Chapter 3: Combaticons Combine!

Although the two parties had tried to keep things as abridged as possible, it was still a pretty lengthy explanation from both of them. While Steven was used to knowing about beings other than humans, he still had only ever met the gems in terms of otherworldly beings. To get the chance to meet a different species was truly something amazing, especially considering that they were nothing like he would have ever expected.

On the other side of the conversation, the Autobots were also intrigued to hear about a new species and it's lifestyle. Yes, they had seen many others during their time exploring the cosmos, but they were always instructed to leave them be. Rarely if ever did they actually get a chance to communicate with them.

Hot Rod especially was eager to learn as much as he could. Between him and Steven, the two were asking enough questions to write a book on the others species.

"So do all of you humans have different markings and colors like us?" Hot Rod asked Steven, "I mean you and your friend are different or is it just that way with your… genders I think you called it?"

"Hehe, not quite." Steven answered, "Peridot isn't a human, she's what's known as a gem. A completely different species."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that there are two different dominant species on this planet?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Well no, not really." Peridot answered, "It's a bit of a long story but I'll do my best to explain. Gem kind came here a long time ago and tried to establish this planet as our colony to help with making more of ourselves. For certain reasons, it was abandoned and humankind took over once more. You see, we procreate differently, hence this place you see before you. We are grown in the ground and then we come out fully formed."

"Well, that isn't nearly as complicated as the way he explained how his species does it, and it does explain all these weird holes in the cliff walls." Jazz said, before remembering something, "Wait a minute, if your species comes out of the ground and this was one of your old producing areas, does this have anything to do with it?"

Jazz got down on one knee to show the two that he was still holding the clump in his hand. Most of it was dirt, but there were a few fragments of what looked like a crystal in there. Looking it over, the two immediately knew what it was.

"These are gem shards." Steven said, picking up one of the pieces, "This gem must not have made it. You see, gems usually form from these things, making their own bodies. If a gem gets shattered, then they can't come back."

"Man sounds like what happens when one of our sparks go out." Hot Rod said.

"Well, those things are the reason that we're here in the first place." Cliff said, "We came here looking for energy, and these things have a very similar energy signature to energon."

"Energon?" Peridot asked.

"It's our life's energy." Jazz said, "While it does have a form, it can also be refined from other energy sources. Like Cliff said, it's the reason that we're here. We were just looking to get more energy for our planet."

While that was definitely not the full story of things, Jazz wasn't about to tell these two the real reason behind them being here. The last thing they needed to know about was that they were at war with a deity of destruction and, if the other two had sense, they would keep their mouths shut about it. The last thing they needed to be doing was get a different world involved with their problems.

Though he didn't realize that it was also being done by their new friends as well.

"Well this isn't an energy source," Steven told them, "these are living things. Even if they have been reduced to shards, they still were once alive like us. Usually, when we find things like this, we try to honor them and give them a proper way to rest."

"Like this." Peridot said, gathering up the shards in her hands. With one quick motion of her hands, a green bubble formed around the shards. Then, with a small tap of her hand, the bubble was sent away almost instantaneously.

The Autobots all watched as Peridot showed them what they did, and were somewhat amazed by it. True, it fit with just about everything else that they were told about them, but it was still something to behold. It almost seemed mystical.

Yet all of this was still something incredibly important. The things that they thought were energy were actually living beings at one point, and may still be in some cases. They couldn't take these for their own use, as it would be the same as them using their dead as a source of fuel. Not to mention, any other energy source was already being used by the humans of this planet.

"Well, it looks like our readings were really off." Hot Rod said, "Not only were Shockwave's reports dated, but everything that we did find is something that we can't-" Hot Rod stopped himself mid-sentence, remembering something very important. "Wait, have you done this with a lot of these things?"

"Uh, yeah." Steven answered.

"Is there a place where you keep them all?" Hot Rod asked again.

"Yeah, why?" Steven inquired.

"And you said that there were more like you. Would that location be on a peninsula not too far from here and, if so, are they there?" Hot Rod finished.

"Okay, how do you know all of this?" Steven asked, getting weirded out by the specifics of the questions.

