(If you want Blood (You've got it) by AC/DC plays)
Me: Yo, yo, yo! What up everybody!? It's WOLFWATCHER12 here along with The Amazing Ghost Musician and PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47 here and we all say to you….
The Amazing Ghost Musician: HAPPY NEW YEAR, FANFICTION READERS! I hope that the new year is starting off good for all of you, because we have a must see chapter for you today.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Yep! In this chapter, we'll be introducing not one, but two new characters!
Me: That's right. And a new crisis befalls Beach City as these new characters arrive.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: One of them is the fire ant Predacon known as Inferno, and the other one happens to be an Autobot Ancestor they call… JETFIRE!
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: As a new Crystal Gem Maximal, Jetfire scans a Masai lion based off of Simba from The Lion King Disney animated films, and a bald eagle, becoming a Maximal that transforms into a gryphon.
Me: That's right, and a gryphon will also be his Beast Mode in my other story, Transformers: Animal Warriors, which is still in need of improvement.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Let's not forget that Jetfire gets his lion form from a Crystal Gem that Steven found recently.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Nice! I wonder what his Gem Weapon will be?
Me: His Gem Weapon is still in the works, but aside from that, once Jetfire is reborn, he will show the Crystal Gems, the Maximals, the Predacons and everyone else in Beach City and Little Homeworld that the Autobot Legacy will live on forevermore.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: However, will Steven Universe along with some of the Maximals and Crystal Gems be able to get to Jetfire's stasis pod and rescue him in time?
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Hoo boy. I'm already excited about how this is gonna go.
Me: As am I. Also, Tarantulas may have something to do with Inferno being brought out
The Amazing Ghost Musician: While Steven goes off to see where in Beach City the first stasis pod will crashland, Tigatron and Airazor find the second stasis pod landing towards Predacon grounds. So they both must be on the lookout for the Predacons, since they will all try to claim the Maximal Protoforms for themselves, and make it into a new Predacon.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Holy cow!
Me: Yes! That and something else is happening, a huge power surge is happening in the city and some of the town is without electricity. Yes, that's right, Beach City is going through a power failure just like New York did back in 1966.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: I bet that this is partly caused by whatever the hell Tarantulas was doing in his lure, since it probably did enough damage to wipe out all the power within both Maximal and Predacon bases.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Oh damn. That can't be a good sign.
Me: It isn't fortunately, the Axalon has a backup generator on board and it can also power Steven's house. It was installed thanks to Rhinox and Garnet's ingenuity. And other than that, a new human ally will make themself known to the Maximals and Crystal Gems. Who is it, you'll know soon enough. But, that's for chapter 19. Anyhow, what else is gonna happen in this chapter, Ghost?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Well as I've just mentioned, there will be the two stasis pods crashing, with the one containing Jetfire landing in Beach City and Steven must go investigate. While that is happening, Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot meet with Tigatron and Airazor to see the other stasis pod crash landing near Predacon grounds, and the five of them must race to retrieve the Maximal Protoform. But they're unaware that Tarantulas and Blackarachnia are already after the protoform, as they intend to make another Predacon Arachnid like them.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Crap.
Me: Yeah, they made a goof-up on that part. And now it's up to the Maximals to sort the madness out until the Beach City power grid is up and running again, and at the same time, take down Inferno with Jetfire by their side.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Will our friend Steven Universe be able to bring Jetfire back, and in the very first Gem Maximal form?
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: We can't wait to find out for sure.
Me: Exactly, so with that in mind, let's get it on with this chapter!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So let's… GET IN… SIT DOWN… SHUT UP AND START READING!
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Let's do it, everyone!
All three: AWAY WE GO! ENJOY!)
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 18: A Spider's Treacherous Game And The Return Of Jetfire!
In the depths of Outer Space, high above the Earth, several Stasis Pods float lazily through the starry orbit of the planet. But also we see the Shadow Empire's flagship still parked where it remained. Black Diamond had been pacing while his wife, Tanzanite, had been writing in her journal.
"Black Diamond, darling, you're making me nervous." said Tanzanite, as she felt uneasy. "Must you pace up and down?"
Black Diamond then replied, "I'm terribly sorry, Tanzanite." he said. "Feeling like the Maximals and Predacons' constant battle for Energon could turn Earth into a battleground, is driving me up the wall. And down it too." he said, as he was walking up the wall and then down it, as he kicked a painting down from the hook.
"If only that Tigatron hadn't destroyed that island that your friends gave you." said Tanzanite, as her husband agreed with her. "It would have made a good spot to spend our anniversary at."
The Shadow Empire leader nodded in agreement to that. "Indeed. My original plan is to return from the dark zone after thousands of years, and seek vengeance on Pink Diamond and her descendants." he replied to his wife. "I tell you querida, I'm so mad I could jump up and down shouting unpleasant things."
"Please, darling, do not do that." Tanzanite said, reassuring him.
"Father, might I ask what you have in mind for me to woo over Blackarachnia?" said Prince Obsidian.
Black Diamond replied to him, "Ask and you shall receive, perhaps you can offer her a spot in our kingdom in exchange for information about Tarantulas' inventive plans." he suggested.
"That would make a good plan, though just in case that doesn't work, we'll have plenty of backup plans too." said the prince.
Tanzanite nodded in agreement. "True. And I sure hope it goes well."
"I agree, my love." said Black Diamond, as he were.
Just then, Black Diamond gets an alert from one of his soldiers on the intercom. "My lord, Black Diamond sir!" said the soldier. "Come to the bridge at once, there's something you have to see!"
"On our way!" said Black Diamond, as he, his wife and son raced to the bridge. "Alright, we're here! What's going on?" he wanted to know.
The soldier replied, "Sir, Ma'am, my prince, we spotted two Maximal Stasis Pods hurtling towards Earth." as he explained it. "One of them was infected with Predacon programming while the other was unaffected by it."
Obsidian then asked, "The Predacon programming code didn't affect the other one, what's so special about it?" he wanted to know.
"That's the strange part." said the Soldier, the unaffected Pod's Protoform has the spark that has this symbol!" he typed on the console and it showed a red insignia that looked like it was from 'The Great War', this was the symbol of the Maximals' ancestors, the Autobots.
Black Diamond was shocked to see that symbol. "WHAT!? IT'S AN AUTOBOT!?" he asked in fright.
"Precisely sire!" said the soldier.
Black Diamond was baffled and intrigued, "Hmmmm, this is utterly baffling and by jove, it's also bizarre!"
Tanzanite and Obsidian agreed. "How is it that an Autobot survived after all the casualties of the Great War?" asked Tanzanite.
Then, Obsidian said, "Soldier, pull up a document as to who's Spark is in that Protoform and see if we can identify who it is."
"At once!" The soldier opens the documents and uses the identifier to get a match as to who it is and it leaves the soldier shocked. "According to these Cybertronian documents, the spark is that of…THIS Autobot!"
They looked at the picture of said Transformer. "JETFIRE?! That old war-dog?" Black Diamond blurted out, stunned by this news. "He's been dead for god knows how long! He's been reformatted into a Maximal?"
"Not exactly, my lord!" replied the soldier, "His Spark stayed intact after all these years and was given a protoform body!"
Black Diamond was intrigued by this and looked over the data that was gathered.
The soldier read through it. "According to these documents, Jetfire had survived the Great War and retired from the ranks of the Autobots, along with the likes of Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod, Arcee, Preceptor and Windblade." said the soldier, as he was reading the data. "And when their old Autobot bodies were becoming destitute, they had their Sparks placed in capsules for storage transport. But never needed."
"Interesting!" Black Diamond replied, wondering what could have come of this.
"Until the upgrade from Autobot to Maximal and Decepticon to Predacon, most of their ancestors have retired while some were given new bodies and rumor had it one was reprogrammed and rebuilt as a Predacon." the soldier continued on, "But, nothing had ever been proven."
Obsidian was perplexed about this and he said, "This is very bizarre." he started pacing back and forth, thinking it over.
