Brainwave stared blankly at Rastun for a bit trying to come to grips with the current situation. .

"It never occurred to me that would be a problem. I assumed you'd make your own entrance and park it in a corner somewhere like it goes down in our multiverse. Easy fix though. We can install a space bridge generator in your mech. I'm sure its power supply can handle it. We can even throw in a cloaking system so it doesn't stand there and scream here we are. And this way we can even split up if we need to."

It seemed like nothing was going to be simple on this mission. It was almost horrifying to imagine what could be next.

Tokyo

Art raced to the fray of the battle as the Bastole was raining a storm of death on the city.
“Is this what Shot Weapon was talking about?” Shou said
“What was Shot saying?” Cham asked as she was perched on his shoulder
“He said that it seems that the Aura Power that makes up Byston Well weakens the power of explosions, like this is probably more than Napalm probably.”
Ein’s Dezpada began circling the Bastole with a group of Titan and Federation suits
“What has happened that I have become tired after only this short battle” Garalia asked
A Federation GM Squad leader sent a warning
“To those onboard the UFO’s immediately rescind your armaments and obey our directives! Should you refuse we shall proceed to attack!”
“Idiot, don’t warn them. They’ve already blown holes in several towns!” Ein said to himself aloud
“There is no way I’ll meekly obey what some unknown people say!” Garalia said as she once again fired another missile
“Garalia this is the world of Upper Earth! Stop attacking and we’ll talk things over!” Shou said
“Do not be ridiculous! Even I understand the machines flying about us are machines of war!”
The Mobile suits scattered and the Federation Squad leader called out
“Don’t let it launch missiles we must have it abort its offensive!”
“They intend to attack do they not?”
“You’re wrong this is the airspace above Daitoshi we can’t fight! In order to have them understand us we can’t fight anymore!”
“”Us” you say? Don’t make me laugh! You and I are enemies!” Garalia attempted to take a swing at Dunbine again but Shou swiftly avoided the blow.
“I have no strength” Garalia said as she began to weaken. Bastole swung it’s sword at the adjacent MS’s surrounding it but they easily dodged its hits.
“You can’t fire at it It’ll hit the ground!” the MS Captain said
The hell I can’t thought art picking up the transmission
He was still too far away to get a close shot at the strange units
“Garalia!” Shou shouted as Bastole was readying to cut down the lead MS
“You can’t!” Cham said
Bastole missed its target and its pilot was becoming desperate
“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” Garalia shouted as she failed to cut down all opposition and finally sped off.
“Garalia wait!” Shou said but he began to notice Cham was breathing heavily and fell over the console
“Cham! What’s wrong Cham?” Shou asked as he picked up the fairylike figure began breathing heavily
“I will warn you once more rescind your armaments and obey our directives!” The captain cried out again
Dunbine began putting away its weapons and raised its arms in surrender
No way in hell am I letting this bastard off easy! Art thought
The Aura Battler Dunbine landed near the hanger of a military base, as Shou left the cockpit the bases commander ordered him to step down.
As Shou stepped out the cockpit with Cham in his hands he ended up surrounded by soldiers and cameras flashed in his face.
“Would you stop that? I’m not a criminal!”
“Shou!” Shouted Cham as she became terrified of these bright lights
“The hell you aren't! You destroyed my apartment you dick!” Art shouted
“Are you Japanese?” The commander asked
“Of course Shou responded”
“What is that you have in your hands?’
“This is Cham Hau, stop it can you quit with the flashes?!”
The guards began pointing their guns at Shou
“Come!” the commander told him.
“Move those guns! I’m Japanese you know!” Shou said as he began to follow the commander to his Van
“Yeah well still paying for my fucking clothes and my computer, I don’t give a fuck who you are!” Art shouted still in the crowd

Deathsaurer said
Brainwave stared blankly at Rastun for a bit trying to come to grips with the current situation.

"It never occurred to me that would be a problem. I assumed you'd make your own entrance and park it in a corner somewhere like it goes down in our multiverse. Easy fix though. We can install a space bridge generator in your mech. I'm sure its power supply can handle it. We can even throw in a cloaking system so it doesn't stand there and scream here we are. And this way we can even split up if we need to."

It seemed like nothing was going to be simple on this mission. It was almost horrifying to imagine what could be next.

A part of him felt uncomfortable with the idea of Brainwave touching the Astafanel, but Rastun is already trusting him this far, so he might as well let the Cybertronian do his modifications. Turning down the addition of useful features doesn't seem like a particularly wise move at this point anyhow.

"Go ahead and do what you have to. I trust you won't break anything."

"Well of course I won't break anything. You're the only person thus far capable of understanding the stakes and thus willing to make the sacrifices needed."

Walking over to a work bench Brainwave quickly wired together an impromptu space bridge generator and cloaking system. After this was done he headed outside to install it in the Chronoframe. Slowly tapping his chest plate Megatron impatiently waited for this diversion to end as if saying bored now.

"Alright, now let's get this investigation started."

"Finally." Huffed Megatron.

Rastun heads out of the cavern and enters his newly modified Chronoframe. Inputting the coordinates for Carbombya, Rastun activates his personal space bridge generator. The portal opens up in front of him and he proceeds to walk into it. Whatever is waiting for him in the other side, it likely isn't going to make a whole lot of sense. After this mission is done, Rastun will need painkillers for the headache he'll undoubtedly get.

Outskirts of Carbombya: I'm telling you there really is a plot

"Ah Carbombya city, capital of stupidity. Let's see just how you're involved in this nonsense."

Pulling out is scanner the Transtech did preliminary scans.

"Hmm, Unicron related readings are indeed significatly more intense here than Autobot city, what a shock, but I can't localize anything that would cause it. A more in depth study will be required."