Jazz and Cliffjumper finally caught on with just what it was that Hot Rod was getting at, and both of their optics went wide.

"Oh no." they both said.

While Hot Rod and the Autobots had been having a relatively civil and informative conversation with their newfound acquaintances, the same could not be said about Onslaught and his Combaticons.

While the place that they were sent to did look like it had been unused for a long time, they failed to think about whether or not there would still be anyone or thing living in there, especially considering the condition of the house in comparison to the statue behind it.

That hardly mattered to them though. They needed to get comms set up and call back to Cybertron. This planet was either going to be something they could use, or simply another rock that could be left alone. Regardless of which, Soundwave was only concerned with getting his instructions, and the Autobots were likely wanting the same thing.

So, they got to work with trying to move the building out of the way. It was here that they found out that the house was not unoccupied.

Inside of the house, the gems were busying themselves to keep their minds off of Steven being out in the wild by himself. While that wasn't completely true that he was alone, they knew that Peridot was more likely to need to protect from Steven than her protect him. Yet, it was better than letting him go out there by himself.

Ever since the involvement of homeworld died down for the past few weeks, Steven had been expressing concern on how things didn't feel right. Yes, things were at peace for the time being and they were taking this as a brief respite before what would eventually happen. They were sure that something was going to happen soon, but all they could do in the meanwhile was prepare.

Yet that didn't seem to be enough for Steven. He felt that there was something greater going on. While Garnet had tried to assure him by saying that there were no visions of gems in future, it did little to ease the boy's mind. After what he had been through, he was understandably a little paranoid.

While the others didn't fully agree with him that things could be happening here on earth, they did allow for him to pull his little recon mission. They were all but certain that he would find nothing but, if it helped put him at a slight bit of ease, then why not.

It was fortunate that they stayed too because not long after he left, they heard noises outside of the house. Exiting the temple, the three heard loud thuds accompanied with the ground rumbling. There were never any earthquakes in Beach City, so something was clearly up. Could Steven have perhaps been right?

Heading outside to see what all of the commotion was, they came face to face with five very large bodies that appeared to be trying to destroy their home. While they were definitely like nothing they had ever seen before, it was clear that, whatever these things were, they were of hostile intent.

No words were exchanged by anyone before the gems started attacking the Decepticons, trying to keep the house from being destroyed. Caught off guard by their sudden appearance, Onslaught didn't get a chance do or say anything before he was hit in the face what looked like to him to be a very big fist.

That was all it took for the rest of the Combaticons to know that things were fully escalated. While they did have orders to leave indigenous life forms be, they also had a right to defend themselves when they were engaged. While none of them thought this was going to be an actual fight, no one took them off guard like that.

After Onslaught fell to the ground, Brawl was quick to react and swatted his smaller assailant away. Onslaught, known for being better with thinking than fighting, allowed for the heavy hitter of their squad to take over for him. While this was not at all an even match, Onslaught knew Brawl was always itching for a fight.

"There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity," Onslaught said to the smaller being, "and you have crossed it."

"Talk is cheap." Garnet said, getting up after being smacked aside, "Especially when you were the ones to start all of this, not even bothering to see if anyone was here."

"I agree." Brawl said, punching his fist into his hand, "but considering you threw the first punch, I say we continue and hammer out the details later."

With that, Brawl reared his fist back and went to throw a punch at the gem, only to be met with one of equal power from someone much smaller than him. There was a brief moment of confusion but he threw another punch, only to again have it be met by one from Garnet.

"Hmm, seems like he isn't as tough as he thinks." Pearl remarked on the situation.

"Yes, it seems that your mouth is nearly as big as that thing on your face." Swindle said, not taking kindly to what she said.

The moment that Pearl heard what the big robot said, he mouth immediately went agape. Too many times in the past had she gotten remarks about the size of her nose, and she had never once taken kindly to it. It was one thing to have Amethyst say something about it, but to hear it from a complete stranger, and one that was openly hostile towards them? Well, let's just say that she didn't need much more of a reason to begin her assault on him.

As the spear was pulled from her forehead, Pearl made a leap for Swindle. Although slightly caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the weapon, Swindle was quick to react and sidestepped to get out of the way. Pearl landed pretty gracefully on the ground and quickly turned to face their attacker once again, only to be immediately booted in the face and sent flying back.

