Quest for Survival

A powerful new insecticide meant to wipe out the Insecticons becomes a threat to all Transformers.

The Decepticons have turned the Insecticons' cloning ability to new heights, to be an unstoppable force that will devour Earth's food resources and convert it into energon. Like a horde of mechanical locusts, they swarm Earth's crops, from Asia to the United States to the tropics - with the potential to cause the human race to starve to death. The Autobots make an attempt to stop the Insecticons, but they are too many in number, and the Autobots are forced to retreat. At Autobot Headquarters, the Autobots explain what happened to Optimus Prime, when Bumblebee, Spike Witwicky, and Cosmos contact Prime, saying that they found some robotic insecticide on Floron III. As they leave, however, something grabs hold of Cosmos, and he is barely able to escape.

Returning to the Decepticon base, the Insecticons convert the food they've eaten into energon, but only get one energon cube each. Megatron claims that this is because of the costly energy conversion process, but in another room, the Decepticons are busily converting massive amounts of energy into energon. Megatron muses that the Insecticons would be deadly if they weren't so stupid.

On his approach to Earth, Cosmos discovers that spores from whatever attacked him are growing across his hull, and he is losing control of his systems. Bumblebee and Spike manage to abandon ship before Cosmos crashes and go to get help. Arriving back at the base, Bumblebee discovers that spores are attached to his body, but Ratchet manages to get them off. Prime attempts to contact Cosmos, only to discover that the valley he crashed in has been overtaken by the plant-like machines. As the Autobot leader leads a rescue mission, Laserbeak learns of the insecticide, and reports it to Soundwave. Megatron takes a team to retrieve it before the Autobots can...and in case he might need the insecticide himself.

At the base, Perceptor and Prowl discover that the spores are Morphobots, a plant-like species that the Transformers believed was extinct. They contact Prime, warning him that the Morphobots are particularly fond of robotic lifeforms. Elsewhere, Thrust is overseeing the Insecticons, when Megatron orders him to warn the Insecticons to stay away from the valley. The Insecticons suspect that Megatron is hiding something, and attack Thrust, after which they take the entire clone army to the valley.

At the valley, the Decepticons arrive first, only to discover the Morphobots. Starscream fires first, only to have the blast from his null-ray deflected right back at him. Before Megatron can properly admonish Starscream, Soundwave detects the Autobots. Megatron decides to let Prime do the work of getting the insecticide for him. Warpath fires a blast, but gets nowhere; Ironhide's liquid nitrogen only freezes them momentarily. Blaster begins broadcasting, which causes the Morphobots to recoil. Bumblebee, Ironhide, Hoist, and Blaster take Cosmos out of the field.

Once they're out, Megatron and the Decepticons attack, destroying the insecticide. However, the Morphobots also attack the Decepticons. As things get bad, the Insecticons arrive. Megatron believes the noble creatures are coming to save them. Obviously his logic circuits fail to tell him just how many things are wrong with his idea. Believing them to be food, the Insecticon clones fly straight into the field, and the Morphobots consume all the clones. The original Insecticons manage to escape, and the Decepticons follow.

At their base, the Autobots have loaded the Morphobots into a shuttle, intended to take them to a world with a large robotic insect population. However, Perceptor requests that a second shuttle be prepared as soon as possible, as the Morphobots he has been studying have become a little too friendly for his tastes.

—Skids makes his debut by asking what everyone else is thinking.

—Megatron reflects on the Insecticons' gullibility.

—Perceptor and Prowl, a typical conversation with a scientist.

—Starscream should practice what he preaches.

—Optimus Prime, being a little ungrateful to Blaster, who is repelling the Morphobots