"The question is do we want to be subtle and grab a few civilians for study or blunt and just start breaking stuff until the cause reveals itself?"

"Rastun?" Both Cybertronians asked in unison.

As an agent, Rastun is no stranger to the sometimes harsh necessities for timeline stability. But he never willingly abducts civilians as a means to an end if he can help it. Nor does he blast the first city he comes into, even if that city is permeated with stupidity. How does a city have such a low population and also have its camels outnumber the actual people more than twice over? Nonsensical as the place is, Rastun doesn't want to inflict harm on its citizens.

"How about we do neither? I can just scout ahead and investigate deeper. Surely their sensors can't detect me with the cloaking device you've installed. I'll start with looking into their military. In my experience, it's often the military being used by an outside power."

"That's cute and all but you don't know the history of this country."

"Yes, if they're involved with Unicron it was their choice at the start. They were quite happy to ally with the Decepticons, who I note would just as soon destroy Earth as enslave it, for gold and world monuments." Megs remided Rastun of their previous sellouts.

"But if it makes you feel better go ahead and scout. I warn you though if any of Unicrons servants are here that stealth system will be useless against them. It wasn't designed to defend against anything that advanced."

Before anything could be decided a small military unit pulled up to the trio.

"Identify yourselves and declare your intentions!"

The trio were greeted with...shoes. Actual shoes. Rastun stares agape at the sight, still disbelieving at what he's seeing. Normally, he wouldn't burst out laughing in the middle of a mission, but this is a special case in so many ways. The sight is so ridiculous and surreal that he couldn't help but laugh, short-lived as it is. Rastun has seen some terribly idiotic things from would-be masters of time, such as a man trying to kill his own grandmother in order to become historically famous, but this is...well, it's a new kind of stupid.

"Brainwave, I think you have the answer to your readings. I'm sure military units don't typically use sneakers in their patrols."

The Transtech scientist stared in disbelief. He'd heard rumors of such a thing but dismissed them because who the fuck would turn into a shoe? A shoe that doesn't even blend in at that. No, these guys can't hide for shit.

"I can't believe this is happening... I always assumed that was an April Fools joke by military intelligence. I honestly can't believe there are Cybertronians that turn into shoes... It's so outlandish."

"Well look at the bright side, at least they're going to be ti..." Before Megatron could finish his thoughts the shoes transformed, all of them mass shifting to a size slightly larger than Brainwave. "...ny. Well ignore me, clearly I know nothing."

All 12 members of the group carried the tell tale insignia of Unicron. Their outlandish appearance indicating they were nothing important, likely cultists that revere Unicron ridiculous as that may be.

"You're more advanced than we expected. Being able to identify us so quickly. How unfortunate for you."

The 6 soldiers previously held hostage by their footwear now free, well free as you can be in Carbombya.

"Help us! They promised us great power if we aided them but they enslaved our country..."

"Silence imbeciles or we will crush you."

Brainwave was slightly amused they thought anyone here cared about them.

"That doesn't sound like its my problem guys. I'm going to free you but not because I care. I'm going to do it because I hate Unicron."

The shoes didn't take that statement well. Insulting there god was sacrilege to them.

"How dare you... Lord Unicron is the greatest thing ever and he shall return everything to its natural form, nothing. Your chances of a quick and painless death are now 0."

Clearly these cultists were more deluded than the moron that thought The Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya made sense.

"Do these morons actually think they're important?" Taunted the heavily armored Cybertronian hoping to provoke a fight to alleviate his boredom."

"It does seem that way Joe. As do all you serve Unicron until he eats them and they see the truth. Unicron sees everything the same, nothingness."

Unable to contain their rage the cultists charged the group, 4 attacking each member. Brainwave and Megatron quickly drew there weapons and opened fire leaving Rastun to fend for himself. Their concentrated fire slowed the charge long enough for Megatron to enguage his particle cannon and annihilate 2 of them in a single shot.

"It'd be nice if at least one of them was taken intact so I can examine their data tracks." Brainwave posited having destroyed a 3rd shoe himself.

Megatron not really taking heed of what Brainwave said quickly kicked another shoe over and unloaded on it with his arm mounted gun until it stopped moving. Sadly there wasn't much of anything important left as a result.

"Or we could just destroy them all. Finding out what they're doing isn't important or anything." The Transtech sarcastically added.

Of course he didn't have much room to talk as he gunned down another shoe leaving 3 for them to deal with. One of them had stealthily snuck into Brainwave's blind spot but his scanners managed to detect the incoming sneak attack hitting his would be attack with a high frequency sonic pulse making him stagger but not disabling them. Realizing he couldn't hold back he quickly gunned down the stunned enemy while dodging his last attacker. Megatron meanwhile was enjoying his heavy armor and strength giving him and edge of his last assailant punching him around like a toy for laughs. Impressively the shoe wouldn't go down. Not being designed for the combat necessary to disable the shoes Brainwave decided he had to destroy his last attacker and hope Rastun had better luck. While Megatron willingness to cooperate on the capture plan was questionable he was having no luck actually KOing his last shoe. Though Brainwave had no idea if that was because he was dicking around or the shoe was legitimately that tough. Megatron's last shoe managed to land a punch right to his face angering him and he quickly summoned his sword attempting to slice it in half but much like the guns it was clear it would take multiple hits so he hacked it until it stopped. Meanwhile Brainwave gunned his last shoe down looking over to Rastun to see if he had better luck disabling them.

