Category: Transformers: Mobian Chronicles (Arc 15: The Second Journey)

Hi-Q kept up his weapon’s fire as his visor fed the battlefield data directly into his brain. The Omnibots were going toe to toe quite handily against the Novacons. Black Scar was flabbergasted at Cerebros’ new fighting prowess. “This is impossible!” he protested as he grappled with his opponent. “You’re a pacifist! How are YOU swinging those blows?!”

“I had to learn to put my pacifist ideals aside, since they were doing more harm than good,” explained Cerebros. Hi-Q looked over the data again and was flummoxed at the readings.

“Bu…bu…I mean, this…this is against ALL the scenarios!” he protested.

“Can we focus here?!” snarled Trema as she threw Amy at Weirdwolf’s head. The pink hammer girl swung her signature weapon onto his helmet repeatedly!

“STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP! YOU’RE GIVING ME A DOUBLE HEADACHE!” wailed Weirdwolf.

---

Up in space, Megatron forced his way into Scorponok and transformed into robot mode. Clench disengaged from him and the two ran through the Metrotitan’s corridors. “All intruders shall be eliminated!” growled Scorponok’s voice. The internal defenses then came online. They were mainly security drones, humanoid in shape from the waist up and armed with a gun replacing the right hand and an electric prod replacing the left. They moved by a pair of wheels, like a Segway, and fired on the Decepticon Lord and his Mini-con partner. Megatron activated his arm blade, still only on concealed in his right arm, then spun around like a tornado and mowed the drones down! Once he stopped, none the worse for wear, Clench goggled at his partner.

“Did you just pull a Crash Bandicoot on them?” he asked.

“Yeah, I know!” chuckled Megatron. “I’ve played his games since Earth, really wanted to try his usual whirl attack!”

“Please don’t do that again.”

“My fight, my rules!”

“Hey! MEGATWERP!” called another voice. Megatron groaned.

“Because, of COURSE, the situation wasn’t dire enough for me!” He and Clench turned to see Optimus and Sparkplug. Clench rolled his optics.

“Hey, Sparky, Floptimus,” he called, “maybe this isn’t obvious to you, but me and Megatron are sorta in the middle of something! If you were to come back another time, we’d be a great deal less annoyed! Unless your intention WAS to annoy us! In which case, well done…BECAUSE NOW WE’RE ANNOYED!”

“This is an internal Decepticon affair, Optimus!” warned Megatron. “Do NOT interfere!”

“Oh, no!” replied Optimus. “Internal affairs ALWAYS boil over to becoming headaches, so I’m nipping this one in the bud! OPTIMUS PRIME, SUPER MODE!”

“MEGATRON, CONQUEST MODE!” The two bots achieved their super modes and clashed while keeping the security drones off their backs.

“Pelazon gas bomb prepared!” cheered Scorponok over the battle. “Launching!” Optimus and Megatron stopped fighting briefly, then resumed their fight as they made their way to his bridge.

---

Outside, a turret on the shoulder of Scorponok’s right claw fired some sort of canister. It exploded and a purple gas spread throughout the atmosphere before dissipating.

---

On the surface, Hi-Q got a reading on the gas and gulped. “Pelazon!” he explained. “It’s undoing the mechano-toxin in the air!”

“It’s time!” cheered Black Scar. He then turned his head slightly as if someone was speaking. “…I know, Zarak! It’s gonna be a whopper! Still, I wish Scorponok would change his own activation code. …You’re right, It WOULD be appropriate, given what we’re trying to accomplish!” Scorponok then lowered himself into view and Black Scar adopted the same transformation poses as Zarak. “Master…HEAD ON!”

“SCORPONOK, TERRORIZE!” Scorponok’s claws lowered as his sides split away and swung towards the tail while sprouting feet. The head of the scorpion revealed an empty space on its underside. Black Scar transformed, but his spinnerets folded to the top of his spider mode and split to reveal a pale-yellow face with a red visor. The new head then inserted itself into the empty space, connecting with the Metrotitan’s robot mode. The face then moved as ours would and roared to the heavens. “A perfect fit!” Scorponok chuckled.

---

Inside Scorponok, Optimus, Megatron, and their Mini-con partners made it to the bridge. They got read-outs of atmospheric conditions, giving them pause. Megatron then chuckled. “Who would have thought Scorponok had the antidote to a poisonous atmosphere?” he remarked.

“Oh, Primus, NO!” groaned Optimus. He then got a call.

“Optimus, what’s going on?!” asked the caller, Tails. “We saw Scorponok touch down and transform!”

“He fired an antidote into Nebulos’ atmosphere!” explained Optimus. “Now both sides are able to touch down!” Megatron then got a call from Eggman.

“Okay, given that you’re picking up just fine,” he observed, “I can surmise it’s safe for everyone! We’re touching down!”

“Belay that!” ordered Megatron. “Scorponok has a massive supply of fuel and parts to get us to Animatros! We just need to take out his head to make him more compliant!”

“I heard that!” boomed Scorponok’s voice. “Rest assured, no one will be killing Black Scar!” The intruders were then caught up in a teleport beam with an endpoint right under Scorponok’s foot! The four rolled out of the way towards the fight on the ground. Cerebros looked in the direction Scorponok was going, then groaned.

“I have no choice!” he muttered. He then stopped as if someone spoke to him. “…Llyra’s gonna have you sleeping on the couch for this! We never really activated him since you became my partner! …Fine, I guess there IS no time like the present.”

“Cerebros, what are you and Galen talking about?!” demanded Llyra.

“Gotta dash!” replied Cerebros. He then jumped into the air and flew past Scorponok. Llyra then realized what was going on.

“They never did it before!” she wailed. “The mental strain could be too much!”

“If they’re doing what I think they’re doing,” muttered Hi-Q, “then it’s because Scorponok robbed him of choice.”

---

Cerebros landed on Fortress Maximus in city-mode. Scorponok was getting closer by the second. “Fortress!” called Cerebros. “We need to unite! Scorponok has reawakened!”

“…Then it is time,” rumbled a voice. Cerebros then adopted the same poses Galen did.

“Master Head on!” he announced.

“FORTRESS MAXIMUS, TRANSFORM!” The front ends of the city folded up to make feet, the rear ends then swung forward and sprouted hands as the tower in the center split in two and folded down. The headless robot then pushed itself up as Cerebros transformed into shuttle mode, then the canopy folded up to act as a sun visor while the wings pointed to the rear of the shuttle. A white face then appeared under the visor and activated thick blue optic lenses. Fortress Maximus was online, and he decked Scorponok in the face, surprising both him AND the crowd below!

The Terrorcons saw what had happened through Rodimus Unicronus’ eyes and ears. Nemesis Prime was pacing in the throne room as Unicron was on the phone with someone while draped across the throne. Circuit Breaker was babbling to herself in a large birdcage by the throne. “This is bad!” gulped Nemesis. “This is REALLY bad! We’ve got a Prime who could upend everything! We can’t afford to lose any more Terrorcons! We need the enforcers! …Master?” Nemesis looked back at Unicron and groaned. “Master, how are you so calm?!” Unicron held up his pointer finger, telling his servant to give him a minute. Nemesis rolled his eyes as Unicron continued his call.

“Look, I understand that you sponsor all kinds of sporting events,” he remarked, “but, just so we’re clear, you DO realize everyone dies if I win, right?” The caller then pled its case. “…Uh huh. …Yes. …Right. …Yeah, I guess it WOULD be a win-win for you, wouldn’t it? All right, then, it’s officially the Unicron Games presented by Chaos-Cola!”

“I know someone who would kill for a Chaos-Cola right now!” called a third voice.

“WHOA! PRIMUS!” yelped Unicron as he and Nemesis saw Optimus.

“Nah, just Optimus,” snarked the young Prime.

“Need to put a bell on you!” muttered Nemesis as he took in a breath.

“Listen, something just came up,” Unicron explained to the person on the phone. “How about your people call mine and we’ll do lunch, all right? …All right, perfect! Bye!” He then hung up. “I swear, Optimus, you can give a guy an Anti-Spark attack popping in like that! I wasn’t expecting you for another two months! Must look a mess! We just got done touching up the ring, fixing one of the TOWERS!” he glared at Nemesis.

“I told you, the bomb wasn’t MY idea!” protested Nemesis. “I just suggested the food dye!”

“…WHAT?!” asked Optimus, confused at what his doppelganger said.

“Kids these days, I swear!” grunted Unicron. He then snapped his fingers as if he remembered. “Hey, why don’t we check out the arena? Nemesis, bring Ms. Beller with us, will you?” Nemesis bowed and picked up the cage as Unicron led everyone to the castle’s rear, where the arena was located. Optimus looked around the place as Unicron and Nemesis looked at him. “…Well?” asked Unicron after a few minutes. “What do you think of our glorious battleground?”

“…It’s all right,” replied Optimus in a noncommitted tone. “Kinda small, isn’t it?”

“Nemesis was trying to go for intimidation,” explained Unicron, “but I would say it’s…intimate!”

“Well, I ain’t feeling none of those things.”

“Oh, but you should be feeling intimidation at the very least! Because, in this arena, we will decide the fate of not only this boring blue ball of dirt and water, but the ENTIRE universe! So you had best bring your A-game, Optimus Prime, because the stakes…have NEVER been higher!” Unicron then laughed a dark laugh. Optimus then got a goofy grin. “No, don’t even try,” Unicron had abruptly stopped laughing. “I won’t have that kind of foolishness from you. Don’t even pretend I mentioned the meat.”

“…I wasn’t gonna ask if the prize was steak.”

“Yes, you were.”

