The Master Sword is in Danger

After the events of the previous episode, it seems that the Decepticons may have left planet Master and headed elsewhere. That's what Chromedome, Brainstorm and Hardhead think at least. But Fortress knows that they must still be here as they want to make Scorponok more powerful and the only place they can get the materials from is Master, so it's pretty likely that they are still around.
 

The Decepticons are indeed still on Master, and after their last defeat Zarak went deep into the underground and set up a small base there. When they first flew down there in Scorponok, Scorponok was drawn to something powerful called G-Metal. Zarak is now testing the metal, which withstands white-hot laser blasts with no effect. However, the metal is not as powerful as the metal that made the master sword, and that they need the secrets of the master sword before they next attack the Autobots. And to do that, Zarak has a plan ready, as you can tell be this.
 

Meanwhile, Wheelie has a brilliant idea: he wants to become a Headmasters. Daniel just laughs at him but Wheelie remains confident and says he'll start to train himself up this next morning. Early on in the next day Wheelie is running around thinking about how he must do this to ever be able to transform into head mode, and then takes a quick break... only to sink in the quick sand type stuff he's standing on, and quickly vanish.
 

A little later on the Autobots find out that Wheelie seems to have disappeared, although they all imagine he's just gotten lost somewhere in the ship. But the truth then comes out when Sixshot appears on the ship's main viewscreen and tells them that they've got Wheelie, and if Fortress doesn't hand over the secrets of the master sword, they'll kill him be dunking him into an acid pit which will completely dissolve him within three minutes. And they've only got three hours to make up their minds about what to do.
 

Pointblank has got the idea I can imagine just about every Transformers fan is screaming right now: let them kill the bitch! Well, his words are "sacrifices must be made in war" but we all know what he really means. If the Decepticons are given the master sword secrets, they're surely find a way to beat it and then Scorponok may get an advantage over Fortress Maximus. But it's a very tough choice for the Autobot leader as he doesn't want to have to sacrifice an Autobot, no matter how small and pathetic and rubbish and useless.
 

Daniel runs out of the room crying as he can't believe nobody is going to go and save Wheelie, so he decides he'll have to go instead. Chromedome follows and stops him, and tells him that he'll go off to save Wheelie, but Daniel says that me wants to go as well. Highbrow hears everything and discusses with Chromedome how dangerous this will be, and says that Scorponok will be protected by many sensors that Chromedome will set off. But Daniel says that is why he'll have to go, so he can turn them off. Chromedome says that he remembers Scorponok's layout when he was looking for his weak spots, and then he and Daniel set off on the Trainbots. The other Autobots see the Trainbots take off and Highbrow lies to them by saying they are just going out on reconnaissance.
 

Fortress then gives all the other Autobots a shock when he says that they are going to give into the Decepticon's demands and hand over the master sword secrets to them! Pointblank tells him not to but Fortress seems to have made up his mind, and goes off to put all of the master sword data onto a data disk.
 

Of course Fortress has no idea that a rescue mission is already in motion. The Trainbots drop Chromedome and Daniel off, and then Chromedome transforms and heads directly to Scorponok, who is waiting for Fortress to arrive. Chromedome drives straight inside Scorponok, knocking the Horrorcons out of the way before they even notice him.
 

Fortress then learns about what Chromedome is doing through Highbrow finally telling him, and Sureshot is amazed at how reckless Chromedome is - he can't believe that he's taken Daniel along with him. Fortress decides to head to the Decepticons right away and transforms his craft from base mode to ship mode, and then blasts off.
 

Seeing that the Autobots are heading towards them, Scorponok transforms from it's base mode to scorpion mode just in case the Autobots try to attack them, although Sixshot tells Zarak that as long as they have a hostage, the Autobots won't dare to try anything like that. The Autobots notice this transformation, but they know that as long as Chromedome and Daniel are inside they've still got a chance in saving Wheelie without having to give the Decepticons the master sword secrets.
 

Sixshot heads out and heads towards Fortress' ship, saying that they have nearly run out of time and unless they want Wheelie killed, the Autobots had better hand over what the Decepticons want right now. Fortress then appears and says that he's got all of the master sword data with him, amusingly stored on what appears to be a Transformer sized floppy disk. Hope the Decepticons have got an A: Drive in 2011!
 

Thanks to Daniel being able to turn off security features that Chromedome wouldn't have been able to get to otherwise, the 2 have made good progress into Scorponok and they find Wheelie with a couple of minutes to spare.
 

Finding out that their hostage has escaped, Zarak contacts Sixshot, who is dumbfounded that the Decepticons could be so stupid. Sixshot then casually approaches Fortress and tries to snatch the disk from him, but Chromedome shoulder barges him out of the way, telling Fortress that Daniel and Wheelie have just gotten back on the ship.
 

Before Fortress and Chromedome can get back onboard a Decepticon squad attacks, but the other Autobots strike back. Zarak decides to give his forces some back up and sends in his newest recruits: the Duocons.
 

Flywheels and Battletrap transform from robots to two separate vehicles, and demonstrate how powerful they are by using their lightning fast speed to make their way past the Autobot Targetmasters and corner Fortress. They both fire on him and Battletrap manages to hit him in the arm, causing him to drop the disk.
 

After a short sequence where the disk gets tossed around a lot between the Autobots and Decepticons, Battletrap gets his hands on it and flies off, followed by the other Decepticons. They head straight to Zarak and give him the disk, and Zarak says that with this new information, he'll be able to create a shield which is powerful enough to take hits from the master sword, and he can finally crush Fortress Maximus.
 

The Autobots know that now Zarak has the master sword data, the war between the two sides is just going to get more difficult from now on, but the Autobots will keep on fighting. Later on Brainstorm, Hardhead and Highbrow find that Fortress is making Wheelie, Daniel and Chromedome clean the entire ship for leaving without permission, and they thank Chromedome for saving Wheelie even though he's now being punished for it. But the narrator ends the episode by warning that now Zarak has the master sword data, a massive struggle looms for the Autobots and the Headmasters must be ready to rise to the challenge.

First appearance of the Duocons. They never properly made it into the US cartoon, although they were rumoured to be in "The Rebirth" at one point (so much so that Flywheels actually appears in the intro for The Rebirth, despite not actually being in any of the episodes).