“What’s wrong?” asked Starscream.
“Strange,” muttered Primacron as he fiddled with the joystick. “Tornedron does not respond to my commands.” Tornedron then moved.
“…Why’s he going to the War-world?” asked Sunstorm.
“I gave no such command!”
“Something’s amiss here,” said Skywarp. Primacron then keyed in a command and put his hand onto a handle, activating a communications unit to Tornedron.
“Tornedron, the Ark is still active,” he relayed. “Pursue it.”
“…I shall rule myself!” laughed Tornedron in reply. “Your War-world shall serve as an example of my power!” Tornedron spread itself all over the War-world. Starscream got an instrument reading from the console. The War-world was losing power!
“STARSCREAM! EMERGENCY!” called Deathsaurus over the comms. “WE’RE LOSING OUR ENERGY! TORNEDRON’S DRAINING US! WE CAN’T-!” The call abruptly cut itself off. Primacron got a new reading. The War-world and its crew…were terminated.
“Did…I see that?!” asked Optimus.
“Megatron and Ultra Magnus are hailing us,” reported Prowl.
“Open a channel!” Ultra Magnus and Megatron appeared on the screen.
“Optimus, I just want to make sure my sensors aren’t malfunctioning!” remarked Megatron. “Did you see Tornedron drain the War-world?!”
“You too?!” asked Ultra Magnus.
“Prowl, scan for survivors!” Optimus called over his shoulder. Ultra Magnus and Megatron ordered the same of their respective Tactical Officers. They all reported the same thing, no survivors.
“This is our chance!” urged Ultra Magnus. “We must strike Tornedron now!”
“No!” argued Optimus. “He would drain us quicker than the War-world!”
“You know, I’m willing to bet that this will work out,” mused Megatron.
“How?” asked Optimus.
“Primacron must have some form of failsafe in the event of Tornedron betraying him. If I know Starscream’s legendary survival instinct, he’ll engage it before Primacron regains control.”
“It’s getting closer!” wailed Starscream.
“I ORDER YOU TO STOP, TORNEDRON!” Primacron shouted into the comms.
“I take no orders from you!” answered Tornedron. “Instead, I take your life-force!”
“This is impossible!” Primacron’s fingers hurriedly keyed in commands, flipped switches, and pressed buttons to try and regain control. “I have failsafe systems atop failsafe systems!”
“There’s nothing like dining at home! Or is that ON home?”
“I’ll stop you! I’ll…!” Primacron kept looking for all possible solutions concerning his creation. “Where is the Combined Radical Formu…?! R-Retrace all constants…!”
“Er, Primacron,” gulped Starscream, “I don’t wish to rush you, but Tornedron’s about to chomp down on us! Fix it!”
“We’re finished!” wailed Primacron. “I’ve amplified the energy parameters, minimized the drive augmenter, redirected the ion flow, I’VE TRIED EVERYTHING!!!”
“Hey, I don’t know if you guys recall,” remarked Sunstorm, “but there IS a simple solution!” He pointed to a small red switch. Starscream and Skywarp smacked their foreheads.
“Of course!” groaned Skywarp. “The reverse switch! Why didn’t I think of that?! It’s so simple!”
“Sunstorm, throw the reverse switch!” ordered Starscream.
“Belay that!” shouted Primacron. “If you do that, you’ll reverse Tornedron’s energy polarity and make it dissipate into nothingness!”
“Belay that belay that!” argued Skywarp. “If he doesn’t, we’re as dead as the War-world!”
“But Torne-!”
“Belay!”
“The arma-!” Starscream then put his hand over Tornedron’s mouth!
“STOW! SHUT IT!” shouted Starscream. He looked to Sunstorm. “Throw the switch!” Sunstorm nodded and threw the reverse switch.
Tornedron screamed in pain as a command was sent through its atomic structure. It then got smaller…and smaller…and smaller.
“What did I tell you?” chuckled Megatron.
“Tornedron really IS fading away!” Ultra Magnus sighed in relief.
“The timing couldn’t be better!” cheered Optimus. “All ships that are able to; come about and head straight for the station! This is our chance to end it all!”
“Hold up,” interrupted Ultra Magnus. “If it really WAS Starscream and his desire to always save his hide, how are we going to end it? His Spark is an immortal one!”
“That is something Vector Sigma can answer,” called Lux’s voice in their heads. Prowl then got something.
“Vector Sigma is hailing us from a Vok ship,” he reported.
“Put him through,” directed Optimus. Vector Sigma joined the call.