Finding himself ganged up on by four of the transforming shoe robots, Rastun thought it would be prudent to use his ability to slow down time. As time slowed to a crawl, his assailants are now, in his eyes, sluggish to the point that it would take minutes for them to clear an inch. However, this state lasts only for ten seconds, so Rastun has to be prudent. He took out his blades, ejecting them from his upper pair of wings, and using them to precisely carve apart the arms and legs of one of his attackers. His Entropy Blades have the ability to age whatever they hit, making it easier to cut through materials and thus, making the act of disabling the enemy easier for him than it would be for Brainwave. About seven seconds left now. Rastun does the same to two others, who were very slowly attempting to surround him. Three seconds left. The last one was attempting to come up from behind and received blasts from his optics and wrist cannons for his trouble. Three out of four isn't bad, he thinks. Time then resumes its normal course.

"Ah wonderful, test subjects! This turned out better than expected though I'm curious why you'd deploy a mech that advanced when you can't get any support. In any event it's time to find out what these lunatics are up to."

Brainwave advanced on the disabled shoes drawing an energon scalpel to remove their data tracks for information.

"You've failed Transtech!" One of the shoes not quite as heavily damaged as the other 2 commented. Suddenly all 3 of them violently shuddered.

"Bah, I hate cultists. He triggered a group memory wipe. There is nothing we can retrieve from them."

"You, humans. How many of them are there?" The groups strategist demanded.

"We... we don't know exactly. All of our countries top leaders, the heads of the military, and every soldier we know have shoes enslaving them."

"This country is a joke, how big can their military possibly be? 2-3 hundred max?"

"Even then we've lost the element of surprise and their numbers are far larger than we can reasonably handle, yes. And that doesn't account for their overlord. Cultists this dimwitted can't have pulled this off by themselves, no."

"If they have an overlord he'll likely be immune to anything we can reasonably cook up currently. We'll need to be really clever about this." The scientist realizing this was far larger than he initially assumed.

"Well that is why you brought me along." Megatron's ego showing. "You'll need to increase our weapon output for this."

"I had hoped to avoid using technology any more advanced than we came with. Didn't want to risk it falling into the wrong hands. But this situation was completely unexpected. I thought they'd just have been poking some random MacGuffin or something."

"There likely isn't any value in trying to capture anyone else because the know what we were after now so we'll have to bait out their leader and defeat him. Hopefully ending this before it gets worse."

Brainwave didn't enjoy hearing what Megatron was saying but he had a point. The data would either be extra heavily encrypted slowing them down considerably and making them vulnerable to ambush or just outright deleted as soon as they were detected. Elsewhere I shadowy figure watched the conversation through the optics of the disabled shoes.

"Do you really think it will be that easy Megatron? Oh no, Unicron's plans are not so easily stopped." His maniacal laughter an ominous omen of what was to come.

Outside of Side 3
“Warning Minovsky particles detected! Concentration increasing! We have three unauthorized spacecraft nearby!” a Federation pilot said over comm. To his squad
“What the heck are they doing here…?Roger that !”” a GM II pilot said
The GM II took a blast from an unseen round
A Galbaldy β nearby watched the explosion
“Number 3 what’s happening?”
The enemy suits made their appearance
“This is number 1, they’ve got two Rik Doms and one Gelgoog suit coming at us
“Their new models!” One Dom said over comm.
“It makes no difference” The second one said
“Don’t waste your bullets, Bazooka ammo ain’t cheap! Lets go!” The leading Gelgoog said over comm.
The Gelgoog twirled its weapon while the doms attacked from behind
“Shooting us in the back while diverting our attention with the Saber?! That’s cheap!”
The Gelgoog responded to the accusation with a slash to the Galaldy’s cockpit
“Crap don’t waste your fire with those twerps! Ya’ll ex soldiers have no concept of money! Think of me I gotta worry about that stuff” the Gelgoogs pilot complained
“Whatever” Her first wingman said
“Marie we’re bout to let one get away!” Her second wingman said
Cluster 26 is up ahead, how convenient. That’ll give me a chance to take a peek… Marie thought

Ptolemaeus Lunar Base

Cosmic Era 71

Pre-Slam

Aaron Gentles found himself wandering yet another long, metallic corridor, an aura of profound boredom surrounding him, even as his face remained impassive. Even if the client this time had been the head of Blue Cosmos, and thus, the Atlantic Federation, it still did not change the fact that yet again the Guild Tech had been set up and abandoned to his own devices.

And just like every other time he had pulled his ass out of the fire, he was about to reap the benefits of being underestimated.

"State your business." A blue haired, middle aged officer stated, holding the the blond up.

"Aaron Gentles, for Chairman Azrael." He replied flatly. The blue haired man nodded in response, motioning for him to follow.

"This way."

The two walked down yet another corridor before arriving at a rather unremarkable door. Cursing the monotony of it all, Aaron turned towards his guide and quirked an eyebrow.

The man nodded, before raising a fist and banging on the door, "WHAT?!" Came the whiny voice from inside.

"You have a guest."

"Tell them I'm busy!" Was the reply, a hushed giggling heard from within.

"It's the blond." The officer stated gruffly.

"OH! Then send them in, please!" The blue haired man jerked his head, indicating for the Guild Tech to go on. Aaron walked towards the door, which opened with a hiss. Inside, what he found was a blessed break from the same damn stripped down aesthetic, even if it was tacky as hell. Sitting at a desk, the blond greaseball, Azrael, sat, a glass of wine at his desk while another figure stood in the room idly, his hair pale grey and expression furious.

"Ahh, Mr. Gentles! I trust your return trip was uneventful?"

Gentles glanced to the unknown quality, indicating his apprehension. The act of subtlety was surprisingly acknowledged as the unrepentant racist nodded, "Oh, don't worry about Djibril. Even if he takes anything from the conversation, it's not like he can do anything with it, after all."

