There was a long period of waiting for the new troops to arrive, so Optimus took this time to become better acquainted with Silver and Chip. Sonic was eager to show Chip off. “He helped me out a lot when the planet was split apart,” he explained to the young Prime.
“Well, now I’m REALLY eager to meet him!” replied Optimus. They soon met Chip in the Server Room.
“Hey, Chip!” called Sonic.
“Good to see you again, Sonic!” returned Chip. The little creature then flew around Optimus. “Wow! The Autobots are huge! Look at those hands! And those feet! What’s your name?”
“I’m Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. I understand you’re a herald of sorts?”
“As Light Gaia, that IS what I do,” answered Chip. “I’m the messenger of light, hope, and rebirth, made to oppose Dark Gaia, Unicron, in your language.”
“What’s your connection to him anyway?” asked Sonic.
“Long ago, my creator, Gaia, encountered Unicron when he was drifting through space. They fought and Gaia was almost beaten until she gathered rocks and minerals from space and created the planet to keep Unicron imprisoned. She created me to be his jailor. Every millions of years, Unicron would try to escape, and I would keep him tethered to the planet using the Seven Lights of the Earth, the Chaos Emeralds. This has always been the way…until his servants arrived.”
“The Terrorcons,” remarked Optimus.
“Exactly. Unicron has a plan to transfer his essence into another body, but he needs his servants to gather an enormous amount of power to give him the energy needed to jump into the game after the transfer.”
“The Chaos Emeralds and the Allspark,” guessed Sonic.
“Actually, it was a case of either/or. The Allspark is the most powerful choice.”
“So the Chaos Emeralds were a backup?” asked Optimus.
“They were, now he has to rely on a large amount of Dark Energon.”
“Where’s he gonna find that?”
“Could someone explain Dark Energon to me?” asked Sonic. “I’ve only heard it mentioned by you guys. Is it that purple crystal Cliffjumper sometimes makes?”
“It is,” confirmed Optimus. “It’s a powerful substance that can corrupt living beings with its use.”
“So, not a good idea for a super-fuel,” remarked Sonic.
“Not even the Decepticons want to use it. The only one permitted to even be near it is the Decepticon Lord. They always carry a badge of it on their person as a counter to the Energon crystal within the Matrix.”
“It’s also known as Unicron’s blood,” supplied Chip. Sonic’s eyes went wide.
“But if Unicron’s at the center of…wait, if it’s his blood, why hasn’t it spread all over the planet?”
“Because I’ve been tempering the spread,” answered Chip. “But, I can’t get it all whenever he wakes up. There’s always some that I’ve missed.”
“And over millions of years, it will grow,” realized Optimus. “Unicron may have enough already.”
“And he needs bodies to make his own,” continued Chip. “Seven Normals and six Specials, so he’s been boasting. I hate to say it, but he’s gotten the seven Normals during the battles that ended your first war. Plucked them straight from the Auto-troopers.”
“So where do the six Specials come into play?” asked Optimus.
“Straxus found them among the Decepticons and told them that Megatron asked for them.”
“Oh no!” gulped Sonic.
“Now we REALLY need to discuss terms of a truce with the Cons!” declared Optimus. “Who knows what deeds they’re plotting!”
Over on the Decepticon Moon Base, Megatron and Metal Sonic followed Eggman into the bowels of the moon. “Doctor, what could be so important that you needed to interrupt my strategy meeting with Galvatron?” asked Megatron.
“And I have duties to perform as well,” remarked Metal Sonic.
“Look,” replied Eggman, “it’s clear that the Autobots have a slight advantage over us when it comes to starships. They’ve got the Ark, the Blue Typhoon, and the Fang as well as an orbital station with enough power to devastate the planet if some lunatic decides to do so. We’ve got a moon base with no means of turning its weapons onto the Space Colony ARK and we only have Scarship and the Nemesis.”
“So, what do you intend to do about it?” asked Megatron. Eggman grinned, then they arrived at a door. Eggman keyed in a code on a number pad and the door opened to reveal a hangar.
“Behold, my pet project!” he cackled. The hangar held three ships! One was purple and had massive drills on the nose cone and wings, the second looked like a starship from Star Trek, and the third evoked an Athenian Trireme. Megatron and Metal Sonic stared in amazement.
“…Okay, this IS worth my time!” said Megatron.
“And that’s not all!” continued Eggman. “They can combine to form a more massive ship! You guys wanna see the bridges?” Megatron and Metal Sonic nodded furiously. “I thought so!” The three were then caught up in a teleporter beam and appeared inside the bridge of the drill-ship. “This baby is a Fortress-class ship, designed to go into planets and come up from under cities and capable of Warp 11!” They then appeared in the Egg-sterprise bridge. “Here is the Federation-class starship, designed for speed and quick attacks with a maximum of Warp 13!” They then arrived on the bridge of the giant space trireme. “And this is my Carrier-class ship, modeled after my old Egg Carrier. This baby’s got weapons out the wazoo and has a maximum speed of Warp 12! Now, each ship is designed with a specific Captain in mind. Megatron, I know how much you love explosions and weapons, so I’m giving the Carrier-class ship to you. Metal Sonic, like your copy, you have a need for speed, so I’m letting you command the Federation-class ship. That leaves me with the Fortress-class ship as I prefer to make a slight show of things.”
“Slight?” asked Megatron. He then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter! With the Blood-bringer, the Hellfire, and the Sonic Boom, we’ll have an advantage over the Autobots once we take care of Unicron!”
“…The what?” asked Metal Sonic.
“That’s what we’re naming the ships,” explained Megatron.
“Just a minute!” protested Eggman. “Hold your horses, you shape-changing shyster! Who gave you the authority to name MY ships?! I designed them! I’ll do the naming!”
“Hold on, you already have names for the ships?”
“Of course! The Carrier-class is the Megatron II, the Federation-class is the Metal Sonic II, and the Fortress-class is the XL Super Ultra Eggman Deluxe Xtreme!”
“NO! NO! NO!” shouted Metal Sonic.
“Metal Sonic speaks for me!” snarled Megatron as he got up in Eggman’s face. “Why should we have dull names while you have words like Super, Ultra, Deluxe, and Extreme?! Did you even spell ‘Extreme’ in the correct manner?!”
“What’s the idea?!” continued Metal Sonic. “If the ships are meant for us, then we should name them ourselves!”
“Well, excuuuuuuse me, Princess!” snapped Eggman. “I thought I was doing you a favor by naming them for you!”
“Perhaps you should have ASKED us during the design phase!” growled Megatron.
“All right! ALL RIGHT! Don’t get snippy! I’ve got some second and third choices here! What about Slifer, Ra, Obelisk?”
“I don’t even play poker, much less a convoluted children’s card game.”
“Rock, paper, scissors?”
“Are you serious?!” asked Metal Sonic.
“Erm, Eeny, Meeny, Miny! X, Y, Z? How does Egg, Egger, and Eggiest grab ya? That could work!” As Eggman spouted asinine names, Megatron ran his hand down his face and Metal Sonic banged his head against the wall.