Optimus and Arsha were the first to beam down. The instant she saw them, Megumi dashed towards them with a big, fat grin on her face. Optimus transformed and activated his holo-mode in time for her to tackled him and Arsha into a hug. “I’ve missed you guys so much!” she cheered.
“We missed you too!” replied Arsha.
“It’s been way too long,” remarked Optimus. They stayed in their embrace for a bit. After a while, they broke it off
“How did you guys figure out we were in trouble?” asked Megumi as the trio got up.
“Entirely by accident, actually,” replied Arsha. “Optimus and his friends and family visited…or rather, crashed into my castle in Largandra.”
“I was feeling nostalgic,” explained Optimus, “and Shockwave and Tails had the tech needed to make our own gateway.”
“…Shockwave AND Tails?” asked Megumi. “Why did you need Shockwave in the first place?”
“Well, she had the data and Tails had the equipment, so we combined the two.”
“Why was she considered at all?”
“…Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you yet, just Arsha. Well, the war’s over.”
“I see.” There was a small silence as Megumi processed what Optimus said. When she did, her eyes widened in shock. “Hold on? The war?! Your war with Megatron?! As in…properly over?! But that’s-!”
“I know.”
“W-When?! How?!”
“It was 50 years ago in our universe. We just fought against our god and destroyer and freed their gods. By then, all thoughts of civil war were gone.”
“B-But the Autobots and Decepticons have always been at war! That’s like saying there’s no more blue or the weather’s stopped! …Who won?” Optimus took in a breath before he explained.
“Officially, both factions got sick of fighting one another over a long-forgotten reason. Unofficially, the Autobots won after I beat Megatron in single combat.”
“…I…I see.”
“It’s better if you get the full story,” said Arsha. “Why don’t we have everyone brought down and we can explain.”
While Megumi reconnected with Optimus and Arsha, Sonavok and Ziddet were aboard the Imperium, outside Khan’s throne room. They were panicking beyond belief. The Beyond City Mission wasn’t supposed to end in failure. One of the throne room guards looked like he was about to squee in fanboyish glee. “Hey, I know this is a little awkward,” he said, “but…can I have your autograph?”
“Not! The time!” hissed Ziddet. The two terrified Lords then drew in a breath and projected confidence. They entered the throne room.
“Greetings, Friend Au…oh,” Sonavok’s confidence died when he saw the lighting was red instead of Borg green. “…Going for a new aesthetic, huh?” he gulped. Ziddet was starting to perspire in fear. In the flashes of light, she could see Khan sitting on the throne with the open Tome on one of the armrests, just under his forearm.
“I…er…” she then cleared her throat. “My Author, despite this-”
“So, Sonavok, Ziddet,” interrupted Khan, “you know Drake, yes?” He indicated the guard that let them in.
“…Y-Yes, the whole Collective knows him,” gulped Sonavok.
“He’s a real big fan of yours, he never misses your mission reports.”
“I-Is that a f-fact?” stammered Ziddet.
“He was just telling me about what happened this afternoon. The reason we lost Beyond City so quickly. You two didn’t notice a Zephyr woman, a Chizaran Princess, and a version of Knuckles the Echidna strike at the ground vinculum outside the school, thus letting them upload a virus to the Collective that tricked our forces into thinking it was time to regenerate, then the power net of each ship built up in a feedback loop, thus…well…boom.”
“My Author, we can explain!” urged Sonavok. Khan then looked at the passage he wrote in the Tome and read it aloud.
“‘The instant Khan shouted ‘enough’, Sonavok and Ziddet’s Agonizers switched on and introduced them to mirror-universe pain for a good minute.’” He then shut the Tome.
“My Author, WAIT!” cried Ziddet.
“ENOUGH!” shouted Khan as he stood up. The instant Khan shouted “enough”, Sonavok and Ziddet’s Agonizers switched on and introduced them to mirror-universe pain for a good minute. Once the treatment ended, Khan grabbed them by their throats and hoisted them up above his head. “You idiots had that universe in the palm of your hand and you let Megumi’s friends RESCUE THEM!” He tightened his grip. “I cannot BEGIN to express my disappointment in you!”
“M-Mercy!” choked Sonavok. “N-Nother…chance!” Khan tossed the two Lords into a web he had created earlier. Mechanical spiders held them down as they caught their breath.
“You two will be reassigned as transport drones and you will NOT be consulted for finding the Sources of Flourishment!” declared Khan.
“But if we’re not helping,” protested Ziddet, “then who?!”
“Take a wild guess,” said a new voice. Five figures could be seen in the light flashes.
Optimus and Megumi finished the story of what happened in their respective universes and Arsha was talking about the Final War to everyone. Richard locked eyes with Megatron and nodded his head in one direction. Megatron followed him. They found a private spot and sat to talk. “So,” began Richard, “you changed.”
“I’d like to think so,” rumbled Megatron.
“Both you and Arsha committed Deicide.”
“Looks that way.”
“…Megatron, you gotta understand-”
“Here we go!”