The man shook, his ruffles moving out of place as he did so. "I'll have you know, Azrael-"

The man shook his head, chuckling, "Ah, ah, ah, Djibril." He took his wine glass, draining it as he admonished the faggot, "Silver medals don't get to sit at the big boy table."

"AT LEAST I DIDN'T NEED MY BROTHER TO GET MY POSITION FOR ME!" The apparent runner up shouted, his face purpling with impotent fury.

The greaseball simply snorted, "If I was here only because of my brother's influence, someone would have thrown me out long ago. Such as yourself." The Chairman of Blue Cosmos smirked, reaching under his desk to withdraw a wine bottle, "Now tell me, Djigy, which makes you look more pathetic: That you're unable to throw me out because I'm just that damn good, or that you're simply so incompetent that you can't overcome simple nepotism even with all the power and influence you bring to bear, hmm?"

The called out dandy reached into his vest, pulling out an elaborate pistol, leveling it at the blond. "I can kill you. Right here. It'll be easy to cover it up, no one likes you anyway."

Azrael simply smirked, nonchalantly refilling his wine glass as he turned away from the faggot. "Now, Mr. Gentles. Setting aside Mr. Runner Up over there, I believe you and I have some discuss?"

Djibril began hyperventilating, trembling as he set back the hammer for his gun. "I'LL KILL YOU."

"Haven't got the guts, I'm afraid," The racist replied mockingly, sipping his wine. "Take a seat, Mr. Gentles, and I believe we can move on to discussing the matter of your payment."

The Guild Tech observed out of the corner of his eye, as Djibril continued shaking, before slumping over in defeat, as the door to the room slid open, and the blue haired officer promptly slapped the dandy in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. As Aaron took a seat, the blue haired man picked up the faggot's pistol, pocketing it, before kicking the prone bastard in the ribs for good measure. Nodding in satisfaction, a number of random grunts walked into the room, dragging the unconscious man away.

"Right, so as I was saying, it seems that we owe you a favor." Azrael began, dismissing the scene that had just unfolded, "And if you're open to it, at a later date, I'm sure we can arrange for more opportunities for the people I represent to be in your debt."

The engineer nodded, "I don't need money. What I need are parts, and the facilities to fabricate them."

Azrael nodded, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face, "Interesting. I'm afraid..." He glanced to the side, as Aaron noticed the blue haired officer subtly shake his head, "That will be quite impossible. We can not lend you Alliance facilities in that manner without putting certain...objectives at risk."

Gentles nodded, "I don't need any large facilities. Simply enough equipment that I can store in my ship and build customized parts for my mobile suit during my spare time. I've recently...come across some interesting theories I'd like to test out an apply to it. Do you have access to such a thing?"

The engineer observed as the blue haired officer raised his eyebrows slightly, betraying the answer he was looking for, Azrael too, noted this, glancing towards the man. The blue haired officer held the blond greaseballs gaze, shaking his head as he did so.

"I'm afraid that's on a need to know basis, Mr. Gentles." Azrael said, finally, leaning back, "But we aren't in a position of handing out such technology. On the other hand, if you're willing to go with...another assignment from us..." At this, the officer gave a subtle nod, barely caught by the expressionless Guild Tech, "We can direct you somewhere that can provide you with such facilities."

Gentles nodded, "So long as we can consider those to be my payment for this assignment, I believe that will be satisfactory."

Azrael nodded, "Excellent, Mr. Gentles. We'll be in touch." Leaning back, the Chairman of Blue Cosmos returned to sipping his wine, as the officer turned towards the Guild Tech, leading him out.

The silent descending form of the White Emperor cut a striking figure as it descended onto the EF's base, Jaburo in the middle of the Amazon jungle. The headquarters was camouflaged by the lush green terrain with only the rocky entrance to the underground mega-city barely perceivable. Sending the answer code to the electronic query by the Federation, a large hole opened out beneath Jace's machine.

Jace could see a multitude of Federation personnel gathered below him. It was no surprise, he was quasi-famous in several circles, particularly among scientists and engineers just for his unit alone. From his position in the cockpit, they looked like ants milling over a particularly tasty piece of food, waiting for the chance to lay whatever passed as hands on it. Disgusting.

"I wonder how many of these miserable cretins would I be able to squash just by stepping on them", Jace wondered out loud.

"Pilot of UKU-01, please identify yourself before permission is given to disembark off your unit.", came the voice through the comms.

"This is Mercenary Jace Dager, pilot of UKU-01. Authorization code alpha-theta-gamma-alpha-673. Codename Crimson.", Jacen responded, keeping down the tremble of irritation at being questioned every single damn time even if he knew the reasons why.

"Crimson, you have been acknowledged. Proceed towards your designated area and land there."

"Acknowledged.", came his curt reply.

Levitating the White Emperor towards a large designated landing platform surrounded by Federation soldiers, Jacen slowly disengaged the gravity fields, letting the Emperor land.

Forming around Jacen, the soldiers escorted him towards the nearby barracks, their presence keeping any overly curious bystanders away from him.

---

"Mr Dager we have another assignment for you.", came the voice from the shadowed person in front of him.

"Do we have to keep up this charade General? You know perfectly I know who you are. There's no need to cover yourself up."

"I'm afraid Mr Dager you have me confused."

"Ah plausible deniability. You people never cease to amuse me with your petty games.", Jacen chuckled.

"......"

"Continue please General. Or whatever you prefer to be called."

Grimacing, the figure continued, "Several men believe the Titans are stepping over their bounds as an elite force. We would like you to...remind the Titans of their place, as you may say."

"I see... So, what would you like me to do?"

"Have you ever been to Antarctica?"