“All right, so I was. Just humor me for a cycle. What is the prize?”

“Living! …Also, a lifetime supply of Chaos-Cola!”

“You know, they say ‘lifetime’, but they don’t consider the lifespan of the winner’s species. Anyway, I just came to announce my intention for me and two others to fight you in the Unicron Games as a team.”

“Bring as many as you wish, it won’t change my victory.”

“You know, we DID set up a hotline for people to declare their participation,” remarked Nemesis.

“I wanted to measure your master up in person,” explained Optimus. “And, Lord Unicron, I gotta say…nice!”

“Baby, you know it!” chuckled Unicron.

“Are you using a new wax?”

“Terrapin Metal Wax.”

“Really leaves a shine on your chassis, doesn’t it?”

“I take it you use it?”

“Yep! Well, I’ve seen all I need. Now, I’m off to go train with my teammates and prepare for the fight. See you in two months!”

“It’s a date!” Optimus then rang Teletraan.

“I’m all finished here. Bridge me back!” A Ground Bridge opened near him, and Optimus strode confidently through. As the bridge closed, Unicron turned to Nemesis.

“I’m gonna miss him when he’s gone,” he remarked.

“I won’t,” replied Nemesis. Unbeknownst to them, Circuit Breaker had stopped making noises and had heard the conversation with a clearer mind.

---

Optimus arrived back in the command center. “So,” remarked Megatron as he greeted Optimus, “Unicron knows about you, I see?”

“Knowing him, he’s probably not taking me all that seriously,” replied Optimus. “Probably thinking the Matrix is at its pre-bricking levels. Speaking of which, I need to get started on the Three Powers and their duplicates.”

“The materials are all arranged according to the list you sent Teletraan.”

“That will make it easier. I must forge them alone.”

“We’ve got a forge-room all set up.” Megatron led Optimus to a separate room where the Forge sat on the Creation Lathe. Six piles of materials sat to the left of the Lathe.

“I can take it from here,” assured Optimus.

“Very well,” answered Megatron as he left. Optimus then moved one of the piles onto the Lathe and keyed in a command. The pile then floated in the air and arranged itself into a large cylinder. He took up the Forge…then saw a reflection in it. It looked like he was back to Orion Pax.

“Wait, did I…?” he yelped before calming down. “You’re my past journey, aren’t you?”

“I am,” answered the reflection. “Be careful.”

“…I know. This…this has never happened to me before.”

“What will you do?”

“For the immediate future? I’ve got the Three Powers and their duplicates to forge. After that, do what I can to win the Unicron Games. …Beyond that…I don’t know.” The reflection faded from the Forge. Optimus sighed before returning his attention to his work.

“Solus Prime, I pray to you, guide my blows,” he wished.

“Happy to help where I can,” answered Solus’ voice. A spectral silhouette of her arm then surrounded his. Optimus adjusted his grip on the Forge and, with a roar, swung it hard onto the materials. He swung repeatedly and with great ferocity. As the Forge hit its mark, the materials were being rearranged on the molecular level while an outline of a large rifle flashed with each strike. Optimus refused to stop until the work was complete.

Optimus and his team tore through the horde with relative ease. Rodimus Unicronus then leapt onto Optimus and started punching. Optimus bucked him off and swung a punch right into his chest, continually shoving it and making him gasp. “STOP…DOING THAT!” roared Rodimus Unicronus.

“Okay,” replied Optimus as he quickly pulled his fist back. The sudden return to normal caused Rodimus Unicronus to gasp as air rushed into his air intake.

“NOT ALL AT ONCE! ARGH!” He doubled over and gasped. “Just…can I…have a cycle?!”

“…Sureyoucan!” replied Optimus.

“Well…thank you!” panted Unicronus. “That’s appre…!” Optimus then slammed an uppercut into his opponent’s jaw, sending him flying into the air. Optimus then leapt after him, grabbed his leg, and swung him to the ground.

“C-C-C-COMBO!” he shouted. Unicronus then hit the ground hard, face first. After that…a voice escaped his…erm…rear.

“Oh ho ho ho!” he laughed. “This is an unfortunate turn of events!” Optimus was…visibly disturbed.

“Did you just…literally…talk out your aft?”

“Well-” Rodimus Unicronus was now speaking through his mouth as he stood up- “to be fair, I DID dwell within the Matrix while my timeline’s version of you was Prime.”

“Ooh! That’s the closest you’ve done to damage since I got here!”

“Allow me to fix that! RODIMUS UNICRONUS, BLOOD-DRINKER MODE!” His super mode was like Rodimus’, just with a different color scheme. “There! Now, do you understand, Optimus?!”

‘What I understand is that I’m gonna give you a beating worse than the Primes did when you were Unicron!” Unicronus blinked.

“…How did…?”

“Silver and Grimlock filled Teletraan 1 in on the details.”

“And he told you. Riveting.”

“Now, because I believe in a fair fight, I’ll give you a free shot. I warn you, though, you better…” Unicronus then punched him in the face. Optimus…then chuckled, scaring the Terrorcon. “You better make it count!” He then wiped a bit of leaked Energon off his cheek. By now, Rodimus Unicronus was terrified.

“How?! HOW?! HOW DID YOU GET THIS STRONG?!” he demanded.

“I’ve been training and fighting for survival these past ten months!”

“Oh, you think you’re being CUTE!”

“Glitch, I’m adorable!” Optimus then dropped his smile. “You, on the other hand, need to be torn apart for all the pain you caused Mobius and her people! I heard through the grapevine that you’re the one that permanently weakened Chip so Gaia would be the only one to beat Unicron in any significant fashion! With how long it would have taken to wake her up, Mobius would have been gone by then! You, your comrades, and your master are aphids and I’m the ladybug ready to devour you! OPTIMUS PRIME, SUPER MODE!” The trailer then activated its rocket boosters and flew into the air as it unfolded and then folded again into a pair of legs with giant guns mounted on the back. Optimus’ feet then folded into the legs as hands took their place and the lower torso split at the crotch. They then swung up to the arms and united to become thicker arms and hands. Optimus then linked with the legs at the waist and a helmet came down over his head with golden piping pointing to the back of the head for the antennae and a gold hexagon on the forehead. He activated a gold mouth plate and landed back on the ground. Rodimus Unicronus was terrified as the others were in awe.

“HOLY…!” breathed Bumblebee.

“SCRAP!” continued Jazz.

“AWESOME!” cheered Blackarachnia.

“Oh, Optimus,” sighed Megatron in annoyance, “you and your fancy gadgets.”

“I hope you understand,” Optimus snarled to Rodimus Unicronus, “that this is YOUR specific end!”

“Wait, surely we can come to some arrangement to satisfy your warrior’s pride!” begged Unicronus.

“…Pardon?”

“You see, I’m only at half my full power!”

“I don’t see how that’s my concern.”

“I-If you let me power up, I’ll…I’ll give you an…Energon Pizza!”

“You killed innocent people! That’s not gonna work!”

“Two Energon Pizzas!”

“I SAID I’M DONE!”

“WITH STUFFED CRUST!”

“SPARKPLUG, POWERLINX!” Sparkplug transformed, flew to Optimus’ shoulder, and linked up. There was a significant power boost to the weapons systems. “Now, light our darkest hour!” he prayed to the Matrix.

“We’d be delighted to,” replied Prima’s voice in his head. The Matrix then flooded Optimus with more power. Rodimus Unicronus then whimpered in fright before turning and running away.

“PHASE BLASTERS: MAXIMUM FIRE!” The guns on his back then swung up and folded to rest on his shoulders before unleashing massive twin streams of laser fire. The beams hit their target and engulfed him. Rodimus Unicronus…was then reduced to nothing more than useless hunks of twisted and burned metal. The beams died and the body’s pieces fell to the ground, gunmetal gray and lifeless. Rodimus Unicronus…was now offline. The zombie-bots then fell, lifeless as well. Without a Terrorcon to control them, they were just bodies. As everyone stood there panting, the sun came out.

“…Where were you earlier?” asked Cosmo to the sun. Everyone then rushed to meet with Optimus as he returned to his normal robot mode and Sparkplug flew off of his shoulder, transforming to his own robot mode.

“That…was…AMAZING!” cheered Bumblebee.

“Thanks, Bumblebee,” panted Optimus. He then wiped his brow. “That was a bit of a drain! Not as much as my old super mode, but still enough to warrant training that form up.”

“Did I see it all correctly?” asked Yoketron. “Did my sensei assist you?!”

“I did,” replied Sparkplug.

“Oh, peachy!” groaned Clench. “My hated enemy and I have to work with him.”

“Ah, Clench, you’re here as well. Still slumming with the Decepticons?”

“I go with the side that causes the most mayhem and the Decepticons cause that in spades! Wanna see my partner?!” He gestured to Megatron.

“An honor to meet you,” greeted the Decepticon Lord in a mocking tone.

“Hey! Show some respect!” snapped Jazz. “He helped Optimus complete an Optics’ Quest!”

“Optimus, Sensei Sparkplug, does Jazz speak truly?” asked Yoketron.

“He does, my old student,” confirmed Sparkplug. Yoketron grinned.

“Yet another student makes me proud. …No, a BROTHER makes me proud. Optimus Prime, as your sensei, I recognize you as a full-fledged member of the Autobot Cyber-Ninja Corps!”

“Thank you, Sensei Yoketron,” replied Optimus. “Not only for this…but for putting up with my impatient aft all these years.”

“You were…challenging, but you grew and changed. Now you’re ready to see if you can reach the rank of Grandmaster.”

