A battle between the Autobot Classic Pretenders and the Decepticons' Mayhem Attack Squad at the center of Cybertron has the side effect of waking the slumbering Primus, who is struck by a stray laser blast and awakes with a scream. Although he immediately sinks back into slumber, his scream echoes throughout the universe and Unicron hears it. Now aware of his enemy's location, Unicron heads towards Cybertron, but, seeking a herald to sow chaos in his name ahead of his coming, uses his formidable powers to send three agents - Hook, Line and Sinker, forward in time to an alternate future version of 2009. In this timeline, Unicron succeeds in consuming Cybertron in the year 2005, and Galvatron and the Decepticons rule Earth. This timeline's version of Galvatron is pulled back to 1990 by Hook, Line and Sinker and press-ganged into Unicron's service, but, like his predecessors, turns on his master by forcing Emirate Xaaron to awaken Primus in hopes of destroying Unicron. Primus possesses Xaaron and attempts to hold off Unicron, but he is weak, and his attack a ruse, leading to his own destruction. This, along with a direct attack by Galvatron, succeeds in galvanizing the Autobots and Decepticons to attack Unicron together. They do little damage and many Transformers die before Optimus Prime is able to use the Matrix to destroy Unicron, exploding his body from within.