“Primacron’s lab is powered by a contained curvature-type singularity, a black hole,” explained the former supercomputer. “We destroy it while Primacron and the Seekers are near it, they get sucked in, then we close it!”
“How do we do that?” asked Optimus.
“Leave that to us,” called Lux as she, Gaia, and Umbra entered the Ark’s bridge. “We’ll contain it.”
“There IS a problem, though,” remarked Umbra. “Primacron and the Seekers are just as masterful at light and dark as Gaia is.”
“So, what, we need another warrior to face them?” asked Megatron.
“I was thinking…you and Optimus could be another Primacron after a fashion.”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” shouted Lux and Gaia.
“Wait, you weren’t thinking of combining us like you did with Primacron’s two halves, right?” asked Optimus.
“She was, and we’re not!” declared Lux. “Primacron split himself into two incomplete beings. You two were complete since birth! The resulting blend of psyches would drive you two berserk!”
“Not if we treated the operation like a Combiner team,” replied Megatron.
“You’re not seriously going along with this!” protested Optimus.
“We just need our own personal Maximus so we CAN separate.”
“Maximus?” asked Lux.
“They’re devices that Combiner teams use,” explained Gaia, “designed to separate the Combiner into its individual bots after a certain time has passed.”
“If we had a similar device,” supplied Megatron, “we can beat Primacron quicker.”
“Optimus, Sonic’s just beamed over,” called Prowl. Sonic appeared on the bridge.
“Guys, whatever you’re planning, I want in!” declared the Hedgehog.
“Okay, wait, we can’t exactly fuse organic matter with technological organisms like the Transformers,” retorted Umbra.
“We don’t need to,” replied Gaia. “But if we give him a portion of our power, then he can set the lab to collapse!”
“How big a portion are we talking?” asked Sonic.
“The most miniscule of portions for a mortal,” answered Gaia.
“Then I think we have a plan,” declared Optimus. “Megatron, would you beam over?” Megatron nodded to someone off-screen. He then appeared on the Ark’s bridge.
“You’re really going with Mama Umbra’s idea?” muttered Gaia.
“The combination of light and darkness,” replied Megatron, “will make Primacron understand that both are needed while he’s in his final moments.”
“…Then here we go,” sighed Lux. Optimus and Megatron faced each other and bent into a runner’s beginning position. Lux fired light at Megatron, Umbra fired darkness at Optimus, and Gaia fired the elements at the two bots. As the Goddesses guided their hands together, Optimus and Megatron ran at one another. They were then enveloped in light. After it died down, a strange beast took their place. It looked like a classic western dragon, but the head was more wolf-like, it had black and white fur, and it had six legs. The creature examined itself.
“…You built the Maximus into me?” it asked in a male voice. The Goddesses nodded and the creature grinned. “Nice!”
“Optimus? …Megatron?” asked Thundercracker over the comms.
“I’m both, yet neither,” explained the creature. “I am the newest of the Original Primes. I…am Optronix Prime!”
“Can you…can you transform?” asked Prowl.
“One moment.” Optronix Prime checked his ability databanks. “…Yes, I can! Optronix Prime: TRANSFORM!” Optronix’ beast head and neck spilt in half and became claw arms as the torso unfolded into legs while the rearmost beast legs folded into the back along with the tail. The remaining beast legs became arms and the robot’s head popped out, wearing a helmet that looked like it was blended with Megatron’s and Optimus’. He had two sets of optics, alternating between Autobot blue and Decepticon red.
“…Um, whoops,” gulped Gaia as she and her mothers looked embarrassed.
“It’s fine,” assured Optronix. “I’ll definitely need four optics. …As well as the Three Powers. This blending of the Matrix and the Badge will give them a much-needed boost against Primacron. I’ll be in the armory. Sonic, signal me when you’re ready.” Optronix then headed off the bridge.
“It’s your turn now, Sonic,” declared Umbra.
“Let’s do it to it!” replied Sonic. The three Goddesses held up their hands and let light, darkness, fire, water, earth, and air flow over Sonic. As they moved, Sonic’s quills grew until they reached his tail, then they floated in the air as his fur went from its familiar blue to cyan. His expression looked…cold, for lack of a better word.
“Behold! Cosmic Sonic!” proclaimed Lux. Cosmic Sonic just floated to the comms.
“Optronix, I’m ready,” he said in a voice unlike his usual attitude.
“So am I! Let’s do it!” declared Optronix. Gaia simply snapped her fingers. Cosmic Sonic vanished and no one could hear Optronix.
“I have them on visual,” called Cliffjumper. “They’re on the lab’s ring.”
“Here we go,” muttered Prowl.