Optimus and Sonic headed to the Space Colony ARK with Shade. As their shuttle docked, they noticed Mobius’ flagship, the Enterprise, docking with it as well. “Dad’s home!” called Shade. She dashed off the shuttle, leaving Sonic and Optimus to chuckle. They followed Shade and saw her hug a black and red Hedgehog, her father, Shadow. Shadow was hugging her back. “Daddy, it’s been too long!”
“I told you I’d come back,” replied Shadow, his gruff tone softened with affection to his daughter. A yellow Hedgehog woman, Shadow’s wife and Shade’s mother, Maria, then arrived.
“Welcome home, Shadow!” she greeted as she pecked him on the cheek. Shadow pecked her cheek in return.
“It’s good to be back,” he said.
“That can’t be Shadow,” Optimus muttered to Sonic.
“Maybe a clone took his place,” mused Sonic. Shadow saw the two and immediately scowled.
“And the Faker and Kid decided to barge into MY house?” grunted Shadow.
“Never mind, it’s the real Shadow,” chuckled Sonic.
“What are you two doing here?” demanded Shadow.
“We needed to check with Teletraan,” explained Optimus. “We started talking about the Convergence and wondered if we still had the necessary data to try and cross universes again.”
“Convergence?” asked Maria.
“It’s where our world temporarily merged with two others,” replied Shadow before he turned back to Sonic and Optimus. “Why do you two want to do that?”
“We never got a chance to talk with Arsha or Megumi since Hot Rod arrived,” said Sonic. “We just miss them.”
“Teletraan’s on Cybertron right now,” remarked Shadow.
“Well, there’s the subspace comms channel between Mobius and Cybertron,” reminded Optimus.
“All right, go ahead and use it,” grunted Shadow. “It’s not like diplomats need it!”
“Ah, don’t be such a sourpuss!” chided Maria.
Optimus and Sonic made it to the comms room and connected a subspace call to Teletraan’s Cybertron servers. His avatar popped up. “Hey! How goes it, guys?!” he greeted when he saw the two.
“Hey, Teletraan! It goes well!” replied Optimus.
“That’s great! What can I do for you?”
“Teletraan, this is a long shot,” explained Sonic, “but we were thinking about the Convergence and-”
“Ah, the Convergence,” sighed Teletraan. “You know, the only bad thing about that was that War’s servant was just as nuts as her at that time.”
“Yeah, X-PO called you unsophisticated, didn’t he?” recalled Optimus.
“You know, I thought about it too when I transferred to the new Autobot base. I had a chance to check over whether or not I still had the data concerning multiversal travel.”
“And?!” asked Optimus and Sonic.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you guys,” muttered Teletraan. “The only data I had was when Blackarachnia crossed over to Moebius. The other universes we visited, Beyond City and the like, they’re not there.”
“Scrap,” muttered Optimus.
“I’m sorry, Prime.”
“It’s all right, we kind of expected this.”
“You know, maybe Tails or Shockwave still have that data.”
“I know where Tails lives, but Shockwave vanished from us a while ago.” Sonic then winced.
“Actually, she didn’t vanish, per se,” he explained.
“You know where she is?” asked Optimus.
“No, but Tails has been in contact with her. It’s a sort of trade deal. He sends her Energon and she sends him copies of all her research to date. He hasn’t told me and Amy where she lives, but we figured that, as long as she’s not a threat to us at the moment, we don’t need to know.”
“Then let’s start with him first,” declared Optimus.
A two-tailed Mobian Fox man looked through his papers and read the reports of his business. Right now, the figures were going up. He seemed satisfied and was about to use that data to make a presentation when his buzzer sounded. He pressed the button. “Yes?” he asked.
“Mr. Prower, your wife is here,” said his secretary. The Fox, Miles “Tails” Prower smiled.
“Send her up!” he said.
“Yes, sir.” The call ended and Tails looked to his office door. It only took seconds, but it felt like hours to Tails. A woman with a rose on each side of her head then entered the office. This was his wife, the Seedrian, Cosmo Prower. “My flower!” he said.
“My mechanic!” returned Cosmo. She and Tails then embraced each other and kissed passionately. Once the kiss ended, Tails looked his wife up and down.
“You’re looking great as usual!” he said.
“You’re looking quite dashing yourself,” mused Cosmo. “How’s business life?”
“Doing quite well. Sales are going up and production’s increasing. How about your business?”
“Flowers are still flying off the shelves,” replied Cosmo. “How about you, personally?”
“Oh, I’m hanging in there. Would like to be with you all day every day, but that’s just not how business life works.”
“Same here.” They leaned to each other for another kiss when Tails’ buzzer rang again. Tails and Cosmo groaned. “I believe the phrase on this planet is ‘Murphey’s Law’,” grumbled Cosmo.
“Yep, and it never fails. Just when things get interesting.” Tails pressed the call button. “Yes?”
“Mr. Prower, Optimus Prime and King Sonic are asking to see you,” reported his secretary.