"It seems as though the ones from the Great War were not the only ones." said Tanzanite, as she looked at the list before handing it to her husband. "There were others from places like Velocitron, the Speed Planet, Animatron, the Jungle Planet and even Gigantion, the Giant Planet."
Black Diamond smirked, "Hmmm, this may be even better." he said to himself. "Where these Transformers came from after the Great War could be useful knowledge."
"Indeed father," said Obsidian, as he agreed with his father.
Black Diamond looks down at the Stasis Pods as they hurtle toward Earth and then, he says to the soldier, "Fire the laser at that stasis pod over there!" he pointed.
"At once, my lord!" And so the soldier pressed a button on the console and the laser fired at the Pod that Black Diamond pointed at and it hit, causing the pod to have a little bit of burning up in the atmosphere and one of them crashed in an ant hill while the other crashed elsewhere.
Back down on Earth, we find ourselves in Tarantulas' lair near the hillside area where the Gem Kaiju rested, he had been conducting an experiment but then his computer beeped.
[ATTENTION! MAXIMAL STASIS PODS BEGINNING PLANETFALL...] said the computer.
Tarantulas dropped what he was doing and went over to the computer to check it out. "Just as I calculated!" he said, as he looked it over and chuckled slowly. "E.C.M. Array, online!" He activated some sort of antenna outside his lair.
[E.C.M. ARRAY IN POSITION… COMMAND?] said the computer.
"Magna pulse, maximum power!" Tarantulas ordered, as he followed the blips, "Concentrate on this one!" he pointed to just the one pod.
[ACKNOWLEDGED!] replied the computer.
The array bristles with power and with a distinct whine as a blue laser shoots out of it.
Little did he know, Optimus and Rhinox were startled by this inside the Axalon. And they prepared for this as Optimus rushed out of there while Rhinox got busy working on the trajectory of the other Stasis Pod.
"Rhinox, what's going on?" Optimus asked, "I was running a strategic simulation when everything went dark."
"Magna pulse, all of our systems are down." Rhinox replied to him. "Most likely the Preds are behind this!"
At Little Homeworld, Steven was with some of the Crystal Gems there and he was with Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot during it. They were working on a new project for Little Homeschool and they heard the rumblings of something crashing and it caused some lights to flicker and then shut off completely.
"Hey, what gives here?" said Bismuth, demanding to know what was going on.
Steven looked around and tried flicking some switches, but nothing.
"What the hell is going on?" Lapis asked, in concern.
"We have a blackout, guys." said Steven, as he got his phone out and turned on the flashlight function on it. Steven opened the door, and saw what it was. "And I don't think it's just this building alone."
Peridot covered the project with a tarp and followed Lapis and Bismuth to go with Steven to check things out, and when they made it outside they were shocked to see it was pitch black out there.
"It looks like the whole Beach City area is without power!" said Bismuth, as she was bewildered. "A power outage!"
"You're right Bismuth." Steven said, agreeing with her. "Plus, something crashed somewhere."
"Do you think the Predacons are behind this?" Peridot asked.
"Maybe. I can't be too sure." replied Steven, "Lapis, could you fly up and see what that was?"
Lapis nodded, "Sure thing." she spread her wings and flew up into the sky to see what was going on. She used her binoculars to locate it and there were two trails of smoke. "I think one possible cause was two Maximal Stasis Pods that crashed in different areas!"
"Wait a minute! Did you say TWO Stasis Pods?" asked Steven.
"Yes!" Lapis replied.
Steven marveled at this and he got out his locator and it found where they landed, "Uh oh, one of them landed in Predacon territory." and he looked for the other, "And the other landed in the woods somewhere."
"We better contact Optimus right away!" said Bismuth, urging that probability.
"I'm on it!" Steven then tries to contact him, but all he gets is static. "Optimus, this is Steven, do you read me! Optimus, come in!" he said.
No response came and they panicked. "Damn it, the blackout must've knocked out the com-links." Peridot cursed.
"We're gonna have to split up," Steven devised. "I'll go check out the one stasis pod in the woods, the three of you head over to the other one!"
Bismuth nodded, "Right!"
"If you guys can find Tigatron and Airazor, tell them of the situation," Steven added. "We're gonna need backup for this one!"
As Steven headed towards the wood he said, "Good luck guys!"
"Let's move out!" Bismuth said to Lapis and Peridot, as the three of them dashed for the other Stasis Pod and formulated a plan.
Back at the Predacon Base, Megatron is on a floating platform before his computer station with several displays. And then, suddenly, the base went entirely black as the electricity shut off, but the backup generator kicked in and the room lit up with both normal color and red lighting.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Megatron shouted.
Scorponok and Jasper both floated towards Megatron, only for the two of them to drop to the floor, and land face first.
"Lord Megatron, our systems are down. I can't see!" Scorponok said, explaining the situation.
"What the hell happened to our power?" Jasper demanded.
Megatron groaned and looked out a periscope he had on the Darksyde. He gasped when he saw this, "What confounded luck! Beach City is having a power failure just like New York!" He then looked at Jasper and Scorponok, "Command all units to return to base, immediately." Megatron ordered, "The Maximals and the Crystal Gems must be planning a sneak attack."
Meanwhile in the jungle area of town, we see Tigatron on a leisurely walk and was enjoying the weather. Suddenly, a flaming trail is seen above his position.
"Hmmmm…" Tigatron uses his binocular vision to zoom in on it and sees what it is. "A stasis pod! By the Matrix!" he said. "Another one of our Maximal Warriors has come down from the atmosphere."
It was then that he saw the other one, and it crashed right into what appeared to be enemy lines.
"Oh no, it's in Predacon territory!" Tigatron gasped. "I better call for assistance… Tigatron to Maximal Base, Come in!" He tried to contact them, but it was all static. "Tigatron to Maximal Base, Come In!"
He tried again, and then he did manage to get something. "This is Steven Universe, go ahead Tigatron!" he got a response from Steven.
"I've spotted two Maximal Stasis pods in the sky!" he replied to the boy. "One of them is landing in Predacon territory!"
"I know, I saw them!" Steven replied. "The other stasis pod is landing in Beach City, but I can't get a hold of Optimus. The whole city's blacked out due to a power outage!" He relayed the situation to him.
"The Axalon has a backup generator, wait till it kicks in and then he'll try and reach you." Tigatron instructed.
"Thanks for the tip, but I need to reach the stasis pod before the Predacons get their greedy hands on it!" Steven acknowledged. "Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot are heading your way to reach the second pod."
Tigatron said, "Alright, I'll meet them there! Tigatron, over and out!" and he turned the communicator off and sped towards the second Pod.
Inside Tarantulas's lair, Tarantulas felt the force of that blast, as he steadied himself.
"Maximal and Predacon Scanners disabled!"
"Calculate stasis pods drop zones!" Tarantulas instructed the computer.
The computer began going beep-beep, then boop and then ping "Locations, Grid Harutio, coordinates 720 by 695 and Grid Halix, coordinates 883 by 742!" said the computer.
Tarantulas was wide-eyed about that. "Now isn't that something?" said a sarcastically rough voice. It was at that moment that Tarantulas fired his blaster in the cave, but the one who spoke dodged it and out came Blackarachnia and DarkFanger, who overheard Tarantulas' calculations.
"Well, sssssomebody'sssss got their legssss in a knot!" said DarkFanger, as he slithered on in.
He looked on, "Blackarachnia, DarkFanger, what the hell are you both doing here?!" he demanded.
"We were wondering what the commotion wassss." DarkFanger hissed a little bit. "And we knew it turned out to be you." he pointed out, adding to this. "What were you working on? A new experiment?"
Tarantulas scowled "I'll tell you two nothing!" He snapped, however, Blackarachnia stood in front of him. "What the, Blackarachnia, what happened to you?"
"After that flying island made me overflow with power, I somehow got some enhancements to my superstructure and a new paint-job as well." said the Black Widow Predacon, as she told him. "Not only that, but my voice has altered too." she spoke in her new voice.
DarkFanger hissed again, "I'll ssssssssay, sssshe now ssssoundsssssssssseductive." he pointed out, as he fainted.
"Oh stop it, you're creeping me out!" Blackarachnia rolled her eyes in disgust, and then she returned her attention to Tarantulas. "Anyway, what were you muttering about?"
"If you two must know, I am engaged in important research for Lord Megatron, and I have no time to talk." Tarantulas huffed.
"Well, I guessssssss you won't like usssssssss telling Lord Megatron that you're planning to ssssssssteal the Maximal Ssssstasssssissssss Podsssss that jusssssst crasssssshed, would you?" asked DarkFanger, as he was a little suspicious.
Tarantulas faked innocence, "Oh, dear. You found me out." and then asked, "Now, what are you going to do about it?" he demanded.
"Don't play dumb, Tarantulas." said Blackarachnia, as she spoke to him. "We want to help you, of course."
This made Tarantulas a little surprised. "Really now?"
"Indeed." said DarkFanger, as he confirmed it to be so.
And then, Tarantulas chuckled in gratitude as they all agreed to pull this job off.
While the Predacons mobilized, back at the Maximal Base, Rhinox was still at the console, overlooking the situation and also figuring out what caused the city-wide power outage and as he did so, the backup generator activated.
"Rhinox, how are the repairs going?" asked Optimus.
The rhino Maximal turned around and said, "So far, the repairs are going good." Just then, a whirring sound echoed through the base and they looked on.
[BACKUP GENERATOR ACTIVATED! ALL SYSTEMS BACK ONLINE!] said Sentinel, as it reactivated.
Within a few seconds, a communication link buzzed in. "Steven to Optimus… Come in, Optimus!" It was Steven trying to contact the base.
"This is Optimus Primal, go ahead Steven!" he responded.
"Oh, thank goodness I got ahold of you!" he said, as his image became clear after the monitor was filled with static. "You're not gonna believe this!"
"We already know about the power outage in Beach City." said Rhinox, as he added to it.
"I saw it happen in front of my eyes! But, that's not why I'm calling you!" Steven then replied something else. "Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot and I saw two, count 'em TWO Stasis Pods heading for Earth!"
Optimus and Rhinox gasped in unison. "TWO!?" they asked.
"Yeah, one of them just landed in the Beach City forest, the other one landed in Predacon territory!" Steven said. "I sent Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth to find the one in the Pred territory and they're meeting up with Tigatron, I may need you, Optimus, to help with the one in the woods! Meet me there as soon as you can!"
"Acknowledged! Over and out!" Optimus replied, as he converted into robot mode
"PRIMEJETS ON!" Optimus exclaimed, as his jets activated and he took off into the sky.
Meanwhile, Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot were rushing over to the spot where Tigatron was heading. As they made their way to where one of the pods crashed. As they did so, they ran into a familiar face.
Lapis called out, "Tigatron, over here!" to him and he turned his attention to the trio.
"Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot. Good to see you." he greeted them.
"Good to see you, too." Bismuth greeted him back. "Did you see the Pod crashing?"
"Yes, one of them landed in that clearing over there." he pointed to the Northeast corner of the trail.
Peridot then looked and saw what it crashed into, "It crashed inside that ant hill." she said.
Lapis was surprised. "Oh man, if it scans an Ant, we'll have another Predacon to deal with!" she flailed.
Just then, the sound of a hawk screeching echoed above them, it turned out to be another familiar face, case in point, Airazor.
"Airazor! Hey!" Lapis called out.
"Oh, hi everyone!" she greeted as she landed in front of them.
Bismuth smiled and was glad to see her. "What brings you here?"
"I saw you guys racing towards something and decided to follow you." Airazor replied.
Tigatron added, "It is good that you've come. A Stasis Pod crashed in that clearing and landed inside an ant hill."
Airazor looked and saw it. "What are we waiting for, let's see if we can reach it before the Predacons do!" she said, and everyone nodded.
While our heroes make their way to the pod, they are ambushed by a laser blast. They looked up to see that it was Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Flamenix and Bluebird Azurite.
"TERRORIZE!" Terrorsaur screeched, as he and the others dive-bombed at them and fired their weapons on them.
"AMBUSH!" Lapis yelled.
Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot got their weapons at the ready and began to battle. Tigatron and Airazor went into robot mode and fought back too. Tigatron fired his plasma rifle and shot Flamenix with it.
Bluebird opened fire at Airazor and was dumbfounded by her ability to dodge her attacks, "Drat! Missed!" she complained. "It seems you have improved since we last fought, Airazor!"
"Sure have, Bluebird!" Airazor shot back at her. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, Bluebird. After all, Cheetor did tell me what you did to Steven and his father."
This made Bluebird dread a little bit. "Y-Y-Y-You know about that?"
"That's right, and I'm about to make you regret it!" Airazor said, as she charged at her.
As the two battled, Waspinator goes after Bismuth, who morphed her hand into a mace and blocked his blasts from his gun.
"You'll have to do better than that, bug boy!" said Bismuth, as she taunted the wasp Predacon.
Grousing, he said back, "Wazzzpinator will blow you out of the atmozzzzphere!" he yelled, as he fired his gun again.
Bismuth managed to block and duck all of Waspinator's attacks as she rolled away and Peridot began fighting back. "I don't think so, Waspinator!" she declared, firing on him.
Meanwhile, Lapis went right after Terrorsaur charging with all her might, they began fighting and were doing the old staredown. "Still wanting some payback, Terrorsaur?" she taunted.
Terrorsaur screeched, "Yes, and what better way than fighting you in the air, Lapis!" as he aimed.
He opened fire on Lapis, but she blocked with her sword. "I don't think so, en garde!" she declared.
"Back at you!" said Terrorsaur, as he got ready to fight.
As the two of them locked eyes, Terrorsaur got ready to go for his blaster, like he and Lapis were in an old-fashioned Mexican stand-off.
Airazor fired on Bluebird and she fired back at her, "Why do I get stuck with the hawk!?" the fusion Crystal Gem complained. As Airazor fired at her, she blocked her shot with her umbrella.
"Can't keep blocking forever, Bluebird!" Airazor countered.
"We'll see about that!" Bluebird then dueled with the flier Maximal. And then, they started exchanging punch and kick after punch and kick and then blast after blast.
Bluebird did what she could to outmaneuver, and outwit her, only for Airazor to get the advantage by delivering a karate chop to her with accurate precision.
Airazor decides to finish Bluebird with a flying roundhouse kick, sending Bluebird flying, and making her defuse back to Aquamarine and Eyeball Ruby as they fall to the ground.
"Heh, that's one way to 'drop the load' as they say." Airazor quipped, as she saw that happen.
Flamenix continued to fire at Tigatron and Peridot as they dodged his attacks. "Keep still, damn you!" the Gem Predacon snapped, getting frustrated.
"Not a chance, Flamenix!" Peridot countered, and shot back at him.
Tigatron also fired back at him and then, he ran up a tree and flipped in the air and kicked Flamenix in the chestplating. "Stop this at once, Flamenix!" he demanded. "Or I will make sure I don't miss with the next shot."
"Who's gonna make me, Maximal?" said Flamenix with a sneer as he dived towards him.
What Falmenix didn't know was that Terrorsaur was behind him, he was opening fire on Lapis but she blocked his shots and fired back at him with her laser.
The impact from the laser made Terrorsaur collide with Flamenix, sending the two Predacon flying into a tree *KA-BOP!* And then *TIMBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR* The tree fell down on them like a pair of ripe tomatoes, crushing them to a pulp.
"Owww…" groaned Terrorsaur and Flamenix, in extreme pain all at once.
"If I had a skeleton, I'd have a whole mess of broken bones." said Terrorsaur, wincing.
Bismuth laughed at this sight, "HAHAHAHAHAHA, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!" she laughed out loud.
Waspinator was getting annoyed by this and groused. "Wazzzpinator will get you for that!" he fired rapidly at them all.
Bismuth managed to jump at Waspinator and then delivered a skyward piledriver to the wasp Predacon, causing his dome to crash on the dirt. "Ughhhh….Wazzzpinator smashed like steel moth! Why universe hate Wazzzpinatorrrrrr!?" he groaned in pain.
