In Darkest Knight
Template:Episodenav Writers: Steven Melching Blackarachnia is finally able to revive Silverbolt, but he doesn't seem too happy about it.
Major Characters (in order of appearance): Grand Mal, Nightscream, Thrust, Jetstorm, Rattrap, Nightscream, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Megatron, Savage/Noble, Silverbolt
Original Air Date: March 1, 2000 (YTV); September 2, 2000 (FOX)
Summary
Nightscream is sad about how Savage/Noble was actually Megatron, and is now a wild beast. His brooding is crashed by the pair of Jetstorm and Thrust.
Back at the Maximal's homestead, Rattrap explains to Blackarachnia how he's combining a spark extractor with a DNA scanner to develop a process to restore any of the captured sparks they recover and place them into robotic bodies. Primal and Cheetor arrive to take the team on a mission to find out whatever happened to Nightscream, but Blackarachnia has a lingering fascination with Rattrap's new device.
The Maximals find Nightscream surrounded by a back of cycle drones and other Vheicons. A fight against the vehicons begins, in which Cheetor uses his blades to glide through the air to fight the Sonic Attack Jet. Rattrap outraces several more cycle drones. Cooking up her own plot, Blackarachnia leads Jetstorm away from the conflict.
Megatron, in his gigantic head, uses his gravity beams to quickly capture Optimus and Cheetor - ending the conflict quickly. Nightscream is left behind, at the mercy of Thrust - luckily Nightscream is protected by Savage/Noble. Rattrap sees the strange dragon haul Nightscream's unconscious body away, and suspecting Savage intends to consume the younger Maximal, follows.
Blackarachnia leads Jetstorm deeper underground. The jet crashes through one of her webs and into a pool of green goop. With the general restrainted, the DNA scanner Blackarachnia placed onto him activates and begins to detect local fossils. After a painful metamorphosis, Jetstorm has been returned to Silverbolt. He comes to realize himself, and is shocked by his new form. Shocked, he flies out of the cave he was reborn in, leaving a confused Blackarachnia behind.
Silverbolt loathes himself. Blackarachnia tries to remind the Maximal of the heroic personality he used to be, but Solverbolt (who is no longer silver) no longer has any connection to those ideals that once defined him. He comes along with Blackarachnia on a trip to rescue Optimus Primal and Cheetor not out of concern for his Maximal pals, but only as a way to confront his former master, Megatron.
Nightscream awakens, in Savage/Noble's den. The monster, in "Noble" form, provides a metallic apple for Nightscream to feed on. Rattrap tries to quietly rescue Nightscream, but catches Noble's attention. Confused, Noble shifts into his Savage form, causing Nightscream and Rattrap to cheese it.
Inside of the Grand Mal, Cheetor and Optimus are mined for data on The Oracle. Blackarchnia and Nightscream arrive in the same chamber, where Megatron manifests an image of himself - a hologram of the Grand Mal made out of the flow of information. He explains why he selected Silverbolt's spark to be made into a new general - he believed Silverbolt's sense of honor would let him stay true to Megatron's vehicon ideology. Blackarachnia argues, hoping Silverbolt understands that friendship and love are more important.
Silverbolt rejects Megatron's dogma and transforms into his robot mode. His throwing-blades heavily damage Megatron's insides. Freed, Primal orders a retreat, but Silverbolt feels it would be better to fight and die. Blackarachnia uses one of her abilities to stun him so she can drag him out.
Rattrap and Nightscream are still running from Savage, when Thrust and his drones stand in their way. The Maximals let Savage take care of the drone, while Silverbolt tosses away Thrust as a way of resigning from the vehicons. Primal welcomes back Silverbolt, but the bird just leaves the Maximals, not ready to be part of the team. Nightscream argues that Savage/Noble still has the qualities of a good guy inside of him, and Primal decides that the best thing to do is to wait.
Blackarachnia and Silverbolt have another discussion, where he reveals how he enjoyed being a vehicon. Despite this, Blackarachnia is still ready to reach out to him.
Quotes
Thrust: Nothing noble about us!
Jetstorm: But savage? We can do that!
Optimus Primal: What do you want from us?
Megatron: Oh, nothing much. Just every bit of data on the Oracle to better understand how to fully exploit the precious sparks in my possesion. I anticipate that extracting this information will be slow, painful, and regrettably... fatal.
Blackarachnia: Where are you going? Do you have any idea what I went through to get you back again?
You stole hardware from Rattrap, then kidnapped Jetstorm and brainwashed him?
Notes
- Vehicons are a superstitious and cowardly lot.
- Silverbolt's beast mode was what is was because there happened to be some bird-thing fossils nearby when he was being reformatted. So as far as the story goes, it's pretty coincidental that he had bird-attributes in his alt mode during the Beast Wars. And it's also a coincidence that Noble looks so wolf-ish. Alright.