“A social call?” asked Cosmo hopefully.
“Have them meet me and Cosmo in the courtyard,” Tails directed his secretary.
“Yes, sir,” replied the secretary. The call ended.
“Let’s go see what they want, shall we, dear?” suggested Tails.
“Perfect idea, my love!” answered Cosmo. Tails took Cosmo’s hand and they left the office.
Sonic and Optimus waited in the courtyard of Miles Electric’s main HQ. Optimus was in his vehicle mode and had activated his holo-form. They were looking in a display case containing two star-like objects. One was red and had three points while the other was yellow and had eight points. Optimus, being the Star Trek nerd he was, pulled out a tricorder and took a reading. “…They’re made of Energon crystal,” he muttered, “but the power in them is compacted somehow.”
“How did Tails make them?” asked Sonic.
“With Shockwave’s help,” explained Tails once he and Cosmo approached them. “They’re called Energon Stars and they tap into more power than a Transformer’s consumption of cubes would allow.”
“Good to see you again, Tails!” chuckled Optimus. He and Sonic hugged Tails, then Cosmo. “So, those Stars are from Shockwave’s research?”
“Her research AND mine,” elaborated Tails. “It was a collab-effort.”
“Well, we’re gonna need her help OR yours,” said Sonic.
“So, this ISN’T a social call?” asked Cosmo, slightly disappointed.
“I’m afraid not,” said Optimus. “We thought back to the Convergence and wanted to see Megumi and Arsha again. Teletraan didn’t copy that data over when he transferred out of the old base.”
“I only have the equipment,” winced Tails. “As to the data concerning their universes, you might have better luck with Shockwave.”
“Where is she?” asked Sonic. Tails winced again.
“She’s…at Olympus Mons,” he finally revealed. Sonic didn’t have a full grasp of Mobius’ solar system.
“Where’s that?”
“On Mars, if I’m right,” remarked Optimus. Tails nodded in confirmation.
“…Why not move to Mobius?” asked Sonic. Tails breathed a little easier as he explained.
“She wasn’t all that eager to live on our noisy planet where interruptions would plague her, like Mobians or Autobots. Besides, she has a reputation of conducting cruel experiments on live test subjects, so she figured living somewhere barren like Mars would keep her from being tempted to conduct those kinds of experiments these days.”
“If she’s not receptive to Autobots, maybe a Decepticon should visit her,” mused Optimus. “Megatron’s alt-mode can enter and leave a planet’s atmosphere. He might have better luck convincing her to fork over the data.”
“We should tell him about that,” suggested Sonic.
On the red world of Mars, at the base of the famous extinct shield volcano of Olympus Mons, stood a purple female robot with a visor over her optics, giving her a cycloptic appearance. She stood alone, needing some space from her smaller roommates. She listened to the winds rushing across the Martian surface and past her frame. She cycled air through her olfactory apparatus and sighed. Her solitude was interrupted by the roar of jets. She looked up and saw the outline of her faction’s symbol with wings. She then made a call to the jet. “Lord Megatron, I was not expecting you,” began the cyclops robot, the Decepticon Chief Scientist, Shockwave.
“I have some scientific inquiries I need to make concerning other universes,” explained the jet, Megatron. “May I land?”
“Very well, my Lord.” At Shockwave’s permission, Megatron’s front split down the middle and each half rotated and deployed feet at the wider parts, becoming legs. His arms rotated from the top of the jet to the sides as each jet engine housing on the side pulled away from the housing in the middle and became shoulder pads. The middle jet housing then folded to the back, taking the cockpit with it as it tucked itself into the housing. Megatron’s head then popped up and he landed in a superhero’s landing pose. “…Doesn’t that hurt, my Lord?” asked Shockwave.
“You get used to it after years of landing like that,” explained Megatron. “And my son is the Decepticon Lord, it’s just Megatron for me. Mr. Megatron, at the most formal.”
“Very well. You said something about other universes. Do any universes involve Moebius?”
“Optimus and Sonic were thinking more of Megumi and Arsha’s respective universes.”
“I thought you wanted nothing to do with them after the alliance between us, Dr. Borg, and Hiro turned out to be an utter fiasco.”
“I don’t, but Optimus and Sonic wanted to see Arsha and Megumi again, now that this universe is calmer.”
“…Well, I cannot fault that. I have the data on those universes and how to get there, but not the equipment.”
“Tails happens to have the equipment, but not the data.”
“Then I will send that data immediately.”
“I’ll just signal Tails and you’ll have twice your usual Energon shipment.”
“Megatron, wait a moment.” Megatron stopped and looked at Shockwave. “Why are you helping them?” Megatron sighed.
“…I suppose…to make up for what I did.”
“…In my experience, that kind of journey lasts until you die.”
“I know, but I might as well make a start now. …I don’t really look forward to meeting them again, especially Richard. I don’t think he would forgive me for using his wife as a bargaining chip like that. Still, I have to make the attempt.”
