A pink Hedgehog girl in a ballerina’s outfit pirouetted by herself in her magic teacher’s dance studio. She spun and spun and spun until she let her raised foot fall rather clumsily. She stumbled a bit as she tried to clear her dizziness. Once she could think and see clearly, she moved to a bench and panted before cracking open a bottle of water. She polished off half before she talked to herself. “Okay, Amy, let’s remember how many pirouettes are in that routine. Don’t go above the limit.” The hedgehog, Amy Rose, then finished off her water and took a deep breath. “All right, take a 10-minute break then it’s back to practice.” As Any rested, a blue-haired woman wearing a maid dress appeared in the mirror on her right. It wasn’t a reflection as the woman was nowhere in the room.
“Ms. Rose,” began the maid, Natalie Mayworth, “Megatron is at the drive and is demanding to speak with you, asking for you by name.”
“What?! Megatron?!” asked Amy. “Well, could you tell him I’m a little busy?”
“Adding your dance moves to your magic-casting movements?” asked a raspy male voice. Amy yelped and fell off the bench, her bum hitting the floor hard. As she massaged her rear, Natalie came out of the mirror and drew a feather duster out like a sword before leveling it at the intruder, a male Hedgehog with red eyes, a suit, and a large cannon on his right arm.
“Megatron?!” asked Amy as she remained on the floor. “What are you doing here?!”
“Seeking a sparring partner,” explained the Decepticon Lord. “You’re strong enough, so fight me.”
“No! What?! Why?! NO!”
“It’s been over 6 months since Optimus and I were tricked into…”
“Convinced to.”
“TRICKED INTO allying with each other and I haven’t had a decent chance to test my might! So, swap out the silk tutu for your usual dress, whip out your hammer, and fight me like your life depends on it!”
“…Tulle,” said Natalie.
“…What?”
“Amy’s tutu. It’s made of tulle.”
“…Isn’t tulle made of silk?”
“A specific, stiff kind of silk,” answered Amy. “Getting back to the original topic, I’m not fighting you.”
“Like the Pit you’re not! You have enough power in your bangs alone to scorch Mobius three times over and you’re letting it go to waste!”
“Megatron, Natalie’s wife, the owner of this mansion, is in the room above us and she JUST settled down for a nap!”
“If you’re REALLY looking for a fight,” supplied Natalie as she caught on to Amy’s plan, “keep it up and SHE’LL give you one!” Megatron glanced upwards and considered his next move. He was looking for a sparring partner, not an angry witch.
“…This isn’t over, Ms. Rose,” he warned as his holo-form vanished.
“Ostendeo,” chanted Natalie as she pointed her duster at a mirror. It then showed a gunmetal gray tank leaving Mayworth Manor.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” muttered Amy.
A few days later, Amy and her teacher, Sira Mayworth, had just left the mall. “I’m telling you; I look horrible in pants!” urged Sira.
“You also said you never tried them,” replied Amy. “So, just try them out and see if…” Amy stopped as something flashed through her head.
“I sense it too!” Sira and Amy stepped back as an energy blast scorched the pavement in front of them. They looked up to see…
“Megatron?!” yelped Amy. It was his holo-form again and his cannon was smoking.
“Shall we?” asked Megatron.
“I’m running errands!” snarled Amy.
“You’re running your mouth, you mean. How about you run your hands?”
“My hands are busy holding shopping bags!”
“And you’re busy making up excuses! FIGHT ME!”
“Mr. Megatron, we left something behind in the mall,” interrupted Sira, annoyed at the Decepticon. “It’s a little pink bag with Amy’s name and it’s most likely in the food court.”
“I thought something felt off,” mused Amy. “If you run to the food court and get it, IN YOUR HOLO-FORM and without causing a panic, I’ll fight you.”
“Very well!” Megatron dashed into the mall as Amy and Sira looked around. They then joined hands and started chanting.
“Locus. Locus. Locus.”
“WAIT! WHICH FOOD COURT?! THERE’S LIKE TWENTY…!” Megatron got his answer as they vanished. “…Clever girls!”
A week later, Amy was at a telescope looking out of a large cave. Her eye was at an eyepiece for someone her size. “Wow!” she breathed. “Nebulan telescopes are so cool! Thanks for letting me use it, Trema!”
“Tis a pleasure,” returned a giant, green woman as she looked through a larger eyepiece. “You should be honored, my witch-sister. Comet Tanakotha was once believed to only pass by Nebulos. To see the Light of the Gods itself is a rather…wait, what’s that light coming from below?” A stream of purple light flew past the comet. “Wha…!? Was someone trying to shoot our…?!”
“Take a glance downward,” sighed Amy. “I found the culprit.” Trema moved the telescope down to see Megatron’s holo-form climbing out of his vehicle mode’s cockpit. He then held up a sign saying, “FIGHT ME!”
“…Should I…?” asked Trema.
“I got this. Resonus.” Amy cupped her hands in a circle and shouted through it. “NO!” came the loud reply. Trema looked through the telescope and giggled at seeing Megatron’s angry expression.
Another week had passed, and Amy had a dream fulfilled. The Hedgehog she idolized, the famous Blue Blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog…had asked her out on a date! They were in a small outdoor café, having started on dessert, a couple’s sundae. Amy felt like she was on Cloud Nine. “Oh, Sonic!” she sighed. “You can’t possibly imagine how long I’ve waited for this moment.”
“I will admit, I was a little nervous about this,” replied Sonic. “I didn’t know if we should go all out at first.”
“No, starting small like this is per…” Amy’s assurance was interrupted by everyone on street running and screaming in terror.
“RUN! IT’S MEGATRON!” wailed a female Cat. Amy face-palmed in annoyance.