“Actually, I’m renouncing my candidacy for the position. This journey taught me that I have enough power as it is and I don’t need, or, deep down, WANT any more.”

“…If that is your wish, then so be it. But, my pride for you has not dimmed. Congratulations, Optimus Prime.”

“Yes, yes, hooray, Optimus can fight like Naruto!” grunted Megatron. “But there IS a more pressing concern.”

“Yes, Rodimus’ evil twin probably transmitted intel about my reclaiming Primehood,” remarked Optimus. “Which is why I must first announce my intention to fight in the Unicron Games in two months.”

“What about…?!”

“In the meantime, I have a gift for us!” Optimus then opened his trailer and pulled out his desk. After noting the confused looks, Optimus keyed in a command and the desk became the Creation Lathe.

“…You’ve been propping your feet on a relic of the Prime?!” yelped Prowl.

“Yeah, Solus gave me an audioful when the truth became apparent,” winced Optimus. “Which means I need to either break the habit or get a new desk so I can still prop my feet up.”

“Hold on, if that’s the Creation Lathe, where’s the Forge?!” asked Bumblebee.

“…Strapped to your back, it looks like.” Optimus then pointed to Bumblebee’s sheathed weapon, the Magnus Hammer. Bumblebee handed Optimus the hammer, then Optimus pressed three buttons on the handle in a certain order. The hammer then shrunk and compressed itself into a Blacksmith’s hammer. Everyone was in awe.

“Then…you have the plans?” asked Megatron.

“And I brought materials to reforge the Three Powers twice over!” declared Optimus.

“Twice?” asked Sonic.

“Rodimus, Galvatron, and Silver need the Three Powers to beat their timeline’s Unicron. Now, because the Matrix is connected to ALL the Primes, that means only I can use them. However, Solus Prime and I are designing a workaround for that. Once that’s done, we train and prepare for the Unicron Games! Now, if you’ll excuse me, Teletraan 1, bridge me to Castle Unicron! I wish to announce my participation in person!”

“All right but be careful!” warned Teletraan 1. A Ground Bridge opened, and Optimus stepped through. The Bridge closed behind him.

“Good luck, Prime!” wished Blackarachnia. Bumblebee then looked around.

“Well, Optimus can’t exactly call a messy base home, can he?” he asked. “Let’s get this mess cleared up and make the necessary repairs!” Everyone cheered and Bumblebee immediately began detailing clean-up crews.

With friends hugging him from all sides, Optimus almost fell over. “Okay, guys, I get you’re happy to see me, but we’ve got other priorities right now!” he called. His friends backed off.

“What’s our move here, Prime?” asked Jazz.

“I know where the Forge and Creation Lathe of Solus Prime are,” explained Optimus. “The Thirteen revealed their locations to me. They’re on Mobius right now, have been for a long time. We’re going back to the old base first, then heading to the new base.”

“New base?” asked Blackarachnia.

“Give our guys some credit, Legs. They would have most likely found a new base. The Primes also told me the new base’s location. We gotta go NOW! For all we know, Unicron sensed my return! Transform and Roll Out!” Optimus’ legs then folded and united to become his new alt-mode’s front. His whole upper torso rotated at the waist and bent down so the cab could unite with the front. The head sunk into the cab and the arms swung together while the shoulder pads formed the rear of the cab. The hands then swung into the arms and Optimus switched on his holo-form. It was still a blue hedgehog with Shadow’s quill style, but he wore a large red trench coat with blue sleeves and a white shirt underneath while wearing red pants and black shoes. Jazz and Blackarachnia then transformed, and Sonic picked up Amy.

“May I join you?” asked Sparkplug.

“Sensei Sparkplug,” replied Optimus, “we would be honored.”

“SPARKPLUG, TRANSFORM!” Sparkplug’s legs came together as his chest swung to his lower legs. His arms swung upwards and united with his back, forming the rear of the car. The whole cavalcade then sped off towards the old Autobot base.

---

Everyone, sans Optimus and his team, had gathered at the new base, discussing the situation. “So,” rumbled Megatron, “no one has heard from my younger brother yet. I have a feeling that we may be missing him in our fight.”

“We still have weapons,” remarked Bumblebee.

“Unicron’s got generals that can raise the dead!” argued Ravage. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to die in a hopeless battle!”

“Ravage speaks logically,” agreed Shockwave. “The Terrorcons can shrug off any damage we inflict on them. I cannot see any outcome where we survive the battle.”

“I can’t argue with her in good conscience,” remarked Eggman. “Fighting won’t unbrick Orion’s connection to the Matrix.”

“…Then what WILL we fight for?” asked Bumblebee. He got up. “Listen to me! All of you! Mobius is looking to us to fight against Unicron, no matter the cost! What will they see? Frightened Scraplets in a derelict ship?! NO! They will see free people and freedom! Freedom from darkness and the terror it brings! And what Unicron and his ilk will see is the flash from our blasters and the ringing of our steel, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat on the brows of our Mobian and human allies, and the strength of the Transformers’ backs, and the courage of our hearts, Sparks, and souls…everyone…prepare for battle AND victory!”

“You all heard him!” called Megatron. “Everyone, Bumblebee and I will not ask you to give more than you can deliver, but I DO ask this; are we not warriors of light?”

“YEAH!” replied everyone in the room.

“On a mission to beat back the darkness?!”

“YEAH!”

“I do not see any fear in Bumblebee’s optics! Are we not warriors of light?!”

“YEAH!!!”

“Then, as Bumblebee put it, prepare for battle! Everyone, to their stations and haul away! Prepare to fight for a new day!” Everyone then headed off to prepare the base for battle.

“…You know, that last bit reminded me of Wheelie,” snarked Bumblebee. Megatron then glared at Bumblebee, not giving any arguments since he WAS right. He just contented himself to grunt and storm off to prepare for the fight in his own manner.

---

Back at Castle Unicron, the arena was finally set up. “Finally!” sighed Nemesis Prime. “It is complete! Perfectly square, a fine obsidian black, and a full ninety by nin…” he stopped when he saw a small hole in the floor. “…Are…you…friggin’…SERIOUS!”

“Let it go, Nemesis,” called Unicron. “We’ll just patch it. In the meantime, we have scrap to do. Our enemies have gathered in one place. Signal Rodimus Unicronus. Tell him to give no quarter. That should help brighten his mood for the past five months.”

“What of Josie Beller?”

“Ms. Circuit Breaker is broken. She can’t make any coherent words. All she’s doing now is sitting and making sad noises.”

“So, worthless to our schemes. Very well. I’ll just radio Rodimus Unicronus now.”

---

As the Unicron Resistance prepared for battle, Teletraan 1 got something from one of his Sky Spys. “…Uh oh!” He sounded the alarm. “Heads up, everyone! Zombie army coming from the south! Rodimus Unicronus is leading!”

“Battle stations!” ordered Bumblebee. Everyone rushed and took up their positions.

“Because, of course,” grunted Megatron, “they’d strike at an area where our shields are at their weakest right now!”

“Anyone with super modes, better suit up now!” called Bumblebee.

“MEGATRON, CONQUEST MODE!”

“RODIMUS PRIME, OVERDRIVE MODE!” Rodimus’ legs extended and a set of wings attached to his back. His battle mask deployed, and he drew his rifle. Megatron then looked at Galvatron.

“Where’s yours?!” he asked.

“They used my old battle-frame to rebuild me,” replied Galvatron. Megatron groaned. The enemy army then crested the crater’s edge.

“OPEN FIRE!” shouted Bumblebee. Laser fire then erupted from the base and soldiers. But, what good is weapons fire against an undead horde? The army still made it into the crater and Rodimus Unicronus strolled leisurely behind the horde in his own super mode.

“Look at you all!” he taunted as the horde slammed themselves against the base and climbed it. “All of you, so proud of your ability to learn from light! Well, let me tell you right now, the darkness offers greater secrets!” The horde was then coming down on everyone! They had to resort to melee weapons. Ratchet then sliced one of the zombies in two and it fell to the ground. He tried again and got the same results.

“I recommend dissection!” he called on an open frequency. “The smaller the pieces, the better!”

“Understood!” replied Bumblebee. They got bladed weapons out and started cutting.

“Oh, very clever!” snarked Rodimus Unicronus. “…NOT!” He then snapped his fingers and the zombies started blocking the blows!

“Someone take him out!” shouted Tails.

“Yes, please, take me out!” laughed Rodimus Unicronus. “I know a nice little restaurant over in Station Square! A perfect place for some Italian food and drink! I, myself, have a preference to shrimp alfredo!”

“!’m afraid,” called a voice, “that you’ll have to take a raincheck on that particular date. There’s a hot one waiting for you in the Great Wildfire!” A ball of light then struck him in the chest. Everyone turned to see who threw it. It was a woman of average Mobian-height, yellow-green skin, green, leafy hair, and a rose on either side of her head. Tails gasped in delight.

“COSMO!” he called. The zombie above him then groaned, reminding him of the fight. Cosmo then threw more balls of light, then started panting.

“Really needed more sunlight!” she gasped. “Sky’s too dark!”

“Then allow me to take over!” came a voice over the radio.

“Orion?!” yelped Megatron. “Where’s that voice coming from?!”

“Look to the east!” replied the voice. Everyone turned to see six figures on the eastern edge of the crater. Three were Transformer-height, and the remaining were Mobian-sized. One of the figures then summoned a ball of light in its left hand, then a ball of darkness in the right. Rodimus Unicronus gasped, remembering a time when he was his timeline’s Unicron. He recalled that such orbs were used to initiate an attack.