"That takes care of him." Bismuth said.
Airazor flew down and was impressed. "Nice work, Bismuth." She congratulated her as they did a high five to each other.
"Thanks, Airazor." she said back to her.
Lapis, Peridot and Tigatron regrouped with them, "You both alright?" asked Peridot.
"Yeah." said Bismuth. "Let's head for the Stasis Pod!"
"Right!" they all said in unison.
While they raced for the Pod in the clearing, Steven was heading for the other Pod and in the sky, Optimus was flying to his position, and when he spotted him and landed near his position, he heard Steven's voice.
"Optimus!" said Steven, as he met up with the Maximal leader. "Down here!" he called out to him.
"Steven!" said Optimus, as he then landed at Steven's location. "I got your message. I want you to know about the blackout in the city?"
He nodded. "Yeah." said the human Crystal Gem. "Let's head for the Stasis Pod!" Optimus nodded and they raced over to where the pod crashed. The two of them checked the Stasis Pod, and saw that it was covered in dents and scratches. "Hoo boy." said Steven, with a nervous look on his face "This one's seen better days."
Optimus surveyed the damage. "This doesn't look good." he spoke, in a serious tone of voice.
They opened up the pod hatch, where they were shocked to see that Protoform inside still had their Spark intact and it was still pulsing.
Optimus gasped, "By the Matrix, the Spark of this Protoform is still beating!" he said.
"Does that mean it's still alive, even after the crash?" Steven wondered, as he looked at it. Optimus looked at him.
"It's possible." said Optimus, as he looked it over and made some quick repairs to the pod itself. "Unfortunately, the protoform body looks badly damaged. Steven, do you have a solution?"
"Yes, I do have an idea." Steven said, as he pulled out a book from his backpack and it showed all kinds of mythical creatures in it, as well as holding a different Crystal Gem he brought with him. He inserted it into the Protoform's damaged part and he began doing his thing as it activated the scanner and it scanned a picture in Steven's book and they heard a screeching in the sky and they looked up to see a Bald Eagle. "Wait!" Steven said in awe at the bird. "Where did that Bald Eagle come from?"
"Not sure. But there must be a nest around here." he wondered, but then something else caught his attention, the Spark began paulsing faster and faster until a light shot up from it, causing the two to cover their eyes so they wouldn't get blinded.
The light dims after about one minute and in front of their eyes was the Protoform in Beast Mode, which turned out to be half Eagle and half Lion, in other words, a Griffon, these kinds of creatures were only seen in mythology.
"What is the headlight? What hit me?" he groaned, speaking in a British accent.
Steven and Optimus were quite perplexed by this, "This one has an accent? Cool." he said, feeling impressed. "Hello there, my name is Steven Quartz Universe, a fusion of Crystal Gem and Human." he introduced himself. "You crash landed on my home planet, Earth."
The Griffon looked around and was in awe at how lovely it looked. "Blimey, how long have I been asleep?"
Optimus revealed, "Some stellar cycles." as the Griffon. "You were on the Axalon when the Maximals began their journey to the Gamma Quadrant.
"So, what's the year?" he asked.
"It's 2019, and you're in Beach City, which is on the East Coast of the United States of America." Steven replied.
"Ah, and what had been going on?" the Griffon continued.
It was then that Steven explained the situation. "Megatron and the Predacons were fighting the Maximals in space when both their ships crashed on Earth, my fellow Crystal Gems and I are helping Optimus stop Megatron and his band of misfits before they get enough Energon to take over the galaxy and turn this planet into their fortress."
This made the Griffin a little concerned for the people of the planet and when he got a look at the one with Steven, he asked "Wait a minute… You're Optimus Primal?" as he wanted to know.
"Yes, I'm the leader of the Maximals." replied Optimus, as he made himself known.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." he saluted and revealed his identity as well as showed he had two symbols on him, one was Maximal the other was a symbol that Optimus recognized. "I am Jetfire, an air combat expert of the Autobots."
Steven and Optimus were left speechless. "Jetfire? I…I thought you retired!" he said.
"I was for a while." The Protoform, now revealed to be Jetfire, an Autobot soldier, told them everything. "But….I was bored in retirement. So before my time came, I volunteered to have my Spark transferred into a Stasis Pod, and agreed to help a new generation of Autobots for the future of everyone in the universe."
Hearing that made Steven intrigued. "Whoa, it's an honor to meet you, Jetfire. Welcome to Earth."
"The honor is mine, Steven Universe." Jetfire said to him.
Optimus then said, "It's good to have you back online. In order to transform you must speak aloud the Maximal activation code; 'Maximize'." said Optimus.
Jetfire thought it over and said, "Alright…Jetfire….MAXIMIZE!" he shouts, and then he begins changing into robot mode and the Griffon head became his chest plate and Eagle legs folded up into robot feet while the Lion legs became the arms. "Crikey! That was a jolt!" He looked at his new Robot mode and his head looked like it had a mask and visor on it.
"Awesome!" said Steven, as he was impressed. "If you're wondering what your Beast Mode is, you can turn into a Griffin."
He looked confused, "A Griffin, what the bloody headlight is that?" the Autobot asked.
Optimus replied, "It is a mythological creature with the body of a lion, and the head, wings, and forelegs of an eagle."
"How is this possible? I thought that Griffins were only a mythical beast." Jetfire wondered, as he was stunned.
Steven then said to him. "It's like this, you scanned a picture in my book as well as a bald Eagle which was right above us and it fused the two together along with the Crystal Gem I inserted into your body to repair your damaged parts."
Jetfire was baffled and stunned, "How in the galaxy did you manage to pull that off?"
Steven said, "I found the spot where the damage was most awful, and then used some of my powers to activate the repair processes."
Optimus then added, "We could use some help against the Predacons." he told him. "There's another pod that crashed in the opposite of this direction."
"Another? Say no more, I'm with you all the way, mates!" said Jetfire, as he was willing to help out.
Just at that moment, Steven heard a beeping sound. "Steven here!"
"Steven, it's Lapis!" said the voice of the blue Crystal Gem. "Me, Bismuth and Peridot met up with Tigatron and we were recently joined by Airazor!"
"Great! Have you found the other pod yet?" Steven asked.
"Not yet, but we're closing in on the area it's at!" said Lapis. "How about you?"
"I'm with Optimus right now and we found the Pod in our area." he told her. "And not only that, we have another new friend with us! He's one of the legendary Autobots, Jetfire!"
Lapis and the others heard that news and they gasped, "JETFIRE!? THEEEEE JETFIRE!?" the three said in unison.
"Yes. He was on the Axalon after getting bored in his retirement!" Steven said back to them, knowing full well that they were fascinated by the stories of Jetfire and his fellow Autobots during the Great War. "We'll meet up with you and explain everything
"Alright! Over and out!" Lapis said, before hanging up the comm-line.
Steven and Optimus looked at Jetfire and asked, "Alright, Jetfire, this is your first mission as a Maximal. Are you ready?"
"Oh yes, mates." Jetfire replied. "Time to show these Predacons that the Autobot legacy will live on forever!" he declared.
"You got that right, let's head over there!"
Steven, Optimus and Jetfire all mobilized and Optimus went back into his beast form and Jetfire decided to try out his new form as well. "Beast Mode!" he shouts, transforming back into a Griffin and flies with Steven on his back.
Meanwhile, the Predacons made their way to the other Stasis Pod that crashed in their territory. Tarantulas, Blackarachnia and DarkFanger looked around the area and searched cautiously as they searched and at last, they found it. It was inside of an ant hill and not a single bit of damage.
"Exellcent, completely intact!" said Tarantulas, feeling glad for this.
"You sure are a clever one, it's no wonder Lord Megatron chose you as chief scientist." Blackarachnia jested.
"Agreed on that matter." DarkFanger said without hissing. "Now, how do we get to that Pod to activate the new Predacon?" he asked.
Tarantulas groaned, "It's automatic, you twit!" he groused to the Gem Predacon. He then turned to Blackarachnia. "And also, is this the reason you're helping me betray him." he inquired.
