Struggle

« Transformers Cloud: Spacetime World: Guardians of Time Chapter 4: Part 4 »
"Struggle" 争奪 (Sōdatsu)
Publisher	e-HOBBY, TakaraTomy Mall
First published	October 16, 2014
Story by	Makoto Wakabayashi
Illustrated by	Nagi Miyako
Continuity	Cloud, Beast Wars II cartoon continuity

Predacon and Decepticon fight, with the Autobots caught in the crossfire.

Synopsis

Having arrived in the middle of a standoff between the Autobots and the Predacons, Hellwarp amuses himself with "swimming" through the air and avoiding the vengeful Roadbuster's shots. The Predacons, on the other hand, are simply confused at this intruder, but Galvatron immediately realizes what happened: Megatron played him. Brawn, struggling with his previous injuries, isn't able to help much, so the also-injured Hot Rodimus rushes to SARA's defense. Roadbuster grabs Hellwarp by the dorsal fin, holding tightly and punching the shark in the snout, despite the Decepticon's attempts to throw him off. His eyes dilate and Roadbuster, realizing his new nemesis's tricks by now, lets go before he's trapped in Hellwarp's passageway like Ironfist. Hellwarp readjusts his priorities, going after SARA, but he's fought back by her new protector, Grimlock. Frustrated, Hellwarp finally just shoots at the Autobots through a warp gate, knocking them down.

Worried he overdid it, but nevertheless happy that the foolish Autobots kept SARA safe, Hellwarp descends as the other Decepticons show up on the scene. Galvatron angrily confronts Megatron about tricking the Predacons into doing all the work in finding SARA, but the unconcerned Megatron just offers his thanks and warns Galvatron that he's more than a match for him. Galvatron acknowledges that this Megatron is powerful, yes, but there are some things a proud Predacon Emperor of Destruction doesn't run away from. When their leaders cross blades, the two villainous forces begin their clash. Starscream starts off against Gigastorm, but the would-be Decepticon leader finds the would-be Predacon leader's size and Angolmois flame attacks to be painful. Hellscream and Max-B appropriately face off against Hellwarp and Thundercracker. The two sharks try their best to cut each other into ribbons, but they're too evenly matched, with Hellscream's Angolmois enhancement providing him strength despite his smaller size. Thundercracker, on the other hand, struggles to land a hit on Max-B. Dirgegun unleashes his sonic-based Blast Leader attack on Soundwave, but the quiet Decepticon just neutralizes it with his own control of sound. He unleashes Laserbeak to keep the wasp company in the air. On the ground, Deadlock narrowly avoids Thrustor's freezing slashes from his horn while annoyed at the realization that Transformers still fight and die even in such a lush spacetime.

Amidst all the chaos is Roadbuster, who resolves to get SARA away from this struggle of evil versus evil. Megatron tells him to just sit still and protect SARA while he cleans up the mess. Galvatron transforms into drill tank mode; when that fails to make much of a dent in the Decepticon, he unleashes the power of his dragon form with an unending blast of fire that actually melts the chassis of the spacetime-empowered tyrant. Megatron blows away Galvatron with his own energies, but his use of him puts his body through further strain. Gigastorm rushes to his brother's side, and is subsequently felled by Starscream using Shockwave's blaster mode. With their leaders down, the Cyborg Beasts retreat to assist them. Hellwarp, smug, calls Thundercracker dead weight, overlooking how his new manic style of fighting leaves no coordination with his formerly dear friend.

Now done with the immediate threat, Megatron goes to retrieve SARA, knocking away Grimlock and Roadbuster in their feeble attempts at protection. SARA finally in hand, Megatron integrates her into his chest's internal machinery, healing his body and birthing the one true Emperor of Spacetime. Shockwave is as delighted as he can be that order will finally be brought to the Spacetime World, but his chatter is ignored by Megatron, who finds through the Angolmois Energy-colored spacetime power SARA is using that there exist other multiversal entities beyond Cloud Spacetime, which he cannot abide as competition. Using energy channeled through his sword, Megatron slashes a dimension gate open in spacetime to his next destination. He enters and the other Decepticons follow, with Shockwave briefly reanalyzing the situation...

Galvatron rages that his opponent has disappeared, but is content to find out the secrets of the weakened Autobots in his grasp when the Cyborg Beasts come rushing, warning of upcoming Maximals. A team of animals led by a white lion leap out of the jungle and, when Galvatron and his forces are about to begin yet another clash, another dimension gate opens, sending through Autobot reinforcements led by Optimus Prime! Realizing the day is lost, the Predacons retreat, but Galvatron swears the Nemesis plan will succeed.

The Autobots return to Cloud Spacetime through the dimension gate. Optimus Prime shares a glance with the white lion, both feeling kinship before the gate closes.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Predacons	Maximals	Misc
Roadbuster (2) Brawn (8) Hot Rodimus (9) Grimlock (11) Optimus Prime (20)	Hellwarp (1) Soundwave (12) Starscream (13) Thundercracker (14) Megatron (15) Shockwave (16) Deadlock (17) Laserbeak (19)	Hellscream (3) Max-B (4) Dirgegun (5) Thrustor (6) Galvatron (7) Gigastorm (18)	Lio Convoy (21)	SARA (10)

Notes

Real world references

• Gigastorm is referred to as the "King of Monsters" (怪獣王 Kaijū-ō), the usual epithet of Godzilla.

References

• "Struggle" at e-HOBBY
• "Struggle" at TakaraTomy Mall (archived)
• Machine translation of "Struggle"