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!