To which, Blackarachnia replied, "Lord Megatron is powerful, but inferior!" she told him. "I would make a much better leader than him." he then turned to Tarantulas. "And if I were to take over, I would without hesitation make you second-in-command to replace Shellhead."
Hearing that made Tarantulas smirk a little bit. "Hmmm, intriguing." he said.
Just then, "DNA Sequence online!" the Pod's Computer said, and then the scanner activated and began spinning.
"The Activation sequence has already begun!" Tarantulas said, as he was frustrated. "Dammit, I must work fast if this one can stay a Predacon!" and so, he takes out a chip extractor, turns to one of the wall computers, pops open the circuit board and removes a Maximal chip.
"Maximal programming chip cannot be accessed. Pausing DNA Scan!" said the computer, as it halted the process.
This gave the Predacons some time to do their sinister machinations of altering the Protoform as Tarantulas chuckled sinisterly. Tarantulas tosses away the Maximal chip, and sets the Predacon chip in the extractor and then places it inside the circuit board and closes the access panel and his claws fly over the control pad. His actions caused the Cybertronian letters and symbols on the other screens to change. Blackarachnia and DarkFanger join him in observation of this.
Tarantulas held up a small cage that was containing a tiny spider inside of it. "Now all that's left to do is…"
He was cut off when the computer activated once more and it said, [COMPATIBLE LIFEFORM FOUND! BEGINNING REPLICATION!] making them frightened a little bit.
"WHAT?! NO!" Tarantulas exclaimed, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"What's wrong?" asked Blackarachnia.
"My intent was to create a new and powerful Gem Predacon, one that could be powerful enough to defeat the Maximals." Tarantulas replied to her. "But the pod's computer has already selected a form."
"Can't you ssssssssstop it?" DarkFanger asked.
"No, once the pod has selected a beast form, it can't be stopped." Tarantulas explained, "But it will become a Predacon."
As the three Predacons waited for the Protoform to come out. Little did they know, they were being watched from afar by someone who was sticking to the shadows. This someone had blue eyes and managed to make sure they were not seen.
"So, that's what they're planning." said a female voice, as she looked on, keeping her vigilance. "This is not looking good." She was worried and had a look of concern on her face.
Steven, Optimus and Jetfire were making a high-tailing for the other pod and on the way there, and while they did so, Jetfire wondered a few things, "Eh, Steven, tell me. How is it that there's Crystal Gems on Earth?"
It was then that Steven relayed everything to the Autobot. "Before I was born, my mother, Pink Diamond, was looking for a world to colonize as a second home for the Crystal Gems. But then, she met my dad and they had me. And my mom had to sacrifice her physical form to give birth to me. I lived with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl growing up. I even learned one time that Garnet was actually a Gem Fusion."
Jetfire was surprised by this "A Gem-Fusion?" he gasped, perplexed. "Remarkable!"
The boy nodded to that. "Crystal Gems fuse to grow stronger, as a sign of friendship and love," said Steven. "But, when I saw Jasper force poor Lapis to fuse with her…it felt as if Jasper had sexually assaulted her. But, Lapis, when fused with Jasper as Malachite, used her powers to keep them both trapped at the bottom of the ocean."
Jetfire was absolutely horrified. "Blimey and Bollocks! This Jasper sounds like she has no honor," he uttered to them. "It reminds me of that Decepticon known as Starscream, he was always often undermining the original Megatron. And was even destroyed by his other self, Galvatron."
"What shocked us the most, was that Jasper had joined the Predacons," said Steven, scowling.
This left Jetfire stunned, "Bloody Hell, what was she thinking!?" he ranted. "That is the wrong decision!"
Optimus then added, "I know, but not every Crystal Gem can be good." he then said.
"That reminds me of this other Gem-Fusion, Bluebird Azurite, she tried to manipulate Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet against me, and even cut my father's hair off." said Steven, as he felt a little melancholy about that.
"Oh dammit." said Jetfire, as he felt sympathetic for the boy. "Sorry about your Pop's hair, mate."
"It wasn't your fault." Steven replied to the legendary Autobot. "But also, I think Optimus should tell you what else has transpired."
Optimus did so, "You also missed a lot in the last few stellar cycles." he started off. "One of Megatron's soldiers, Dinobot, had defected to the Maximals as our strategist."
"Strategist you say?" he asked.
"Yes, and he showed us the plans Megatron had for Earth." Optimus replied. "Dinobot revealed that Megatron is planning to take the Energon of this world, capture all the Crystal Gems, enslave the human race and turn planet Earth into a fortress."
"Not something the original Megatron would even think of, nor Shockwave." Jetfire replied as he mentioned the two Decepticons. "And I thought that Devastator and Menasor were bad news. Seems I definitely missed a lot."
Steven then said, "We'll fill you in on the rest later."
"Right, we have to get to the other pod before the Predacons do!" Optimus added.
"Aye aye, cap'n!" said Jetfire as the three of them darted for the area at breakneck speed.
Back at the site where the other Pod crashed, the Predacons looked on and whirring sounds erupted from the pod. Tarantulas, Blackarachnia and DarkFanger heard the sounds coming from it. There was an explosion of light as the door of the pod opened up completely and they heard nasty clicking sounds as out of the Pod came what looked like a red fire ant, only it stood at their size.
"Another insect? Are you kidding me? How disappointing!" Blackarachnia groaned.
"Lord Megatron will not like thissssssss." DarkFanger hissed as he spoke. "Are you sssssssssure it'sssssssss a Predacon?"
Tarantulas turned his head to them and said, "I'm confident it is." before looking at the fire ant. "I am Tarantulas, your creator. Identify yourself." he demanded.
Then, the ant said as he gasped, "SPIDERS! Dare invade the colony!?" he said, in a medieval tone. "Inferno… TERRORIZE!" he declared, as he transformed into robot mode and he had a metallic blue, red and dark purple color scheme to him. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he roared and pulled out his blaster, which also looked like a flamethrower-type of cigarette lighter.
"Awwww Dammit!" said DarkFanger.
Blackarachnia panicked and said, "INCOMING!" and they were blasted away by the fire ant Predacon, now called Inferno and they fell behind some trees with the roots sticking up.
Inferno looked at this and lowered his gun. "Destruction to ALL who threaten us! The royalty commands it!" he saluted with his left arm and started marching as if he was in the Royal Guard of England.
This prompted the trio to duck behind the tree so they wouldn't be detected by Inferno and they converted back into Beast Mode. "That six-legged freak nearly roasted our metal asses!" she stated. "I thought you said he was a Predacon!" She ranted to Tarantulas.
"If he isssss, why isssss he attacking usssss?" DarkFanger wondered.
Tarantulas then stated to them, "His Beast Mode is dominating his logic circuits!" as he was startled by this.
This left the Widow and Serpent Predacons baffled. "Sssssssssseriously!? It'sssss overriding him?!" asked DarkFanger, feeling confused.
"He thinks he's a REAL insect?" wondered Blackarachnia.
"Precisely!" said Tarantulas, as he stated it well. "And he sees the Pod as his colony. Anyone who threatens it is his enemy!"
"My Cybervenom will make him more friendly." declared Blacakarachnia, as she got ready to transform back into robot mode.
This prompted Tarantulas to jump on top of Blackarachnia's back. "No, we don't want to risk damage to the pod," he declared.
"Why do you want that pod ssssssssssso badly?" DarkFanger asked, curious of the situation.
"We need the pod in order to make more Gem Predacons!" said Tarantulas as he denoted the situation to them. "If that pod gets damaged or even destroyed, Lord Megatron will be furious!"
The two Predacons looked at each other. "Good point." said DarkFanger. The last thing they needed was for Megatron to chew them out if the stasis pod ended up getting destroyed.
What the three Predacons didn't know was up in the sky, both Airazor and Lapis got a visual on the situation down below.
"Airazor, look down there!" she said.
And with that, Airazor activated her sonic scanners and the computer said, |SONIC SCAN POSITIVE! OBJECTIVE IN THREE NANOCLICKS!| as she saw it.
