Chapter Three: The Autobots
With one powerful roar, Lion blew away the rocks that had buried Garnet, Amethyst and himself. What Rumble had thought was a good idea to end the trio was more of a minor annoyance then anything else; however it still angered the shorter Gem none the less.
"I swear when I get my hands on those walking toasters, I'll pull them apart!" she declared in rage
"We need to stay focused Amethyst; Soundwave's minions are trying to return to him" her leader explained "We need to get to them before that happens!"
"But they've already got a head start, we'll never catch them in time!" the purple Gem replied
It was then that they heard a low growl from Lion; the two Crystal Gems looked over to see the pink cat motioning to his back with his head. Quickly understanding what he was trying to do, they jumped onto his back. The warrior cat then sped off in the direction the villainous machines where headed, ready for a second round with the invaders.
Steven and Connie continued to look upon the giant robot that had identified itself as Optimus Prime in awe, even though they were still terrified of the machine and his companions. It was about that time that Pearl regained concussions and looked upon the robot herself, however her reaction was not of wonder but of shock.
"You!" she shouted in a mix of rage and horror "It can't be!"
"I thought you looked familiar" Optimus replied "It's Pearl isn't it? Are you alright?"
"Like you would care!" Pearl spat back with venom in her voice "No doubt you're here to finish want Soundwave started!"
"You can't talk to Prime like that missy!" Ironhide defended
Optimus merely raised his hand to silently tell his second in command to stand down, allowing the Gem to continue.
"I'm not going to let you hurt Steven or anyone on this planet so long as I'm alive!" the Crystal Gem declared as she summoned her weapon once more
"Pearl, wait!" Steven asked "I don't think these guys are with the other robot!"
"Of course they are Steven!" Pearl shot back "He was with Soundwave long ago when we-"
"What? Tried to conquer our world?!" Ironhide shouted as he cut her off
"Ironhide!" Optimus shouted
"You know how many buddies I lost when your kind came to our world?!" the Autobot said harshly, ignoring his leaders order "more then I lost in the great war!"
"That's Enough!" the Prime commanded in a booming voice, making everyone instantly fall silent "For the last time Ironhide: Stand. Down"
The old Autobout let 'hmph!' before backing down. As much as he hated the Gems, he still respected his leader enough to finally hold off from his outbursts, for now at least.
"Can someone please explain what is going on?!" Steven demanded "We've been beat up by giant robots all day, so before we get into another fight, can you please tell us why you wanna hurt us?!"
Optimus paused upon hearing that. He did not mean to frighten the child or his friend nor did he want them to pick another battle between the two races again. So he stepped back a bit and gave them their space before speaking.
"As I said before, my men and I do not wish to harm you" he began "But the one you know as Soundwave is part of a faction of wicked Cybertronians called the Decepticons who are lead by Megatron"
"Megatron's on Earth?!" Pearl shouted in fear "How is that even possible?!"
"He arrived on Earth the same way we did" Prime continued "Eons ago when our great war had caused our very home planet Cybertron to die from our long conflict, we Autobots were forced to abandon our home and find a new planet in which to thrive, but Megatron and his army attempted to keep us from leaving and during the battle our two ships where flung a vortex that threw us onto your world four million years ago. We remained in stasis until we where finally freed and your war with the Decepticons began anew on your world"
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Pearl questioned further "The last time we saw you, you and Megatron were allies and you weren't called Optimus Prime back then, as I recall your name is Orion Pax"
"While it is true that we were once friends, but circumstances came between us when he revealed his true nature" the Prime explained "In the end, I became a Prime while he became a tyrant"
"How do you even know these guys anyway Pearl?" Steven asked "You keep talking to them like you've met them all before and why did that Ironhide guy say you tried to conquer their world?"
The snow white Gem didn't know how to respond to the boy's question, while she did want to tell him the truth of how their two races had met in the past, she couldn't bring herself to telling the boy the whole truth. Suddenly, a loud roar broke then tension, causing both parties to look away from one another and see Garnet and Amethyst riding on Lion towards them.
"More Cybertronians!" Garnet declared as she readied herself for another battle
"Garnet wait, these ones are good guys!" Steven said as he put himself between the two groups
"I remember you as well" Optimus mentioned "You where part of the invasion as well, does that must mean Rose Quartz is here as well?"