“The Prime Cannon!” he whispered. The figure then thrust its hands into the orbs, then clasped its hands together above its head, then brought them towards its chest before thrusting them forward, still clasped. A brilliant stream of rainbow-colored orbs then launched at Rodimus Unicronus, pinning him to the wall and causing severe damage. The sudden shock of pain echoed throughout the zombie Transformers, giving the heroes enough time to counter-attack. Megatron then activated and optic-visor and used the zoom function to see who the figures were. The figures descended into the crater and Megatron got a better look.

“…Well, I’ll be slagged!” he muttered. Bumblebee then lowered his own optic visor and saw what Megatron saw. His face lit up as he called out the good news.

“HE’S BACK! OPTIMUS PRIME IS BACK!” Rodimus Unicronus picked himself out of the wall and charged at Optimus, roaring all the while in fury!

Blackarachnia, Sonic, and Amy stared at Orion and Jazz in confusion as they bowed to the new Mini-con, Sparkplug. “Could…someone fill me in?” asked Sonic.

“Guys, this is Sparkplug,” introduced Orion. “He’s known as the leader of the Torpedo faction, the Autobots of the Mini-con race.”

“He’s also the greatest Cyber-ninja in all of Transformer history,” supplied Jazz. “He taught Yoketron everything he knows!”

“You know my student?” asked Sparkplug.

“We’re HIS students,” explained Orion.

“So he DID start that dojo,” chuckled Sparkplug. “I sense that you are on some sort of quest.”

“Unicron has risen,” said Orion with trepidation. “One of his flunkies bricked my connection to the Matrix, making me lose my Primehood.”

“…Some tea, then.”

“…Pardon?”

“Energon tea, that should help us on this Optics Quest.” Orion arched an eyebrow.

“Guys, a word,” requested Blackarachnia as she waved her team over to join her. The five then huddled. “Ninja boys, what’s an Optics Quest?”

“The final exam for a Cyber-ninja,” replied Jazz. “It tests your spirituality and ability to adapt. You seek out another Cyber-ninja to guide you and teach you something that your sensei might have missed.”

“Jazz already took his, making him a greater Cyber-ninja than me right now,” supplied Orion. “There are two ways to initiate an Optics Quest. One, you tell your sensei that you’re ready to start it. Two, another Cyber-ninja offers to help you complete it without your sensei’s knowledge and will tell them once it’s finished.”

“How do you know if you pass or fail?” asked Amy.

“The only path to failure is abandoning the Optics Quest,” explained Jazz. “It means you’re not focused enough to be considered a Cyber-ninja.”

“Look, we’ve got two months left,” argued Blackarachnia. “Can we REALLY afford a quest?”

“If it helps to unbrick the Matrix, yes,” declared Orion.

“I REALLY advise against it!”

“…Your advice is valuable, but the decision is mine to make at this point.” Orion then turned to Sparkplug. “How do we begin this Optics Quest?” Sparkplug then took out an elaborate machine.

“Like I said, some Energon tea.”

---

“All right, all systems ready,” reported Tails.

“Establishing final connections…NOW!” called Ratchet. He pulled a lever and a loading screen appeared on the main monitor. It took a good minute before the loading screen was replaced with an Autobot symbol. It then made the Windows XP startup noise before Teletraan 1’s Mobian Lynx avatar appeared.

“And the greatest computer around,” he bragged, “has made a safe return to the planet! Tell all the ladies not to commit suicide!”

“Good to have you back, Teletraan!” welcomed Tails.

“Good to BE back, little buddy! What’s next?”

“We need a secure channel to all allies,” called Bumblebee as he entered the command center. “We need them to know where our new base of operations is.”

“Locating all allies now,” confirmed Teletraan.

“Find Orion too.”

“In the state he’s in?! Are you mad?!” protested Ratchet.

“Gotta agree with Ratchet here,” remarked Teletraan. “If his weapon against Unicron’s still not working, it might not be the best idea.”

“We can’t afford to wait for the Matrix,” replied Bumblebee. “We need to make our own miracle.” The command center was silent.

“…I hate it when you’re right,” grumbled Teletraan as he continued his work.

---

Orion had finished making the Energon tea and handed Sparkplug a Mini-con sized cup. Sparkplug accepted it and sipped the tea. When he finished, he hummed to himself. “…Is it bad?” asked Orion.

“…I’m afraid so,” replied Sparkplug. “This tea has all the necessary ingredients, but lacks the most important one, balance. I see why your path to the power of the Primes remains clouded.”

“This isn’t the path?!” wailed Orion. “I…I-I don’t understand! You must show me the way!”

“I cannot. It isn’t for me to show you YOUR path.”

“Fortune cookie scrap if I ever heard it!” The apparition of Optimus returned. “He knows what to do, he just won’t tell you!”

“Please, Sensei Sparkplug, I beg you,” pleaded Optimus as he clasped his hands together and bowed, “you MUST tell me!”

“That is something you must earn,” answered Sparkplug.

“EEAAARRNN?!” roared the specter in frustration. “AFTER EVERYTHING WE’VE DONE?! EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH?! The death! The loss!! THE SUFFERING!! WHO ARE YOU TO DENY US WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS?!” The specter raised a fist and was about to bring it down on Sparkplug. Its progress was interrupted as something halted the fist. It turned to see Orion grabbing its wrist!

“Enough!” snarled Orion.

---

“What’s going on?” asked Jazz as he, Blackarachnia, Sonic, and Amy looked on.

“He’s wrestling with inner demons,” replied Amy. “I can see it. Hold on, guys. Let me help you see it too. Inviso!” Everyone then finally saw the specter of Optimus being held at the wrist by Orion.

---

“We have lost our connection to the Matrix because of you!” snarled Orion.

“I HAVE KEPT US ALIVE!” argued the apparition. “HE’S THE ONE WHO ROBBED US OF IT! HE KNOWS HOW TO BRING IT BACK!”

“That was Nemesis Prime, not Sparkplug! I’ve let you consume me for far too long!”

“YOU’RE IN MY WAY!” The specter then back-handed Orion, sending him into a wall. His friends gasped and rushed to help him.

“Do not interfere!” called Sparkplug. Orion then pulled himself from the wall, then pointed an accusing finger at the specter.

“You!” he hissed. “YOU are the cause of this! When Unicron was gaining more Blendtrons, despite our best efforts, you boiled over, giving Nemesis Prime what he needed to brick our connection to the Matrix! All those thoughts I had, thoughts of suicide, of bloodlust, of apathy, they all stemmed from you! You’re anger, you’re frustration!”

“AND YOU’RE A FOOL!” roared the apparition.

“I’ve allowed myself to let you blind me! Well, no longer! Now, I can see!” Orion then fired a stream of light at the specter.

“YOU NEED ME!” cried the apparition as it vanished in the light. The light died down and Orion caught his breath as his friends rushed to his side.

“Orion, are you all right?!” asked Blackarachnia.

“…That…was cathartic!” panted Orion. He then turned to Sparkplug. “Would you like a better cup of tea?”

“That won’t be necessary,” replied Sparkplug. “The tea is now balanced…as are you.” He pressed a button on the Energon tea maker, and it folded and compressed into a simpler device. It was a cube with a slot on one of its faces.

“Wh…what is it?” asked Sonic.

“This, my blue friend,” explained Sparkplug, “is a remote access point for Vector Sigma, the greatest super-computer of Cybertron and that which kept us alive during the first war when the Allspark was lost.” Orion then realized what was going on.

“It also holds the wisdom of the Primes as well as all the information Cybertron has ever gathered!” he continued Sparkplug’s explanation. “It serves as a back-up of the Matrix, should it ever be damaged! Maybe it can help unbrick it!” Orion keyed in a command and a hologram activated. It displayed a golden, multifaceted sphere.

“I am Vector Sigma,” droned the sphere. “After Primus was, before Cybertron was, I was. Who awakens me?”

“Mighty Vector Sigma,” pleaded Orion, “I am Orion Pax. I was once a Prime, but my connection to the Matrix was bricked by one of Unicron’s servants. Please, help me reestablish a connection.”

“Have you the Key?” asked Vector Sigma.

“The…the k…oh, yes, the Key!” Orion then took the Matrix out of his chest, then took the Key out. “My late mentor, Ironhide, tripped over it on this planet.”

“Please insert the Key into the access point.” Orion did as he was instructed. “Fault located. Repairing now. New updates available. All Thirteen are available for use of their wisdom. Would you like to add them to the Matrix?”

“Yes, please.”

“Acknowledged. Repairs and reimaging at 70%…80%…90%. Repairs and reimaging complete. Please reinstall the Key into the Matrix.” Orion took the Key out and put it into the Matrix. The Matrix then enveloped Orion in a bright light. Inside the light, thirteen figures appeared before Orion.

“…The Primes?” he asked.

“YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNGG WARRIOR!” called one of the figures.

“I never thought I’d be so happy to hear that,” chuckled Orion as Alpha Trion stepped forward.

“Listen to me, Young Warrior! Heed the wisdom of time long ago!” he urged. “When a sparrow lands in your hand, it will ask for directions to the bathroom!”

“…Pretty sure a sparrow would poop wherever it wished, unless it was a Mobian Sparrow.” Orion smiled. “So, the bricking is undone? And you and Vector Prime…?”

“Do not blame you in the slightest,” assured Alpha Trion. “Our time has come anyway.” Vector Prime then stepped forward.

“However, this means that all the artefacts and weapons are tied solely to you, Young One,” he explained. Solus Prime then came forward.

“But, if you ask for my help, you can create a workaround for it for the coming battle against Unicron,” she revealed.

“But I need your Forge and Creation Lathe,” reminded Orion.