Not wanting this to go on any longer than it needed to, Swindle brought his blaster out and took aim at the now disoriented Pearl, fully intent on ending it. However, before a blast could be fired, he felt something wrap around his arm and start pulling back to keep him from taking aim. Looking over, he saw the shortest of the trio had some sort of whip that she was using. Though what really surprised him was how she was able to keep him from moving.

"You know, for giant robots, you guys can move pretty quick." Amethyst commented, only for her whip to be cut by another of the robots.

"Thanks." Vortex said, showing his blade that he used to cut her whip, "and you're pretty strong for a midget."

"What'd you call me!?" Amethyst shouted, reaching to her gem to pull out two more whips.

Rolling up so that she could do a spin dash at the Decepticon, she had every intention of ripping him limb from limb. However, she soon found that there was nothing there for her to hit. Coming out of her ball form, Amethyst looked around for her opponent, only to look up after hearing a very peculiar sound from above.

At first, it looked like a helicopter, but there were some very big differences. The shape was completely off, and it didn't look like anyone could fit in that thing. She didn't have time to ponder over this though since the thing took off and turned back to start coming her way. Was that the same thing that she had been ready to attack?

She got her answer when the thing started firing at her. Quick to react, Amethyst brought her whips up and started to do a spin them like fans. Doing this was able to deflect the shots that were fired at her, but that wasn't the only thing that was sent her way. When his energy shots weren't working, Vortex was quick to switch to his missiles. Seeing them coming, Amethyst dropped her defense and got into another spin dash to get out of the way, narrowly avoiding the missiles.

Swindle, who had been transfixed on what was happening with Vortex, had completely forgotten that he was in a fight of his own. While he was distracted, Pearl was quick to get and attempt the same attack again, this time being far more successful, delivering a kick to Swindle's face.

"Always pay attention when you're in battle." Pearl remarked, spinning her spear as she watched the robot stumble backward.

"And never bring a spear to a gunfight." Swindle remarked after he regained himself, pulling out his blaster once more.

Pearl's eyes went wide for a moment, but she quickly got herself together and started moving, only just barely avoiding the shots. Thankfully, she was incredibly nimble and able to outmaneuver anything that Swindle shot at her.

While all this was happening, Garnet and Brawl were still exchanging blows. While the two were matching each other one for one, they did occasionally get a hit on the other. The entire time, Brawl was growing ever more furious about the fact that he was being so easily matched by someone not even half his size, while Garnet simple remained aloof.

"Do you think we should help them?" Blastoff asked Onslaught, the two of them watching the whole thing play out.

"Not yet." Onslaught said, "It seems these lifeforms pack more of a punch than I thought. I'm interested to see how far they can get."

"Oh, this is not good!" Steven exclaimed, pacing out nervousness, "and you say there's five of them?"

"Yeah, and they are nowhere near as agreeable as us." Cliffjumper answered.

"Then we need to get back there right now, come on!" Steven said, trying to lead them over to the teleporter pad, only to be stopped by Peridot.

"Steven wait. We don't even know if the teleporter will work with them." Peridot said, "and even if it did, they're too big to fit on it."

"Well, I think I might have a way." Hot Rod said, putting his finger to the side of his head, "Perceptor we need an immediate pickup, we have an emergency… Perceptor?... Perceptor can you hear me?!... Scrap, he's not answering."

"Then it looks like we're gonna have to get there the old fashion way." Jazz said, "I still got the coordinates for where the Combaticons were dropped. It's a ways, but we can get there. You two, grab them and let's get headed."

Both Cliffjumper and Hot Rod nodded, bending down to carefully pick them. Steven was being carried by Hot Rod while Peridot went with Cliffjumper. While both of them had been in hands his big before, it strange having it be done by robots.

"Let's go, there's no time to lose." Hot Rod said, immediately sprinting out of the canyon with the other three in tow. Hopefully, they could get there before things got too bad.

All three of the gems were sent flying back from their assailants. While they were able to put a good fight, the Decepticons were just something that they were not used to fighting. They were able to hit them, but it never seemed like they were actually doing any damage. Not mention, with that strange ability to change, they were also outmaneuvered.

After watching the entire battle play out, Onslaught knew that the outcome was never in doubt. Not only were these creatures nowhere near as big as them, but their power could only match theirs for so long. Yes, they put up a decent fight, but there was no way they could keep it up for long.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," Onslaught said to his crew, "but we can't keep playing with the locals. Let's finish this up, we got work to do."

"On it." Brawl said, getting his club out and making his way over to the three.

The crystal gems managed to get themselves up and were met with the sight of their opponents approaching them. While things did look bleak for them, they knew that there was still one thing that they could do. One last chance to keep these five from taking them down.

"Gems, let's show them what we're really made of." Garnet said, the other two nodding at her.

Getting up, the three took their positions and began to dance. Upon seeing this, Brawl, Swindle and Vortex all stopped, confused as to what it was these three were doing. While they had seen strange customs before, this was entirely different. Yet, before any questions could be asked, everything was answered when the three came together.

In a flash of light, the Crystal Gems vanished, leaving behind something much bigger in its wake. The being before the combaticons was twice their size and had six arms. It looked down at them, giving the faintest of smirks to them as the three stared upward at her.

"Something wrong?" Alexandrite asked, before opening her second mouth to let out a blast of fire.

Immediately, the three combaticons transformed to get out of the way. While they were not at all certain about what just happened, they knew that the tables had just been turned.

"Combiners?" Onslaught thought out loud.

"Now do we intervene?" Blastoff asked.

"Yes." Onslaught answered, getting his blaster out, "Blastoff and Vortex, take to the sky and keep it busy. Brawl and Swindle, you're with me. Let's take this thing down."

The combaticons said nothing and simply did as they were told. Vortex and Blastoff took to their vehicle forms and went to try and give the ones on the ground a bit of help by distracting whatever it was they now had to face.

Alexandrite watched as the two took to the air. They went out a ways before returning to try and hit her with both rockets and energy shots. A whip was quickly brought out, and the same tactic that Amethyst had employed earlier was used, deflecting the shots. However, once the two got close enough, a large ball appeared on the end of the whip.

Using the momentum of the swinging, Alexandrite swung the flail and hit both of the airborne Decepticons in on blow, sending them flying into the cliff side. With those two dealt with, Alexandrite could now take care of the ones that were left on the ground. Looking down, she saw the three now in their alternate forms, seeming to get in place for something.

Whatever it was, they wouldn't get a chance to do it. Bringing out a giant hammer, she swung and hit Brawl, send him careening into the same wall that Blastoff and Vortex hit. Onslaught and Swindle, knowing that things were going downhill fast, tried to get away from the giant, but unsuccessful and quickly grabbed by her.

"Seems the tables have turned," she said to the two, tossing them into the same wall to join their comrades. "Still feel like this is a good idea?"

Onslaught was the first to raise himself up, placing his hand on his head from the disorientation. Looking over at their foe, he started to think about the futility of trying to take this thing on in their current forms. If they were going to beat whatever this thing was, they were going to have to resort to their ultimate tactic.

"We need to take control of this situation." Onslaught said, getting up from the ground, "Combaticons, combine into Bruticus!"

Again, no words came from the Combaticons and simply got to work with their practiced formation. Blastoff and Vortex took to the sky once again, while Brawl and Swindle took their vehicle forms to get into the right place. Behind them, Onslaught walked forward with an angered stance. Things were about to get far more heated than he ever thought they would.

When Alexandrite heard the command be given, there was a momentary surprise. Seeing the two airborne robots take flight once more, she thought that they were trying to distract her, yet was proven wrong when she saw what the other three were up to.

Swindle and Brawl came to the front, changing form once more to take up the bottom half of the transformation and becoming the legs. With that taken care of, Onslaught jumped up, taking another new form and landing on top of the two, becoming the body and head. Then, coming in from the skies, Vortex and Blastoff flew in and became the arms of the giant.

With the combination complete, the behemoth slammed his fist into the ground, cause a minor quake to resonate through the earth.

"Bruticus online. Ready for action!" he shouted, his tone sounded much simpler and vicious.

Alexandrite could hardly believe what she was seeing. So these creatures could fuse together just like them? It may not be the exact same thing, but it more than likely meant that this thing just as, if not more powerful than she was.

Now the playing field was completely even. One against one, both of equal size and strength.

Meanwhile, Steven and the rest were busy trying to make their way to Beach City. It was far slower going than using the teleporter, but they didn't have much of a choice. They would need their new friends to help sort this out, but they also needed to move quickly before anything major happened.

At the moment, they were not too far from an old gas station off of a pretty empty highway. All the while, the Autobots had been trying to contact the ship, but to avail. Perceptor and Soundwave must have been on the other side of the planet for this to be happening.

"Alright hold on." Peridot said from Cliffjumper's hands, getting everyone to stop, "This is taking way too long. If we keep going at this pace, there's likely to be nothing left by the time we get there."

"She's right." Cliff said, "We could transform. That would help pick up the pace."

"Transform?" Steven asked, only to be ignored.

"Cliff, we can't. Even if you excuse the fact that our alternate forms would cause unwanted attention, we wouldn't have anywhere to keep these two." Jazz said.

Hot Rod was fully inclined to agree with Jazz. Even if it would be faster, they couldn't really take Steven and Peridot with them. Not unless they had an iron grip and could hold to them while they sped along. Yet still, they needed to get there quick. There had to be a way.

Looking over at the gas station that they were close to, Hot Rod noticed that there were a couple of vehicles that were parked there, and he got an idea.

"Hey Jazz," Hot Rod said, getting everyone's attention, "what if we were to go in disguise?"

Looking over to what it was that Hot Rod was talking about, Jazz and Cliffjumper already knew what he was talking about, and they both gave knowing smiles. Meanwhile, Steven and Peridot were both left wondering what it was they were talking about.

"What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked as he and Peridot were put down.

"You'll find out in a second, Steven." Hot Rod said, he and the other Autobots approaching the vehicles.

Peridot and Steven looked at each other, wonder what the aliens could be doing. Looking back, they saw the three going up to a different vehicle, and then do some sort of scanning with their eyes. They were about to ask but got their answer when all three of them transformed into the cars that they scanned.

"Woah." was all Steven could muster. It was one thing to see giant robots, but to see giant robots that could turn into vehicles? It was like everything his six-year-old self could have ever wanted.

"Hop in Steven." Hot Rod said, opening his doors, "We have a long way to go and a short time to get there."

"You too Peridot." Cliffjumper said, doing the same.

While both of them were still in awe over what they had just seen, they were both aware that time was not on their side. Steven hopped in Hot Rod and Peridot did the same with Cliffjumper. Once in, the doors closed by themselves.

"Autobots, roll out." Hot Rod said, revving his engine before pulling onto the road with the other two close behind.

"What, you stealing Prime's line's now?" Jazz joked as the three sped down the road.

"Just seemed fitting." Hot Rod said.

Although their situation was indeed dire, Steven could hardly believe what was happening. He was currently sitting in a car that was able to transform into a robot. If he wasn't so hung up on what might be happening back home, he might be enjoying himself more. Meanwhile, Peridot was not enjoying the sudden accelerations as they sped down the road.

"Uh, Hot Rod." Steven said, "I know we're in a hurry, but I don't think we should be going this fast. We could get stopped."

"Sorry Steven." Hot Rod said, "There's no time to lose. I'll take care of everything from here, so just sit back and relax. Here, why not listen to this frequency I'm picking up."

The dials of the radio suddenly started turning on their own, the radio turning on to some very loud rock music.

Sometimes when your hopes have all but shattered

And there's nowhere to turn

You wonder how you keep going

Think of all the things that really mattered

And the chances you've earned

The fire in your heart is growing!

As the music kept playing, Steven couldn't help but wondered what was waiting for them in Beach City. If anything, he really hoped that the gems would take the civil route. Even if the ones they met weren't as nice as Hot Rod and the others, that didn't mean something couldn;t get worked out, right?

Over in Beach City, a true clash of the Titans was happening. While she had been doing their best to keep things away from the city itself, that meant that Alexandrite had to move the battle to the water to keep everyone safe. Though, it didn't mean that their new opponent was something to be written off.

Although Bruticus was significantly slower than Alexandrite, he more than made up for it with being more durable than a mountain. Every time that Alexandrite tried to hit him, he would hit her back three times as hard. WIth how much he was pushing back, they wound up on the shore line once more.

"You're finished." Bruticus said, getting closer to Alexandrite.

"Not yet." Alexandrite said, pulling out a bow and drawing the string back. An arrow of energy appeared and was quickly shot at the approaching monster. Several arrows came from the shot, but Bruticus kept coming closer.

Putting his left arm in front of himself, Bruticus activated the blades and let the spin. Doing this created a shield that was able to block the arrows, leaving no damage to him at all. Alexandrite tried to fire another shot, but it was met with the same results as last, and Bruticus was just getting close with that spinning blade shield.

Bringing out the hammer once again, Alexandrite attempted to keep him from getting any closer but attempting to hit his head to disorient him. Thankfully, the big brute was not fast enough to black her, and subsequently lost control of his shield.

Seeing the opportunity to hit him hard, Alexandrite opened her second mouth and let out a blast of fire. Unfortunately, it was met with an equally powerful blast of flames from Bruticus' right arm. Letting out a hearty laugh, Bruticus countered with a powerful punch to the fusion, sending her flying back onto the beach.

"I'll crush you." Bruticus said, lumbering back onto the beach.

As their battle continued to rage onward, there were three vehicles that were quickly approaching the city itself. Even with having to lose several patrol cars along the way, the Autobots had managed to make it to Beach City far quicker than they could have hoped to on foot. While their passengers may have been a little worse for wear after the ordeal, they were at least here now.

"Man, look at this place." Jazz said, "We sure ain't in Iacon anymore."

"No kidding, but we gotta focus. Hopefully, Onslaught and his crew haven't gotten into-" Cliff stopped momentarily as they came over the crest of the hill, only to be met with the sight Bruticus fighting with an equally large creature "too much trouble."

"Oh come one, really?" Hot Rod said in disdain.

Steven couldn't help but feel in awe at the sight before him. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew that the gems were in a fight for their life right now, he would have wanted to let the fight continue. A giant robot fighting a giant woman was something that he could only ever think would happen in a movie.

"Come on Hot Rod, we gotta stop them." Steven said.

"We're on it." Hot Rod said as the three made their way onto the beach that the battle was happening. After making it close enough, the trio stopped to allow for Steven and Peridot to get out before transforming back into their robot forms.

"We'll take care of Bruticus, you stop your friend." Hot Rod told Steven, who simply nodded back at him before both took off to stop the fighting.

"Guys stop!" Steven shouted at Alexandrite, running in front of her, "They're not here to hurt us, it's just a big misunderstanding."

"Steven, get away from here, it's dangerous." she said back, before looking up to see yet another robot come up and approach Bruticus.

"Bruticus, stand down!" Hot Rod called up to the combiner, "There's no reason for this!"

"Get lost!" Bruticus shouted, attempting to backhand Hot Rod, who manage to step out of the way. He tried to do it again but was interrupted when his arm was being held where it was when Jazz came in and used his energy grapple to keep him from rearing his arm back again.

"Easy there big boy. We just want this resolved as easily as possible." Jazz said, only angering the giant even more. Pulling his hand hard, Bruticus managed to pull Jazz into the air and send him flying behind him.

However, as Jazz went flying, he managed to use his energy grapple to hook on to the back of Bruticus' head, causing him to stumble. After Jazz managed to land safely on the ground, he gave one hard tug, causing Bruticus to lose his footing and fall flat on his back.

Seeing this, Alexandrite was quick to realize that Steven may not have been too off with what he said. The one that had just shown up seemed to want this stopped if the way they handled Bruticus was any indication.

"Steven, what's going on here?" she asked the boy.

After managing to get Bruticus subdued, Jazz went to join his fellow Autobots. It was gonna be a good minute before Bruticus cooled off enough, so they might as well make their first impression on Steven's new friend.

"Hey there, I'm Jazz." he said up to the large woman, "I was wondering if we might be able to talk about a few things."