Cluster 26

The Zeon defense Academy, after the war all the departments were reformed except for one. It’s a more peaceful environment.
“Asuna!” A familiar voice called
“I thought your mother was sick?” The voice belonged to Asuna’s friend Emilu Voigtlander as she waved her arm out in a crowd. She was followed by a nervous Shinn Barnack and an equally embarrassed looking Erisia Nocton.
Asuna waved back nervously.
“What are you guys on break?”
“You don’t know? The sole remaining prewar building of Zeons defense academy is a famous tourist spot! It’s so cool! The buildings look kinda plain though. I was expecting a castle or a fortress, I wouldn't wanna go to school here” Emilu said
“I agree” Said Shinn
“What are you doing here?” Shinn asked Asuna
“Well this place is kind of my old school” Asuna responded
“Oh right your dad” Emilu said
“I spent a lot of time here” Said Asuna.

“The Zeon National Defense Academy its mission was to train military officers. When the country was a principality, the university separated itself from Zeons other Military academies. It desired to pursue a unique educational vision. You weren't here just visiting your father right?” Erisia said.
“This way” Asuna directed her friends
“Since when did you get interested with Asuna?” Shinn asked
“Don’t know what you’re talking about” Erisia said snootily feigning ignorance
“She’s hard to ignore that one…right?” Emilu asked
“Well after all we’re the ones inconvenienced when she screws up!” Erisia said with an arrogant tone
“Ooooh harsh words from the valedictorian”
Erisia became silent
“Haha not there yet, this way!” Asuna shouted
“Wait this is a restricted area are you sure? “Emilu asked
“This used to be a shortcut!” Asuna said as she began crawling into a hole in a wall
“I can see your underwear!” Emilu said obviously lying leaving Shinn and Erisia with embarrassed looks
“Ah!”
“I’m only joking “
“They’re a funny pair” Shinn said
“When I’m with Asuna…I feel like I’m going to lose myself” Erisia said suddenly
That’s because you’re scared, you've got it all—brains,looks, money. You've always been top of your class. You've never been second best. All that’s just armor to protect yourself right?” Shinn asked
“You’re the first person to talk to me like that Shinn”
A sudden cough from afar interrupted this discussion
“C’mon we’re waiting for you!” Emilu said from the hole
“Ladies first”
“No thank you” Erisia responded
“It’s kind of creepy. “Emilu said as she went by the abandoned section of the building
"Shhhh!" Asuna said

Yahagi was in the car with Haruka
“Why did you want to go on a drive? Why now?” Yahagi asked
“The room is bugged every word is recorded. I want or conversation to be private.” She responded
Asuna entered an abandoned room
“This was my father’s lab”

He lived for his work at the expense of her family. This is the end result of his experiment…How pathetic

“Every day I was forced to participate in this simulation.” Asuna said pointing to a room with large screens
“A simulation game? “
“Yup these things would move, appear and disappear on screen. We had to lock onto them, It was impossible!”
“…..!! Asuna can you tell me more about the training?” Erisia said
Asuna took a step forward
“Who is it?” Asuna shouted
“Asuna?!” Erisia asked confused by her actions
“Who’s there? “
Asuna took off running
“Asuna!!” Erisia repeated
“Asuna!” Emilu chimed in
Someone is calling my name! Asuna thought as she began walking off deeper into the complex

Earth Defense Command Earth Orbital Base

‘A mission change in the middle of a mess like this, what are the brass thinking’ Mikhail ponders to himself while walking briskly through the base. Mikhail tensed up as he opened the door to Lieutenant commander Chaamin’s office and marched in front of the desk before saluting to the seniour officer.

“Lieutenant Juniour Grade Meyer reporting for duty sir”

“I trust you’ve read the mission outline which was delivered to you?”

“Yes sir, however I have reservations about this”

“And what would those be?”

“Sir this… Cosmic Culture Club already has a security detail assigned to them and will be embarking on a long term mission to the base in Mars, I do not see the need for myself to be sent so far away in light of recent activity in the Earth Sphere sir”

“It was a request from the upper echelons, you can’t refuse it. The justification for this is due to the recent activity, they feel the current detail of 2 fighters isn’t enough.”

“… Sir was Meyer involved in the change to the security detail?”

“I’m not obligated to answer that question lieutenant, as you are already aware your refusal will be treated as an act of insubordination”

Mikhail clenched his teeth upon hearing the reply. Even if his commander won’t answer him directly his response was enough, he knew who had butted in to make this change.

‘Damn that old hag’ he swore under his breath.

“I expect you to report for the detail 0800 tomorrow morning”

“… Yes sir” Mikhail salutes before quickly turning to leave the office.

“Alien scouts are invading and I’m being sent off to babysit brats on a terraforming experiment to Mars? Do they want me back on that forsaken planet already? I transferred here to get away from them, instead I’m being sent right back there, damn it all”

Art paced angrily while his “comrades” stat down in the interrogation room
The military hoped that these Newtype pilots would serve as a lie detector as they interrogated the youth found piloting the alien looking mech called Dunbine. The boy keeps telling this tale of another Dimension called Byston Well, a place where souls are born. The Federation authorities aren’t buying it and believe him to be some sort of Alien plant.

Art was sitting in the interrogation room fuming while the interrogation commenced with cameras rolling.
“Do you understand because of Dunbine and Bastole 300,000 people have died in Tokyo? Do you think the bereaved families will accept this fairy tail you tell?” The commander said
“But Byston Well exists!” Shou responded
“Shou!”