“That information will become clear when you ascend to Primehood once more,” called another figure. It stepped forward to reveal a tall, silvery blue mech with the Star Saber in his hands.

“Prima!” breathed Orion as he knelt down.

“All of us have decided,” rumbled Prima, “that, like your predecessors, you will stop a great evil! You are worthy to ascend to Primehood! Arise, OPTIMUS PRIME!” Light streamed from the optics of all Thirteen and enveloped Orion.

---

Out in the real world, the light grew brighter! “CAN ANYONE SEE HIM?!” called Jazz.

“IT’S TOO BRIGHT!” replied Blackarachnia. Then, the light died down, slowly coalescing into a figure. The figure then faced everyone and closed its chest cavity. The light faded even more to reveal that the figure was a mech with blue arms, red shoulder pads pointing up, gold hands, hover-generators running down the arms, red legs to evoke a semi’s nose, black feet, and the cab of a truck forming a backpack. The head…was one everyone was waiting for. It was blue with antennae and a silver hexagonal shape on the forehead.

“…Optimus?!” asked Sonic.

“In the new steel!” replied the figure. His friends cheered in joy! Orion Pax had returned to being Optimus Prime once again!

Vector Prime and Alpha Trion sat in the ruins of the old Autobot base, in what remained of Orion’s old office. Oddly enough, the desk was still intact. Vector Prime was standing in the ruined door frame as Alpha Trion sat behind the desk. As they sat, Vector Prime felt a tremendous surge of energy. He pinpointed it to Green Hill Zone and identified it as a Terrorcon. “Okay, you felt that, right?!” he asked.

“I did,” confirmed Alpha Trion.

“And you’re STILL going to put this off?!”

“I might.”

“All right, I’ve literally had enough of this scrap!” Vector Prime stormed towards the desk. “I’ve been squatting in the old base with you and meditating…”

“Dozing.”

“MEDITATING for the past…erm…”

“Five months.”

“Thank you. FIVE MONTHS! So, either do something or get in the Matrix with me!”

“Listen, I still need to feel the situation out.”

“What in the Pit is there left to feel out?! Between your insane soothsayer act and jerking us all around, I’m pretty sure Mobius’ population is now HALF of what it once was! You’re supposed to be the Prime of Reality, START ACTING LIKE IT!” Alpha Trion then stood up and got nose to nose with Vector Prime.

“Yes! I AM the Prime of Reality! The Prime of all Reality! And you wish to take that title from me!”

“Are you serious right now?! This can’t POSSIBLY be about the job! The first chance you had to drop this gig, you tried to hand it off to Liege Maximo, the guy who set Megatronus against us initially! He never even looked after his own family! I looked after his family more than he ever did!”

“But it’s still my job! My responsibility!”

“And that’s really good and all, but if you and I don’t rejoin our fellow Primes in the Matrix and give Orion the boost he needs to beat Unicron, then all of reality will be unraveled!”

“MAYBE I’D RATHER IT BE UNRAVELED THAN EVER HAVE TO GIVE UP MY IDENTITY TO A STUDENT OF MINE!” The instant Alpha Trion finished his outburst, the only noise that could be heard was the wind.

“…So that’s what this is all about, is it?” asked Vector Prime as he broke the silence.

“No, no, that’s not what I…”

“No, it’s fine. I was a bit of a Jack-hole. I get that.” Alpha Trion sighed as he sat back down and steepled his fingers.

“Listen, Vector Prime, I’ve been the guardian of reality since our creation. I’ve seen Cybertron be enslaved, reclaim its freedom, fall into civil war, and worse…all the while trapped in the Hall of Records, unable to interact with the outside world for only moments at a time. …Now the only option I have left is to give up my free will to someone who says that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, thus making him a hypocrite. …It would not only tear him apart, but it would also just be another prison for me.” Vector Prime’s expression softened.

“…I…I never realized…”

“It’s fine, though. I’m done, in any case. My time has come.” Alpha Trion stood up, his age finally showing in how slowly he rose. “You’re right, Brother. If we don’t join our fellow Primes within the Matrix, Orion will likely never get the Three Powers. But know this; once we enter the Matrix, our artefacts and weapons will only be used in the hands of whoever is the current Prime.”

“Ah, that’s not much of a problem. I’m sure Optimus could pull something out of his aft to circumvent that.”

“Don’t you mean Orion?”

“Quit being a smart-aft. You know he’s gonna be Optimus Prime again.” Alpha Trion then grinned before looking around the ruined room.

“Well, reality, I suppose this is goodbye. It’s been…a trip.” Alpha Trion then opened a hidden keypad and keyed in a numeric code. The desk then shifted and unfolded to become an alien lathe. “Well now, I’m sure you’re already familiar with how Solus and Megatronus used this thing to enter the Matrix.”

“Yep.” The two Primes then placed a hand on the lathe.

“Good,” praised Alpha Trion. “Now, I believe the next step is to place our other hand between our legs.”

“Nope. Not falling for that one again.”

“I didn’t think so. …Creation Lathe, this is Trionus Prime! Total Matrix Access, authorization Trionus Alpha One!”

“Creation Lathe, this is Vector Prime! Total Matrix Access, authorization Vector Alpha One!” The lathe then glowed and swallowed the two Primes in light. The blinding glow lasted for a few seconds before dying down and restoring the normal landscape, revealing the lathe by itself and the two Primes gone.

---

Five months had gone by, leaving roughly two months until the Unicron Games. Orion had learned of what happened when his team retrieved a downed Sky-spy that had recorded the whole thing. On this day, he sat by himself as Jazz, Blackarachnia, Sonic, and Amy searched for supplies. He felt that there was no hope and no goal but to survive. “…Orion?” asked a voice. Orion looked around briefly, then gave up. “…What are we doing, Orion?” asked the voice.

“…We’re waiting,” answered Orion.

“Waiting for what? We have a chance now that Alpha Trion and Vector Prime joined the Matrix. Let’s just go.”

“No. My friends are still out there. They’re still needed.”

“Needed? Are you mad?! They’re slowing you down!”

“They’re keeping me sane.”

“You’d know about losing your mind, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore!” The voice then stopped speaking.

“Well then, maybe, you’ll talk to me!” The Optimus specter was now standing near him.

“Leave me alone!” snarled Orion. “I don’t want to talk to YOU either! I don’t know why you’re following me!”

“Look, why do you always think of other people?! Why are you dwelling on Alpha Trion and Vector Prime?! They made their choice and now WE need to take advantage of it!”

“You’ll never understand that it’s all my fault! They sacrificed their lives because of ME!” The two then sat in silence before the apparition noticed something.

“They’re coming back.”

“Huh?” Orion looked outside the cave to see his team return. “Did you guys find anything?”

“We got supplies and something else,” replied Jazz. He then pulled out a Mini-con hibernation plate.

“…A Mini-con?”

“We think it’s dead,” sighed Blackarachnia.

“Welp, that’s that,” remarked the specter, unseen by the others. “Let’s get out of here.”

“No!” declared Orion he took the plate.

“Orion, are you sure?” asked Amy.

“You’re gonna see what the Mini-con is, aren’t you?” groaned the apparition.

“Yes.” Orion then held the plate in his hand…and it glowed green before it changed into a human-sized, yellow robot with sports car kibble. Jazz and Orion gasped as the Mini-con flickered its optics on and stretched.

“That was quite the nap,” the Mini-con yawned.

“SPARKPLUG!” yelped Jazz and Orion as they bowed.

---

Back at the W.A.P., Tails was conducting repair efforts on the bridge as Bumblebee organized the troops thus far. “All right, guys, moment of truth time!” called Tails. “Powering up!” He pressed a slider switch upwards and the lights flickered…then switched off. Tails then switched everything off. “…Sorry, guys,” he sighed.

“I know you can do this!” urged Bumblebee. “You’re the best genius there is!”

“Bumblebee, I’m hitting a wall! I don’t know what I’m missing!”

“Well, for a start, you’re mis-calibrating the Energon Inducers,” replied a voice.

“Come on, do your really…?” Tails stopped himself as he turned to the source of the voice. There, standing in the doorway, was Ratchet along with Perceptor, Knock-out, E-123 Omega, and the Chaotix! “RATCHET!” cheered Tails happily.

“I will admit, the repairs you’ve done are impressive,” remarked Ratchet. “However, you can’t do this without my help. You’d be spinning your wheels uselessly.”

“Ratchet, it’s great to have you guys here!” called Bumblebee. “We’ve got someone who could use medical attention. Knuckles lost his right eye when fighting Eradicons. He’s only got a crude prosthetic on.”

“I’ll take care of it,” replied Knock-out. “One DOES need to look good in any case.” He then sauntered off to the infirmary.

“And that rose right there,” remarked Perceptor as he pointed to the plant near Tails, “where did that come from?”

“…From Cosmo before she…” replied Tails.

“Ah, then she needs a good source of solar energy so her cells can reconstruct themselves!” declared Perceptor.

“…Pardon?”

“That, right there, is a Seedrian Regen Plant. If it’s a tree sapling, then the new body is gonna be male. If it’s a flower, it’s female. Looks like Cosmo’s last body is gonna be a woman.”

“Wait, are you telling me…?!”

“Cosmo’s simply regenerating. It’s a more extreme version of it, but it gets the job done and adapts the Seedrian to life on the planet it’s on. My best guess is that Cosmo is gonna be roughly Mobian height.”

“She’s coming back!” cheered Tails. He then turned to the rose and spoke to it. “You could have told me that before you went all Rambo on the Terrorcons!”

