Chapter 4
Time skip, one year…...
The past year had been good to Sam. Primus' training, while difficult, became easier after a while, thanks to what the Matrix was doing to his body. He now had an athlete's body, not too lean, nor was he bulky with muscle. All of Primus' physical training Sam passed with leaps and bounds, greatly pleasing the giant mech. He had a proficient knowledge in three different styles of martial arts, gaining experience equal to a black-belt master, but there was still more to learn. And, thanks to the All-spark messing with his head, he was able to retain information a lot easier now. It also increased his problem-solving capabilities, so the mental demands of his trainer were met with ease and gusto. While he wasn't up to say, Ratchet's medical prowess, Ironhide's weapon handling or Prowl's tactical mind, he was proud of what he could do at the moment. Sam had a feeling that when this was all over, he will have become really close to equaling them in skill.
His bonding with Blitz and Primus had also improved by leaps and bounds. Because of spending so much time with his partner, he now understood what the bike was saying, even if it was just still just beeps and whistles to others. He suspected that either the Matrix or the All-spark, perhaps both, had helped with this, but he wasn't complaining. The two were as close as best friends, like he was with Bumblebee. As for Primus, the two thought of each other as family, Sam with a grandfather, Primus with a favorite grandson (because hey, he was WAY too freaking old to be a dad to anyone).
Like usual Sam rode out to wherever Primus had picked for their training spot. The mech seemed to have a thing for long distances because it was usually on the other side of the planet somewhere. But thanks to Blitz, they were never late.
Primus smiled when Sam walked up, Blitz rolling at his side.
"Hello little one. I've decided that tomorrow I am going to up your training. But for today we're going to focus on combining with your partner."
"Cool, I had been wondering what the heck you meant when you said that the first time." Sam said with a grin.
"Indeed. Now, as you are, you would be able to defend yourself for a short time against a Decepticon. But you wouldn't be able to take on any more than one, nor would you be able to beat one. There are exceptions, for example if you were to fight a Con around Frenzy's size, or if the Con was already injured. What we are going to do is even the playing field."
Seeing he had Sam's attention, Primus continued.
"Combining with Blitz, you would be able to take on several Cons and win. You won't become a true Transformer; it'll be more like a robotic suit that you take over."
"Kinda like Gundams or something?" Sam questioned.
Primus stared off into the distance, optics flickering. To Sam it looked like when the Autobots were surfing the web to check out a human reference.
"Yes, that would be a good comparison. Let's try it out. I want you to place a hand on Blitz and concentrate on coming together. After a while of this, you won't even have to concentrate, it'll become second nature, but you must be touching or else it won't work."
Sam nodded and did as told. He centered himself, focusing on Blitz's life-force, or whatever the bike had, and focused on it and his own merging. After a few minutes, he felt it. Opening his eyes, he saw the motorcycle shift and change, not unlike when a Transformer goes from alt-mode to bipedal-mode. Going on instinct, Sam jumped up into the changing machinery, feeling something connect to him in different areas of his body. Soon, he was encased in a cocoon of metal.
It was a very strange thing to Sam, he felt two sensations, his own human body and that of the robotic one. He glanced around, noticing right off the bat he was taller and his sight and hearing was much sharper. Sam walked around for a bit, getting used to his new body.
"Wow, this is really weird." He said, noticing his voice having a robotic undertone to it.
"Yes, it will be the first few times. But soon it won't bother you at all." Primus said.
Sam turned around and saw that he was now just a head shorter than the holoform.
"Here, take a look."
The deity conjured a giant mirror for Sam to view himself.
The bot that stared at Sam in the mirror was unlike any Transformer he had seen, he looked built for speed and agility than pure strength. Sam's armor was mainly gold with silver stripes going down his arms and legs, the tires from the bike on his back. He was also pleased to see bright blue optics staring at him.
"Now, let's see what weapons you got. Eventually, you'll be able to activate them at will, but for now, let Blitz help you out. In this form, you two will be able to communicate through emotions and pictures. Since Blitz is unable to speak, that's all you can do." Primus said.
