and began to bludgeon him with his shield.

"Oh that must hurt." Galvatron winced from the stands, Tidal Wave standing over him with his arms crossed.

"Get up Cyclonus!" Demolisher cried to his partner. Cyclonus groped at Sunstreaker with increasing lethargy, his optics flickering and head sparking from the beating Sunstreaker was giving him with the shield. The Decepticon garbled off half curses as his optics fell black and his arms went limp. Sunstreaker got up and backed away.

"Here are your winners, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe!" Rook's voice reverberated in the arena as some cheers sounded and a couple of boos, but not a whole lot of crowd reaction.

Sunstreaker gasped and fell to his knees as the pleasurable sensation washed over him. Sideswipe did the same, and both stayed like that for a few cycles. Demolisher, who had run over to his comrades side, started thrashing and shrieking, his body racked with pain. Cyclonus came out of stasis lock from the immense pain, his body shaking involuntarily as he screamed once and then fell silent. From the podium, the five judges of Unicron all smiled and clapped. In the audience, a mixed reaction was quite evident.

"This is sick, not even Decepticons deserve this." Optimus Prime said, folding his arms.

"Doesn't look like the end is going to be in sight either Prime. This is probably only a taste." Hightower responded to his taller leader.

"Indeed." Prime said, optics narrowing. Snarl rose from his seat as he addressed the crowd.

"Today's games are done, you shall be informed of the next game, until then, you are free to roam the living quarters we have provided you. But fighting shall not be tolerated!" The lion's main rustled as he spoke, and then the purple haze lowered onto the crowd, and all faded from view.

**Conference Room**

"So, what did we gain from this?" Sideways asked, leaning against the wall. The other five were seated, and regarded Sideways quickly.

"The meter's were off the scale!" Skydive exclaimed.

"Yesssss, the amount of energon collected easssssily triplesss any amount ever gained from mining or whole planet conssssumption." Reptillion hissed, steepling his hands.

"Oh gentlemen, the best is yet to come, that match only lasted a few cycles, there are endless possibilities that await us, hehehehehehe!"

"You believe this to be so, Tarantulas?" Snarl regarded the last Unicronian in the room.

"Oh I do Snarl, I do" Tarantulas cackled.

**To be Continued**