“And that’s the Energon inducers aligned,” called Ratchet. “Tails, try it now.” Tails slid the switch up and the lights gradually came on. The computers then gave readouts.

“Weapons power: online,” reported the fox. “Computer systems: normal operations for our purpose. Shields: ready to activate at a moment’s notice. Communications hub: fully functional! The base is ready to go!”

Grimlock and Silver patrolled what remained of Green Hill Zone. Unicron’s forces left it in ruins. Silver was riding on Grimlock’s back as he stomped around in beast mode. “You know, I never thought I’d see this place in my lifetime,” muttered Silver.

“What, it doesn’t exist in the future?” asked Grimlock.

“Not anymore. Unicron turned it into a wasteland.”

“Yeah, that sounds like his M.O.”

“At least I got to see it now, even if it’s not as my dad remembered it.”

“Hey, that reminds me, you smell familiar, but I can’t place it.”

“How so?”

“Well, you smell like some amalgamation of Sonic and Amy. Can you shed some light on it?”

“…They’re my parents.” Grimlock stopped at this revelation.

“…Y…You’re…Sonic’s…I mean, he…and Amy…but he…!”

“He changed from the hyperactive guy he usually was. He DOES love Amy…Mom…her like that, but he’s never been sure how to say it.”

“…Did you…?”

“I’m from a future that’s ruled by the Transformers’ devil and came here to try and change it. It’s probably an alternate future now, since Unicron never really had plans to make the Unicron Games, so what good would it do to tell them I’m their son? They probably won’t have me. Heck, they probably wouldn’t get that intimate.”

“…Multiverse theory’s a glitch, ain’t it?”

“That’s the general lesson here.”

“Preach, kiddo,” came Rodimus Unicronus’ voice. Silver floated off of Grimlock, allowing him to transform and draw his sword. Rodimus Unicronus came out of the trees in vehicle mode. His holo-form then stepped out of the driver’s seat. It looked…peculiar. It was definitely Shadow’s shape, but more crystalline and purple. The sclera was red instead of white and the eyes were serpentine and green. The legs seemed to terminate in mist instead of feet. “I must say,” chuckled Rodimus Unicronus through the new holo-form, “I never thought I’d actually fight you again, Silver!”

“Don’t you worry!” snarled Silver as he got ready to fight. “I’ll just show you how much stronger I’ve gotten these past five months!”

“What? …Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t being specific! I wasn’t referring to when the Decepticons stole the Chaos Emerald from me, I was referring to the Soleanna incident!”

“The…the what?”

“Of course, you wouldn’t remember it because you weren’t there. I mean, you were, but…”

“GET TO THE POINT!” roared Grimlock.

“All right then, what do you know about time travel?”

“…Less than I should,” remarked Silver.

“Well, how do you suppose I got here?”

“You hitched a ride in Rodimus’ Matrix, obviously!”

“Yep, yep, and how do you suppose I got said ride?”

“…I don’t wanna answer that.” Silver started feeling a little queasy at the anticipation.

“Here’s the thing, like the lizard said…multiverse theory’s a glitch!”

“Wait, how does…?” Grimlock’s question was interrupted by Rodimus Unicronus’ explanation.

“The fact is, I wasn’t always called Rodimus Unicronus. I was actually Unicron! I used something called the Flames of Disaster to become a god! I was soon rechristened as Solaris, the Sun God! …But someone in Soleanna got wise in that I would unleash fire upon the world and scorch it! They managed to separate my mind from my body, and I was split into two beings: Mephiles the Dark, my dark mind, and Iblis, my raw power! A time-travelling Shadow then sealed me into a scepter while my power was sealed by the little Princess Elise’s soul! Years later, I was released from the scepter and resurrected myself through Shadow’s…well…shadow. I then met you and, like your time, you hailed from a post-apocalyptic future that was constantly on fire. I saw this as an opportunity to reunite with the Flames of Disaster and knew that Elise was being targeted by Eggman to harness said Flames. I figured she would gain a friendship with Sonic, so I convinced you to try and kill him!”

“Wait, what?!” yelped Silver.

“It didn’t work, though. You became friends with him, so, after all sorts of time-travel shenanigans, I just decided to kill Sonic myself. And the real kicker of it all was that he died right at Elise’s feet! That sight caused her to cry, and I soon reunited with Iblis, thus restoring myself to my Solaris form! …But then you idiots resurrected Sonic with the Chaos Emeralds and a kiss from Elise, then you three Hedgehogs all went super, then defeated me! Elise then blew out the Flames of Disaster and changed the whole timeline! You, on the other hand, your time was still ruined…for about a year! The Flames had died down, thanks to the sacrifice of a girl you knew, a cat named Blaze!”

“Blaze sacrificed herself?!” wailed Silver.

“Ah, so she exists in your time!”

“…Existed.”

“History repeats itself. In any case, thanks to your shenanigans, you could go to the rebooted timeline whenever you wished! However, you made one…fatal…mistake! You never checked to see if my mind was still active!”

“I think I can guess what happened!”

“Good for you. In any case, I couldn’t really go back in time along the original timeline, so I had to settle for something else. I travelled back and found me before I went all Solaris and convinced that version of me, Unicron, not to fuse with the Flames of Disaster and simply wait for the Transformers. And we didn’t have long to wait! Of course, I waited until the Autobots and Decepticons started shooting each other, then I entered the Matrix one night, caused Optimus to attempt to kill Megatron, only for Megatron to kill him, then Hot Rod was named Rodimus, Megatron became Galvatron, Unicron rose, then you, Rodimus, and Galvatron traveled back in time, Rodimus fought in the Battle of Station Square and…well…the rest is history. MY history, at least.”

“Then…you’re only here…!”

“Because of you, Silver! But, please, don’t beat yourself up. You’re just a child, playing hero…complete with all the trappings!”

“…And you’re just another mistake I have to correct!” Silver then used his psychokinesis to lift the stone loops and hurled them at Rodimus Unicronus. The Terrorcon then rolled out of the way, only for his fist to meet Grimlock’s face. Rodimus Unicronus grinned.

“I’m impressed, Grimbo! Behind all that angst and rage, there’s a real fighter!”

“And behind all the insufferable smarm of a cheap knock-off of Unicron,” growled Grimlock, “is a dead man!”

“Grimlock, you couldn’t fathom the amount of dead men behind me. …On an unrelated note, NEVER CALL ME A KNOCK-OFF!” He then charged at Grimlock and swung his arms wildly. Grimlock and Silver saw this.

“Hey, kid!” called Grimlock to Silver.

“I see it too!” replied Silver. “Poor guy’s struggling to find his own identity! Such is the fate of a knock-off!”

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!!” Rodimus Unicronus swung wildly again, only to miss his targets.

“Why not?!” taunted Silver. “It’s true! You lost your chance to fully realize your power, always taking the forms of people greater than you! Why else would you claim to look like Shadow at one point?”

“SHADOW IS LESSER THAN ME!!”

“And there’s the fact that you haven’t made yourself a new body! You still look like Rodimus Prime! And you’re stuck as a servant to yourself! Face it, you’re nothing now! You’re not Unicron anymore, you’re just a sad little being who skulks in the shadows and take their shapes to try and mock them, only to fail miserably! You’re a cheap, second-generation knock-off of a foreign timeline that no longer exists!” Rodimus Unicronus was now livid! He EXPLODED with darkness and shrieked an unearthly shriek as he fought!

Bumblebee led his larger team over rough terrain. Caused by an object falling to Mobius’ surface, the ride wasn’t exactly comfortable. “Halt!” called Bumblebee as he stopped. Thundercracker transformed as he landed while Rouge and Knuckles got out of Cliffjumper. The Autobots then followed Thundercracker’s example as they transformed. Cliffjumper was the only one with a look of stark surprise. Sitting in the middle of a massive crater was the remains of the Weak Anthropic Principle. “It’s not much,” remarked Bumblebee, “but we got the rectifier coil going.”

“THAT’S Krok’s ship?!” asked Cliffjumper. “But that’s Vanguard-class!”

“Yeah, never really got a straight answer on how we got our hands on it,” muttered Thundercracker. “Still, you said you got the rectifier coil going, so there’s obviously SOME power.”

“Plenty of it, we’re just having trouble accessing it,” replied Rouge.

“We’re going to have to find one of our geniuses,” sighed Arcee.

“We find one, then we connect Teletraan 1 to this place, and then we find everyone else,” outlined Bumblebee. “This will be our base for anti-Unicron operations. Besides, it has a Bridge Portal generator inside, so we can get a Ground Bridge to help us get to any disaster areas faster.”

“Where are we gonna find your friends?” asked Thundercracker.

“I’ve heard a rumor that someone’s been holed up in a junkyard about 20 miles north of here,” replied Bumblebee. “I know rumors aren’t the best leads, but it’s all we’ve got right now. We need to act fast. Unicron’s still preparing for the tournament, and we have no idea what he’s plotting.”

---

Back at Castle Unicron, arena construction suffered another hiccup. It wasn’t square-shaped this time; it was circle-shaped. “HOW DID ALL THESE SQUARES MAKE A CIRCLE?!” shouted Nemesis Prime. “I just…!”

“No, no, it’s fine,” assured Unicron. “It’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. It DOESN’T bother me…it bothers me! It bothers me a lot and THAT TILE’S STILL PINK!”

