[Rock N Roll by Led Zeppelin plays]
Me: Hey there everyone, it's WOLFWATCHER12 back in the saddle with The Amazing Ghost Musician and once again, we are inside Club Luda from the Def Jam Vendetta games, but more improvements have been made. And dude, I'm ready for another chapter of Steven Universe: War Of The Beasts, are you?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Hell Yeah! This is a project that we do together, broski. You know that!
Me: Yeah, anyhow, this chapter is a fusion of a few episodes of Steven Universe original and Future, the one where Steven and Pearl find Pink Diamond's original Pink Pearl.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Yeah and just so our fellow readers know, this is going to replace that Beast Wars episode "Double Dinobot", since it wouldn't work in this story. You wanna tell them the whole plot of this special chapter?
Me: Sure thing. It starts with Steven hanging out at Little Homeschool with the other students there, and he gets a call and it's Connie, telling him she is on her way to Beach City for a visit, he is overjoyed to hear that and can't wait to tell the others the good news. However, something else has occurred.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: That's right! It turns out that Pink Diamond's original Pink Pearl had been active, and it happens when Optimus sends Steven, Connie, Pearl and Cheetor to look for an energon reading to the location that the original Pink Pearl was found. And the sad part is, the Pink Pearl has a crack in its face that might be damaged beyond repair.
Me: And that ain't good! Looks like they gotta find a way to either fix the crack or it will get worse. But, if word of this gets to the Predacons, it may go from bad to worse. Don't you think?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Indeed and speaking of which, while that is happening, we find Garnet, Amethyst, Dinobot and Rattrap checking to see what the Predacons have plot and it's gonna be bad. Megatron and Tarantulas have made a cloning machine, which they plan to use to clone all of the Maximals and the Crystal Gems so they would turn on each other, and divide their team.
Me: Oh man, sounds like it's gonna be grim.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: It totally does! While on this mission, Amethyst continues to buttheads with both Dinobot and Rattrap during some of this mission. Hopefully, this won't cause their mission to backfire.
Me: Yes, I hope so too. And also, I wonder what else lies in store for them all.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: We'll just have to wait and find out what happens as the story goes on. Now shall we start the chapter?
Me: Consider it shall!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So kick back and start reading, it's time for chapter 14.
Both: IKUZE!
Disclaimer: We do not own Steven Universe or Beast Wars/Transformers in any way. All rights for Steven Universe go to Rebecca Sugar, Ian Jones-Quartey, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Inc. All rights for Beast Wars: Transformers go to Hasbro, Larry Ditilio, Bob Forward, YTV, Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Media and Claster.
Chapter 14: A Crack In The Pearl!
We find ourselves at Little Homeschool where Steven is spending time with the Crystal Gems there, telling them about his exploits with the Maximals. And Cherry Quartz is fascinated by this.
"And then Cheetor and I managed to help out Lapis deal with her duplicates, and got one of them to stay here while the other chose not to." he said, as he concluded one of his latest ones.
Cherry Quartz then said, "So, now that Gemudar is gone, do you think there will be more Crystal Gem Monsters?" wanting to know.
"Hard to say, but if there will be, the Maximals will be ready for them." Steven said, with determination.
The students of Little Homeschool all clapped in applause for that. "Thanks for taking the time to come here and tell us about these adventures you had with Optimus and the Maximals, Steven." said a Purple Crystal Gem.
"It was my pleasure," Steven replied, "But this war with the Predacons is far from over, I have a feeling Megatron won't stop until he enslaves the Earth and turns it into his fortress." he then thought about Megatron's plans. "And if he ever gets enough Energon, he'll conquer the galaxy. Which is why I need to step up and establish an alliance between Earth and Cybertron before things get tougher."
"Hoo boy, that can't be good," said another one in the crowd.
But then, Steven heard his phone ringing and he decided to answer it, "Hello?"
"Hi Steven, how are you?" said a female voice.
Steven instantly recognized who it was, it was Connie Maheswaran, a friend of his. "Connie, I'm fine, how are you holding up?"
"Oh, the usual." she replied, telling her how she had been.
"Not really, a lot of stuff has happened over the past month." Steven explained, telling her about this. "You see, this spaceship crashed near my house and inside it was this race of robots called the Maximals, they're Transformers, mechanical beings from the planet Cybertron." he added, but then Connie stopped him for the moment.
"Wait a minute, you're telling me that you met actual ROBOTS from another planet?" Connie asked in excitement.
"Well they're Transformers, so they decided to disguise themselves as animals in order to prevent stasis lock, since the Energon amount is too much and could result in permanent damage." Steven said, relating the situation to her.
Connie was bewildered. "Whoa! I think I'd like to meet them."
"Okay, how long are you gonna be in town?" asked Steven.
"Only for three to four days, so I have plenty of time to spend with you." she said, letting him know about this. "And at the same time, I can get to know the Maximals and what they're doing here."
"It's a long story, Connie!" Steven said to her. "I'll explain everything when I bring you to their ship, the Axalon."
"Okay, sure thing." replied Connie. "I'll be at the airport in a few minutes."
"I'll be there. Bye." Steven said, as he and Connie hung up on their phones. "Well, I gotta meet with Connie, I'll be back tomorrow." he told them.
"Sure thing." said Cherry Quartz, as she smiled at Steven. "Give her this, before you go to the Axalon." She pulled out a picture of everyone at Little Homeschool and with a smiling nod, Steven hopped into his car and said his goodbyes to the students of Little Homeschool.
Little did Steven know though, Black Diamond was monitoring something on his scanners and his soldiers continuously looked over the screen for it and then they spotted something.
"Sir, you better have a look at this." said the soldier.
Black Diamond walked towards it and asked the soldier, "What is it?"
"According to our tele-scanners, a massive amount of energy is emanating from this planet in the northern cluster of the Milky Way." the soldier elucidated to him.
"Is that so?" Black Diamond smirked.
"Yes sir, have a look." replied the soldier.
And so, Black Diamond had a look at where the energy spike was heading from and it was a planet far away from Earth. "Hmm, most intriguing. I'll look into this myself." he then told the Soldiers. "Prepare my scout ship! Have the hunter drones head for the planet and converge on my signal!" he ordered.
"Yes, sire!" the soldiers said unison.
"Admiral, you have the bridge!" Black Diamond turned to his admiral and he gave him control of the bridge until he returned from his escapade.
"Yes my lord!" replied the admiral, as he sat in the chair.
And with that in mind, Black Diamond went to gear up for his mission.
We now see Steven and Connie leaving the airport in Steven's car. Connie is a young Indian-American girl with dark brown skin and a slim figure, and is slightly taller than Steven. She has a prominent nose with black eyes with thick eyebrows and has dark brown puffy hair that varies in length. And she is dressed in a light orange blouse with denim shorts and sneakers.
And as they rode to the Axalon, they decided to do some catching up. "It's good to have you back in town, Connie," said Steven.
"Thanks Steven." she said. "I wish it was under better circumstances though."
"Me too. While we head to the Axalon, how about some music?" he offered. "And as we listen to it, we can catch up."
"Sure thing." Connie agreed.
Steven turned the radio on and the D.J. said, "Well Beach City, this is D.J. B-Rize and we are going with a classic one for you. It's James Ingram and Michael McDonald with "Yah Mo Be There." and thus the song played.
(BGM: Yah Mo Be There by James Ingram and Michael McDonald plays)
"Oh I love this song!" said Connie.
"Me too." Steven agreed
As they caught up with each other, they kept on driving to the Axalon.
Meanwhile, at said ship, we see Cheetor looking out the window at the sky. He was then joined by Pearl and also with them was Rhinox and Garnet.
"The planet never ceases to amaze me," said Cheetor.
"Agreed," said Pearl. She looks a little closer and spots Steven's car. "Hey look! It's Steven, and he's got Connie with him!"
"Connie's back?" asked Garnet, feeling amazed.
Rhinox saw this, "Better open the hatch."
"Right away!" said Cheetor, as he converted into robot mode and pressed the button that opened the hatch.
Steven showed Connie the Axalon and boy was it a sight to behold. "Well, here it is, the Axalon, right next to my house." he said to Connie, showing her how it looked. Optimus walked into the main hold and saw what was going on.
"Hey Optimus." said Steven, as he greeted him.
"Steven, glad you're here," he said. "This must be your friend who has been out of town for a while."
