A Mystery?! The Deception of the Base Bombs



'''A Decepticon has infiltrated the Shuttle Base and planted bombs throughout it... or have they? '''


 * English/Malay dub name:  "Crisis at the Base"
 * Also known as: "Mystery? The Base-Exploding Trap"

Synopsis


With the Thunder Arrow anchored in the San Fernandez Islands off the coast of South America, Deathsaurus again berates Leozack for his continuous failures. Leozack nervously announces that he has a new plan in mind, and although Deathsaurus dismisses the quality of the scheme out of hand, he instructs Leozack to get on with it. Leozack leaves the throne room and takes out his frustrations on a bust of Deathsaurus, only to have it collapse on top of him. Haw haw!

Aboard the Shuttle Base, at the foot of the Andes Mountains, the Multiforce report in to the Brainmasters on a lack of Decepticon activity, which is fairly fortuitous, since Star Saber has to leave Earth to attend a conference of the Galactic Peace Alliance. Star Saber heads down the maintenance bay, where Jean and the Rescue Team are polishing up the V-Star for him, and head on his way. After Star Saber leaves, however, the Jean and the Rescues are a little too vocal in announcing their boredom, and Blacker has them clean the Shuttle Base from top to toe to keep them busy. While cleaning Galaxy Shuttle, Jean and Holi nearly fall off their cradle, but as they dangle in mid-air, Jean spots Star Saber running back towards the Shuttle Base.



A couple of minute later, Star Saber has briefed the Autobots on the reason for his return: just after leaving, he picked up a transmission from Deathsaurus instructing a Decepticon to infiltrate the Shuttle Base and plant bombs in order to destroy it! The Autobots split up to investigate, but the search does not go well Braver and Laster are caught in an explosion, Star Saber is startled by Victory Leo while searching under a console and winds up electrocuting himself, and the Command Room goes up in flames. Sensing something strange, Victory Leo tells the other Autobots that he does not believe that the Star Saber who has returned is the real Supreme Commander. The Autobots, and especially Jean, refuse to believe Victory Leo's wild idea, and when the base is shaken by yet another blast, they all break off to check it out.



Jean and Holi run into Star Saber, who instructs them to check on the disk containing the information on his and Victory Leo's combination process, to make sure it has not been stolen by the enemy. Heading for the Classified Documents Room, the pair discovers that the lock has been broken, and Holi quickly opens the safe to see if the disk itself has been stolen. Star Saber arrives just as they confirm that the disk is still present, and Holi hands it over to him. At that point, the corridor outside erupts in flames as another blast goes off, and Star Saber braves the flames to carry Jean to safety. He runs into Victory Leo, and instructs him to take Jean outside the base, following them after he confirms that the armory is intact. At this point, Victory Leo confronts Star Saber with his suspicions, but before he can respond, the voice of Hellbat broadcasts all around them, announcing that he is responsible for the bombings. Hellbat demands that Star Saber must surrender himself to the Decepticons at some nearby Incan ruins, and the Supreme Commander agrees in order to prevent the Shuttle Base from being destroyed. Star Saber asks Victory Leo to shadow him, and the two depart.



At the Incan ruins, Victory Leo hides amongst the rubble while Star Saber approaches in the open, and is confronted by Hellbat, Gaihawk, Killbison, Drillhorn and Jarugar. The attempted deception does not fool the five Decepticons, however, and they quickly force Victory Leo to show himself with a barrage of laser fire. Victory Leo quickly darts behind Star Saber, putting his theory to the test and finding himself correct when the Breastforce all suddenly stop shooting. Unfortunately, the Brainmasters pick this moment to arrive on the scene, and are understandably confused by what they are seeing. Sar Saber exploits claims that Victory Leo is malfunctioning and trying to kill him, and instructs the Brainmasters to do the same to him. The Brainmasters train their weapons on Victory Leo until a peal of a bold laughter rings out from the top of a nearby pyramid: another Star Saber stands there, watching the whole scenario! Each Star Saber accuses the other of being an impostor, with the first holding up the disk of combination data as proof of his identity. The second Star Saber laughs again, and offers to show him the true power of combination; leaping into the air, he merges with Victory Leo into Victory Saber, and brings his Saber Blade down upon the first Star Saber, neatly slicing him in half and revealing Leozack within! Furious at the failure of his disguise scheme, Leozack combines with the rest of the Breastforce into Liokaiser, and he and Victory Saber battle on the steps of the Incan pyramid until Victory Saber slashes his staff to pieces. Liokaiser withdraws, collapsing the pyramid to cover his escape.

The Autobots return to the Shuttle Base, where everyone comes to understand that there were never any bombs, and that all the damage was done by the disguised Leozack. Jean, the Rescue Team and the Brainmasters all apologize for not trusting in Victory Leo, and Star Saber explains that he was alerted to the situation by a special signal that was beamed to him the instant the safe for the combination disk was opened. Victory Leo had no idea of that fact, and had been willing to take the Decepticons on alone. When Jean and Holi compliment his bravery, he gets embarrassed by the flattery, and all the Autobots laugh.

Oh, how they do laugh.

Stats
Written by:  Yoshihisa Araki

Original airdate: 7th November 1989

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * As the Rescue Team are polishing the V-Star, Boater's head is colored red.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * The Victory Autobots are a gang of colossal douchebags. When the Decepticons are openly attacking, they're evil, but in this episode, when they're not being hostile, the Brainmasters say it's because they're "cowardly" and "spineless," and believe that when they do attack, it'll only be because they're "dirty"! They might be the bad guys, but geez, they really can't win no matter what they do.