Optimus arrived at the storage barn with the Allspark in his hand. The vehicles stood before him as Tails, Cosmo, and Scattershot’s holo-form looked on. Optimus then held the cube out and the runes glowed. Cosmo placed a reassuring hand on Tails’ shoulder as he looked slightly guilty. Energy streams then came out of the Allspark and flowed into the vehicles. The process took a minute before the streams died. The instant they did, the runes on the cube stopped glowing, then the Allspark crumbled in Optimus’ hands. “…That’s it,” sighed the Autobot leader.
“Optimus, I’m…” Optimus raised a hand to stop Tails’ apology.
“It’s what the Allspark wanted,” he answered. “No one blames you.” Just then figures shimmered into view, right next to the vehicles. They were Mobians of various species. A bull stood next to the motorcycle, a rather giant motorcycle at that, a mole was next to the drill tank, a pheasant was underneath the jet, and a hare was next to the car. The four were all male and the Pheasant and Hare looked around in wonder. The Pheasant’s wonder was a more terrified version of it while the Hare’s was more starry-eyed.
“I…I’m alive?!” gulped the Pheasant.
“So am I!” gasped the Hare.
“…Why do I feel like I’m the vehicle?!” yelped the Pheasant. “Why does it feel like I’m this thing yet the vehicle?!”
“It’s a hard-light generation coming from the vehicle, duh!” grunted the Bull.
“WHO ARE YOU?!” squawked the Pheasant.
“Good GOD, you’re a nervous wreck!” shouted the Bull.
“By my calculations,” mused the Mole, “it looks like there is some form of energy inside the vehicles that serves as a form of power, thus projecting what we’re able to manipulate. However, it seems as though there’s an ability within me that I have yet to tap and…”
“It’s called Transformation,” answered Scattershot as he came forward.
“Okay, this whole thing is doing NOTHING to cool me down!” snarled the Bull. “Who are you?!”
“I’m Scattershot Prower, and you four are my brothers.”
“…We don’t even look alike!” argued the Bull.
“Our holo-forms, no. Our creator, on the other hand, that’s a totally different story.”
“Creator?” asked the Mole.
“That’s him, up there.” Scattershot pointed to Tails. Tails then flew down and landed in front of the new bots.
“I’m Miles Prower, but I’m usually called Tails.”
“…I wonder why?” muttered the Bull.
“M…Maybe it’s the tails?” asked the Pheasant.
“IT’S CALLED SARCASM, YOU IDIOT!”
“Okay, I see we’ve got someone with a bit of a temper here,” muttered Tails. “Look, why don’t you tell me your names?”
“What names?!” asked the Bull. “All I can think about is one word in my head being repeated over and over!”
“It’s probably your name,” replied Scattershot. “That’s how I got mine.”
“…So, what, my name’s supposed to be Afterburner? I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s a good, tough-sounding name, but…hang on, it’s stopped.”
“What’s stopped?” asked the Hare.
“The word. It’s stopped repeating itself in my head! …Huh, I guess my name IS Afterburner.”
“D…Does that mean my name is…Strafe?” asked the Pheasant. He then noticed an absence of something. “…It does! I’m Strafe!”
“Then that means my name’s Lightspeed!” cheered the Hare.
“Given all empirical evidence,” mused the Mole, “I deduce that my name is Nosecone.”
“‘Nosecone’?!” laughed Afterburner. “What a dorky name!”
“I suppose YOUR name is cooler?” asked Nosecone.
“Hey, Afterburner is the COOLEST name!”
“Okay!” called Scattershot, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Now that we’ve got names, it’s time to talk about another ability.”
“You mentioned transformation earlier,” recalled Nosecone.
“Transformation?!” gulped Strafe. “Wh…what’s that mean?”
“It means we can change, obviously!” grunted Afterburner. “…but how?”
“Allow me to demonstrate,” offered Scattershot. He then moved towards his alt-mode. “You see this jet?” he asked.
“What about it? Is that you?” asked Afterburner.
“Exactly. Now, I’m going to say a phrase, and then the fox you see before you will disappear while the jet will stand up.”
“Stand up?!”
“Watch. SCATTERSHOT, TRANSFORM!” The holo-form vanished and Scattershot went to robot mode. His new brothers stepped back in surprise.
“THAT’S WHAT WE REALLY ARE?!” yelped Lightspeed in admiration.
“Bingo!” answered Scattershot.
“Hold on, you’re telling us,” Afterburner summed up, “that all I would need to do is say ‘AFTERBURNER, TRANSFORM!’, then…” Afterburner’s holo-form vanished, then the motorcycle started changing. The rear of the giant motorcycle split apart and rotated 180º and feet flipped down as arms sprouted from the sides while the canopy tucked itself to the back and revealed a head with a blue visor over the optics. “HOLY CRAP!” yelped Afterburner as the now orange, red, and black robot looked himself over.