Connie nodded and said, "Yes, my name is Connie Maheswaran, it's nice to meet you." introducing herself.
"Nice to meet you too, my name is Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals." he introduced himself and began introducing his team. "This is Rhinox, Cheetor, Rattrap, and right here is Dinobot." he then introduced them to her. "Maximals, this is Connie Maheswaran, Steven's friend."
They all greeted her and such and they all transformed into robot mode. This had Connie astonished, "Whoa! Amazing!"
"Thanks," said Cheetor, feeling admiration from the girl.
Steven then said, "Also Connie, Dinobot is actually a Transformer who defected from the enemy faction, the Predacons."
"It is true, Connie." Dinobot said. "I betrayed the Predacons to join the Maximals, as their strategist."
Cheetor nodded to confirm that. "Yeah, and he's helped us out more times than I can remember."
Pearl then said, "Connie, it's good to see you again!" as she, Amethyst and Garnet all hugged her.
"Hey girls!" Connie said. "It's good to see you too. And I heard that this Megatron wants to find something here on Earth that could give him enough power to conquer our galaxy." she wondered.
Rattrap replied, "Yeah, it's Energon that he's looking for."
Steven then explained. "You see, Energon is the fuel for Cybertronians. I guess you could say it's their life-blood."
"Yes, two factions of Transformers have constantly been fighting for Energon ever since the Great War." said Optimus, adding to it. "It was waged between our ancestors, the Autobots and the Predacons' ancestors, the evil Decepticons."
Connie was left astonished by this sort of news, "Wow! From what Steven told me, it sounds like Megatron wants to not only conquer the Milky Way, but also turn the people of Earth into his slaves and turn the planet into his fortress." she said, summing it all up.
"It's part of the Predacons goal of Galactic Conquest." Rhinox stated to her. "But we cannot allow that to happen. Dinobot found out the plan and told us about it, but now it seems Megatron's scientist, Tarantulas, has created Gem Predacons."
Cheetor huffed a little, "Yeah, Flamenix, DarkFanger and Spinotor." He named the three in question.
It was then that Garnet perked up, "But that's not the only thing that happened, but Jasper, Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby have joined Megatron's side."
That made Connie let out a gasp in horror. "What!? I can't believe it! Why would they-?" she asked, and then Steven spoke up.
"Megatron offered them the chance to try and kill me." Steven said, solemnly. "I originally wanted them to join Little Homeschool, but they just refused." he then sighed sadly.
Connie could see how down Steven had felt about this whole thing, she had heard about him being bullied and belittled by Jasper, and so she held him close to her. "Steven, not everyone can agree with your ideals for the future." Connie reassured him, "Don't let her bother you."
Garnet agreed with that, and then she brought something else up. "There is another part of this, we plan on making Gem Maximals to turn the tide against the Predacons, we already have Lapis, Bismuth and Peridot helping us."
"Yeah, and then there's Tigatron the Barbarian." Rattrap said, commenting about their other felyne comrade. "He's our scout in case the Preds are up to no good or something."
Pearl got Connie's attention and said, "You'll meet him later. He's a kind-hearted soul but he feels he's more of a tiger than a Maximal."
"At least until his Identity Circuits repair themselves." Rhinox added.
Optimus nodded, "Yes, and the rest of our crew is orbiting the planet in the Stasis Pods we lost during our space battle with Megatron's ship, the Darksyde." he said, adding to this.
Garnet added, "But until we can bring them out of orbit, we'll have to make do with what we have. And the Axalon won't ever fly again."
"Blast it!" Connie said, feeling saddened that the Maximals can't get their ship up and running. "Since the Axalon can't fly anymore, maybe you guys need a new ship."
Steven lit up with amazement. "Yeah, a new ship would work, but we'd need the right materials to make it." he said to her.
"It'll be a while before we can get the materials, but it will be worth it." Rhinox said, stating the obvious.
It was then that Optimus spoke up, "We were hoping maybe you could help us with something." he added.
Connie was eager to answer, "Whatever you need, I am ready for it."
"Great! Glad to hear it!" Steven agreed with her.
They then went over to the console and Optimus pressed a few buttons and on the table appeared a hologram of the energy signature. "There's a strange energy coming from this area."
Pearl then looked at it. "Hmm, what could this be?" she asked.
Garnet looked over it and did a cross analysis of it and it began to match something she might have seen before. And with a little stroke of luck, she got a match. "Holy Gee, it's the same signature as Pink Diamond's original Pearl!" she said in shock.
"Her original Pearl?! Are you sure?" Cheetor asked, feeling surprised.
"I'm positive, Cheetor!" Garnet said.
Just then, Pearl walked up and got a look at it. "Oh my, this is astonishing!" she said, feeling amazed by this. "It looks like Pink Pearl could still be alive!"
"Yeah, that's gotta be it!" Steven said. "Any ideas of how to handle this, Optimus?"
Optimus then spoke up and said, "Yes, it must be brought here at once." he ordered. "Steven, you go with Connie, Pearl and Cheetor to find Pink Diamond's original Pearl, and bring it here."
"You've got it, Optimus!" Steven said, and with that said, they geared up and headed out to find it. Pearl felt a little bit overjoyed that she would be reunited with her original self, Pink Pearl.
And as they began to search for her, Dinobot began to wonder something about this. "How did Pink Diamond lose her Pearl before?"
Garnet then explained, "It was when White Diamond came to be." she started off. "She took Pink Pearl away from Pink Diamond by force. And after that, 8,000 years later, she resurfaced to take revenge on Pink Diamond, but she had already gone. But then, Pink Pearl along with Yellow and Blue Pearl assisted Steven in his Era 3 Rules For Dismantling White Diamond's Empire. She was excited about the new Era and hopes that nothing goes wrong. When Yellow Pearl mentions the remaining two Light Prisms, and that Pyrope and Demantoid would not answer her attempts to reach them, Blue Pearl then suggests using force to which Steven had quickly refused." she added.
This made the Maximals all stunned about the whole revelation. "By the Allspark!" said Optimus.
Meanwhile, outside the Axalon, Steven, Cheetor, Pearl and Connie began searching around to find Pink Pearl, so far they had not been able to find a thing.
"Alright, we've reached the spot, Optimus." Steven said, into his communicator.
Optimus replied, "Okay, great work. Keep searching and let us know what you find." he instructed.
"Will do, I'll contact you if we find anything, over and out!" Steven replied, acknowledging his orders.
They got out their scanners and began their search for where the energy signature was coming from. Connie then decided to get some information from Cheetor.
"So, Cheetor, how long have you been in Optimus Primal's crew?" she wondered.
Cheetor replied, "About 3 to 4 stellar cycles, that's years in Earth time." he rendered Connie intrigued.
And then she wondered, "Wow, how did you end up joining him?"
"Well, it's like this," he explained. "I used to be a cadet of the Maximal Command Security Force, I left the organization young after being recruited by Big Bot based on his leadership potential," he added. "I enthusiastically joined the crew of the Axalon, hoping to see the furthest reaches of space. My old vehicle mode could reach 550 mph, making me the fastest Maximal aboard the Axalon even before landing on prehistoric Earth. I then served as Axalon's communications officer."
"The signature is close, real close." Pearl said, as he scanner kept on beeping.
Steven then looked around and saw where Pearl was going. "This area has gotta be it!" she said.
"What could it be?" asked Steven.
"This must be the site where the original Pearl crashed after White Diamond was defeated," said Connie, as she looked over it.
"And you can bet that she reverted back to her dormant form." Cheetor added.
They then spotted the dormant Crystal Gem in said form in the ground, Steven picked it up and said. "Hmmm, let's see if we can bring her back." said Steven. "Then let's show her to Optimus and Rhinox."
"Right!" the others said in unison.
Meanwhile, at the Predacon base, we see Megatron polishing his armor and Scorponok was helping him with that. It was then that they heard a knock at the door. They turned their heads, and Megatron said, "Come in!"
It was Jasper who said, "Lord Megatron, Scorponok, I found something you should see." She then pulled out something that made Megatron smile evilly.
"Ahhhhh, you found samples of the Maximals and Crystal Gems from one of our previous battles!" he said, feeling overjoyed. "Good work!"
"Thank you, milord!" Jasper said, bowing to him and making him smile again.