"It looks like the new Maximal already online." said Airazor, as she looked on.
Lapis looked down at the robot marching around. "I don't think that's a Maximal, Airazor." she said, as she saw its face.
Inferno scowled at Lapis and Airazor "More invaders come to attack the colony. They will burn!"
Tarantulas, Blackarachnia and DarkFanger watched as they saw them, "Lapis Lazuli and that bird Maximal, Airazor!" said Tarantulas, as he was startled.
"Well look at that, an opportunity has arrived." Blackarachnia said with a smirk on her face.
"Yesssssssssss!" DarkFanger agreed. "We'll have them occupy that Inferno character while we retrieve the pod!"
Tarantulas saw Inferno walking away from the pod and activating his flight mode, going off into the sky. "Now while it's distracted!"
The two arachnid Predacons use their cyberweb to grab the stasis pod, while DarkFanger keeps an eye out for anything suspicious.
Up in the sky, Airazor and Lapis are met by the fire ant who recently activated. "As Cheetor would say, that flight mode is ultra gear." she said.
"I'm Lapis Lazuli and she's Airazor." Lapis said, introducing herself and Airazor. "Who are you?"
"I am Inferno! Defender of the colony, and you two are invaders." Inferno said, introducing himself and pointing his blaster at them.
The two of them gasped, and then dodged his attack making sure they didn't get hit. "Lapis, you're right! He's not a Maximal! He's a Predacon!"
"Tarantulas must have gotten his sticky pincers on it before us!" said Lapis, as she panicked.
What they didn't know was that Bismuth, Peridot and Tigatron spotted Tarantulas, Blackarachnia and DarkFanger "There they are!" Tigatron said, as he spotted them.
"We're too late, they've already activated the Protoform!" Bismuth panicked.
"We can't let them steal that pod though!" Peridot said, as she got ready to fight.
Tigatron transforms into robot mode and begins to open fire on the Predacons. "To arms! Let's stop them!" he shouted, firing at the Predacons.
Tarantulas turned around and spotted the Crystal Gems and Tigatron behind them. "Well, looks like we've got unwelcome guests!" he said, as they closed in. "Tarantulas…TERRORIZE!" he cackled, as he converted into Robot mode.
"Blackarachnia… TERRORIZE!"
"DarkFanger… TERRORIZE!"
They opened fire at the Maximals and Crystal Gems and Tigatron, while the fliers had their battle. Airazor and Lapis saw the battle on the ground.
"WHAT?" Inferno gasped at this.
"Destruction to the Maximals and the Crystal Gems, they're the enemies of the colony." Blackarachnia declared to Inferno.
"That isssssssss why we must dessssssssstroy them!" DarkFanger added to that.
Inferno was confused, "Maximals? Crystal Gems? Yes, they are enemies of the colony. But you are not from the colony!" he stated.
Airazor and Lapis were baffled by his tone. "Colony? His programming must be faulty." said Lapis.
"No doubt about it, Lapis." Airazor agreed, as the two of them began to fight Inferno as he charged at them and roared in a battle cry.
As the fliers battled in the air, Tigatron fired his rifle at DarkFanger as well as Tarantulas, however DarkFanger went into Beast Mode, dashed quickly to avoid his blasts and he wrapped his coils around Tigatron's arm, "GYAAAAAHHHH!" yelled Tigatron, as he was in pain.
"TIGATRON!" Bismuth exclaimed, shocked.
As Bismuth turns towards Tigatron, Blackarachnia comes from behind and fires her blast, only for Bismuth to block it as it comes her way. "Bismuth I presume?"
"Yes, and you're Blackarachnia." she shot back. "I thought you'd have a black and goldenrod body, but when did you get a silver paint job?" Bismuth raised her eyebrow.
"That's my little secret, I'm not telling the likes of you." Blackarachnia shot back at her. She fired her blasters on her spider legs at Bismuth and she blocked them at every turn.
DarkFanger opened fire at Bismuth, taking her by surprise. "Take that!" said DarkFanger, as he ambushed her.
Peridot then intervened and kicked DarkFanger square in the side of his scaly head. "Not on my watch, snake-breath! You're in for it now!" said Peridot, as she ran at the Gem Predacon and kicked his face, causing him to let go of Tagtron's arm.
"Time for me to end this madness!" Tarantulas said, as he got into battle mode and opened fire on Peridot, but she countered with her own blasts. "Peridot, eh? You'll be an interesting subject." he snickered.
Peridot was freaked out by how the Predacon interpreted it, "Don't bet on it, Tarantulas!" she declared, as she blocked his blasts with her barrier.
However, Inferno stopped firing his blaster when it wouldn't send another blast at the flying Maximals. "Curses! Out of ammunition! I must reload in order to protect the Royalty!" he said, as he spotted this.
Airazor and Lapis saw the opportunity to beat his circuits in.
Blackarachnia took her weapon out and began blasting cyber webbing at Bismuth, only to get ambushed by Lapis' hydro blasts. "Ugh, drenched! What the?" she asked, looking over her head to see Lapis.
"Gotcha, widow!" Lapis chuckled as she did a high-five with Airazor.
However, Inferno reloaded and charged at them. "You will all burn for ruining the Colony!" he said, in a rage.
Inferno fires his flamethrower at them, taking down the two flyers and crashing into the ground. DarkFanger whacked Bismuth and Tigatron with his tail while Tarantulas used his arrow to distract Peridot while drop kicked her.
"Ugh!" Peridot groaned in agony, as they were down for the count, prompting Tigatron and Airazor to convert back into beast mode.
"Now with those Maximals out of the way, we shall secure the prize!" Tarantulas said, transforming back to beast mode
Blackarachnia and DarkFanger transformed back to their Beast forms too, Tarantulas takes a dinner-plate-sized-disk and slaps it onto the pod. He turns on some control pads
"We must escape before anyone else arrives!" said Blackarachnia, feeling panicked by this.
The two Arachnid Predacons haul the pod, with DarkFanger following behind them. Inferno transforms back to his beast forms and Inferno follows them as if they were guiding him somewhere.
"You spiders move the Colony in midair." he said to them. "Ingenious, I'll admit to that. But, why do you help me?"
"We Predacons must always stay together," said Blackarachnia. "And we're relocating to a bigger colony." she said, playing along with his language. "And you will address the Royalty as Lord Megatron, leader of the Predacons and future ruler of the galaxy."
Inferno blinked and then said, "Very well, for the glory of Lord Megatron!" he saluted them, as he walked in their path.
A few minutes later, Airazor rose to her knees and helped Peridot and Bismuth up. Lapis winced a little bit in pain. "What happened?"
"The Predacons reached the stasis pod first, and they turned the protoform into one of them." Airazor exclaimed to her.
Bismuth and Peridot gasped in horror. "Damn!" they said in unison.
"They must've taken the pod!" Tigatron gasped, horrified by this news and he said, "We have to go after them at once!"
"Right!" everyone said in unison. With that, the group then tailed the Predacon trio.
"We'll go after the Preds," said Bismuth. "Airazor, Lapis, can you guys still fly?"
They nodded. "We'll find Optimus and Steven, they must know of this." Airazor said.
"I know you prefer to hunt alone, Tigatron!" Bismuth related to him. "But Peridot and I will back you up."
Tigatron accepted that, "Very well. Let's do this!"
With that being said, Bismuth, Peridot and Tigatron race off towards the Predacons with the pod.
Airazor and Lapis flew off into the sky and went to look for Optimus and Steven.
Meanwhile inside the Predacon Base, Scorponok and Jasper were going through the wiring of the circuit breakers and they managed to get the backup generator they had working.
"Well that takes care of that." said Scorponok, as he managed to rearrange the circuit breakers and replace the ones that shorted out with new ones.
"Done and done." Jasper said, as she and Scorponok did a fist bump together.