---

Thundercracker, Cliffjumper, and Arcee elected to stay behind while Bumblebee, Rouge, and Knuckles went off to the junkyard. They entered it and looked along the mounds of unusable cars, ruined trucks, and things that used to go but now won’t. The machines designed to dispose of it all loomed menacingly among the twisted metal heaps. If Bumblebee ever said he wasn’t scared, he was lying. It looked almost like the machinery that lined a Decepticon-controlled Smelting Pool, machines that would prevent their prisoners from ever escaping the molten metal. Bumblebee crept down the aisles in vehicle mode and found what looked the Manager’s Office Building. Knuckles and Rouge stepped out and knocked on the door. “It’s open,” called a voice. The two then entered the office and saw someone at the desk. “Welcome to Grand Mobius Salvage, how may I help…? KNUCKLES?! ROUGE?!”

“TAILS!” cheered Knuckles. Tails looked like a guy who had no hope for a while. He got up from the desk and hugged the two.

“It’s been way too long!” he chuckled. “How long have you guys been on the road?”

“About a month,” explained Rouge. “We originally hunkered down in my treasure trove. For once, Knuckles was insistent on putting the Master Emerald there.”

“You mentioned energy dampeners, I couldn’t pass THAT up under the circumstances,” reminded Knuckles. “Never mind that, though. Tails, we need your help. We found a new base. It’s the wreck of Krok’s ship and we’ve got enough power for something called a rectifier coil, but we need someone to help with getting power to all the necessary systems.”

“Well, look no further, there are THREE who can help,” answered Tails. “I’ve got Scattershot and Ratchet with me.”

“Perfect! We came with Bumblebee, so he can help guide us to the new base.”

“Then it’s time for me to close up shop.” Tails typed something into his computer and all systems shut down. He then picked up a pot with a single rose bloom in it.

“Er, Tails, what’s…?” asked Rouge.

“It’s something Cosmo left behind when she…when she…” Tails was struggling to say the words.

“Tails, honey?” asked Rouge, concerned for her little friend.

“…Makeshift and Rodimus Unicronus surprised the four of us. Cosmo said she’d cover the retreat and gave me a single seed. She told me to take care of it and then…she charged at the two and…” Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Oh, man, Tails, I’m…I’m so sorry,” sighed Knuckles as he realized what happened.

“That was a month ago,” sniffed Tails. “The three of us have been hiding out ever since. I’ve been trying to find a sunny spot, but all I could get for this little thing was a solar lamp.”

“We should be able to get some sun at the new base,” assured Rouge. “And we’ll avenge Cosmo. You can count on it!” Tails looked at the thief, saw that she was genuine, then set himself.

“Let’s get the others.” Tails led his friends out of the office, met Bumblebee, then led them to a concealed hangar, small enough for one jet. Coincidentally, there was a jet in it. “Hey, Scattershot! Up and at ‘em!”

“Mmh, five more minutes!” mumbled the jet, Scattershot.

“We’ve got company. They found us a base.” Scattershot then transformed and sprang out of the small hangar.

“Then what are we waiting for?!” he asked. “Let’s get Ratchet and get out of this dump!” They all then went down the aisles and found an ambulance.

“Ratchet!” called Tails. “Ratchet, we found our friends!” The ambulance, Ratchet, didn’t stir. “…Ratchet?”

“Go away,” said the medic gruffly, not even bothering to activate his holo-form.

“Come on, Ratchet,” encouraged Bumblebee as he transformed to robot mode. “We’ve got some work to do!”

“You’re interrupting my power-down,” replied Ratchet. Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

“…Ratchet, come on!” urged Scattershot. “We need your help to get everyone to our new base!”

“Only then can we take the fight to Unicron!” supplied Bumblebee.

“We CAN’T stop Unicron!” barked Ratchet. “Not anymore. The war is over and we…lost!”

“You, of all people, are giving up?!” wailed Bumblebee. “We can’t just give up! Especially not you!” Ratchet transformed and loomed over Bumblebee.

“Then tell me what we CAN do?! Without communications?! Without a Ground Bridge?! Without a base of operations or resources of any kind?!”

“But we DO have those things, we just need help to power it all up!” argued Knuckles.

“Knuckles’ right!” affirmed Bumblebee. “We know that the Cons had access to a Ground Bridge before they moved in with Eggman, right?”

“Yes, yes,” Ratchet waved off, “Soundwave clearly used the Harbinger’s Bridge Portal Generator to accomplish such a feat! The Harbinger’s been cleared out, remember?! What does that have to do with anything?!”

“I found the Weak Anthropic Principle! It’s loaded with tech! The Metarex didn’t destroy it completely! We’ve got the rectifier coil going, but it’s still got more untapped power! We can use it as a base of operations! It’s got up-to-date Cybertronian tech you can work with! We can make our allies stronger now!” Ratchet scoffed at Bumblebee’s words.

“Well, resources won’t be of much use! Not without someone to…lead us.”

“It’s a start!”

“Then you’ll have to start without me! …This is someone else’s fight now.”

“There IS no one else, Ratchet! Just us! Just the team!” Ratchet turned away and transformed.

“Please. Just let me…rust in peace.” Everyone stood there, not moving an inch.

“…Come on, guys, let’s go,” sighed Bumblebee. He and Scattershot transformed. Tails flew into Scattershot’s rear cockpit, and Knuckles and Rouge sat inside Bumblebee. They took off, leaving Ratchet to himself.

The next day for Team Orion…did NOT fare well. They were beset upon by Transformers resurrected by Dark Energon. The one who did such a deed in order to test his new powers was Thunderwing. The day was another rainy one and Team Orion nearly lost their lives. They holed up in an old garage for a small town that was long destroyed. Orion, Jazz, and Blackarachnia were pointing their guns outside at strategic vantage points while Sonic and Amy searched the whole building for any nasty surprises. The rain was pouring down hard and caused Orion’s Spark-rate to spike rapidly. He was getting more scared by the second. “It’s time to end it, don’t you think?!” snapped his own voice. He was alone, so no one else but him could see a spectral version of himself when he was Optimus Prime. Orion pieced together what this apparition was.

“…It’s not time,” replied Orion. “They’re just mindless zombies led by a two-bit terror. We’ll find a way. We always have. I always have.”

“When you had the Matrix!” argued the apparition. “But now, it’s no longer useful to you! There’s no hope!”

“I’ve been doing fine without it.”

“…Well, listen to you! And what are you gonna do when Tower puts two and two together and realizes you aren’t as powerful as you once were?!”

“Tower doesn’t know. Besides, he’s not a guy who shows himself on the battlefield. He’ll throw more zombies at us thinking that one of them will bring me down.”

“Maybe he’s right! You haven’t faced so many before! How much longer can you keep this up?!”

“It always seems bad at first, but then I find a way. They’re just soldiers that were robbed of their rest. There’s no reason to hold back against them.” The specter then revealed its desperation.

“WHO GIVES A RETRO-RAT’S AFT ANYMORE?!” it finally shouted. “There’s no way to beat Unicron! There’s nothing to fight for! There’s no more honor! …Come to think of it, the only honorable thing to do is…!”

“Quiet!” hissed Orion.

“NO! I WON’T SPEND THE REST OF MY DAYS ON A PRIMUS-FORSAKEN ROCK!”

“…What do you want from me?”

“I want it to end!” pleaded the apparition. “Aren’t you tired? Wouldn’t it be great to be free of all of this? Ironhide’s waiting for us. He wants you to join him.”

“Guys!” hissed Blackarachnia over the comms. “There’s a clear path northwest of us! Trouble is, that window’s gonna close soon!”

“Everyone, gather to the northwest,” ordered Orion. “Wait for my signal, then make a break for it.” Orion closed the channel.

“YOU’LL NEVER MAKE IT! THEY’LL GET YOU!” shouted the apparition.

“We’ll make it. I’LL make it!” declared Orion. The specter disappeared as Orion and his team gathered at the northwest. There was a path between the zombie-bots. Orion held a hand up, then swung it down as he transformed. Blackarachnia and Jazz followed suit as Sonic scooped up Amy and followed them when they barreled out of the building. The noise attracted the zombies and they lumbered towards them. They poured on the speed and made it out of the town, then Orion transformed and threw a grenade at the zombie-bots. The explosion took out the whole town.

“SWEET PRIMUS!” yelped Jazz. “DID YOU PACK A LEVEL 5 GRENADE?!”

“I ONLY PACKED A LEVEL 4, I SWEAR!” replied Orion.

“SCRAP! TOWER!” shouted Blackarachnia. They all swerved out of the way as Thunderwing landed. Orion, Jazz, and Blackarachnia then transformed back into robot mode, and everyone got into a combative stance.

“You’ve stooped!” snarled Orion to Thunderwing.

“I did what was necessary to survive!” replied the former MECH leader. He leveled his gun at the group and fired. Everyone scattered and fired back. Thunderwing transformed and took to the air so he could fire missiles. Orion then leapt up in front of the nose cone and, in a fit of primal instincts, sliced through the fuselage with his axe. Thunderwing then came down hard, crashing and skidding into the remains of the town. Orion was catching his breath as he landed near the crash. As he looked at the remains, he saw that the pilot, Abraham Tower, was covered in blood and not moving. The blood looked a little too excessive for a simple bump. He then glanced at his axe…and saw a red liquid on the blade. It took just a few seconds for a horrible theory to form in his mind. His theory was confirmed as the jet faded from blue, toner gray, and orange…to gunmetal gray. He dropped the axe in horror and stared at his hands. Abraham Tower, the former Silas of MECH, the former Commander of G.U.N., and the former Unicron ally called Thunderwing, was dead. Orion Pax had finally taken a life…and he felt sick to his fuel pump. His friends then came up to him.

“Hey! The zombies!” called Sonic. “They all fell down! How did it…?!” He then saw Orion staring at his hands. “…Orion?”

“Orion, are you all right?” asked Amy.