Megatron looked at them and they were accurate samples of Optimus, Cheetor, Rhinox, Rattrap, Dinobot, Steven, Lapis, Bismuth, Tigatron, Amethyst, Garnet, Peridot and Pearl. "With these, we can make clones of all the Maximals and Crystal Gems…Yessssssssssssssssssssss!" he cheered.
"That's right!" Scorponok agreed. "We're gonna need our scientist!"
Jasper and Megatron agreed to this, and they called it in. "Tarantulas, prepare your cloning lab at once!" Megatron said over the loudspeaker.
"Yes, my lord!" said Tarantulas, as he got everything ready to do this.
After Tarantulas got his cloning lab ready for the process, he informed them that the process would only do one clone at a time, and they will have to allow it. And with that out of the way, they got to work.
"Hehehehehehe, this should be fun!" said Tarantulas, as he snickered.
Megatron then saw that everything was in order and he said, "Nucleate the thermal coils!"
"Nucleating!" said Scorponok.
"Activate mutanator beams!" Megatron added
"Activating!" said Jasper, adding to this.
Then Megatron ordered, "Boost particle ionator to triple capacity! Increase chamber pressure!"
Scorponok then pressed a button and said, "Boosting!"
He races from one spot to another and checks the readings from one of the consoles to the next, adjusting the controls and pressing buttons.
Just then, Jasper saw the gauges and they were going into the really high zone. "The circuits…They're overloading!"
"Let them!" said Megatron. "Activate the accelerator! FULL FORCE!" he ordered.
There was a huge power surge followed by an explosion within the chambers. The entire lab clattered, shook, buckled and sparked so loud, it cracked like a gun.
As the debris cleared, Megatron, Jasper and Scorponok got up and inside the chambers stood opened up and the experiment they had conducted was indeed a success. And here we see clones of the Maximals and Crystal Gems all laying on the floor at attention.
"Yessssssss! SUCCESS!" he shouted, as they all walked over to the area. "I present to you, exact clones of the Maximals and Crystal Gems!" He showed them how accurate they looked. "And all we needed was a speck of each one's DNA," he added. "Thank you for gathering those, Jasper."
"You're very welcome, Lord Megatron." Jasper knelt down.
Scorponok mused the clones, "Very impressive, sir!" he said. "But, uh, what do we need them for?" he wondered.
Megatron then began to elucidate him, "They shall provide us, shall we say, an unfair advantage, by infiltrating the Axalon and shutting down the defense grid they call Sentinel."
"So basically, we're going to use them to sabotage their hideaway." Jasper said, with a smirk. "I like this plan, milord."
"Glad you approve, Jasper. Yessss." Megatron said, as he kissed Jasper's hand while she smirked. "Of course, the Maximal Clones can't transform nor can the Crystal Clones fuse together, but I doubt it will be necessary."
Scorponok looked at them and said, "And you're certain these…'zombie bots and such' can pull it off?"
The clones snap to life and the replica Dinobot said, "Not only will we pull it off, we'll chew it up and spit it out!" he snapped his jaws.
"Excellent!" said Megatron. "Now, it's Terrorsaur, Flamenix, Waspinator and Bluebird's job to keep the Maximals occupied, then I'll…."Send in the clones"." he chuckled a little bit.
When they got back to Steven's house, he did the same thing he did for Cherry Quartz and it brought it back to life. And it showed that she has all of the typical features of a Pearl, with a thin and flexible build and a pointed beak-like nose. She has an overall pink color scheme, with her skin being light pink and her eyes are a very pale magenta, and her lilac hair is twisted into two Princess Leia-inspired buns (presumably meant to resemble roses) that are held to the sides of her head. Her clothing consists of a hot pink and dark rose midriff-like top, with lilac glove-sleeves. She wears dark rose tights with hot pink leggings, as well as very pale magenta flats and a sheer lilac tulle skirt. Her gemstone is located on the upper part of her navel and is an oval-shaped cabochon, bearing similarities to that of the Crystal Gems Pearl's gemstone.
Her most prominent feature is the atypical scarring over her left eye, which is lined with cracks that extend to the chin, hairline, and hair bun of her physical form, completely covering the missing eye.
"Whoa! It worked!" said Steven.
The revived Pink Pearl opened her eyes and looked around and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Steven…Steven Universe." He introduced himself.
Pink Pearl looked at him, "Nice to meet you." she said. She then looked at what happened to her face, "Um…Can you help me fix my eye?" she asked.
Steven saw how bad it looked and he said, "I'll have you fixed up in a jiffy." He then motions Pink Pearl to sit on a chair and licks his palm. She cringes a little bit but then he says, "Oh, sorry. I-It's never not gross when I do this." as he pats his palm onto Pink Pearl's gem and waits... as nothing happens.
"Did it work?" she asked.
"Maybe if we try applying it directly to the injury?" Steven asks himself, as he licks and pats his palm onto Pink Pearl's cracked eye, which again results in nothing. "Huh!? Is it me?" he then runs over to a potted plant in the living room and plucks a leaf from it. He then taps on the stem with his healing spit, which results in a flower bouquet blooming. "It's super not me. Hmm…" he thought it over and then asked her. "I'm sorry if it's a sore subject, but can you remember anything that happened while you were under White Diamond's control?"
"Nope." she said, casually. "8,000 years just, blip, gone!"
"So, you must not remember getting this crack in the first place." Steven deduced.
Pink Pearl then replied, "Oh, no, no. This is from before." she pointed at the crack.
Steven was perplexed about it. "White hurt you before she controlled you?" he wondered.
"What? Oh, stars! What a misunderstanding." she chuckled a little. "This is all Pink Diamond." Pink Pearl pointed the blame.
Hearing that made something in Steven flare up. "My mom?!" he exclaimed as he tenses up, briefly turning pink, and Pink Pearl gasps in shock. Steven quickly notices and shakes. "Sorry, it's just baggage."
"Is everything... all right?" Pink Pearl asked, feeling concerned for him.
"Yep, but this is not about me!" Steven reassured her. "We're gonna get you fixed up, and I know just the Pearl to help us! But first, we better head for the Axalon."
Steven then brought Pink Pearl into the Axalon and explained the whole thing to Optimus and Rhinox. "So you see, this version of Pearl thinks my mother was the one who did that to her." Steven said to them, feeling depressed. "And when I tried to repair her, it wouldn't work."
Optimus felt concern towards him. "Don't feel down Steven. You and Pearl can figure it out." he said to him.
He looked up and said, "You're right. I'll do what I can, Optimus."
And with that said, Steven saw Connie, Pearl and Cheetor watching some of the students of Little Homeschool playing on the beachside.
"Steven, you brought her back to life," said Cheetor.
Steven nodded, "So, this is Pearl. She was Mom's- I mean, Pink Diamond's Pearl, too, a long time ago. And, Pearl, you remember Pearl? She was also Pink Diamond's Pearl- Argh, that's too many Pearls! We should probably give you a nickname." he suggested.
"Not yet, but for now we'll just call her Pink Pearl," Pearl said.
Steven nodded in agreement, as did Connie as she walked up and so did Cheetor. "Anyway, we're here because of the crack on her face," said Steven.
Pearl saw how bad it looked. "Oh, poor thing." she then whispers, "It's such a shame what White did to her."
Steven tenses up again, turning pink once more, making Connie and Cheetor stunned.
"Steven?" Pearl asked, sounding confused.
He was having a flashback of Angel Aura Quartz going into battle. She roared, "Waahhh!"
Flashback…
He was having a flashback of Angel Aura Quartz going into battle. She roared, "Waahhh!" as she gets knocked flying across the place in the background and crashes into the sand, which snaps Steven out of his pink state back to reality.
End of Flashback…
Steven shook his head, "It doesn't matter how it happened!" getting himself straight. "What matters is finding a way to fix it." It was then Steven told them. "My healing powers didn't work on her. We thought maybe you know what to do."
Connie then deduced, "Maybe your powers are incompatible with her." she said. "That, or maybe it's something else.
They all thought about it and then, one of them had the lightbulb in their head turn on. "Well, when a Pearl was damaged, they were usually brought to the Reef." Pearl said.
Cheetor wondered, "The Reef? What is that?"
"From what I've heard, it's where all the Pearl Crystal Gems are made." Steven said to him.
"Yes! That's exactly what Pink would do." said Pink Pearl.
"Well, I was her Pearl." Pearl said.
Pink Pearl nodded, "Me, too! We were very close."
Pearl chuckles, "I love your energy. It reminds me of when I was younger."
"I'm older than you." said Pink Pearl.
Cheetor gets hit in the head by a ball, "Ow!" as he sees it ricocheted onto the ground. "Damnit!"
"Sorry about that, Cheetor!" said a teal Crystal Gem.
"It's cool!" Cheetor reassured the little one.
Following Pearl's advice, Steven and the Pearls warp through toward the oyster-shaped facility.
Meanwhile, as they went to the Reef, Optimus then began speaking to the others.
"Alright everyone, while Steven, Connie, Cheetor and Pearl help this Pink Pearl fix her eye, we're gonna find out what this other energy signature is." he said to the ones gathered around. "Rattrap, you go with Garnet, Dinobot and Amethyst to find out what it is."
"You got it, big ape." said Rattrap, agreeing to this.
"Alright, Roll Out!" Optimus ordered, prompting Rattrap and Dinobot to go into Beast mode and they went to the coordinates of the other energy signature. And as they did so, one of Black Diamond's probes was watching them.
On board the Shadow Empire flagship, Black Diamond was watching everything again and was quite intrigued by this.
"So, the Pink Pearl of that Pink Diamond woman is back, but doesn't remember what happened to her 8,000 years ago, eh?" he asked himself.
"Sir?" asked one of the soldiers.
He turned his attention to him, "Oh, I was just thinking about why it is that Pink Diamond's original Pearl doesn't remember the last 8 centuries." replied Black Diamond.
Black Diamond was then approached by Tanzanite and she had her arms folded, as she was also confused by that. "It really is utterly baffling." she said.
"Must have been the after effect of that last fight between Steven and White Diamond." Black Diamond summarized, as he was.
"Indeed!" Tanzanite nodded, in agreement. "From what I've heard, Steven Universe was able to reason with all three diamonds."
"Funny, I thought those three diamonds were unreasonable dictators." replied the soldier.
"They were, Steven must have just gotten lucky that time." Black Diamond denoted.
"Well sir, from what I've read here is that Steven used the power that Pink Diamond gave to him when he was an infant to defeat them." the soldier replied.
Black Diamond was perplexed by this sort of thing and was left bewildered too. "Hmm, a hidden power, even greater than my own." he mumbled to himself. He began thinking about how this could potentially put him at a disadvantage against the Maximals, Crystal Gems and Predacons.
Just then, Tanzanite embraced her husband and kissed him on the lips. "Don't worry, my darling." she said to him. "Let's head back to our room and I can help you relieve your thoughts."
Black Diamond smiled at his wife. "Okay then, let us adjourn to our boudoir." he said, in a charming way. "First Mate, you have the bridge."
"Thank you sir." replied the first mate, as they left the room.
Following Pearl's advice, Steven and the others found a Warp Pad and warped through toward the oyster-shaped facility. "Here we are," said Pearl.
Steven was quite in awe at the sight of it, as were Connie and Cheetor. "This is The Reef? Is this where Pearls are made?" asked Connie.
"Were, but yes." Pearl replied.
Pink Pearl then remembered, "It also serves as a luxury boutique and a center for refurbishment and repair." she added.
Steven was a little nervous, but he pulled through it. "Repair, yes! Just what I wanted to hear."
Cheetor raised his eyebrow. 'Steven looks a little nervous.' he thought. 'I'll have to worry about it later.' he added to himself, as they began walking through the hallway of the Reef.
Steven places his hand on a hand pedestal in the center of the room and activates the facility, "Welcome, Pink Diamond." said the computer.
Steven then corrected it, "Uh, no. I'm Steven Universe."
"Welcome, Steven Universe." it replied, with the correct name. "I am Shell, your guide to the Reef."
"Uh, hi, Shell." he greeted her nervously. "My friend, Pink Pearl, has a crack on her face, and we were hoping you could fix it."
Shell replied, "Understood." and soon, the lights began to turn on in the hallway. "Please follow the illuminated path to the Care Center."
Cheetor was impressed by this. "Nifty, and yet, so amazing," he said.
"You're right about that, Cheetor." Connie agreed with him.
Pink Pearl then said, "You really didn't have to come all the way out here for such a trivial thing."
"It's not trivial." Steven said, reassuring her. "Soon, we'll all be able to put the past behind us."
Pearl added to this, "Don't worry, Pink Pearl. I'll be right here holding your hand." she said, making her smile a little bit. And with that said, Steven, Connie, Cheetor and the Pearls begin following the lit pathway to the Care Center.
Meanwhile, on Earth, we now see Garnet, Amethyst, Dinobot and Rattrap in the woods, which is where the other energy signature is located at. Garnet used her scanner to try and get a more prominent fix on it. But so far, she has had no luck.
"Nothing yet, everyone." Garnet said, relaying the message. "The particles I've seen in this area are partly jamming my scanner, I can't get a read on the energy signature."
"Oh man, this is ridiculous." said Rattrap. "These particles, which I have not seen before, are really jammin this thing?" he asked her.
Amethyst huffed a little bit, as she did not like the way things were going for them so far. "This isn't boding too well for us."
Dinobot then sniffed around for something, and he felt something that the others were not aware of. "Something is amiss here, I can smell it." he said to them.
"You sure, that ain't your breath you're smelling?" Amethyst remarked.
Dinobot growled, "I resent that!" he snarled.
Just then, out of the bushes came Terrorsaur, Flamenix, Waspinator and Bluebird Azurite, with their weapons at the ready.
"Oh man, we've got company!" Rattrap said.
Dinobot and Rattrap converted into Robot Mode and began fighting them while Garnet and Amethyst got their weapons out and the battle broke out. Garnet fired at Flamenix and Amethyst fought with Waspinator, while Dinobot dueled with Terrorsaur, leaving Rattrap to fight Bluebird.
As Amethyst fought Waspinator, he had gotten out the new sword he had Tarantulas craft for him and they began clashing. "Got yourself a new sword, bug boy?"
"Thatzzzz right, Wazzzpinator felt the need to step up." he said, matching her wit.
"Yeah we'll see if you can keep it in one piece!" Amethyst joked at him.
It was then that Amethyst kicked Waspinator in the midsection, knocking him back to the other side.
"Haha!" Rattrap cheered, as he kept firing at Bluebird. "Nice shot, Amethyst!"
"Thanks dude!" she replied to him, as she fired her beam at Bluebird, stunning her a little bit. "Alright, while she's stunned, get her!"
"Gotcha!" Rattrap agreed, and then he fired at Bluebird again and she tried to raise her blade, but it was too late, the shot hit her, sending her to the ground. "That worked, double whammy on them?"
"You're on!" Amethyst agreed.
Terrorsaur and Bluebird saw the two of them begin to close in on them and then *THWACK* they were bashed on the head by them, causing them to stumble down the hill.
"Not what I would go with, but excellent work nonetheless!" Dinobot said, as he fired his laser vision at Flamenix, causing him to fall out of the sky and crash onto the ground.
Flamenix then struggled to get back up and then he pulled out one of his feather swords and got ready to clash once more. "I'm not through yet, Maximals!" He declared.
"En garde!" said Dinobot, as he readied his sword.
"Thanks for the warning." Flamenix said, getting his sword out as well.
Terrorsaur and Waspinator were shooting at Garnet and Amethyst and then Garnet thought of something. "Amethyst, I think it's time for Sugilite to stomp them, don't you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do!" she replied.
Dinobot was confused, "Sugilite? Who is that?" he asked.
It was then that Garnet and Amethyst got their Fusion mojo flowing and then in a flash of light out came a colossal and menacing fusion with a stocky, bulky build and four arms (each pair seeming to share a shoulder joint), with black markings on them. She features four, medium-lilac eyes located under a strong brow and a fifth one above it. Her mouth is twisted into a grin and filled with sharp, pointed teeth. She has a giant plume of spiky, dark purple-black hair kept in an untamed style similar to Amethyst's, but messier. Her skin color is lavender, like Amethyst's. In close-ups of her, she appears to have purple fingernails painted to appear as gemstones themselves.
Her gemstones are located on her chest, and on the palms of the hands of her arms. In her debut episode, Ruby and Sapphire's gemstones were located on her upper arms, whilst as of her post-regeneration, they were relocated to her lower palms.