“What Optimus said you did, the fact that you got the Decepticons to put aside their differences in the long run, the way you used Starscream’s ambitions to Cybertron’s ends instead of his, the fact that you willingly fused with Optimus to become Optronix Prime to save your universe, and the mission you took to save Gaia’s moms and your universe’s creators, that can’t be overlooked. Your actions saved your people, your universe. But, before that, you used my wife as a bargaining chip, you sided with our greatest enemy, and you encouraged discord among your allies. That’s not something that can be overlooked.”
“You want me to apologize for my actions. We both know it’s a little late for that. I was conducting a war and Hiro offered Dr. Borg and I a chance to wipe out our enemies. I believed it to be in the Decepticons’ interests if we allied with him and eventually took over. Look, my son is leading the Decepticons, and I’ve retired from that life. I’ve served my sentence for my war crimes and I don’t seek further animosity between us. What I want is to see the multiverse on my terms.”
“…Okay.”
“…Okay what?”
“We’ll work together to weather this crisis.”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?!”
“Because, originally, I pulled you here to tell you to slag off back to your universe!” Megatron arched an eyebrow at that. “Just know this, I’m giving you a chance because it looks like no one else outside your universe will. So, if you let us down, if you fall back on the ways that symbol on your chest stood for, you could save the multiverse a hundred times over and it won’t make a difference to me. Basically, screw up and I demolish you.” Megatron stared at Richard for a bit, then guffawed.
“Still the same Richard Saunders, even after he lost his job! I admire that! …Very well, it looks like we have our terms.”
“All right, let’s get back to the others.” The two then returned as Arsha was finishing up.
“…so, after all that, my spouses and I raised 18 beautiful children, three of them choosing to come along.” Her attention was then grabbed by Richard and Megatron returning. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Fine,” said Richard. “What’s the next move here?”
“We were hoping Anansi would tell us,” replied Megumi, “but he’s not here.”
“Try again,” called a voice. Everyone looked up to see Anansi on the ceiling. As they gasped, he dropped to the floor. “So, want to know what Khan is? What he wants? Well, I will tell you. Years ago, I worked with a version of Khan, an evil duplicate who conquered his version of Earth. He then crossed the rift and found Khan when he was just a fanboy writing fanfic. After I gave him the Weaver Driver, I trained him as my student, but then I told him about the Tome. He took control of the Borg guarding it and made them into his servants, the Lords. He went against his own parents and discovered he could remove evil and become the god of a new multiverse. To do that, though, he needs the Time Amethyst, the Mirror of Reality, and the Master Wand to make a clock symbol to place on the Tome to help him rewrite history. After that, he needs the Sources of Flourishment and the Apocalypse to help him determine how each element will work for his new universes.”
“The only Sources I know are the Sources of the Apocalypse, those crystal spheres the Horsemen of the Apocalypse hid in different universes,” remarked Megumi. “What are the Sources of Flourishment?”
“That, I can answer,” whispered Death. “The Sources of Flourishment belong to our opposite Horsemen; they are Life, Health, Bounty, Peace, and Order. They are our sisters and exist as balances for us. They used to live with us, but Lacey’s predecessor, the original Chaos, was thrown into the Void by Lord Vortech. Because of that, we needed a new Horseman of Chaos. After the original Chaos died, the Horsemen of Flourishment left in grief, with Order taking it the hardest.”
“They could be anywhere,” muttered Megatron.
“No, actually, we have their dimensional coordinates,” replied Death. “Life is in 8-3-N-1-0, Bounty is in T-H-0-M-4-5-4-N-D-F-R-1-3-N-D-5, Health is in J-4-K-4-N-D-D-4-X-T-3-R, Peace is in 4-D-R-3-X-1-4, and Order is in T-M-N-T.”
“All right, then there’s one thing we need to do!” declared Megumi. “We can’t afford to send everyone to the same universe, so we’ll divide into teams! Everyone, meet on Vorton for Team Assignments.”
“And we better train for Transcendant use,” Optimus suggested to Arsha.
“That’s right,” agreed Arsha. “We’re gonna need Kamen Rider Vortex: Trinity Soul for this one.” Megumi winced.
“About that…” she said. She then pulled out an oblong device with the Vortex Driver’s Ride Wheel on each side. Ordinarily, it would open to fit with the main Ride Wheel, but there was a problem. It was cracked, charred, and bent!
“What happened?!” yelped Optimus.
“It was during a mission in Gotham,” explained Megumi. “The Justice League had discovered that someone from the Joker’s old gang gained access to Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus Pit and dumped the Joker’s body in there. Somehow, it hadn’t decayed all that much and the Joker came back to life, stronger and crazier than ever.” Arsha shuddered.
“I remember that demon clown!” she gulped. “Him and that Smylex of his!”
“Since the Joker died before the Transcendant was built, I figured I’d catch him off guard. The thing is it only worked because of your three. When I tried to use it by myself, it sparked wildly and flew off my Vortex Driver in the state you see it now. We still beat him back with the Justice League’s help. My team has been trying to fix it, but they’re hitting a wall here.”
“We’ve got our own scientists,” offered Optimus. “They can help.”
“And maybe some magic can help things along,” suggested Arsha.
“Thanks, you two. Right now, we’d be sunk without you.” Megumi hugged them again, then turned to address everyone. “All right, everyone, report to Vorton tomorrow for team assignments. There’s an old method we need to use.”
“…Old method?” asked Megatron.