“If you hadn't provoked her with the helicopters even Garalia might not have launched the missiles. If we understood the mechanism for Aura Road…”
“Shou can we have your cooperation now?”
“I am cooperating!”
“Then tell us what is your motive for coming to earth?”
“Motive for coming to earth?”
“Yes that’s right.”
“I’m not an Alien my name is Shou Zama, eighteen years old! My nationality is Japanese, my current Address is Musashinoshi East Kichijouji”
“This drivers license it definitely seems real”
“Yeah!”
“Even so it’s not proof you are the real Shou Zama, what we have trouble believing is this Byston Well
Art felt conflicted, on one hand that dumb kids skirmish wrecked his apartment and destroyed his stuff on the other hand he was tempted to believe his story.
This magical world of Byston Well sounded like something a depressive Japanese cartoon director would make up. But on the other hand this “Aura Power” seemed too real up close.

So there were two options, Option one: He was brainwashed into this shit; which makes absolutely no sense.
The kid acts like he was trying to defend the city, the Pixy thing could be MC’ing him but it’s knocked the fuck out so that’s also out.
Option two was: He’s telling the truth and the Base commander just thinks’ he’s full of shit and will throw him to the dogs to appease the masses because they need a guy to take the fall for killing 300,000 people seeing how the other guy is still on the loose.
Welp this is quite above my pay grade, and I don’t really feel like sticking my neck out for a dude who nuked all my shit.
Sorry Shou but I don’t want to be hung right beside you, this alien shit feels like it’s gonna be just like those scares about communists in the ancient times, except with Aliens and giant robots.

Suddenly Art began to see a man in a suit with a strange hairstyle. Another younger man wore a blue jacket and had equally strange spiked hair.
Huh I guess their letting in the famous guys now

Crazy hair number one was Giorgio Tsoukalos, a famous TV personality who rocketed to fame after the discovery of the Autobots and their Arc, he seemed dedicated to finding more proof of Ancient Aliens that influenced our worlds culture.
He became a big supporter of creating Autobot City, he’s too trusting of a man to have as much influence over earths attitude on the Transformers as he does Art’s opinion. They are machines after all!

Crazy hair number two was an equally recognizable face, Koji Kabuto the famed pilot of Mazinger Z and scion of a family of two generations of acclaimed scientists. He was off attempting to communicate with the aliens, a ridiculous concept in theory but he actually thought they wanted peaceful coexistence and thought all societies could benefit.
A couple of crazy haired idealistic alien hunters to talk to a kid who isn’t even an Alien; I doubt their combined fame could pull this dumb saps fat from the fire.
“Enough already Aura power from life energy?! Do you think I’ll just sit here and listen to this foolish nonsense forever?” The commander said
“Do you have any proof I’m an alien?” Shou asked
“That strange machine is enough proof you are one!”
“Person of Upper Earth what Shou says is saying is true. Please believe…” Cham seemed exhausted

“Cham!” Shou shouted in concern
The guards attempted to yank the from his hands but the man named Tsoukalos interfered with their attempted confiscation.
“Commander please calm yourself and your men, this young man may be telling the truth. A single misstep from your clumsy decisions may result in the punishment of an innocent man.” Giorgio said
“Don’t be ridiculous this boy is obviously some alien spy of some sort! He’s collaborating with the smaller creature!”
“Then explain to us why he bothered surrendering? A machine with that much power is beyond what the Federation mass produces! Explain why his unit never attacked a single MS? He seems to be on our side.” Koji said
“He is obviously an infiltrator you fool! A more advanced form of Transformer just appeared out of nowhere with new tech! They can also imitate organics to the cellular level as well. And god knows what else these other invaders are capable of! This other dimension Byston Well is just a smokescreen!”
“What kind of infiltrator appears in a green light in a giant robot! You’re the one being ridiculous!” Koji said.
“Hey that’s my chair damn you!” The commander yelled

“Please young man tell me more about this Byston Well.” Giorgio said as he began sitting down ignoring the commander’s objections to his presence.
“Well…I’ve been told Byston well is where Human’s souls are born, in a world between the sea and the stars. It sounds crazy I know but it’s exactly what they say, it doesn’t even have a true sun like this world.”

“So from what you’re telling me…It’s some other dimension? A place where Human consciousness originates? Where did you obtain this vehicle, Dunbine from?”
“They were created by a man called Shot Weapon; the regional Lord he served Drake Luft recruited him from the surface to construct Aura Battlers. Drake had taken other people from earth as well me, Todd Guinness, Tokamk Robskiy, all of us were intended to be pilots for other Dunbines but Tokamk ended up dying and Todds was damaged beyond repair.”

“Why were you fighting that other unit? Weren't you allies?”
“No you see I was made to work for Drake in the beginning, but then I met the princess who was helping the resistance against Drake and she asked me to help her escape. She was captured but I ended up with the resistance and its Aura ship the Zalana.”
“So you turned against this Drake, how did you get here?”

“I said before when I was fighting one of Drakes Battlers Garalia and her Bastole and the battle opened up Aura road again, I was transported to earth and then this happened.”

“And this…being, Cham she is also from this other world?”

“Yes Mr. Giorgio the Mi Firrario, Humans and Garru Ran are some of the intelligent races there”

“She seems very similar to the fairies from legend, it could be likely your story about the human consciousness originating there could have factual basis. Deep down mankind had or has memories of Byston Well and integrated aspects of it into our own mythology!” Giorgio concluded

“Mr. Tsoukalos do you know what this means? An entire different dimension has a connection to Humanity and a new form of energy! This entire incident was caused by a misunderstanding during an internal dispute if we could bring it to an end and save more lives. All we need to do is simply need to defeat this Drake Luft and his army and we could bring a lasting peace and establish a friendship with them! ” said Koji

“Will defeating Drake be so easy Mr. Koji?” Shou asked

“Maybe if I could get Mazinger Z as soon as I finish trying to communicate with the other aliens we have showing up here Shou.”

“Preposterous! You all blindly believe that boys tall tale!” the Commander shouted slamming the table

“Is such a thing even possible? Yes it is! The Alien named Cham accompanying Shou confirms his story. It is my theory is that this may not even be the first time we have contacted Byston Well, these beings the Firrario resemble the sirens and fairies of our myth for a reason. Possibly in one point in time we openly traveled between these two worlds! Humanity once coexisted with alien races from another dimension openly, somehow our relationship soured and we were split in half…some of us stayed half of us were cast out and stripped of all knowledge.” Giorgio theorized

“You may be easily satisfied by this but I am not! No one especially the victims’ families looking for answers will believe this…this self indulgent poppycock!” The commander boiled again.
“Yes well you military types said the same thing about my theories about the Robots in Disguise and their battles. No one believed me when I said Zeon was being backed by an alien militia. Now look where I am now? So please carry on with your little Witch Hunt while you can but the families of those involved will not be satisfied with the persecution of an innocent man who has come across the find of the century! ” Giorgio responded.

“The kid doesn't seem to be lying” Art finally spoke up
“For all we know he could have been merely brainwashed into thinking it’s true” Ein said smugly
You ass you’re just trying to contradict me Ein

“That’s a crock of shit, Kabuto already pointed out why the fuck would he appear in a giant robot in green flash in broad daylight if he was infiltrating anything?”

“I never believed in fairy tails, only a child would buy this !”

“Only a fool would ignore the truth when it’s right in front of him” Giorgio said

“What did you say you overrated celebrity!?” Ein shouted

“Cool your tits Zeek, the cameras are rolling after all.” Art said

“A former Zeon of course, you would be nursing some sort of grudge. Ancient Aliens blew the door open on your schemes with the Decepticons before the Arc was even revealed.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself I never was truly loyal to Zeon, the Federation has given me more then what I want.”

“You mean the Titans”

“Same thing”

“Some people are claiming you are just as bad as Zeon with the rumors of misconduct from activist groups”

“Baseless rumors and mudslinging Tsoukalos, I assure you we are only here for the safety of the Earth sphere” Ein said attempting to come off as heroic

Ugh man I can stand that false patriot bullshit act you have even less then when you were a clingy boyfriend and a raging cunt.

Shou was becoming relieved; people actually believed him and the story about his abduction to Byston Well who were willing to help him. Now all he had to do is stop Garalia and get back to Byston Well and get back to marvel and the Zelana. Hopefully Elf castle hasn’t fallen yet…

Art became impressed how quickly Tsoukalos and Koji combined utterly humiliated the commander and Ein on camera. Not every celebrity can make two massive assholes hold their tongues with sheer star power and will. The power of the cameras he guessed.

“Enough of this! Take it away” The commander signaled the guards and they ripped Cham from his hands .
“Shou!”
“Cham!If you do anything to Chan you will face retribution from Byston Well!” Shou threatened
“Where is this Byston Well! The commander asked him at gunpoint

“Commander I reiterate this man is no Alien, I've been searching for proof of them for most of my career and I can tell from experience what one looks like. But if you kill this man in a fit of ignorant rage you will be robbing the world of a man who has made contact with and even befriended those of another world.”

“Holy shit and they call me crazy, calm down man” Art said attempting to calm down the impatient commander.
“Mind your tongue” Ein said
“Just because you follow commander retards lead doesn't mean I’ll abandon my common sense. The kid was telling the truth and you’re too busy looking good to the public to give a shit. ” Art retorted.
“That is not our decision to make do not openly question this commander, although we are of the Titans directly challenging a man who still outranks us is idiotic.”
“He’s a moron who’s going to bring an entire dimension on our asses.”
“You overestimate our own abilities.”
“Come back to me when you start shooting missiles that nuke cities”

“It’s all right you know if you murder me here.” Shou said daringly

“What did you say?” The commander said
“If you guys think I’m the enemy then you can’t fight the enemy unless you get accurate information. If you kill me here there’s no way you can fight right?”
“You..” The commander said backing down

Garalia was hiding in the forests raiding picnic goers for food. She began to contemplate her situation as she ate

“The feelings of the people of Upper Earth who fell to Byston Well I now know how lonely and unsettling a thing it is”
She began hearing movement in the bushes and laid eyes upon a group of armed men across the stream.
“You people of Upper Earth have gathered your cohorts then!?”
“Put down your weapons and surrender quietly, you are surrounded.” One of them announces
Garalia made a run for her Aura battler
“You understand our speech don’t you? If you understand do as we say!”The man said again

Garalia hid behind a rock and loaded her weapon
“Crap if only I could return to Bastole, it’s my game but…”
She saw several men climb up a tree attempting to enter her Battler.
“You!” Garalia shouted and began firing and the men fell out of the branches injured or dead
The other men began shooting in response
Garalia made a run for Bastole while the men continued firing

Three attack dogs rushed her as she entered the position of the Bastole, Garalia shot at teo dogs and they ran off, another dog bit at her arm but Garalia finished it off with her sword. Quickly Garalia jumped to the cockpit of her Battler and took off as the milita shot at her.

Giorgio was present when the researchers completed an X-ray of Cham
“As you can see here her body is no different from those of creatures of earth Mr. Tsoukalos” The tech said
“So my theory is proven correct, the species of Earth and Byston Well are identical to an evolutionary level. We are connected!” Giorgio said
“Hmpf they are still a threat to us Tsoukalos.” The commander said.

“Not this one if that young man is correct.”
“You still believe that boys bullshit story?”

“You still believe he’s an alien because I can tell the difference between a Japanese 18 year old boy and an alien in disguise thank you very much! During the One Year war the Decepticons sent their soldiers in Pretender shells to assassinate me to prevent the truth of their existence breaking out. The minute they entered the room and I began noticing odd behavior like one of them saying “Transform” or the fact another one pulled weapons out of seemingly thin air. If he was an actual infiltrator he would at least try to blend in, doing that with a Giant robot is a difficult tactic even the Decepticons knew that, and really let’s be honest the ones they sent weren't that smart but I'm learning most of you millitary types can't do subtle.”