"I think we just found out!" Rattrap said to Dinobot. "SHE'S GIGANTIC!" he exclaimed.
Terrorsaur, Flamenix, Bluebird and Waspinator were absolutely stunned by that fusion.
"Well well, what have we here?" Sugilite said, as she looked on with a sneaky grin on her face.
Terrorsaur gulped, "Oh scrap." he said, feeling defeated.
Sugilite swung her wrecking ball at the Predacons, starting with Terrorsaur and then smashed Flamenix, and did a spiral spin on Bluebird, making Waspinator chuckled with mirth, seeing that he didn't get blown up to scrap.
"Where do you think you're going, bug boy?" Sugilite, she smirked, waving her wrecking ball in his direction.
"Oh no!" Waspinator sighed, knowing that he's about to have happen to him and then *THWACK* he got hit by the wrecking ball and *KABAMMO!* they were crushed on the ground. "At least this time…Wazzzpinator has company!"
"Got that…R-Right." Flamenix stuttered and they all collapsed.
Once Sugilite was done, she defused back into Amethyst and Garnet, leaving Dinobot and Rattrap astonished and dumbfounded at the same time.
"Whoa!" Rattrap said, as he was astounded by this. "So that was Sugilite?"
"Yes." Garnet said, replying to the Rat Maximal. "She is the one that Amethyst and I fuse into. But she can sometimes be uncontrollable. She can often lose control sometimes." she informed him. "And Rattrap, when the time comes that Sugilite does lose control, don't go easy on her and assure me that you and Dinobot will bring her down if need be."
Dinobot and Rattrap looked at each other and silently agreed to that. "Yeah I'm well aware of how dangerous Sugilite can be, I have both you and Pearl to thank for that information." said Rattrap. "Just in case Sugilite does lose control, don't expect either me or chopperface to go easy on you two."
Dinobot added, "I will do my best to stop her, should she lose control."
Amethyst huffed a little bit. "Just leave it to the two of you to spoil my fun."
"Sometimes, having fun and focusing on the mission blurr to gray." Rattrap shot back, causing them to stare angrily at each other.
"Alright, please, focus!" Garnet urged, getting them to stop their arguing. "Let's get moving!" Garnet said, as they kept on moving. However, little did they know, something was watching them from afar. It looked to be a drone that had no gyros, but it had jets. The symbol on it meant it was one of Black Diamond's machines.
Now we see Black Diamond and Tanzanite in their bedroom and relieving themselves of their stress and they saw the whole thing happen on the screen in there. Needless to say, they were baffled to see that fusion.
"Yughk, that's Sugilite?" Black Diamond said, as he and his wife shivered at the sight of her. "Brrrrr, she scared the living daylights out of me," he added.
"Me too, darling." said Tanzanite, as she and her husband kissed.
The soldiers were looking over the battle data, they began doing some research and taking some notes.
Just then, one of the soldiers was writing down some notes and found something, he sensed the lightbulb in his head turn on. He knocked on the door and after getting the come in signal, he reported this to his master. "My lord, I've found a weakness of Sugilite that could be useful." he told him.
Black Diamond was intrigued, "Oh, what is it?" he asked.
"It turns out that Sugilite's weakness is her own reckless nature which can be something to exploit." he told him, showing him the notes he took.
"Hmmm, very peculiar." he said, thinking it over a little.
Tanzanite had a look at the notes too. "Yes, very peculiar indeed, my love." She looked at the notes over and over again to make sure that she memorized them right. "Are you going to use it now?"
"No, not just yet. Well, this may not be useful right now, but we'll have use for it in the future." Black Diamond said. "Keep these notes safe. Can't risk them falling into the wrong hands."
"Yes sir!" replied the soldier, as he bolted out of the room and put the notes in a safe place, which fortunately was a filing cabinet where he placed a new file on Sugilite inside of.
After that, Black Diamond then switched it to the camera drone that was in a section of Beach City, where a small crowd had gathered and were terrified by the sight of something in the town. "I will admit, Sugilite could present a problem, so I should come up with solutions for such a thing, should the need present itself." he chuckled and clucked.
And he began thinking it over.
Back at the Reef, we find Steven, Cheetor, Connie and the Pearls walking down the hallway that the A.I. called Shell showed them to go down. And as they did so, they marveled at how awe inspiring it was.
"WOAH!" Cheetor said, feeling amazed.
"Whoa-ho!" said Connie, as she looked.
Shell then chimed in and said, "Please feel free to take your time looking through the latest offerings in accessories and appearance modifiers as we make our way to the Care Center."
It was then that Pink Pearl gasped and saw something, "Look at these darling fans!" She was captivated by how they looked.
Steven smiled at the sight of that, and turned to Pearl. "What about you, Pearl? Any rush of nostalgia?" he asked her.
Pearl chuckled a little bit, "Please, nothing like looking at glitzy tchotchkes to get you nostalgic for a simpler time." She then looks at a ribbon wand. "I mean, really, who even needs junk like this? Right, Pink?"
But then, Pink Pearl zipped right over there and gasped, "What a sweet ribbon wand! It's just like mine." she summons a ribbon wand of her own and twirls it around elegantly. It was a gift from Pink. Isn't it exquisite? What did Pink get you?"
Pearl laughed a little, "It's sweet that you have these keepsakes, but, well, no need to be overly... attached."
However, out of spite, Pearl attempts to snatch the ribbon wand away from Pink Pearl, unmoved and gripping onto it tightly.
Steven and Connie had never seen Pearl do this before, and then Cheetor broke it up. "Guys, can we keep moving?"
Pearl realized that they still had something to do, "Yes, let's." she huffed, as she stomped off. "I've certainly had about enough of this circus of objectification."
Connie looked at Cheetor and he asked her, "What the spotted heck was that all about?"
"I have no clue, Cheetor." Connie told him. "No clue at all. But, I wish I did."
Steven was also baffled by this, but decided to brush it off for a little longer until they got to their destination.
Back on Earth, Rattrap, Dinobot, Amethyst and Garnet kept on going along the trail to find the energy signature they had been sent to find. But, so far, they were not having any luck.
"Yo, Garnet, how much farther is it now?" asked Rattrap, as he wondered.
Garnet replied, "We're within visual range of the energy spike!" she told him
It didn't take long for them to find that Garnet was right about that whole thing. "She is correct, this must be where the energy signature is at." said Dinobot.
Amethyst was also amazed by this, "And right under our noses, the whole time."
"Let's start searching for the cause of it!" Garnet said, as she got ready to dig.
Little did they know, Terrorsaur, Waspinator, Flamenix and Bluebird began pulling themselves together, with Bluebird doing the repairs and they reverted back to beast mode to try and catch up with the Maximals. Especially after the beating they took from Sugilite!
Meanwhile at the Predacon Base, Megatron was watching the whole thing and was glad to see his minions pulling themselves together, even though they had hast the first round, but they will try to win the second one.
"I cannot believe this day." he facepalmed himself, sighing with grief.
Just then, Jasper knocked on the door, "Lord Megatron, I must speak with you!" she said.
"Ah, Jasper, come right in." he announced, allowing her passage inside the room. "What do you have to report?"
"Sir, it appears as though Steven Universe has left the planet with Pearl and Cheetor." she told him, making him gasp. "It turns out the Maximals have found Pink Diamond's original Pink Pearl, and they are trying to fix her eye for what reason I do not know."
Megatron was intrigued by this sort of news, "Hmmm, very baffling." he said. He then looked at the footage of it Jasper collected. "Someone else was with them?" he asked her.
"Are you kidding me? What is SHE doing there too!?" Jasper asked, as she looked at the footage.
Megatron was confused and then Scorponok walked in, hearing the whole thing. "You know her?" asked Megatron.
Jasper nodded, "As a matter of fact, I do. That's Connie Maheswaran!"
Scorponok asked her, "Who is Connie Maheswaran?"
"She's a friend of Steven and the Crystal Gems, she and Steven fused before and they beat me years ago." Jasper told them both.
It was then that Megatron thought this over. He had no clue that Connie existed, or that her and Steven were able to fuse. 'This is rather shocking.' he thought.
"Wait, so now Crystal Gems can fuse with humans too?" Scorponok asked, in a baffling way.
"I had not counted on this one." Megatron added. "Do you have any memories of that battle that you can show us?"