Megatron chuckled a little bit, "Ah, well done Scorponok and Jasper, well done!" He congratulated them. He then went to the main console. "Computer, report!"
|DARKSYDE BACK ONLINE!| said the computer, as it reported the situation. |UNITS TARANTULAS, BLACKARACHNIA AND DARKFANGER RETURNING TO BASE WITH UNKNOWN UNIT IN TOW!| it was true, the three Predacons were coming back.
"What the?" Scorponok said in shock, as he saw a red fire ant following them. "Is that the new Predacon?"
"Looks like a fire ant." Jasper replied.
Megatron marveled at this. "Sooooo… it seems that Tarantulas managed to get it in the form of a different insect."
They all see the three Predacons hauling a stasis pod as well, "And they brought the pod it came out of with them too?" asked Jasper, feeling baffled. "How'd they manage that?"
"Hard to say." Scorponok replied. "But, where are Terrorsaur, Flamenix, Waspinator and Bluebird?"
And Jasper tried to contact them, but to no avail. "Drat, can't get a hold of them!" she groused.
"They must have been defeated." Megatron deduced. "We'll bring them back later. Right now, we must see what our new minion can do. Yesssssss!"
"At once, milord!" said Scorponok, as he opened the communicator.
"This is Megatron calling Predacon units." he started off.
Just then, there was a response. "This is Tarantulas, go ahead Lord Megatron."
"I see that you managed to get the new Predacon active." Megatron said to him.
It was at that moment that DarkFanger spoke, "DarkFanger here, milord. And also, the new protoform actually activated on its own! But, it's still a Predacon."
Hearing that made Jasper and Scorponok gasp in shock and surprise. "WHAT!?" they yelped.
"Interesting!" Megatron said, feeling perplexed about the very idea of a Predacon activating on its own. "This boggles even my mind," he added, muttering to himself. "Nonetheless, what is its name?"
"He calls himself Inferno, and another thing we should point out is that his Beast Mode is dominating his logic circuits and he sees the Stasis Pod as his colony." Blackarachnia stated.
Megatronn was stunned, "His Beast Mode is dominating his logic circuits and he thinks he's a real ant?" he asked.
"Yes, something must be done about that, do you concur?" Tarantulas asked.
Megatron nodded, "Indeed. Bring our new minion inside at once."
"As you wish, Lord Megatron," said Tarantulas. "And with the stasis pod, we'll be able to create more Gem Predacons."
"Excellent!" Megatron said with glee, as they made their way back inside.
However, little did they know, they were being followed into their territory. Bismuth, Peridot and Tigatron were the ones that had been tailing them in secret.
"They're heading for the Darksyde." Bismuth said, whispering so they don't get spotted.
Peridot nodded, "Yeah, and they're almost at the front gate!" she added, but then they all rushed to the Preds position.
"You won't be getting any of our secrets from that pod, Predacons." Tigatron declared, as he jumped and transformed in midair and began firing on them.
"AMBUSH!" Blackarachnia shouted, as she got into Robot mode.
"LOOK OUT!" DarkFanger slithers away and transforms.
Tarantulas converts into his robot form and fights back against them. "How did they follow us here!?" he demanded to know.
Bismuth, Peridot and Tigatron opened fire on the Predacons, "I got your scent, Tarantulas!" said Tigatron, as he declared. He then fires on him, only to hit the Stasis Pod and it ends up destroyed.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Tarantulas yelled in horror.
"They destroyed the Pod!" Blackarachnia panicked in fright.
"MY COLONY!" Inferno yelled.
Megatron snarled in rage and he "DAMN THOSE MAXIMALS!" he yelled. "PREDACONS, TO ARMS! OBLITERATE THEM ALL!"
He, Jasper and Scorponok all darted out there and activated their auto-weapons in the surrounding area. Tigatron, Peridot and Bismuth took cover behind some avalanched boulders. "Megatron's arrived, along with Jasper and Scorponok!"
"We're surrounded, guys!" said Bismuth.
"We'll have to hold out!" said Peridot, as she contacted the others, "Steven, you and Optimus better get over to the Predacon Base right now! We're under attack!" she said.
"On our way!" said Steven over the comm-link
Inferno charges at them with his flamethrower. "Lord Megatron, permission to assault!"
"Permission, granted!" Megatron called over to the new Predacon.
Inferno then began fighting against them and he fired his blaster, causing Tigatron to get badly damaged and had a few burns on his body.
"TIGATRON!" Bismuth yelled in fright.
That's when DarkFanger took the opportunity to strike at Bismuth and whacked her with his tail, taking her down for the count.
"You'll pay for that!" Peridot said, feeling angry at this.
"I wouldn't bet on that, Crystal Gem!" Blackarachnia said, as she fired on Peridot, causing her to get hit and she winced in pain.
The three of them all felt defeated and Megatron stomped over to them, charging his fusion cannon. "Playtime's over, Maximals. Yesssss!" he chuckled evilly.
"We will destroy you all and your kind!" Inferno declared, as he joined him.
And when the end was near, out of nowhere came a screech, *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* it sounded rageful.
"What in the pit was that!?" said Tarantulas, shocked.
Megatron turns his head to see Optimus Primal in Robot mode along with Steven Universe, Airazor, Lapis and the Griffon.
Optimus said, "Airazor and Lapis suggested that you guys might need a lift."
"Sorry we're late" Steven said, denoting it. "We had to change tactics."
"We also have ourselves a new comrade!" Optimus said, presenting the new guy.
"WHAT?" Megatron shouted in shock.
"Is that a… Griffon?" Jasper wondered.
Scorponok was confused, "What's a Griffon?"
DarkFanger replied, "They are mythological creaturesssss, head and wingssss of an eagle and the body of a lion."
"That must be the other Stasis Pod's cargo!" Blackarachnia pointed out.
Tarantulas gasped in horror. "GYAAAAAAHHH! WHO IS THIS ONE!?"
(BGM: "One For All" by Divide Music plays)
"I'm the one you are gonna wish you never met!" said the Griffon. "MAXIMIZE!" he transformed into robot mode and said, "The name's Jetfire! Second-In-Command of the Autobots! Upgraded to Maximal after the Great War!"
The Predacons were all in shock and in disbelief and gasped. As for Megatron, he yelled out, "JETFIRE?!" in a roaring manner.
"That's impossible!" Tarantulas said, stating that. "I thought you were dead!"
"I'm not!" declared Jetfire, as he stated. "I was retired and given this new body after the war. I got bored in my retirement though, and now I'm ready to show you Predacons that the Autobot legacy will live on forever!"
Blackarachnia saw the symbols of both Maximal and Autobot on his wings. "He's the real deal alright!" she said, fearing for her life. "He was the one who was once friends with Starscream!"
"I don't care who the hell you are," Jasper added, cracking her knuckles. "I'm gonna bust you up!"
Jetfire wasn't intimidated. "I don't think so!" he said, diving straight at Jasper and began punching her rapidly before firing his new guns at her. They were mounted on his shoulders and he blasted her with all he got.
Scorponok attempted to fire a missile at him, only for Jetfire to dash at him with his newfound speed and send Scorponok flying up into the air and slamming down to the ground.
Jetfire pulls out his blasters and fires directly at DarkFanger, Blackarachnia and Tarantulas, taking all of them down in the process.
'His fun won't last long, though.' Megatron thought, smirking 'The Energon levels on this planet are far too potent for survival, and prolonged exposure in Robot Form will result in stasis-lock, and eventual termination of Spark.'
Inferno fired his flamethrower again, but Jetfire began charging at him and they locked up in the collar-elbow tie-up.
"You dare challenge the Royalty, Maximal?" Inferno demanded. "You will burn for your transgression, in the fires of me, Inferno!" he added.
"You may have the name of an old ally of mine, but you are not him!" Jetfire shot back at him, as he gripped Inferno's wrist and twisted it, breaking his arm and then delivered a karate kick.
The impact sent Inferno spinning uncontrollably, Jetfire fires his blasters again and takes Inferno apart piece-by-piece until all of his body is in a mess.
Jetfire then looked at the angry Predacon leader. Megatron got frustrated "NO, NO, NOOOOOOOO!" he yelled as he fired at him, but he dodged multiple times.
"You will pay for your crimes, Megatron!" he said, making himself known to him. "You may have the same name as the original one, but you're just a cheap copy!"
"How dare you mock me, Autobot!?" Megatron demanded.
Jetfire decides to finish this his way, "I dare, because as long as there's evil in this universe, I will be there to stomp it out!" he got his new gun out and began charging it up for a powerful blast. *BANG!* and the blast was fired right at Megatron, causing him to be knocked back into the Predacon base, leaving the other Predacons speechless.
After getting hit by the blast, Megatron said, "Predacons, retreat!" and then they all bolted into the Darksyde once more in defeat.
Optimus, Steven, Airazor and Lapis all went to check on Bismuth, Peridot and Tigatron who were all badly damaged.
"You guys okay?" Steven asked, feeling concerned for his friends.
"We'll live. But, we should head back to the base." Bismuth replied.
"After a battle like that, I could use some rest." Peridot breathed in a little bit.
Tigatron looked up at Steven and said, "That's another 9 nine lives that I owe you." feeling glad to be helped by Steven once more.
Back at the Maximal Base, Tigatron was placed into the C/R Chamber for repairs while Steven and Lapis combined their powers to heal Peridot and Bismuth.
"Repair cycle is complete!" Rhinox said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Once the C/R Chamber door opens, Tigatron could see Optimus, Steven, Rhinox, Bismuth, Airazor, Lapis, Jetfire and Peridot all gathered around him, feeling glad he was well.
"Hey Tigatron, it's good to have you out of there." Steven said.
"Feeling better?" Optimus asked him.
"Extremely better, Optimus." Tigatron replied. And then he saw that power was fully restored to the Beach City and the crisis was over. "The power grid's been restored and I have to ask, is this THE Jetfire, from the Great War?"
Jetfire then said, "You got that right, mate." as he proclaimed, "And it's nice to meet you all. Tigatron, Rhinox, Lapis Lazuli, Airazor, Peridot and Bismuth, I am thrilled to be here on Earth with you all." he said to them. "And glad I was able to help you."
"I'll say, if you guys hadn't showed up when you did, we'd be goners." Bismuth said.
Peridot nodded, "Yeah, you're quite the legend, Jetfire." Peridot said as she praised him. "You fought against Starscream and the Seekers during the Great War. That stiletto heeled creepazoid deserved what was coming to him when Galvatron turned him into scrap metal!"
"You got that right, Peridot!" Lapis agreed. "And even Skylynx was inspired by your escapades."
Rhinox smiled and was quite in awe, "I never believed we'd have an Autobot on the team." he said.
"Me neither. I am truly grateful that you saved our lives." Tigatron knelt down in front of everyone. "I will return to my post!"
"You don't need to hurry, Tigatron." Steven said to the white tiger Maximal. "Cheetor and Amethyst are filling in for you. Garnet, Pearl and Rattrap working on the Maximal Base Shelter, and Dinobot's meditating on the second floor."
"Steven's right, Tigatron." said Optimus, as he assured him. "With the power failure over, everyone should be returning to their homes right about now."
"Plus it would be nice if you could stay here for a little while." Lapis said.
Tigatron sighed and knew he could not ignore the plea of his friends. "I suppose so, it would be nice to visit. Very well." he agreed.
And with that in mind, Tigatron agreed to stay and tour the base, as well as hear what everyone has to speak to him about, while at the same time hear some of Jetfire's old war stories.
Meanwhile, on his flagship, Black Diamond is baffled by what he just saw. And he was stunned by the thought that one Pod would have an Autobot, but the other was reprogrammed as a Predacon.
"This is quite perplexing." said Black Diamond, as he thought to himself. "I never expected that the one we shot down was the one that had that fire ant Predacon in it." He then turned to his soldier and said to him. "And better yet, the blast we fired also hit the one with Jetfire inside. And yet, he's turned into a GRIFFON!?" he freaked out.
"How has he turned into a mythical creature?" said Prince Obsidian.
Black Diamond then replied to him, "I do not know, my son." as he looked it over. "Whatever the case, soldier, see if you can find out if any more meddling Autobots are dormant in those Stasis Pods! If so, we shall wait till the time is right. I have a plan for them."
He chuckled before cackling like a maniac, "Hmmmhehehehehehe, AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..AH ACK!" he coughed a bit after doing that.
To Be Continued…
(If you want Blood (You've got it) continues…)
Me: Well, that was quite a chapter, wouldn't you agree gents?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Indeed it was, and it's unlike all the other chapters we've done before.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Yeah!
Me: Great, now Inferno is with the Predacons and in this story, he won't be calling Megatron 'Queen' because he just finds that the least bit annoying. As do I. But, on the bright side, a legendary Autobot has been revived.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Now with Jetfire as a new member of the Maximals, they should be able to have a big advantage over the Predacons.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Yeppers.
Me: But aside from that, there are some other Autobots in some of the Stasis Pods, but I will not say who they are. They will appear when the time comes.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Well they might not all be former Autobots, I've actually got some cool ideas on who'll be some of the new Fuzors come the Transmetal ERA of the story, and they will each have some cool names. But I'm gonna wait on that and tell you all about it sometime down the road. We hope that you will all be ready for what I've got in store.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Yeah!
Me: Very good idea!
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So gentlemen, shall we explain the plot of the next chapter?
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: With gusto.
Me: Indeed so. The next chapter will be based on another one of our favorite Beast Wars episodes entitled "Call of the Wild".
The Amazing Ghost Musician: That's right! When the Predacons make another attack on the Maximals and Crystal Gems, they end up stealing both rectifier coils from both the Maximal Base and the Beach House where The Crystal Gems live. Without them, neither the base nor the house are Energon shielded, and the Maximals are all stuck in their beast forms 24/7.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Oh crumbs! That is not a good sign.
Me: This cannot bode well for the Maximals. As long as they are stuck in their Beast modes, they lose all sense of reason.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Nope! This is a serious problem for everyone, and now Steven and the Crystal Gems have to find a way to get back both rectifier coils from the Predacons. But while the Maximals are stuck inside their base day and night, they're unable to sleep at night and their beast forms slowly start to take over their bodies.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: *gulp!* Oh crapricketts!
Me: Yeah, this is starting to feel pretty grim right now. And also, Jetfire is out patrolling the skies, so he's not affected by what's been going on in the base. Neither is Airazor, which is a good sign.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Sure is. But with their options all limited, Steven, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl call upon help from Tigatron and the rest of their friends. But things get worse at night time when the Maximals who are now in full beast mode and are running lose from the base, roaming the forest of Beach City.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Great mountain goats, this is bad juju!
Me: And to make matters worse, all 5 Maximals are being hunted by the Predacons. Whilst acting like a bunch of 'Big Game Hunters' if you will. I mean what the hay?
The Amazing Ghost Musician: So now Steven and the Crystal Gems must fight off the Predacons by themselves, and they're outnumbered.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Oh damn!
Me: Fortunately, Tigatron is about to help bring the Maximals' Beast and Robot forms into balance with one another.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: But will Tigatron be able to help the Maximals bring their beast and robot forms into balance? Will Airazor and Jetfire be able to recover both rectifier coils? And will Steven and the Crystal Gems be able to hold off the Predacons before they hunt and destroy the Maximals? We'll have to wait and find out in this next chapter.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: I'm super excited!
Me: As am I, so with that in mind, we welcome 2023 with this chapter of War Of The Beasts. But for now, we must depart.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Until we all meet again, remember to like this chapter, and don't forget to leave your review. NO FLAMES!
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Yeah, no flames in the comments section.
Me: Plus, keep on the lookout for more stories including "What A Strange Web We Weave", Ben 10 & Power Girl: The Vengeance Of Enoch, Kamen Rider Crimzone, Castlevania: Rhapsody Of The Blood Moon and much more.
The Amazing Ghost Musician: Remember to check out those stories, and we all hope the new year is working out good for you.
PHANTOMKNIGHTMARE47: Until then….
All Three: SEE YA NEXT TIME!