Amy was hanging out with Cream on a shopping trip while the intruder attacked Autobot HQ. She had just confirmed that she was the Scarlet Specter. “Amy,” asked Cream, “why would you risk your life like that?”
“I felt like I was depending on Sonic too much,” sighed Amy. “I realized that he won’t always be there to save me, especially now that the Transformers are here. I’ve been practicing a little since I first met my teacher, but with Eggman robbing from dead Transformers, I ramped up my training. He’s planning something, and I want to know what.”
“Just don’t get hurt,” urged Cream. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m not going away anytime soon,” reassured Amy. She pulled Cream into a hug.
“Amy,” quizzed the little rabbit, “do you think I can learn magic?”
“Anyone can learn magic,” replied Amy. “Why?”
“Because I want to learn from you,” answered Cream. Amy smiled.
“That’s sweet of you,” she sighed, “but I’m not at the teaching level yet. The instant I get there, you can be my student.”
“Thank you!” bid Cream with a smile. At that moment, Amy’s phone started buzzing in her purse.
“Er, could you excuse me for a moment?” she asked.
“Of course,” replied Cream. Amy then took the call.
“Hello?” she began.
“Amy, sweetheart, this is Ironhide,” came the familiar Texan drawl. “You mind heading to HQ? We have a situation that requires magic expertise.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can,” replied Amy. She hung up. “Sorry, Cream, but we have to cut our shopping trip short. The Autobots need me right now.”
“Can I come too?” asked Cream.
“If your mother’s okay with it,” answered Amy.
“If I’m okay with what?” asked a voice. Amy and Cream turned to see Vanilla standing behind them.
“Mother,” asked Cream, “may I go with Amy to the Autobot base? Apparently, they need her help and I haven’t seen them in a while.”
“Of course,” confirmed Vanilla. “Just call me before you’re Bridged back. I don’t want a surprise like last time again.”
“Thank you! I will!” promised Cream.
“Let’s go!” cheered Amy. Cream took her hand as a red mist appeared.
“Are you using magic to get us there?” asked Cream.
“Of course,” confirmed Amy. “It’s my favorite way to travel.” The red mist then enveloped the two and it took off to Autobot HQ. They came through a vent and reformed in the Command center. Cream blinked in surprise.
“What was that?” she said.
“It’s an advanced spell that lets you and people around you move as mist,” explained Amy.
“I don’t know why, but it felt like something hugging me,” mused Cream.
“That would be the spell’s magic,” replied Amy. She turned to Ironhide. “Speaking of which, is there a new magic abuser?”
“Actually,” mumbled Orion as he stepped into view, “this is a different case.”
“Er…I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,” stammered Amy. She then turned to Ironhide with an annoyed look. “Where’s Prime?!” she whispered harshly. “I told him not to tell anyone I was a witch unless I said it was okay!”
“That IS Optimus,” replied Ironhide. Amy blinked. She turned to Orion.
“Hey, Amy,” sighed Orion.
“Optimus, what happened?” asked Amy.
“Did something bad make you change your armor?” inquired Cream.
“We don’t know,” answered Orion. “And it’s Orion Pax, right now. Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and I had a scuffle with an intruder that had the Autobot symbol on him. He didn’t act like any Autobot I’m familiar with. After the fight, the source of my magic, the Matrix, went kaput. I’ve got Jazz, Ratchet, and Tails trying to figure out what happened, but the process is taking a long time. I know that you said you’re still a few years away from being a full-fledged witch, but I can’t find Trema. Besides, you have more magic experience than me.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” replied Amy. That’s when Jazz came in with a scanning device in his hands. It was white with red highlights and a yellow fan-like device on the top.
“Please tell me you have something,” begged Orion.
“Er, Orion,” gulped Jazz, “here’s the thing. Your Wind Scanner isn’t working.”
“What?!” yelped Orion. “Let me see that!” Jazz handed him the scanner. Orion took it and pressed a button, but all it did was play a woman’s voice.
“I’m not sensing any danger here,” answered the voice. Orion pressed it again. “No enemies around here.” Once more. “‘All quiet on the Western Front’, as the humans said long ago.”
“It’s a toy,” gasped Orion.
“Huh?” asked Ironhide.
“It’s…it’s just a toy again!” answered Orion.
“That’s the result of every item you gave me,” reported Jazz. “I even tested the OOO Driver, nada.” Orion then took a yellow gun out of his subspace.
“Teletraan 1,” ordered Orion, “scan this!” A probe descended from the ceiling and bathed it in a green light. After three seconds of eerie humming, it went back into the ceiling. Teletraan’s avatar popped up on the main monitor.
“Just painted metal and electronics,” he announced. “But isn’t this your Gaburevolver?”
“It is,” replied Orion as he took it.
“Kiddo,” quizzed Ironhide, “what the hoo haw’s going on? I’ve seen you turn into a red Power Ranger with that thing. It works.”
“Kyoryuger,” corrected Orion, “and it’s supposed to work!” He automatically slid a panel on his right forearm to reveal a screen inside it. Writing in Cybertronian appeared on it and Orion pulled a wand out of subspace and first flicked it up, left, right, left, down, up, right, then thrust the point at the Gaburevolver while saying “Facere Imaginem Rerum!”. The room was silent for a few seconds. Nothing happened.
“Pax, what in Sam Hill was that?” asked Ironhide.
“That should have at least sparkled,” muttered Amy.