"Of course, milord." Jasper said, as she projected her memories of that battle in front of the two Predacons. It showed Steven and Connie fusing into Stevonnie and beating her while Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl watched in amazement.
Megatron was bewildered and then said, "Fret not, Jasper." he reassured her. "Next time you face them, should they fuse, you will be better prepared."
Jasper looked up at him and she said, "You're right." agreeing with him as they snickered evilly.
Back at the Reef, Steven and the others had arrived at the Care Center and the double doors opened up automatically.
"Welcome to the Care Center. We have everything here to update or repair any Pearl." said Shell, as Pink Pearl steps onto a panel in the middle of the room. "Scanning in progress."
Pink Pearl was getting scanned and asked Shell, "So, how do I look?"
Unfortunately, Shell replied, "I am sorry. There is nothing I can do."
Steven and the others gasped, "But you just told us you could repair any Pearl!"
"Her physical form shows damage, but her pearl is perfectly fine." Shell replied, as she continued. "This injury must have been so impactful that it continues to manifest despite the fact that her pearl has been repaired."
That left Steven Perplexed by this sort of thing. "So, it's like... psychological?"
Pink Pearl raspberry-ed "That's absurd! I am fine." she replied, as she turned to Steven and the others, forcing a smile, as more cracks manifest on her eye.
Steven was frightened, "Ahh…"
Connie however, was curious, "How could White be so careless?"
Then, Pink Pearl began to chuckle and said, "Oh, no, Connie. You've got it all wrong. Pink did this."
Pearl clenched her fist and said, "What did you say?" as she approaches Pink Pearl
Steven tried to stop this, "Pearl, no!"
"It's a funny story, really." Pink Pearl confessed. "Once, Pink got tired of asking Yellow and Blue for her own colony, so she went straight to White. Of course, White told her she wasn't fit to run one, and, well, that set her off."
"Uh, "Set her off?" What are you talking about?" asked Pearl.
"You remember how she was with her destructive powers, throwing tantrums left and right?" Pink Pearl asked. "She had a scream that could crack the walls. She didn't mean to hurt me." she chuckles nervously. "I just happened to be standing too close to her that time and-"
Steven begins to cover his ears in anguish, "Doesn't matter, I'm gonna fix it!"
Pearl interrupted, "Destructive powers?" she said, feeling irritated. "Pink didn't have destructive powers; she was a healer! She didn't throw tantrums, she kept her feelings secret."
However, Pink Pearl did not believe her, "The Pink I knew couldn't keep a secret to save her gem."
"Are you kidding!?" Pearl yelled. "If anything, she was too good at keeping secrets, even from me!
Cheetor snarled at the both of them in frustration about this whole thing. "HEY! ENOUGH ALREADY!" he shouted, "Sorry about that, but you both need to shut your mouths! You're making Steven frustrated as it is, which is also making me upset!" that made the two Pearls look on and they blinked.
"Yeah, what he said!" Connie agreed with that, as she showed a stern look on her face. "I don't want to hear one more horrible thing you assume Pink Diamond did, you got that straight?!" She made both the pearls gasp, and Steven was in awe seeing Connie stand up for his mother, even though she never met her before. "I don't want to hear it, and neither does Steven, you both are upsetting him already!"
"Yeah, and I also don't want to even think about it!" Steven added to this. "I just…want to fix it!"
"Uh oh!" said Connie, feeling a little nervous, as Steven unleashes a room-wrecking shockwave from his rage, causing a crater beneath him and cracks everywhere in the room. Pink Pearl cowers in sheer fear, traumatized by her past experience. Steven lowers his rage with his entire body still pink. He looks down at the cracked floor seeing his glowing reflection and immediately regrets his actions as he changes back to his normal color. Suddenly, The room turns red.
Cheetor looked spooked by this, 'This is why we need Optimus with us.' he thought.
Shell then replied, "I am terribly sorry for the troubles these defective Pearls have brought you." in a manner that sounded overly controlling. "For Pearls exhibiting problems of this severity, rejuvenation is required."
Steven gasped and said, "What!?"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of oyster shells then encases Pearl and Pink Pearl on the panel, causing them to gasp.
Shell added, "When the process is complete, they will obey you without fail."
Feeling horrified by his own actions, Steven decided to rectify this. "No, no, no, no! What have I done?" he panicked, as he bangs on the shells. "Shell, stop it!" he demanded.
"Do not worry, Steven Universe." said the A.I. Your Pearls are about to be better than new. Feel free to watch their progress on the view screen.
"Oh slag!" Cheetor said, in anger.
A pink rejuvenation electricity begins zapping both Pearls, and they both scream and groan in agony as pink circuitry courses through their bodies, Pearl places her hand over Pink Pearl's shoulder and then she tells her, "I'm sorry for not believing you. It looks like I'm still making excuses for her."
Pink Pearl admitted, "Is that what I've been doing?! But she didn't mean to!"
Pearl said back to her, "But you were hurt- badly hurt!"
"I was badly hurt- How did you stop hurting?"
Pearl then hugs Pink Pearl and says to her, "I didn't."
Reciprocating the hug, the two Pearls begin glowing together, as the screen dissipates. Steven flinches backwards as the shells begin to crack and burst open, presenting Mega Pearl.
Steven and the others were stunned by this. "You fused!"
"Holy Scrapyard!" Cheetor said, looking at this.
Connie however, was astonished. "Whoa!"
Stabilizing her body, Mega Pearl stands proudly and confidently. Shell's core begins glowing red in high alert. "Warning: Unauthorized entity found within the facility. Defense protocol activated." Claws emerge from the walls towards Mega Pearl, who dexterously and elegantly slices away with her ribbon wand.
"Time to fade, heroes! Cheetor, MAXIMIZE!" he shouted, as he converted back into Robot mode and got his quasar rifle out.
Steven then turned to Mega Pearl, "Quick, let's go back to the entrance to shut down the Reef! Whoa, whoa!" he said, making way for her.
The door to the Care Center suddenly closes. Mega Pearl picks Steven up and slices through the door. Lasers begin blasting from the walls, and Mega Pearl maneuvers through them with grace.
Steven grabbed Connie and carried her with him, as they bolted for the exit. "Yeah, almost there!" As one last defense, giant clam shells emerge from the walls to block the exit, and tendrils grab hold of Mega Pearl to halt her movement forward.
Mega Pearl then spoke and said, "It's up to you now, Steven." she said, as she transforms her ribbon wand into a lance and hurls it, piercing through the many shells up front. She chucks Steven through, and he slides with his shield to the hand pedestal, shutting the Reef down and deactivating its defenses just in time. Exhausted, but relieved, Steven, Connie, Cheetor and Mega Pearl smile at each other, and depart from the Reef at last.
After departing from the Reef, they made it back to Beach City. "Phew, we made it back!" Steven said.
"Thank Primus, we got out of there." said Cheetor, wiping his forehead.
"Tell me about it, one more moment trapped inside that thing, and our memories would have been erased." said Mega Pearl, feeling panicked by that.
Steven then had a solemn look on his face and said, "...I'm so sorry. The whole trip was for nothing."
But, Mega Pearl reassured him, "No, it wasn't for nothing. Your mother's Pearls never had the whole picture." she told him, holding him. "One knew your mother was trying to change, but she couldn't understand why. The other never expected her to change at all. Now, I understand everything. Now, they finally get to have each other." she added, as Mega Pearl unfuses back into Pearl and Pink Pearl, still holding hands and heartful to one another as Steven smiles. Pink Pearl leans on Pearl's shoulder and gazes out to the distant skyline, with a glimmering eye.
But, then, a beeping sound could be heard on Cheetor's comm-link. "Cheetor here, go ahead."
"Spots, you made it back!" said Rattrap, as he spoke into the radio. "Were you able to fix Pink Pearl's eye?"
"Sadly no, but the A.I. of the Reef went out of control and tried to kill us." Cheetor told him.
"Slaggit!" Rattrap complained, feeling a sense of defeat on his part. "Well, you can worry about that later, we got the source of the Energon we found, but we ran into some Preds who tried to stop us."
"Say no more, Rattrap!" said Steven speaking into the communicator. "We're on our way right now!"
"Glad to hear it, Steven!" replied Rattrap.