Steven was taken aback when he heard his mother's name mentioned by Prime.
"How do you know my mom?" he asked
"Rose Quartz is your mother?" the Autobot leader replied, clearly surprised by that
"Was his mother" Pearl sadly corrected
"Oh…I see…" Prime said slowly, understanding what she meant by that "I am truly sorry for your loss"
"Don't you dare say that! Not after what happened before!" Pearl shouted in a sudden rage "The last time we met, you tried to—"
"Will you all just stop?!" Steven suddenly exclaimed in anger, making the Gems jump "Why won't anyone of you just tell me what happened?!"
Both the Autobots and the Gems were saddened by what they had done to the boy, but what hurt them more was telling him the truth.
"Steven…long before we ever came to Earth…you mother, Garnet and I as well as an armada of Gems attempted to conquer Cybertron" Pearl began slowly "and Rose was…"
She couldn't finish that sentence.
"My mom was what?" Steven begged, as he on the verge of tears
Before any of the Gems could answer, the Autobot leader spoke first
"Your mother was the one who lead the attack on my planet" Optimus solemnly finished
Back at the Kindergarten, the Decepticons were working around the cloak to make sure the facility was up and running once more. After the Seekers and several other Cons had gathered enough Energon form the Cons Headquarters, the Constructicons were then summoned and were immediately put to work on building energy cables throughout the Kindergarten for the Energon to flow throughout it once the machine was ready. Meanwhile Megatron had left in order to fetch something or rather someone who he believed could help put this ancient tech back into working condition.
Peridot was also very busy with reconstruction of the Kindergarten as well. After getting clearance from the Diamonds themselves with working with the Gems former adversaries, she was working non-stop to put the once great facility back to the way it was before the war on Earth had destroyed it.
However, that goal was a bit hard to achieve when certain giant robots keep getting in her way.
"You idiot, you could've damaged the external generators!" she scolded Starscream from her view screen
"You should refrain from speaking to me in such a tone you polymorphic freak of nature!" the Air Commander shout back "I am the future leader of the Decepticons and I will not be treated in such a—Ack!"
The Decepticons second in command felt a powerful shock course through him as the very floor under his feet sent a painful electric jolt throughout his entire body, causing him to fall to his knees in agony. He looked back up at Peridot's view screen to see the green Gem smirking smugly back down at him.
"Oops, I must have tripped the systems circuits by accident, I'm sooo sorry!" she apologized in a sarcastic tone
"Why you little-"
"Starscream, enough!" Megatron commanded as he entered the control center "I will not tolerate fighting with our new ally!"
Starscream let out a frustrated growl as he got up from off of the floor. Just then the robotic tyrant received a message from his communications officer, more then likely telling him that his mission was a success.
"Soundwave, report" he ordered
"Megatron, The mission has failed. Extensive damage taken" Soundwave informed him via his comlink "Autobot interference had occurred. Requesting reinforcements!"
"You will have them at once" his master replied "And this time, I want them all dead!"
"Why is it that whenever I fail you treat it like a horrific sin, but when Soundwave fails you, you're oh so forgiving of him?" his second in command sneered
"Because he fails me much less then you ever have!" Megatron snarled "But if you're so eager to prove yourself to me, then you will join the reinforcements and destroy these renegade Gems and the Autobots!"
"A simple enough task" Starscream replied before walking toward the control center's exit
"One I'm sure you'll find a way to mess up" his leader said in a low tone of voice, but still loud enough for the Seeker to hear
With that Starscream exited the room, leaving the former gladiator alone with the Home-World Gem.
"How are the repairs going?" he questioned
"Faster then expected I must say. Your Constructicons have done a rather marvelous job at restoring power to 46.21% to the Kindergarten so far" Peridot answered "However, it will count for nothing if I can't get these internal systems up and running properly"
"Then you should fortunate that I called in someone to assist you" Megatron said before hearing the platform activate again "Ah, here he comes now"
The platform descended down to the control room, allowing the new Con to enter it. He was large purple machine with a large cannon for his left arm and a single unblinking optic for a face. Even though she was half a galaxy away from Earth, she felt a chill crawl up her back.
"Allow me to introduce you to the Decepticons lead scientist Peridot" Megatron began "This…is Shockwave"