“He isn’t,” replied Blackarachnia as she picked up the axe. She pointed out the blood on it. Sonic and Amy were confused as to why it was significant when Jazz pointed their attention to Thunderwing’s corpse. They looked into the cockpit and saw the dead Tower in there.

“The corpse color clued me in,” remarked Jazz. It then dawned on Sonic and Amy what Orion had done.

“Hey, Orion!” called Sonic. Orion made no attempt at moving. “Orion, he was gonna kill you! It was you or him!”

“Sonic, I don’t think that’s helping!” hissed Amy.

“Orion! Orion!! OPTIMUS!” Jazz’s sudden use of his old name snapped Orion out of his trance with a yelp. “Dude, we gotta get out of here! Unicron’s gonna send someone to investigate, I’m sure!”

“R…Right. Everyone, roll out!” ordered Orion as he got a semblance of command together.

---

Everyone made it to another cave. The rain had stopped, much as Orion wished it would go on so his thoughts could be drowned out. Sonic, Amy, Jazz, and Blackarachnia were outside the cave, keeping watch and making sure nothing fractured Orion’s psyche anymore than it was already. He was curled into a ball and clutching his head. As he rocked back and forth, Pacemaker and Blade Dancer appeared. “Orion, it’s okay,” soothed Blade Dancer.

“…I killed…!” whimpered Orion.

“I’ve seen this before,” sighed Pacemaker. “We WERE used to kill a couple of times in our existence. You’re probably the only one who hated it.”

“Look at you!” hissed a third voice. It looked like the Optimus specter had returned, but the face was not one of desperation. It was one of bloodlust!

“Begone!” hissed Pacemaker as he and Blade Dancer got into a defensive stance. The specter merely waved his hand and approached Orion.

“You’ve survived worse!” snarled the apparition. Orion simply whimpered in reply. The specter continued. “This isn’t about those pathetic zombie-cons! It’s about Tower! …We’ve never killed anyone before, have we? Sure, mountains of Eggman’s robots! This…this was the first living being! A living machine…with a soft center of flesh and blood!” The apparition then turned to the cave entrance. “What happens when Unicron finds out and sends the Terrorcons after you? You will have to kill them too. …Can you? …Will you be able to when the time comes? Maybe THEY will kill YOU…or is that what you WANT?!”

“No!” whispered Orion. The specter grunted before vanishing, leaving Orion to his thoughts.

Another month had passed for Orion’s team. They were resting in a cave. Sonic and Amy slept in Jazz’s backseat as he and Blackarachnia were snoozing vehicle mode. Orion couldn’t sleep. He sat near the cave mouth and looked out at the pouring rain. As he sat, he sighed. He was then bathed in a spectral glow. The glow was welcoming as two figures appeared, a mech and a femme. The femme, the mother’s Spark that resided in his axe, Blade Dancer, rested her hand on his shoulder. Her son, the Spark living as his gun, Pacemaker, looked out the cave as well. “Kind of peaceful somewhat,” he mused.

“Not for me,” mumbled Orion. “It feels…evil. Like all the good that exists on this planet is being washed away.”

“There’s still some good around,” replied Blade Dancer as she cast her optics on the sleeping bots and Hedgehogs. Orion smiled.

“Yeah. …You know, some people think I’m the Last of the Primes that old prophecy spoke of.”

“The problem with that,” remarked Pacemaker, “is that you end up feeling like you don’t have your own identity.”

“Sometimes, things come back. That journey you two kickstarted for me, that’s proof right there.”

“That was a gamble of long odds, though,” answered Blade Dancer. “There’s never a guarantee of that working. But the eventual end, that’s dead certain.”

“…Continue on this journey then?”

“It’s our only hope.”

“…That’s a sad commentary in and of itself.”

“The universe used to be a bigger place,” sighed Pacemaker.

“The universe is still the same. …There’s just less in it.”

---

Unicron’s castle was also in the midst of a storm. Unicron idly looked out the window as his Terrorcons amused themselves in various ways, entertaining a guest. Unicron had a cup of tea in his hand as he observed the lightning flashing in the sky. The sound of footsteps coming up then snapped everyone out of their thoughts and activities. The person, a female badger in a weird outfit made of silver tape on her body, the former senator Josie “Sticks” Beller, appeared. Lately, she had taken to calling herself Circuit Breaker. She pointed at Unicron and snarled. “I won’t be summoned like some mongrel!”

“Apparently, you can,” remarked Unicron. “I believe you know our other guest.” Idly pointing to the other person, Unicron continued looking out the window. The guest was none other than Abraham Tower in his new persona. He was piloting the Cybertronian body as his own, much like Nemesis Prime. He waved and grinned at Circuit Breaker.

“Ah, Commander Tower!” hissed Circuit Breaker. “Auditioning to join my team?”

“Not yours. His.” Tower pointed at Unicron. “And I call myself Thunderwing now. How fared your fight with…erm…Alpha Trion and Vector Prime, I believe they called themselves?” Unicron turned sharply to Thunderwing.

“Why mention those names?”

“…I told you she was delayed by a fight,” replied Thunderwing. “Those were the names of his opponents.” Unicron developed a rather fearful twitch.

“Two of the most powerful…and they slipped beneath my radar!” he mumbled as he dropped his cup.

“Er, could someone tell the former Moebian Autobot Leader,” called Nemesis, “who they are?”

“They’re Primes,” explained Crystal Widow. “Members of the original Thirteen.”

“Primes? Oh, that’s easy. I’ll just brick their connection to the Matrix.”

“No, you cannot,” rumbled Unicron. “That power I gave was made for mortal Primes, not Demigods like them!”

“Demigods?” asked Thunderwing.

“That bauble in Orion and Rodimus’ chest? That’s just a taste of their power. Basically, people like them are the Matrix incarnate.”

“…A deal, then?” Unicron arched his brow as he prepared a new cup of tea.

“…A deal?”

“Alpha Trion and Vector Prime serve us, and, in exchange, we let the two Matrix-bearers fight in the Unicron Games.”

“…Too risky. They’re clever. No. We find another option. …One that involves Rodimus Unicronus.”

---

Standing outside a cave was a blue robot with jet kibble, the last Seeker on Mobius, Thundercracker. His charge, a red robot with compact car kibble, Cliffjumper, was breathing heavily. Thundercracker returned inside and gave Cliffjumper another ration of Energon. “N..no!” groaned Cliffjumper. “You…”

“You need it more than I do,” remarked Thundercracker.

“But…” Cliffjumper’s protestations were interrupted by light flashing into the cave. Thundercracker drew his sword as the two bots generating the light approached the cave. Soon, it was revealed to be the headlights of Bumblebee and Arcee as they and their Mobian companions, Knuckles and Rouge, approached the cave.

“Thundercracker?!” asked Bumblebee. “Oh, thank Primus, it’s great to see a…!”

“NOT ONE STEP CLOSER!” shouted Thundercracker.

“Huh?” asked Bumblebee.

“What’s wrong?” quizzed Arcee.

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?! Especially from Makeshift, you shorties!” Arcee threw a tool at Thundercracker’s head and Bumblebee grabbed him by the wings, lifted him into the air, and spun around.

“SHORTY?! CAN A SHORTY DO THIS?! WHAT ELSE D’YOU WANNA CALL ME?! A HALF-PINT BEANSPROUT MIDGET?! I’M STILL GROWING, YOU OVERSIZED TIN-FOIL TURKEY!” He then released Thundercracker, and the poor Seeker flew into the cave wall. Bumblebee’s rant was then interrupted by Cliffjumper groaning. “Oh, sweet Primus!” Bumblebee took out a phial of refined Light Energon and handed it to Cliffjumper. The younger brother then greedily drank the contents and sighed in relief.

“Thank you,” bid Cliffjumper.

“There was no way fighting Unicron was easy,” sympathized Bumblebee, “especially concerning the mental battle.”

“Cliffjumper told me about your story,” groaned Thundercracker. “You lost your parents and tried to resurrect them only to lose your brother in the process, so you sacrificed your own body to save him.”

“…I wouldn’t exactly call it saving him,” sighed Bumblebee. “He’s just external armor held together by a Dark Spot.”

“And any Energon I take in would only convert to Dark Energon,” continued Cliffjumper. “That’s why I was against you draining your own rations like that.”

“I didn’t have any Light Energon on me,” replied Thundercracker. His optics then rested on Arcee, Knuckles, and Rouge. “How do we know that one of them’s not Makeshift? Heck, how do you know I’M not Makeshift?”

“If you were, then Cliffjumper wouldn’t have been fighting,” replied Arcee. “Besides, no Terrorcon would take in Light Energon, so Cliffjumper’s safe.”

“And the four of us already checked each other out,” supplied Knuckles. “We’re all good.”

“Thank Primus,” sighed Thundercracker. “Guys, the situation’s hopeless. We don’t have a base, any resources, or any means of communication.”

“Not yet, no,” replied Rouge. Cliffjumper and Thundercracker looked at the bat like she had two heads. “We found something that may serve as a resistance base; a certain ship that crashed here when Unicron rose.”

“…The Weak Anthropic Principle?” asked Thundercracker.

“Bingo,” confirmed Arcee. “We’re gathering a resistance group to fight against Unicron. You interested?”

“A resistance group, you say?” chuckled Cliffjumper. “A change in the wind, says I! I’m in!”

“So am I!” affirmed Thundercracker. “I’m sick of skulking around in a cave!”

“Then let’s head out in the morning,” declared Bumblebee. “We need to conserve our energy.” No one argued, they were all dead tired. Cliffjumper was the most agreeable to rest as he had been fighting Unicron’s mental influence for too long.