Nodding, Sam sent a mental thought towards his partner, inquiry about weapons. Feeling a nudge, Sam just went with his instincts again. Raising his arms, they both turned into cannons, and when he fired them off into the distance, they created a nice explosion. Blitz sent him some info about them; with a little focus he could adjust the strength of the blast. On each shoulder a smaller gun appeared, acting like a shot-gun or a machine gun, depending on his need. Sam figured out that all he needed to do was focus and those guns aimed and fired themselves. He also found out that they could be detached and used as hand-guns if need be.
"Good, you have standard Cybertronian weapons down." Primus said, pleased. "Now, each Cybertronian always has a weapon all their own, like Jolt with his electro whips or Prowl with his shuriken's. What do you have?"
Frowning, Sam sent an inquiry to Blitz, who sent the image of what he could do. Grinning widely, Sam produced his weapon. Clapping his hand together, he pulled them apart, a glowing blue chain made of energy formed between his hands. While one hand held the chain coiled up, the other let it sag towards the ground, where an energon dagger the size of a human appeared, barely grazing the ground. Thanks to Blitz knowledge, Sam knew how to wield the weapon without cutting something on his body off.
Primus closely examined the weapon, "Very interesting, I've never seen anything like this in our world…the chain seems to be able to adjust its length with merely a thought…unbreakable as well so it could be used as a makeshift shield in a pinch…the dagger is a work of art, sharper and harder than diamonds on your old world…I would guess it would severely damage any enemy you attack with it, if not just cutting off their limbs."
Sam nodded, swinging the weapon around in a hypnotic twirl, "Yeah, Blitz says that I can adjust the sharpness of the dagger as well, so I don't always slice and dice my enemies. He also said that it was similar to an old ninja weapon from my world called Kyoketsu-shoge, though it's been updated a bit."
"It's a deadly weapon, you'll be very formidable once you learn to master it. Since I don't know anything about the weapon, Blitz will have to be your instructor." Primus said. "Now, we're going to work on separating then combining again until it becomes second nature to you. In order to separate, merely focus on your life-forces becoming two again."
Sam let his weapon vanish in orbs of light before doing as ordered. More quickly than what it took to combine, Sam and Blitz were now standing side-by-side. The human though, shook his head,
"Man, that was a weird sensation. I got so used to have these double feelings, that just having one again messed with me."
"I imagine it would, now combine again." Primus said.
The rest of the day was focused first on Sam and Blitz combining until they could do it in a few seconds before separating again with no side-effects on Sam. It took a few hours, but they managed to do it. Afterwards the time was spent fighting Primus' holoform, using either hand-to-hand, guns and cannons, or Sam's new weapon, which he dubbed DAW. When Primus asked what that stood for, Sam grinned and replied 'Deadly Ass Weapon.' Primus just shook his head and laughed.
And that's how the next year went, with training in his combined form one day, to advanced lessons with Primus the next, then switching back. He also started working on his new abilities, which involved cloaking in combined mode and telekinetic shields as human. It got to the point that not even Primus could detect him cloaked and he had trouble breaking through the semi-transparent blue shield. Sam had managed to figure out how to move and project it, being able to shield an ally from a distance or cover several allies at once. While cloaking didn't tire him out, shielding for a long period of time did so he had to be careful.
His lessons progressed very well. He was able to bring a holoform mech from the brink of dying, able to out-smart Primus in a life-size game of chess and a war game with holoform pieces acting as his army's (the look on the other's face was priceless and one of Sam's favorite memories.) Weapons, tactics, everything Primus taught him he mastered, though he knew that those with millennia of experience could and would probably kick his ass. But when he used DAW in a fight, he would give any Cybertronian a run for their money.
The Matrix had also had its fun with his body, finally finishing the changes it wanted. He could now be dubbed 'almost super-human' in terms of physical capabilities. There was no way he would be able to stop a speeding bullet without his shield power…well he could do it once but he wasn't keen on doing that any time soon. Primus had also said that the changes included Sam's need for sleep, food and air. He now needed very little sleep to survive, same with food, though Sam was warned that if he went too long without sleep, he would sleep for days mostly, as for that he would pass out if he went too long without eating. Breathing was only a habit with him now; he didn't need air to survive.