Singularity Ablyss

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"Singularity Ablyss"
Publisher	ibooks
First published	November 30, 2004
Writer	Robert N. Skir
Continuity	Beast Machines (Unique)
Page count	25

Why Beast Machines-era Megatron is frickin' hardcore.

Synopsis

Megatron finds himself floating in confusion, reflecting on the events which led to his attempt to purify Cybertron of the organic. As he streaks through the streets of Cybertropolis, he has a brief encounter with something on the same plane as himself, before fleeing. He possesses a patchwork body and attacks Blackarachnia and Silverbolt with it. After turning Blackarachnia's attack back against her, his body overloads, releasing his spark. He soon encounters the strange form again, and realises it is Rhinox, the Maximal he had used to create Tankor.

Rhinox is to act as Megatron's guide on his final journey to the Allspark, leaving the corporeal world behind. Megatron soon finds himself being lead against his will to a higher plane, though metaphorical realms, the first of which are Splendor and Eternity. Though them, Megatron is able to perceive the whole of time and space, and the patterns that lie therein. Soon, Megatron finds himself in the technorganic orchard, attacking Rattrap and Botanica until his spark is once again rejected by the cycle drone it was occupying.

Back in the incorporeal world, Rhinox guides Megatron through the realms of Beauty and Severity, the latter of which Rhinox defines as resolve and determination. They visit the sphere of Mercy, which Megatron finds difficult to grasp before he is pulled back to the physical world in the body of a Jetstorm drone. In this form, he finds Obsidian and Strika accepting Cheetor and Nightscream's offer to join them. Furious, he attacks them, fighting all four of them until his body again explodes.

Rhinox welcomes Megatron to the realms of Understanding and Wisdom. At the same time, Megatron sees his own spark knock Silverbolt out of the air and tangle with his ex-generals. He suddenly realises that the spiritual journey he is on is as real as the events on Cybertron. Rhinox is pleased with his pupil's final understanding, and they arrive at the Allspark, however Megatron finds the idea of being absorbed and becoming a part of the whole distasteful. Aware of Rattrap struggling with a spark extractor, Megatron realises that his spark must have become depolarized, and uses the knowledge of his physical state to annihilate Rhinox's spirit.

Though he expects to also be destroyed by the action, he finds himself back in the physical world, trapped in the body of a Diagnostic Drone. However now, with the knowledge he has gained from his spiritual journey, Megatron intends to assimilate the Allspark itself and become a god.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Vehicons
Rhinox (2) Blackarachnia (3) Silverbolt (4) Botanica (5) Rattrap (6) Cheetor (8) Nightscream (9)	Megatron (1) Thrust (7) Strika (10) Obsidian (11)

Continuity

Despite the statement in the foreword of Transformers Legends, this story is written by the editor of Beast Machines, and can pretty much slot into the events of "Spark of Darkness", albeit not quite seamlessly. That said, we totally won't blame you if you want to completely disregard it and choose to believe Rhinox is still hanging around somewhere in the Allspark.

Notes

• Though the scenes are laid out to tie in with "Spark of Darkness", there are some notable alterations:
  • Rather than fleeing from the first zombie, Silverbolt assumes it's a revived Cybertronian and tries to reassure it. This encounter is substantially cut down from what was onscreen.
  • The encounter with Rattrap and Botanica ends with Megatron's drone body exploding, whereas in the episode, it merely falls over.
  • Strika gets some extra dialog where she asks the Jet drone who it is. Cheetor then tries to contact Optimus only to find the comm links are jammed.
  • The sequence with the drone trying to drag Cheetor to his doom is gone.

• Jet drones are made of a polytitanium alloy and can travel at Mach six.

Errors

• Blackarachnia is consistently parsed as "Black Arachnia".
• Silverbolt is described as "angelically-winged", though his technorganic body's robot mode doesn't possess wings.
• Nightscream is described as having "taser fangs" which deliver a shock, which is inconsistent with their use on the show to drain energy.