“Don’t worry, Amy!” assured Sonic. “I’ll knock ol’ Bucket Head into next week!”
“Let me handle this,” replied Amy. She stomped out into the street to see Megatron approach her in vehicle mode.
“A nice, clean arena, wouldn’t you say?” asked Megatron.
“WHAT! IS! YOUR! DAMAGE!” shouted Amy. Megatron transformed, then knelt down so he could better talk to her.
“I HAVEN’T TAKEN ANY DAMAGE! THAT’S THE ISSUE HERE!”
“Given that you’re proving what insanity is, I beg to differ! There’s GOT to be someone else you can fight!”
“I TRIED!”
Megatron’s first attempt was his younger brother, Optimus. They were in the Autobots’ new dojo and Optimus was performing a kata. “No,” said Optimus.
“Oh, come on! Why not? We did it before Unicron came into the picture!”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“What, you have something better to do?”
“Nope.” Optimus continued his kata.
“…FRACK YOU! FIGHT ME!” Optimus groaned at Megatron’s childishness. He then got an idea. He punched a pot off the little altar, and it fell, breaking into many pieces. “Wha…? Why did you…?”
“MEGATRON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” wailed Optimus.
“WHO JUST BROKE MY BELOVED STORMFRONT’S SECOND RULE OF TIDINESS?!” shouted Optimus’ sensei, Yoketron. Megatron did NOT want to attempt to explain himself to a Cyber-ninja.
“I will remember this when we beat Unicron!” he promised.
“Please do,” invited Optimus as Megatron dashed out of the dojo and Optimus got some glue.
Megatron’s next try was at G.U.N. A white-furred bat, Rouge, chuckled as she saw Megatron’s holo-form. “Well, Megatron, honey,” she purred, “I’m honored you thought of me. You know, if you impress me, maybe you and I could…”
“Not you, you wannabe peacock!” replied Megatron. “The edgie hedgie working on the bike!” Said ‘edgie hedgie’ was Shadow. He paused his labors and gave Megatron his full attention.
“Hello, Megatron,” he greeted. “How’s the Empire?”
“Fine. How’s your chest?”
“Just fine, thank you.”
“Shadow, we never actually fought, have we?”
“Not personally, no.”
“Then I say you owe me some combat.”
“I owe a lot of people a lot of things. Most of them money, one an organ, one a whale.”
“Yeah, Topaz’ still asking about that,” interjected Rouge.
“But I owe a monster like you NOTHING! You beat your troops for even the tiniest failures, take credit for THEIR victories, and when you’re not doing that, you’re picking fights with everyone because of your screaming ego! You remind me a lot of Black Doom, but at least he had the courtesy to stay dead. So, take your massive inferiority complex the hell out of here and maybe I’ll fight you when you stop acting as childish as Optimus!” Megatron stammered at the insult.
“Oh, and about that wannabe peacock thing,” the end of Rouge’s sentence was punctuated by a swift kick…down below. …Yes, Megatron’s holo-form could feel that. He stumbled out of G.U.N. as quick as he could.
Amy managed to keep her laughter to herself about the results of Megatron’s second attempt. “After that, I tried Eggman,” he continued, “but he and the Combaticons are on an ‘intensive training retreat’, probably at some poolside cabana. So all that’s left was…you.”
“Well, what about the Chaot…?”
“Soundwave knows where you live!”
“WHOA! Okay! Geez! …Geez, I’m…I-I’m sorry.” Megatron grinned. He had… “But I’m still not fighting you.” Never mind, he didn’t have her.
“OH, COME O…SERIOUSLY?!”
“I don’t like fighting, Megatron! I only did it because I was in a do-or-die situation of YOUR creation. Frankly, at this point, I’d be fighting you out of PITY!” That comment…cut into his Spark real deep. “Is that really what the Lord of the Decepticons wants? A pity fight?” Megatron said nothing. He just transformed and left via a bridge portal. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Megatron was right about the cabana. It was at Egg Beach, Eggman’s private beach. He and his creations, the Combaticons, were relaxing…to a point. “Come on, my sons,” called Eggman as he looked over his shades. “This is not fidgeting time.”
“Doctor,” called Onslaught, “I can’t relax. What if, while we’re lying on the beach, someone else out there is training and getting stronger than us? How do we know?”
“The truth, Onslaught,” replied Eggman in an uncharacteristically fatherly tone, “is that we can’t know. But, I think you’ll find that everyone, even the strongest warriors, need their shuteye. Besides, it’s an effective method of bodily detox. In us fleshy-types, our blood flow decreases and is replaced with cerebrospinal fluids that flush out any waste around the brain, allowing the neurons to continually fire fast. There’s a similar effect to Transformers while you recharge. Sleep actually helps you think more critically, so there’s nothing wrong with taking it easy, despite Megatron’s insistence.” Onslaught was still a little uneasy but decided to try and snooze. Brawl just couldn’t relax.
“This ain’t me!” he groaned. “I’m taking a walk.”
“Okay, be safe,” called Eggman. Brawl went into the jungle and looked around. Somehow, looking at nature just wasn’t calming him down. He had quite a bit on his mind.
“Stupid Megatron! Stupid Unicron! Stupid Autobots! Why can’t people just bow to their kings like good little sheep?!” He was so focused on ranting that he didn’t see where he was going. He tripped and fell flat on his face. “ERGH! STUPID NATURE!” He pointed his gun at the object, thinking it was an offending root, only it was way too shiny to be one. Brawl’s optics flickered as he examined it closely. It was definitely made of metal. He pulled it out to see that it was a sphere with four triangles surrounding it. “…This can’t be Cybertronian, can it?” muttered Brawl. He then noticed that one of the triangles was glowing in his armor’s color. “…Right, that settles it! My whole family needs to know about this!” He took off, carrying the object with him.