Under the night sky.
The ruins of the museum burned fiercely.
From several blocks away, the sound of fire trucks could already be heard.
The brawl between several Transformers and Gundams had caused quite a commotion.
It wouldn't be long before museum security, police units, and firefighters arrived on the scene.
But Setsuna didn't care.
In the Transformers world, the Eagle Union government had long been aware of the existence of these mechanical lifeforms.
Even if news occasionally leaked out, they always did everything in their power to cover it up.
—And he had no concern for being exposed. Even if the Eagle Union president came in person, it wouldn't change anything.
Just consider this an early visit to the suzerain state.
The Autobots, however, felt quite uneasy.
In the Transformers 7 timeline, Optimus Prime was still young, not yet the calm and reliable warrior of the future.
He had a strong distrust of humans.
Bumblebee, on the other hand, hadn't changed much—enthusiastic and energetic. He pulled a flashy stunt, flipping 360 degrees through the air and landing in front of Setsuna, extending a fist in greeting.
"Hey, dude, looks like you're the boss here?"
Bumblebee glanced around.
The purple-haired girl earlier had claimed to be Setsuna's sister, and the orange-haired girl who came down from Barbatos also called him Commander.
As for the girls standing behind him—clearly his entourage.
Bumblebee didn't know who Setsuna was, but since he had helped deal with the catastrophe and didn't show any hostility, they could talk.
"You could say that."
Setsuna bumped fists with him.
If this had been a few years ago, or when he was a kid, seeing a real Transformer would have had him screaming with excitement.
It was just too damn cool.
Back in elementary school, he dreamed of owning a full set of Transformers toys.
Now, he was much more composed. After all, he had seen plenty of bizarre and wondrous things.
"So, should we find somewhere else to talk? I can lead the way."
Clank clank — Bumblebee transformed into a yellow Chevrolet and honked twice to signal Setsuna to get in.
The shipgirls watched with surprise.
"Hmm... I'd love to go racing in a Transformer, but your chassis is a bit cramped. Not very comfortable."
"Come aboard mine instead."
Setsuna motioned for the Autobots to follow him onto the shuttle.
"?!"
"Hey? Are you seriously the first human to diss me? Just last month, five people tried to steal me, you know?!"
"Mirage, turn into a Lamborghini for him."
Bumblebee felt snubbed. Was Setsuna looking down on him because the Chevrolet was too cheap?
The blue Autobot beside him transformed with a swoosh into a sleek blue supercar, rolling up to Setsuna.
"Hey? Wanna take me to pick up some girls?"
"Uh, but don't do that kind of stuff inside me, or I'll throw you out."
"..."
Setsuna found that aside from Prime, who was the quiet type, the other Autobots were actually pretty amusing.
"We usually take starships on dates. Sports cars are kind of outdated, thanks."
"???"
After a bit of banter—
The other Autobots were a bit confused but, driven by curiosity, still followed Setsuna onto the shuttle.
"Your ship is bigger than the stratosphere."
Stepping inside, Optimus Prime looked mildly surprised.
With his height nearing 20 meters, it wasn't easy for human vehicles to accommodate him. Most of the time, he moved around in truck form.
But this place was spacious—much larger than their usual transport Autobot.
"That's not even me."
Setsuna pointed to the Eternal Snowfall hovering in the night sky above the atmosphere, its signal lights blinking.
Its size had already surpassed all of Los Angeles, suspended above the city like a mountain.
If not for the optical camouflage device, the citizens below would probably think aliens had invaded.
"Eh?!"
The Autobots all looked up in unison, standing at attention.
"What the heck is that, bro?!"
Bumblebee was stunned, his head rotating 180 degrees to study the massive ship—its end nowhere in sight.
"It's part of me. I can also transform between humanoid and mechanical forms. If you're Autobots... then I guess I'm a Starship-bot?"
Setsuna tried to explain it in a way Autobots could understand.
"Aaahhh?!"
...
"Uhh..."
"Bro, you're from another planet too, aren't you?"
After boarding the Eternal Snowfall's hull—
The Autobots were more stunned than ever.
The two Gundams from earlier were still within their realm of understanding.
But this? This thing wasn't something that could possibly exist on Earth! They'd been here for so long, yet had never heard of humans building something like this!
Even on Cybertron, such a ship was rare! The Ark was much smaller than the Eternal Snowfall!
"Take a seat."
Setsuna gestured to the Autobots.
The Eternal Snowfall was spacious enough to hold a cruiser. Fitting a few Autobots on the bridge was no problem at all.
Setsuna took his seat, with Unicorn sitting on his lap, her soft body leaning gently into his chest.