“I don’t understand,” interjected Cream. “Was Mr. Pax trying to use magic?”
“I was,” confirmed Orion. “It’s a spell called ‘Make This Image Real’…I think. The translation’s iffy.”
“If it’s executed properly,” explained Amy, “a representation of an object, like a toy from a T.V. show, becomes the actual object itself. Most magic users use it on their toys because it’s the closest thing they have to the real thing.”
“Wait, really?!” asked Jazz. “So, why didn’t you guys make a little box with a button on it that says, ‘Stop All Bad Guys Forever and Ever’?”
“Doesn’t work like that, Jazz,” replied Orion. “I don’t even fully comprehend the rules to magic.”
“No one does,” supplied Amy, “not even the Magic Greats.”
“And even on the stuff I HAVE enchanted,” continued Orion, “it’s tricky. It took me ten times to get a working Wind Scanner. The Fourze Driver took MONTHS because, while the spell works, there’s no cosmic energy for the Astro Switches to access and give super powers and equipment to! Primus, I’m still trying to get this thing to work on my Duel Disk! Although, that’s probably because I don’t have anything like hologram projectors. I did try it out on one of my spare cards just to try it out.”
“What happened?” asked Ironhide.
“You know that poster of a monster card I have in my room on Cybertron?” remarked Orion.
“You mean the poster of the Dark Magician Girl card?” replied Jazz. “Wait, that was a card?!”
“Yep,” confirmed Orion. “I don’t think the spell likes being used on things with text.”
“That’s good to know before I make a mistake like that,” mused Amy. At that moment, her eyes went wide. “Orion, do you still have that sonic screwdriver I gave you?”
“Yeah, right here,” replied Orion as he took it out of his subspace. He then got what Amy was driving at and waved it around the Gaburevolver. He then flicked it and got a reading. “I see where you’re coming from,” he realized. “Anything I didn’t originally enchant still works, but now there’s a bigger problem.”
“What’s that?” asked Jazz.
“The base is not as safe as it was,” explained Amy. “Orion and I have a low-level protection spell around here. We’re not strong enough, or skilled enough, to protect people, but the base itself would remain standing. You could detonate a bomb or shoot up the walls and it wouldn’t matter. You wouldn’t even scratch it. We started casting it after Aaron was arrested.”
“However,” continued Orion, “it’s not as strong now. If one person casts it, it will wear out at a fast pace and you need to recast it every three months. If two people cast it, it won’t wear out as fast and just needs to be recast every five years.”
“We’re trying to find another person so it will only need to be recast every seven centuries,” supplied Amy. “Before then, you guys would most likely have already left Mobius.”
“But Orion’s magic went kaput,” reminded Ironhide. “What happens if there’s enough pressure on the spell?”
“It will eventually break and you guys may find yourselves homeless pretty quickly,” explained Amy.
“With the way Orion described the intruder,” gulped Jazz, “that may be possible.”
“I’m more concerned about the one who’s already home,” sighed Orion.
“What do you mean?” asked Cream.
“My weapons are each powered by a Spark,” elaborated Orion. “A mother,” he held up the axe, “and a son,” he held up the gun. “They were unwilling ingredients in a ritual worshipping the Chaos Bringer. Every time I use them, I can hear them whispering in my ear. If the gun’s not firing or the axe blade isn’t forming, I’m afraid something may have happened to them.”
“Oh boy,” shuddered Amy, “messing with the dead, or…partially dead in this instance, is outside of most magic users’ expertise. The only ones who could help on that front would be a Necromancer, and I’m sure you know how weird they can be.”
“Well, where ‘magic’ fails,” called Ratchet as he stepped into the Command Center, “it’s up to science to save the day.”
“What’s up?” asked Orion.
“Everything works on both Arks,” reported Ratchet, “including the sensors. In fact, our little two tailed genius has come up with a way for both computers to check each other in case an analysis misses some data on one of them. If possible, we may be able to get Teletraan 1 and G.U.N.’s computers linked and have an excellent surveillance system.”
“Did they get anything on the weapons and the Matrix?” urged Orion.
“Tails is getting the final readout on the Space Colony ARK right now,” answered Ratchet. “He should be reporting in about…” the communications terminal went off, “…right now!” Ratchet fired up the main monitor and Tails filled the screen. “Well, my genius friend,” he asked, “anything?”
“Sorry,” sighed Tails. “There’s still magic in the artefacts as much as any other time.”
“So, why can’t I access it?!” wailed Orion.
“I have a theory,” mused Tails. “From what I’ve gathered, it sounds like the magic is being…suppressed in a certain area. Somehow, something is preventing the magic from being used.”
“Like what?” asked Amy.
“Well,” replied Tails, “I did some digging and found something in a friend’s computer that looked like blueprints for a device to prevent magic from being used. From the dates on said blueprints, I’d say the idea was conceived after the fight with Aaron. That friend saw the potential damage magic can bring and so wanted to remove it when he was in the area.”
“Okay,” muttered Orion, “I don’t know as ‘friend’ would be a good word if that’s the case. I’d say he’s a bad egg we need to figure out.” As he folded his arms, Orion started thinking. His thoughts then drifted to the ‘bad egg’ comment he made and returned his gaze with Tails, who was nodding to confirm Orion’s suspicions. “You don’t mean…”
“He calls it the Magic Suppressor 9,000 Extreme,” confirmed Tails.
“Well then,” hissed Orion, “I think Sonic and I should pay the good Dr. Eggman a little visit!”