They signed off from their communicator and headed for the other's location with Cheetor reverting back to Beast Mode and Connie was riding on his back which the Pearls and Steven took to the sky and headed for the outskirts.
Back with Rattrap, Dinobot, Amethyst and Garnet, they continued digging for the source of the Energy spike, which apparently was Energon.
"It seems as though Cheetor and the others were not successful in fixing Pink Pearl's eye." Rattrap told Amethyst and Garnet.
Garnet sighed, "Well, we can't worry about it right now." she said. "We'll have to make do with it when they get here."
"For now, we'll do just that and when they're ready to tell us what went down, we'll hear it." Amethyst said, sighing as she kept digging.
Dinobot also kept on digging, but then his nose began twitching because he caught some kind of scent in it. "Wait, hold on!" he signaled, getting everyone's attention. "I have a scent, and it's coming from a clearing, a few kilometers from this position!" he informed them.
They were intrigued by this and they got the Energon and placed it in the container that they brought with them to conceal the Energon in, so they would not be affected by the radiation output it had inside of it.
"What's this scent you caught a whiff of, Dinobot?" asked Garnet, as she felt curious.
Dinobot turned to her and replied, "I'm not sure, but it seems that Terrorsaur, Waspinator and Flamenix have repaired themselves and are patching up Bluebird post haste." denoting the situation to her. "But, there is another scent in the air. It reeks of….Diesel fuel and motor oil." he added.
"I guess those Preds are mucking around with some kind of machinery." Amethyst pointed out.
Rattrap got a look through some binoculars he brought with him, "Well, I think I agree with you on that one, Amethyst." He saw what they were doing down there. "It seems the Preds are looking for another batch of Energon in that area, and it seems to be across that bridge." he looked at the pathway that led to the clearing. "Looks like they plan on using it as a power source for that machine."
"Correct. And that machine is making clones of us." said Dinobot.
Garnet, Amethyst and Rattrap gasped at this. "WHAT!? HOW DARE THEY?!" Amethyst yelled silently.
"I believe that Megatron is using this as a plan to distract us and try and turn our comrades against us and each other." Garnet deduced.
"Aw man, if that doesn't freakin' take the chrome-plated cookie!" Rattrap deadpanned. "That is the dirtiest trick in the book, but they managed to pull that on us," he added. "I'm surprised that they haven't made a clone of Stripes yet."
Dinobot said, "Yes, they have not made a clone of Tigatron yet, let's make sure they don't get the chance."
"I would lose it if they'd made clones of Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot." Amethyst said, denoting she did not want to see any more duplicates of her friends.
Garnet put her hand on Amethyst's shoulder. "You're not the only one, Amethyst." she said. "I'd lose it too if I were in your position."
"Well, we're gonna have to send the coordinates to Cheetor, Steven and the Pearls so they can come here." Rattrap denoted as he typed in the coordinates.
At the Predacon Base, we see Megatron, Scorponok and Jasper going over the footage from the last time Jasper fought against Sugilite, looking for any weaknesses they could exploit in trying to make her lose control.
"So far, no physical weaknesses," said Scorponok.
"Not really, there is one weakness!" Jasper pointed out. "There are times when Sugilite loses control, mostly due to something she had been known for."
Megatron raised his brow, "And that would be?"
"Her own arrogance." Jasper denoted.
Megatron mused at this, "Ahhh….Yessssssss." he said. "This could be useful."
Scorponok then looked at his leader. "Lord Megatron, if she can't be controlled, she could eventually smash us and not even give a servo about who gets caught in the crossfire."
Jasper was wide-eyed about that. "Crap, I forgot that tidbit!" she deadpanned.
"Fortunately, I have a way to make that work to our advantage." Megatron said, as he signaled for another. "Tarantulas!" he called.
"You beckoned, Lord Megatron?" said Tarantulas, as he walked into the room.
"Yes, I need you to gather some new pieces of equipment to make something that will be useful for a future battle."
"At once!" said Tarantulas.
"Excellent!" said Megatron, as the tarantula Predacon left the room to gather the supplies needed.
We now see Dinobot, Rattrap, Garnet and Amethyst making their way to the clearing on the other side of the bridge and they spot a river of lava below.
"Oh crud, a lava river," said Amethyst, as she whispered.
"Best not to fall into it." Rattrap replied.
Garnet said, "We're going to have to cross the bridge to make sure we don't fall, we'll cross it one at a time."
"Whoa Garnet, are you crazy?" Amethyst questioned this at first.
"No slagging' way you're turning me into a roasted rat." Rattrap huffed.
"I'll go first then," said Dinobot, as he stepped forward in Beast Mode.
As the perilous trek across the bridge began, Dinobot made sure he did not trip and Rattrap converted back into Beast Mode and made his first steps across the bridge, fortunately the bridge was safe.
"It didn't break," said Rattrap. "Thank Primus."
"It appears to be sturdy enough to support us." said Dinobot, as he sniffed a little more. "However, be cautious nonetheless."
They made it across the bridge and then they heard whooshing sounds, coming from the sky. "INTRUDERS!" said a squawking voice. "Predacons, TERRORIZE!" It was Terrorsaur and the other Predacon Flyers converging back into Robot mode and then Dinobot and Rattrap transformed into Robot mode and began to counter attack.
"Oh slag!" said Rattrap, as he fired his pistol at Waspinator.
Garnet and Amethyst then bolted across the bridge and joined the fray, and it was at that moment Cheetor, Steven, Connie and the Pearls had arrived. "Do you guys need any help?" Steven asked.
"Much appreciated!" said Dinobot, as Cheetor converted into robot mode and the Pearls once again fused into Mega Pearl.
The Predacons gasped when they saw that there were now two Pearls who fused into one. And boy did that make Terrorsaur's jaw drop.
"WHAT THE?" they all said in unison.
"Hello Predacons, I am Mega Pearl!" She presented herself to her opponents.
"Oh no, not again!" Waspinator said, as Mega Pearl whacked him.
"Mega Pearl? What the hell?" Bluebird was stunned by the sight of this.
"Two Pearls fused into one?!" Flamenix panicked.
"Lord Megatron, we need backup!" Terrorsaur spoke into his communicator.
Mega Pearl then threw Waspinator around a little bit, and then turned her attention to Flamenix and he began defending himself against the Mega Pearl.
"Ugh…Damn, she's tough as a ram!"
"Whoa!" Amethyst was impressed by how strong Mega Pearl was. "Alright Mega Pearl, whoop his keister!"
Rattrap dropped his jaw and said, "WHOO HOO, ALRIGHT!" he whooped in excitement. "Spots, you won't believe what the Preds were doin!" he said to Cheetor.
Cheetor wondered, "What is it?"
"It seems as though the Preds made clones of all of us, even the Boss Monkey and Rhinox, minus the ability to transform or fuse!" Rattrap replied.
Steven heard this and shouted, "WHAT!? They cloned ALL of us!?" He was stunned.
Garnet nodded, and stated, "Yes, and apparently, they planned on using them to try and turn us against each other."
Cheetor snarled in rage, "SLAG, this makes me absolutely LIVID!" he said.
"Me too!" said Connie, feeling angry. "I mean, how DARE they do that!?"
Dinobot fired his laser at Bluebird, but she dodged a little bit and then blocked it with her umbrella sword. "Indeed, the cloning machine must be destroyed!"
"I'm all for that!" said Connie.
Suddenly, a missile fired at them, and it was launched by Scorponok who had arrived with Jasper, Tarantulas, Spinitor, Blackarachnia, DarkFanger and Megatron.
"Not if we can help it!" said DarkFanger, as he began to fight.
"Slaggit!" said Cheetor, as he fired his blaster at DarkFanger.
Steven then fought against his clone, and they punched and kicked each other. "So, you were made from a DNA sample from me in a petri dish, eh?" Steven taunted his clone. "Unless you have a fusion ability, you're nothing but a cheap copy!"
"This 'cheap copy' is about to throw you overboard!" The Steven clone sneered and kept fighting the real one.
"That's what you think, poser!" said Connie, as she kicked the clone in the gut. "Shall we?"
"Lets!" said Steven, as they began to fuse and when the light dimmed, it showed a young woman that was taller than Amethyst and Pearl but is a few inches shorter than Garnet. They have an average/athletic build consisting of Connie's slim figure with Steven's chubby and stocky features, curly black hair that reaches to their thighs, and a complexion slightly darker than Steven's. They are also wearing roller skates on their feet and they still had Steven's clothes on.