The other shipgirls and Gudako also found their seats.
The Autobots decided to sit cross-legged on the floor, constantly turning their heads to take in the surroundings.
Optimus Prime, however, kept his eyes fixed on the Transwarp Key in Setsuna's hand.
He really needed the Transwarp Key to return home, but since Setsuna had just helped defeat Scourge, he couldn't very well demand it outright.
Prime was mulling over how to tactfully explain that the Transwarp Key had always been an inseparable part of Cybertron's legacy.
He needed to find a way to convince Setsuna to hand it over.
"We come from another world. In form, we share some similarities with you."
"We came to this version of Earth mainly to acquire a few specific items."
Setsuna opened the star map and gave them a simple rundown.
...
Arcee, Mirage, Optimus Prime, and the others looked slightly confused.
But they could sort of understand.
Cybertronian technology had already reached the space age. From their perspective, humans were the aliens.
So accepting other "aliens" wasn't much of a stretch.
More accurately, they were otherworlders.
As for the concept of another world...
Long ago, Cybertron had speculated about parallel universes, but not even Unicron or Primus had managed to travel beyond their own universe.
Before deeper research could be done, the civil war between Autobots and Decepticons broke out, plunging the planet into chaos.
By chance, they ended up on Earth.
"So, you're after the Transwarp Key and the AllSpark?!"
Optimus Prime picked up on a lot from Setsuna's words.
For example, that the Key they found in the museum was only half—the other half was still somewhere on Earth.
Scourge's goal in finding the Key was to summon Unicron and have him consume this world.
Even more shocking, Megatron was also on Earth.
He had been frozen beneath the Hoover Dam by the Eagle Union and was being studied by scientists, along with the AllSpark.
Due to signal-blocking tech, the Autobots hadn't detected Megatron or the AllSpark until now.
Clank clank—
Optimus tensed up immediately, his fists clenching with metallic creaks.
The Autobots, under his leadership, stood for Cybertron's highest ideals: protecting the weak, defending life, and seeking mutual progress.
By contrast, the Decepticons pursued conquest and glory.
If Megatron woke up, it was easy to imagine he'd show no mercy in seizing the AllSpark.
He would use it to birth a massive new Cybertronian army, then either conquer Earth or return to overthrow and rule Cybertron.
"Bro, we need that thing in your hand to get home."
Bumblebee stared at Setsuna.
"You don't necessarily need the Transwarp Key to return to Cybertron. I can help you."
Setsuna cleared his throat.
"Once we reverse-engineer the Key's tech and build lightspeed-capable ships, sending you back will be no problem."
"Actually, we could do it now. I can have a Bulin hammer out a ship and send it over—but the travel time will be a bit long."
He gestured on the star map, indicating the distance from Cybertron to Earth.
Roughly 4.2 light-years. Currently, the fastest ship they could build in the Starbase traveled at about 1–2% the speed of light.
Factoring in acceleration and deceleration, the journey would take around 300 to 400 years.
Traveling through space took a long time.
"Uh, 400 years?! That's way too long! By the time we get back, the Decepticons will have taken over Cybertron..."
Bumblebee knocked on his head.
"Wait, Megatron is on Earth too, so who's running things back home? Shockwave...?"
"Once we use the Key to build an FTL ship, it'll only take a few minutes."
Richelieu reminded them.
"..."
Optimus Prime fell into a long silence.
"That... actually doesn't sound bad."
The man before him clearly had no intention of handing over the Transwarp Key.
But at least he offered a viable solution. Optimus figured he could wait and observe for now, learn more about these otherworlders.
They currently shared the same goal and enemy. After Scourge's failure, Unicron would surely not sit idle.
"What about Megatron, then?"
Bumblebee and Arcee asked.
"Let him stay frozen for now. Didn't the Observer say she needed a research subject? The Eagle Union scientists won't figure anything out anyway—we'll hand him over to the Sirens later."
Setsuna pondered aloud.
He actually agreed with many of the Decepticons' philosophies. The problem was that Megatron was a bit of a species supremacist, always promoting Decepticon genetic superiority.
The Decepticons didn't even respect Autobots. If Megatron saw him, he'd probably start leaking oil on the spot.
"Psst, Commander, I have a bold idea."
Gudako whispered to Setsuna.
"We think we could potentially recruit both the Decepticons and Autobots..."
"Let the Autobots stay on Cybertron and farm, send the Decepticons out to fight. Then we could form a multiversal Transformer army!"
"..."
Setsuna paused.
"That... is a truly love-and-peace-filled idea."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven