#I like the idea that Atlas is sort of like the sparklings built in defense mechanism

[lets-try-some-writing]

I love the sparkling children au but like maybe with a twist, where the kids are also combiners and can form a gestalt together? Or at least show signs of it? Image the headache of trying to find the sparklings and finding a larger incredibly frightened gestalt sparkling that just formed for the first time.

Love this concept so much. Don't mind me as I take it and run with it.

Gestalt Trio

After everything, the team were near certain there was nothing the sparklings could do to throw them for a loop. However they were sorely mistaken.

Ratchet had spent some of his time messing with the artifact that changed the sparklings in the first place, but it had revealed nothing at had not acted every since the initial transformation. All they gathered from the thing was that it could obviously make an organic Cybertronian and vice versa. They didn't know if the children all being changed at once into sparklings had any effects... until an incident in base confirmed once theory that had been floating about in Ratchet's files.

The sparklings had all been playing together with Optimus watching over them like a hawk. The Prime had been hesitant to take his optics off his young at all after the numerous incidents revolving around them. As such when all three seemed to freeze up at they came into contact with each other, Optimus noticed immediately. He wasn't concerned at first as his sparklings didn't seem to be in any pain. But then he watched in complete shock as they seemed to begin joining. The three began to combine, their frames working slowly to adjust and compensate for differences in frame type.

The rest of the team gathered around in awe as over the course of an hour, the trio of sparklings changed, their frames slowly melding into one another, taking time to click together like a puzzle before the new combiner came online. The combiner sparkling immediately began screaming in terror, the melding of three young minds unable to fully comprehend their shared body.

The team were on them in an instant. Optimus collected the combiner sparkling who despite being made of three different frames still ended up only coming up to Arcee's hip at best. He sang to the sparkling, reaching across his bonds to all three of his little ones to soothe the newly formed combiner. Ratchet took scans at rapid fire speed, quickly compiling a basic file for the combiner sparkling and seeing where the three merged into one. Bee and Smokescreen joined the song, trying to add familiar voices to the tune for their sibling to hear. Arcee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Ultra Magnus mainly did their best to not be in the way as the rest of the team worked.

Eventually the combiner sparkling calmed enough for the team to get a good look at them.

The combiner had Miko's wings, Jack's active T-cog, and Rafael's data cables, although every part of the combiner's frame was heavily armored, likely due to Jack's influence. The combiner had sensory panels on their helm which could have come from Miko or Rafael and was largely covered by thick plating. Their coloration was a mix of bronze, purple, and blue, somehow managing to look pleasing to the optics despite being a rather clashing set of colors in the shade the sparklings had them.

When asked for their designation, the team discovered that the combiner sparkling had access to Jack's knowledge, allowing them to speak and understand in a way that little Rafael and Miko couldn't. It took a little longer for the combiner to understand and process everything due to the age differences between the combiners different components, but soon enough they answered.

Bumblebee: What is your designation?

The Combiner Sparkling: We are... we are Atlas

Optimus: A fine designation for a fine bot.

Atlas: We feel strange.

Ratchet: You should. You just combined for the first time. It will feel strange for a while until your systems settle into your new form.

Atlas: Are we stuck like this? We don't want to be together forever.

Wheeljack: Nah! Don't you worry kiddo! Combiners can come undone whenever they want!

Altas: We can?

Arcee: Absolutely. From what I have heard, you just need to let go.

Atlas nodded at this but did not disengage from their form, instead opting to get a feel for their shared frame. The team quickly found that Atlas had a completely unique personality forged from the personalities of the sparkling trio.

Atlas was a very easy sparkling, never needing to be waited on to be content. But Atlas was very clingy, always wanting to be near an older bot even if they weren't actively being interacted with. Atlas was generally very calm and controlled, but did have bursts of energy when something of interest happened or they felt the urge to interact with others. They could also be rather protective, often trying to stand in front of Optimus as if their small frame could keep any harm from coming to him. This behavior also extended to the rest of the team, but when they could, Atlas stayed with their Sire.

Atlas's interests also varied, swapping rather wildly for a while until it seemed to settle. Atlas's interest in medicine remained, but it was more subdued due to two of their components not caring for the craft. They remained interesting in the skies, but were not as compelled to feel the wind in their wings. To them their wings were a tool to be used to take care of their family, they were useful but not essential to their being. They did find it hard to focus on occasion, likely due to Rafael's influence, but beyond that they were fairly stable and participated in activities all their components enjoyed.

Atlas's interactions with Optimus remained stable, never wavering much. They followed him around to satisfy their various components desires to be near him while also remaining somewhat independent to keep Jack's part of their processors pleased. With Arcee they were quieter and tended to drag her into more games rather than just enjoy her company. With the wreckers Atlas played their games, but they were calmer and often ended up ending the game after one of their components got too stressed or stopped caring. With Bee and Smokescreen they behaved similarly, enjoying their elder siblings attention but losing interest rather quickly because of their components varying opinions. With Ratchet they merely watched him work before wandering off, growing bored far quicker than their eldest component would normally.

Soundwave was baffled but ultimately intrigued by Atlas when he dropped by later in the day to care for Rafael. He found it harder to connect with the combiner, but swiftly came to care for Atlas all the same. Atlas held a bit of Rafael and so Atlas was under Soundwave's protection. Starscream didn't even stutter when he saw Atlas and instead did his best to take the combiner flying to get them used to their frame. Optimus objected to this and Starscream had to steal Atlas for a bit and toss them from the rafters to get them to fly.

He got banned from base for a week afterward.

When Atlas finally did disengage, the sparkling trio were left a little disoriented but overall content. They were bound together and they were pleased, even Rafael who was hardly old enough to understand seemed to get the gist of their new bond. The team were still a bit concerned over the whole thing, but knowing that the sparklings could come together into a semi-competent form if needed brought them a degree of peace. Atlas was not grown by any means, but they were able to think clearly and come up with basic plans, a huge improvement from having two sparklings who could hardly function without supervision and one too small to really take care of the other two.