The Monster of Kaon (Volume 2): Chapter 5

“You alright?”

Megatronus sighed at my question before nodding slowly as we headed into a secluded area.

“It’s just..”

“Strange.”

“Yes. To see a version of me and Optimus like that.”

I placed my palm on his shoulder as he slumped slightly, knowing exactly what he was feeling at that moment.

“You are reminded of the old times. Aren’t you?”

“...Yes.”

I nodded and said nothing as we continued walking with Windblade keeping silent for the sake of her older sibling’s feelings.

I know exactly what Megatronus is feeling at the moment. Because I felt the same thing when I saw Orion and Megatronus’s younger forms in that race in the morning.

Granted, they are not my Orion and Megatronus, but they are so similar in both looks and personalities that the differences may as well not exist between them and their counterparts from our universe in their youth.

Megatronus’s original form looked exactly like the D-16 of this world when he was first born before he chose to upgrade himself with Shockwave’s help later on, while Orion Pax of this world looked exactly like the data clerk that I knew the Ascenticons before he became the Last Prime.

And based on the brief interaction we had after the race in the medbay before we had to leave because I detected Sentinel’s presence, I can say with certainty that their personalities are also exactly like what my student and child used to have back in the day.

For Megatronus, on the other hand, it is like looking into an old mirror to see what once was and what he had lost.

With a shake of my head, I focused back on reality as we soon arrived at a hidden corner of Iacon where I did not detect any monitoring devices.

Turning to my Sparklings, I started the discussion that would decide what we need to do from here on out.

“Alright. Based on the information I managed to hack while we were in the race, this world’s transforming roadways, and the majority of the city’s surface, are rather easy to manipulate to our needs since they respond really well to a Cybertronian’s thoughts, even more so for someone with powers like me. So there is no problem with us trying to reach the surface. What do you two think?”

Windblade was the first one to speak as her face morphed into a worried look.

“While we were racing, I used my optics to look into Orion Pax and D-16’s bodies while comparing them to the bodies of the other racers.”

I could not help but hold my breath as she gave a sad nod.

“Your guess was right, Maximus. Their bodies had subtle but clear marks of manipulation. There are many systems within their bodies that have been forcefully turned off. I think your guess that they were not born without T-Cogs was right based on what I saw.”

I sighed as her words confirmed my suspicions before I chuckled wryly.

“I guess, no matter the universe, Sentinel will always remain the same. And you? Megatronus? What do you think?”

“I think we should go to the surface and see for ourselves if it really is as dangerous as this version of Sentinel claims it to be.”

A Sound suggestion. 

I nodded at his words since I was planning to do that anyway.

“Alright then. I say we go to the surface and verify things for ourselves before we do anything else. Windblade? Your thoughts?”

“I agree to the plan.”

“It's decided then, we will go to the surface in the morning. In the meantime, we can start investigating the Mines.”

My sparklings nodded at my suggestion as we started walking towards the main entrance to the Energon Mines.

When I first learned that Orion Pax and D-16 of this world were miners, I was quite surprised.

Orion was someone who was far more useful as an archivist or a data clerk than squandering his inborn talents in a mine, of all places, which went double for D-16, if he was anything like my sparkling in his youth.

However, aside from the surprise, I also saw an opertunity to understand how these bots lived their lives.

Back on Cyberton, manual Energon Mining had stopped entirely by the time of the Golden Age, as we had started relying on drones and automated systems to do the job for us. Something that should have been possible for the bots of this world as well, if not for one fact.

This Cybertron is alive in ways that our Cybertron never was.

Unlike our Cybertron, where Primus was real but remained a mere observer, someone who only watches how his children live and only steps in when things get really bad, this planet is far more active and reactive towards Cybertonians.

The very crust of the planet acknowledges the presence of bots and reacts rather violently to their attempts at mining its Energon. Something that baffles me even now.

If I ever meet this version of Primus, I have so many questions that I might end up spending years down there.

But this is not the time to think about what-ifs, so might as well get to the investigation.

Soon, we arrived at the entrace to the mines where nobody tried to stop us, the inherent difference between the so-calld no-cogs and regular bots ensuring that the miners would not dare even speak to us unless we wanted to, which was just sad and made my rage spike like it used to back in the day, before the Ascenticons, before the CRDF, before everything.

The only silver lining is that the Alpha Trion of this world had perished along with his brothers and sister against the Quintessons, so I did not have to worry about his meddling.

Of course, I will not put all my trust in the so-called official history of this world, knowing how easy it is to manipulate things once they have already happened, but given that no bot with a god-complex has tried to have me and my sparklings booted from his precious planet, I am inclined to believe that Alpha Trion really is dead.

It was as we descended deep into the mines that I started to realize that something was wrong.

The walls of the mines kept opening and closing, something that was normal since the planet reacts to the existence of bots nearby and volitionally opens its surface for the miners until they start digging for energon and end up hitting a vein or something.

However, the way the walls that we walked along always kept pace with our group, as if insisting that we enter it, was really starting to rub me the wrong way. Especially since a cave entrance is not supposed to move along the wall to keep following us like it was doing for us.

“....Maximus? I think we should go in.”

I glanced at Windblade, who was already using her optics to watch the cave, only to wince in pain, which was understandable since she was trying to peer into the very essence of Primus himself.

All the while, the cave kept shimmering like a kaleidoscope. Creating pulsing patterns similar to guiding lights on a ship, demanding that we follow it.

Honestly, it is really creepy. But I don’t think we have much choice in this matter since we are already attracting too much attention, and it would not do to bring Sentinel down on our heads right now. At least not until I can gain solid proof that he is the reason for everything wrong with this Cybertron.

So, with a deep breath, I decided to bite the bullet and stepped into the cave with my sparklings.

Only to have the entrance close behind us immediately.

“....Well, that was not ominous at all.”

This is no time for jokes, Windblade.