Jasper blew a gasket, "NO! NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO….NOOOOOOOOO!" she raged, as she charged at Stevonnie, only to get shot by Cheetor. "ARGH!"
"Don't even think of hurting them!" Cheetor yelled, before he returned his attention to DarkFanger.
Tarantulas fired at them too. Looking like there was no time to lose, Amethyst and Garnet fused into Sugilite again and charged at him, "Hey, Tarantulas! You're about to get squished!" she declared, as she pounded her fist on the tarantula Predacon.
"Oh no!" Tarantulas panicked.
*SPLAT!* Sugilite made good on it and squashed Tarantulas flat like paper. Next Sugilite grabbed both Waspinator and whacked their heads together and spun them around and slammed them on the ground. Next, Mega Pearl attacked Bluebird and knocked her into the machine, but not enough to wreck it.
"Ugh…Two Pearls fused into one is a good fighter." said Bluebird, as she stumbled a little bit.
"Got that right!" said Mega Pearl.
Stevonnie pounded Jasper a little bit and then did a spinning kick to the Clone Steven, knocking him back and the clone saw his hand as something began dripping down it, but it was not sweat, "Huh what in the heck?!" he said.
"What's going on?" asked Stevonnie, but then she began pounding the other Predacons with a spinning attack.
It was then that Sugilite spotted the machine and then made a beeline for it, throwing the Predacons out of the way and bashing them all with her fists and then she called out, "Hey, Rattrap, look at that over there!"
Rattrap saw the other clones, and it looked as though they were melting. "Hey, the clones…They're melting?"
"WHAT!?" Megatron yelled in anger and fright at the same time. "NO! NOT NOW!"
"Looks like the cloning process was not perfect, after all!" said Terrorsaur, as Dinobot fired at him, causing him to fall. And just then, Terrorsaur's body began surging with Energon Buildup. "AGGGHHHH, I'm shorting out! Beast Mode!" he transformed back into his beast form.
"Yo, Rattrap, I think this calls for one of your thermal detonators!" Sugilite said.
"Your wish is my !" he said, getting out a thermal detonator and arming it. He then threw it at the machine and when Scorponok saw it, he began chasing after it to prevent it from exploding, but was shot by Mega Pearl. DarkFanger and Blackarachnia then attempted to do so and they were double teamed when Stevonnie kept doing the spin attack, knocking them into Jasper.
At last, the detonator hit the machine. *TICK….TICK….KABOOM!* The machine exploded and the clones withered away into puddles of liquid metal.
"YEAH! That ought to do it!" said Cheetor. He then pointed his blaster at Megatron.
Scorponok was then wholloped by the three fusion Crystal Gems, as were the other Predacons
"Well Megatron, it seems you weren't as clever as you thought you were today." Stevonnie taunted the T-Rex Predacon.
Megatron growled in frustration at this, as energon built up on him too.
"You've won for now, but we shall return. PREDACONS, RETREAT!" Megatron said, as he converted back to his beast form.
And with that said, they all bolted back to the Darksyde in defeat as the Maximals and Crystal Gems all went back to the Axalon.
Later, at the Axalon, we see Steven, Cheetor, the Pearls, Amethyst, Rattrap, Garnet, Dinobot and Connie meeting up with Optimus and Rhinox.
"So Optimus, I wasn't able to fix Pink Pearl's eye, but then her and Pearl fused into Mega Pearl and got me, Connie and Cheetor out of The Reef after the A.I. nearly killed us." Steven said to Optimus. He then let out a sigh. "I wish I was able to do what I had intended."
Optimus saw how sad Steven was and said, "It's alright Steven. Don't be hard on yourself." he reassured him. "Not every mission comes with a 100% result. You did your best, but don't lose your temper again."
"Right, of course." said Steven, promising not to lose his temper unless someone provoked him insufferably hard. "But, after we returned, Rattrap told me that the Predacons cloned all of us and wanted to use them to turn us against each other."
"That is such an underhanded scheme, even for Megatron," said Rhinox. "But, did you blow up the cloning machine?"
"Sure did, big guy." said Rattrap, but then he showed them something else. "But, I managed to salvage a few parts from it and I think we can retrofit it to a device we can use against them, in case they cause more trouble."
Dinobot thought it over, "An excellent idea, but we'll save it for another day." he said to him, as he agreed with him.
"Yes, and let's keep it hidden from prying eyes, to make sure no one gets the drop on that." Rhinox said, as Rattrap gave Rhinox the salvage to hide away in what looked like a vault on board the Axalon and then he turned his attention to Pink Pearl. "But, what do we call Pink Pearl?"
"Well, I was thinking about Morganite, but that would be too odd." said Steven.
But then, Connie came up with something, "How about Star instead?"
"Star, hmmm, alright." said Steven.
"That would be great." Garnet agreed
Cheetor nodded, "Yeah, Star is a beautiful name." he commented, making her blush.
Amethyst shrugged her shoulders, "Eh, works for me."
Pearl nodded, "Me too."
Rattrap smiled, "Sure thing."
Dinobot nodded as he silently agreed to that notion.
"Then it's settled, welcome to the Maximals, Star." said Optimus.
Pink Pearl, now being called Star, smiled at this, "Thank you all very much." she said to them. "I will do my best to help you against Megatron and the Predacons."
"YEAH!" they all cheered, raising their hands to the sky.
To Be Continued…
[Rock N Roll by Led Zeppelin continues]
Me: Well, that was quite a chapter, eh what?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: It sure was, talk about a new edition to the team. Plus I like the new name we gave Pink Pearl, it suits her well.
Me: Yeah, much better than calling her Volleyball, eh?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: I really don't know why the hell they decided to call her Volleyball in that episode of Steven Universe Future. I know it was the new of the episode, but giving that name for a Pearl is just plan dumb.
Me: I was thinking more like goofy. Wouldn't you say?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Well whatever the case, I like the name "Star" a lot better.
Me: Me too. Anyhow, wanna tell the readers what the plot of our next chapter is?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Of course! The next episode is where we see the debut of Airazor, one of the best flyers of the Maximals.
Me: Oh yeah! It's based on the episode "The Spark", one of my favorites.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: It also takes place after the Steven Universe Episode "Bismuth Casual". After that date dance night with Steven, Connie, Pearl and Bismuth, they see a stasis pod that's crash landing in the desert. So they must head to the stasis pod's crash location so they can save the Maximal protoform.
Me: Lucky for them, Rhinox and Cheetor are on the case. They find the Pod in a ditch and the Protoform inside is on the verge of death because the crash burned out the locking chip.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So Rhinox must do everything he can to save the Maximal Protoform before it dies off for good.
Me: Cheetor learns about Sparks, the "heart" of a Transformer, when one goes online, there is great joy. But when one is extinguished, the universe weeps. But also, Scorponok gets into a short battle with Tigatron.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: But that's not the only problem the six of them are gonna have, there's also gonna be a number of Predacons heading to the desert to claim the stasis pod for themselves. Since we know that Megatron wants the Maximal Protoform for his Predacon Army.
Me: Yes, and Cheetor, Steven, Connie, Bismuth and Pearl must fight off Blackarachnia, Jasper and DarkFanger, but it won't belong before Waspinator and Terrorsaur come by to muck everything up.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So the question is "Will they be able to save the Maximal Protoform?" Stay tuned for when chapter 15 comes out, hopefully around my birthday.
Me: That's right, but before we get to that, The Amazing Ghost Musician is gonna be helping me, Shadowriter and PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47 (should he be there) with another story of my own.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: That's right, I'll be assisting them with their little crossover like any good writer should.
Me: And in case you don't know, it's Kamen Rider Crimzone, my crossover between Kamen Rider and my most favorite Nickelodeon cartoon, Danny Phantom!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Be sure to check out that story, it's going to be worth reading.
Me: Plus, you can also read it on Archive Of Our Own!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: But anyway, that puts it for today. We hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Me: Please read, review, comment, like, fave, share and keep tuned. And remember, NO FLAMES!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So until we meet again!
Both: SEE YA NEXT TIME!
In Loving Memory Of...
Kazuki Takahashi
Creator Of Yu-Gi-Oh!
October 4, 1961 - July 4, 2022
VIVA LA YUGI!