“I told you lot to stay at the base!” Optimus snapped at Scattershot.
“Given Victorion’s chances, I can’t stand idly by!” argued Scattershot. He turned to his brothers. “Guys, you ready?!”
“Let’s do it!” called Afterburner. Scattershot brought out the Enigma of Combination, the five parts glowed in their respective colors, and they all put their fingers to it. Scattershot touched the middle, Afterburner touched the upper right, Strafe touched the upper left, Nosecone touched the lower left, and Lightspeed touched the lower right. A glow enveloped them, and they all changed. Scattershot transformed into vehicle mode, then his fuselage folded upwards. Afterburner transformed, then his front allowed a right hand to flip out before it attached to Scattershot’s lower left as the thumb faced down. Strafe transformed, then his rear ejected a left hand and he attached to Scattershot’s lower right, the thumb facing down. Nosecone transformed, a foot swung out, then he attached himself to the upper left of Scattershot as the toes pointed down. Lightspeed did the same and attached to the upper right. A head then sprouted, adorned with a blue visor over its optics and faced opposite of Scattershot’s topside, then the new gestalt landed on his feet, facing Bruticus. It stood there, still as a statue.
“…Computing actions,” it rumbled. “…Computing actions. …Computing actions.”
“This is EXACTLY why they weren’t ready to be deployed yet!” groaned Optimus.
“What’s done is done!” replied Victorion. “We must focus on Bruticus!”
“TEAR THEM APART!” Eggman shouted to Bruticus. Bruticus only kept Morgane and Eggman out of his targeting systems. Everyone else was fair game. He grabbed Optimus and squeezed, causing Optimus’ systems to overload.
“Bruticus’ left leg is right!” growled Bruticus. “Megatron’s greatest mistake was ever allowing you to live, Prime!” The new Autobot Gestalt then swatted Bruticus’ hand, forcing him to release Optimus.
“Combat.exe…engaged!” snarled the new Combiner. He then walloped Bruticus straight in the chest. Bruticus was winded.
“H… How?!” demanded the combined Combaticon form. “How did you-?!”
“Probability that Optimus would survive Bruticus’ attack with no intervention of any kind: 27.98%. Probability WITH intervention: 89.21%. Probability of Bruticus’ victory: unknown. Intention to let him: none!” Just then, the Enigma glowed and shot chest armor onto the new Combiner. His optics flashed and he grinned. “Probability of success now that I have a Maximus to help filter the thoughts of my individual components: 98.3%!”
“Wha…HOW?! Bruticus didn’t…!”
“Your individual components didn’t focus on a single thought so quickly. Mine, on the other servo, already went through a hiccup that helped them realize their single goal! Bruticus, you face your better! You face…COMPUTRON!” The newly named Computron then decked Bruticus in the face and followed it up by driving his left knee, armed with a drill, into Bruticus’ chest!
“Damage Critical.” warned the Bruticus Maximus. “Time over.”
“WHAT?!” yelped Bruticus. He then fell into his individual components.
“…Huh,” mused Computron. “I guess that’s another weakness us Combiners have.”
“Thanks for the heads-up!” laughed Megatron as he transformed and fired at Computron’s joints from behind the gestalt. Computron collapsed to his knees as Megatron flew by his head, transformed to robot mode, and slammed the Combaticons into the ground.
“M-Megatron!” begged Onslaught. “The Autobots! Optimus!” He pointed behind Megatron. “Right there! Waiting for you!”
“My greatest mistake?!” growled Megatron. “I HAVE made a few…” he paused as he allowed screams of pain to echo throughout the dunes, their sources originating in the Erazor Djinn, Morgane Le Fay, and Dr. Eggman, “…but there is ONE I do NOT intend to make again!” He then fired streams of purple lighting at the Combaticons, sending them into agony for a good two seconds before ending it and examining the smoking bodies of the Combaticons. He then activated the radio and set it to only Decepticons. “Security check! What’s safe?!”
“Right now, only Robotropolis,” replied Laserbeak. “The moon base had a third organic ally, but she left the place and opened us up to Autobot Spies. We’re still closing it, but we can’t exactly go there now.”