“There we go! New armor, new abilities, new opportunities!” cheered Scattershot.
“Oh, I’ve gotta try this!” breathed Lightspeed. “LIGHTSPEED, TRANSFORM!” Once the Hare vanished, the front of the car tucked itself to the back as the sides split away to reveal hands. The rear then split and extended on legs while popping out feet. The head had a visor over the optics like Afterburner. Lightspeed marveled at his new form.
“NOSECONE, TRANSFORM!” The Mole disappeared and the front of the drill tank split in half and folded while the drill folded to the top. The assembly then rotated 180º and the sides of the rear unfolded into arms with hands. The head had unobscured blue optics. “Very interesting,” mused Nosecone as he examined his feet.
“S-STRAFE, T-T-TRANSFORM!” The Pheasant faded and the rear of the jet split. The thrusters folded up as the rear parts extended on legs while the sides of the jet split away to become arms. The fuselage of the jet then tucked itself onto the back while the wings folded into the robot. Like Nosecone, Strafe’s head had a pair of blue optics. He acted a lot calmer now. “…Huh, I guess being in vehicle mode made me feel claustrophobic,” he muttered. Afterburner then turned to Tails.
“And you made us?” he asked.
“Well, I made your vehicle modes, yes,” replied the fox, “but I don’t know how to make robots with your level of brain activity. That’s thanks to something called the Allspark.”
“What’s that?”
“It was a life-giving cube from my planet,” explained Optimus as he stepped forward.
“Everyone, I want you to meet Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots!” introduced Scattershot. He then turned to Cosmo. “And this is Ambassador Cosmo of the planet Greengate.”
“Pleased to meet you,” greeted Cosmo.
“Fascinating!” breathed Nosecone. “A chlorophyl-based life-form!”
“A talking flower?” asked Afterburner. Tails flinched at that. Afterburner then turned to Optimus. “So, what’s this Allspark cube look like?”
“Well, here’s its remains,” replied the Prime. He showed them the pile of Allspark fragments. “You four are the last Allspark-born Transformers. One of our enemies, Dr. Eggman, abused it and ruined it forever.”
“So why bring us into the world?” asked Nosecone.
“Because we need help and Scattershot’s been asking for more siblings,” answered Tails.
“So, we’re his brothers and your kids?” asked Lightspeed.
“That’s…the basic idea.”
“…You know, I can get behind that, Pops,” mused Afterburner.
“Welcome to the world, boys!” cheered Tails. “Now, we need to bring you up to speed.”
Over on the Moon Base, a resurrection ritual was prepared. It was much like Merlin’s but somewhat different. There was a female hedgehog inside a tube of green liquid that rested in a magic circle. She had yellow fur and hair and wore a breathing mask over her mouth. Morgane and Eggman then entered the room. “So, that is the body prepared for her?” asked Morgane.
“Based off of Shadow’s schematics but altered a bit to give the appearance you see now,” answered Eggman. “So, can you do it?”
“Tricky, but I can, and I will!” Morgane then raised her arms and began the spell. The strain was visible, but she refused to back down. To Eggman, it looked like she was having a tough time of coaxing the magic to do what she wanted. The circle glowed brighter, as did the tube. After a minute, the tube exploded, knocking the two backwards. Once he recovered, Eggman crawled towards Morgane to check on her.
“Are you…?!” he asked.
“I’m fine,” grunted Morgane. “However, there WAS a complication to the ritual.”
“Complication?”
“I couldn’t restore all of her memories. She knows her first name, how to speak, and that she was resurrected, but she can’t remember her family name or who she was once friends with.”
“…Not exactly an issue. Are you sure…?”
“My strength returns, I assure you.” Morgane didn’t wave Eggman away, though, as she picked herself up. The two wicked people then strode towards the hedgehog woman as she picked herself up.
“Can you hear me?” asked Eggman. The hedgehog then looked at Eggman with blue eyes.
“Wh…who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Dr. Eggman,” replied the scientist. “The woman here is Morgane Le Fay.”
“I…I was…dead…I think?”
“You were,” answered Morgane, “but my magic brought you back. It wasn’t your time when you died. Though, given the length it’s been since your death, it was a challenging process.”
“Th…thank you, Morgane.”
“No thanks are needed. I brought you back because you have a magnificent destiny ahead of you.”
“A…a magnificent destiny?”
“That’s right, my dear,” answered Eggman. “You will lead our world to a glorious future.”
“…Then let’s do it!” Eggman helped the hedgehog woman up.
“Now, do you remember anything?”
“…Only my first name.”
“And that is…?”
“Maria.”