Before he could respond the commander was interrupted by a soldier reporting they had spotted the Bastole, they both left the room quickly.
Giorgio was not as naive as his naysayers accused him as but he could tell a creature like Cham was no danger to him or Humanity as a whole. And that boy Shou was the only thing that could touch the opposing “Battler” that belonged to this mysterious Drake Luft.

“When you release your friend please tell him you and Byston Well are not without friends on “Upper Earth” as you call it here. Now quickly go find your friend!” Giorgio said opening the container holding Cham

“Thank you man of Upper Earth!” Cham said as she flew away

An alarm began blaring and the soldiers began to move
“That Garalia doing things haphazardly again!” Shou said as he saw choppers from his prison window
“Hey let me out here let me out!” he shouted
Cham flew past the door and heard Shou
“Shou?”

“Cham how are you feeling are you all right?” he asked
“I’m all right what should I do to get you out Shou? The door is too much for my strength.”
“That’s right it’s impossible for you Cham.”
“Don’t make fun of me even I can do something at least! Wait”
Cham flew off and found that the armory door was left open where she came across packs of grenades

“I know what these are, they’re bombs Doruburu said so!”
Cham took a grenade and dragged it to Shou’s room.
“Shou get away from the door!”

“What?”
“I’m going to use a bomb go hide!”
“A Bomb?”
“Hide!”

Shou ran behind a chair and asked again as she struggled to pull the pin
“What do you mean by bomb?”

His question was answered when the door exploded open. Shou was finally free, now he needed to find Dunbine and escape.

Art was resting in his Gundam when the alarm went off
It’s that other so called “Aura Battler” causing havoc again, okay Garalia or whatever you got a bunch of shit to answer for. Art thought as he started turning on his unit to take off.

Earth Defense Command Orbital Base

‘Looks like everything is in order’ Mikhail whispered to himself early next morning after inspecting the Delta Plus, ensuring there were no malfunctions before departure.
‘Now to wait for the Cosmic Culture Club to show up… I still can't believe they're thinking of sending in brats for this job, even if they claim it’s going to be a long term study.’

Mikhail turned as he heard footsteps echoing through the corridor before saluting once he saw the lady come into view.

“Lieutenant JG Meyer reporting” Mikhail swiftly brought his arm down completing the salute to Professor Elizabeth Clabery.

Elizabeth acknowledged him before returning his greeting,
“Morning, you must be the new officer assigned to us?”

“That is correct Professor Clabery”

“We will be leaving in another half hour after we have finished boarding everything into the shuttle”

“It’s good to know we won’t be held up then, although you have a stop to make”

“Yes, we will need to cross Side 3 and meet up with the rest of the Culture Club”

“Side 3?” Mikhail didn't like the sound of that.

“Several members of the expedition were stationed there”

‘Even if the war is over I’d rather not head straight into Zeon territory’ Mikhail thought.
“Understood, the fighters and I are ready to depart as soon as your shuttle is ready”

“Very well, we will be counting on you lieutenant, if you’ll excuse me I need to check on my students” Elizabeth smiled slightly.

‘Surprisingly their supervisor isn't stuck up about this’
“Understood Professor” Mikhail waited until she left before turning back to the Delta Plus
‘At least I shouldn't have to worry about the invaders too much at Side 3, even though that means even less to expect from this trip. Zeon’s been disarmed and the rogue remnants fled the colonies to avoid the Federation and EDC. At this rate the most action I’ll see this trip is from a training drill.’

Carbombya: The Man Behind the Curtain

It was a harsh realization that it wasn't a simple Unicron artifact possessing people but a full blown Unicron cult in action. Empowered individuals are dangerous enough but a cult the size implied here doesn't act without one of Unicron's direct subordinates leading them. The question was who was it? The Blendtrons? Tarantulas? Megatronus? The last was the most worrying. It'd taken the most advanced Transtech weapons to drive off Liege Maximo, Megatronus would be impossible for them to defeat currently.

"We have to tread very cautiously. Depending who organized this cult we could be walking into a slaughter regardless of what tweaks I make to our weapons." The Transtech's tone made the seriousness of the situation clear.

Megatron however saw this as an all or nothing moment. The fate of reality would be decided here or so he thought. "Our best bet is to reveal the cults presence and get everyone to attack them at once. If we don't stop them here and now we probably won't stop them at all."

The mysterious individual continued to watch their plotting through the dead shoe curious to see just how far they were willing to go. After all their plans were ultimately pointless as there was precious little they could actually hope to do to stop what had been set in motion. Unicron was not something that could ever be fully destroyed, merely delayed. And all the fighting currently going on in this new mess of a reality was fueling the Chaos Bringer.

"I seriously doubt anyone is going to take shoeformers seriously enough to send a full invasion force Joe. The best we can hope for is fodder to distract the shoes long enough for us to find their leader. But it's certainly worth a try."

The overlord was amused by their desperation and decided to rub salt in the wound.

"You must realize there is nothing you can do. I've already won. If you wish to try you luck be my guest but you won't like the outcome."

The group was shocked to see a hologram being projected off the shoe's corpse. It was a shadowy apparition the only detail that could be discerned was his orange eyes. His voice too distorted to identify. The individual seemingly unconcerned with their plans.

Megatron laughed at the boasting. "Your arrogance will be your downfall." The Predacon's taunt laced with irony.

"I suppose you'd know something about that wouldn't you Megatron. But unlike you my plans actually work."

Megatron could barely contain his rage. This was personal now and he was going to rip Unicron's servant apart.