“Open a Ground Bridge to Robotropolis!” ordered Megatron. “Gather up those that tried to make slaves of you and have them prepped for punishment. Leave Eggman to me! This has him written all over it and I intend to voice my complaints to him…personally!” The Ground Bridge opened for them, leaving the Autobots and their allies to pant in the sands. “Decepticons, retreat!” The Decepticons gathered their wounded, bar the Erazor Djinn, and fled through the portal. Megatron covered the retreat. “Oh, Optimus, we have yet to finish this little quarrel! Though Eggman was crass in declaring our intentions, recall what I said as we were made award of Unicron. With him gone, our alliance served its purpose!” He entered the Ground Bridge and it closed behind them.
“…Autobots, mission accomplished,” panted Optimus. “Gather up the wounded…and the dead.” He turned to Arthur’s lifeless body and picked him up. “…Teletraan, we need a Bridge back.”
“Got it, sir,” answered Teletraan.
Everyone returned to the base. King Arthur’s Knights and Guinevere gathered around his body and knelt. Guinevere sobbed over him as Excalibur unsheathed itself and bounced on its tip. “Rest in peace, my friend,” it sighed. Everyone let Guinevere and the knights cry. Once they left the body, Cliffjumper turned to Shahra.
“What the Erazor Djinn said about bound genies…”
“I’m sorry, Master, but it applies to all genies,” sighed Shahra.
“So, he can’t come back. Thanks anyways.”
“Arthur sacrificed his life to save your world, Shahra,” muttered Optimus.
“A world I can’t go back to, and neither can the Erazor Djinn.” Shahra was about to retreat into her ring.
“Shahra, would you grant me one last wish?” asked Cliffjumper.
“…What is thy wish, Master?” Cliffjumper took a deep breath and then spoke his wish.
“Shahra, Genie of the Ring, I wish for you to be the master of your own fate and the sole master of your vessel!”
“What?!” yelped the young Genie. The ring then vanished from Cliffjumper’s finger and fixed itself onto Shahra’s. The genie was in disbelief. “Bu…but, why…? I mean…!”
“I’ve heard it from Optimus numerous times,” answered Cliffjumper. “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. A RIGHT, not a privilege. I never felt easy at having a slave at my fingertips, so I did what anyone would do, I freed that slave from its bondage, whatever it was. Shahra, you’re your own master now and-” Shahra then grew to Cliffjumper’s size and hugged him. Optimus could see her eyes closed as she cried happy tears.
“…Thank you,” she mumbled. “Thank you!” Cliffjumper reciprocated the hug.
“You’re welcome, you magnificent woman.” Optimus smiled, then activated base-comms.
“Autobots, we’ve won a victory against the Decepticons, set back Morgane’s plans, and kept the stories safe, but we lost a friend. King Arthur gave his life to save everyone. He helped a genie woman from another region learn about freedom and taught us all that seeking eternity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We grieve for Arthur but will continue fighting in his name. ‘Til all are one.” After that, he turned to Computron as he disassembled into his individual selves. Scattershot was about to explain his actions, but Optimus held a hand up to cut him off. “You lot disobeyed a direct order,” he growled. “I told you that you were too emotionally unstable for active duty, and you threw yourselves into the fray without my consent. …But, in doing so, you gave Victorion the time she needed to recover, you minimized casualties to their absolute lowest, and you gave us an edge over how many stable Combiners we have on the Autobot side. With all that in mind, I can’t punish you but so hard. You will be denied field missions for a week. After that, you will be fully recognized as Autobots with the rank of Lieutenant. Does your team have a name yet?” Scattershot looked at his team for ideas.
“I was thinking…we’d call ourselves…the Technobots,” mumbled Strafe.
“…You know, I like that!” cheered Lightspeed.
“Same here! We’re born from Tails’ tech, weren’t we?” asked Afterburner.
“And it gives our allies the idea,” mused Nosecone, “that we are rightly good with technology.”
“…I WAS considering something else,’ remarked Scattershot, “but ‘Technobots’ sounds better. Sir, we’re calling ourselves the Technobots.”
“Splendid,” replied Optimus. “And, Scattershot, am I right in assuming you’re the team leader?”
“We’ve already had the discussion, and yes, you’re correct to assume so.”
“Perfect. We’ll have you undergo the Rite of the Autobrand after Arthur is buried.” Nosecone then snapped his fingers as if he remembered something.
“Optimus, before all that, you need to see Ratchet and talk to him and Chromia as soon as you can.”
“I better talk to them now,” mused Optimus, “get it out of the way. Excuse me.” He headed off to the repair bay.