| abstract
| - Death Valley An important source of borax in the late 19th century, the fantastic moonscape of Death Valley was designated a national park in 1994. Here at the lowest point in the Americas, air temperatures can reach 134 degrees, ground temperatures up to 165. However, the desert has been conquered by tourism. Interspersed between the magnificent sand dunes, bleak mountains, and native plant and wildlife are campgrounds with shade trees and drinking water, motels, and even a resort complex. Tourists enjoy the sights from the comfort of air-conditioned four-wheel vans. With the increase in the availability of once-scarce water, there was a population explosion in local wildlife such as bighorn sheep, burros, rats, and squirrels, drawing in bobcats, foxes, and even mountain lions. Tremor is in Death Valley. There isn't nearly as much death here as he was hoping. He leans against a rock using his rough thumb pad to scrape caked-on red dust from his dental plates. Eventually, he takes to firing pot shots at the occasional column of vultures. "No Autobots out here," he gripes, "not even a stupid human." Hiding behind a pile of rocks is none other than Roadbuster! He's not doing a very good job at hiding though because he is ridiculously huge and towers over the rock pile even when hunched over. He taps the side of his head with a finger and radios to his Aerialbot broheim. "I don't see nothin' yet but just wait..." Tremor fires several shots with his laser pistol, hitting mostly empty air and innocent pillars of rock. When he finally manages to drop a vulture, he laughs. "Slaggin fleshies," he curses, smirking, "How have they gotten by so long being so weak?" He pushes himself away from his leaning spot and begins to walk out to where the dead bird is lying in a black heap on the ground. He is so engrossed in this, and has been here for so long without seeing anyone, that he doesn't see Roadbuster hiding nearby. F-15 Eagle huffs, annoyed. Descending a bit, he recognizes the steamroller, or padfoot roller, or whatever it was, he'd forgotten. "It's that...that...! Him! Get 'im!" Raid shouts, waiting for Roadbuster to make the first move. "LET'S DO THIS!" Roadbuster roars. He lifts his gun up and levels it at Tremor. Well, at his back atleast. Hey, Roadbuster isn't above shooting people in the back and neither should you. This is a war! Anyway, he pulls the trigger and sends a round of laser fire at the Decepticon. Combat: Roadbuster sets its defense level to Fearless. Combat: Roadbuster misses Tremor with its Assault Laser Rifle attack! Tremor starts, his arms and legs shooting out in a most unflattering way, as Roadbuster's shot screams over his shoulder. "By the Pit!" He wheels around and aims his own pistol. "Finally! Some action! I don't know where you come from, Autobot, but I know where you're gonna end up!" Combat: Tremor strikes Roadbuster with his Laser attack! oadbuster gets laserfire to the shoulder. Egads! It doesn't really do much but the fact remains: this is real combat now. "Air Raid! I think you know what you need to do," Roadbuster says. "Provide air support and take this guy out from above!" Of course, Roadbuster isn't just going to stand back and hope the Aerialbot takes care of everything for him. No, he's going to shoot as many rounds through Tremor as he can. The Wrecker subspaces his rifle and replaces it with another weapon. He fires a round at the Decepticon. Combat: Roadbuster strikes Tremor with its Gauss Pistol attack! Combat: You took 6 damage. Tremor looks up and finally notices Air Raid. Then he looks back at Roadbuster. "That's the game, hmm? Two on one? So much for the Autobot way, I guess." He stashes his pistol and pounds his fist into his palm. "No problem.! I like the Decepticon way better!" He runs toward Roadbuster with his fist cocked back. At the last second he leaves his feet, turning the attack into a flying forearm. Combat: Tremor strikes Roadbuster with his Flying Burrito! (Punch) attack! F-15 Eagle is content to simply watch Roadbuster battle. "BLOW HIS FACE OFF!" Until he's asked to actually do something. "Right!" Raid swoops around to take the opposite side. "See how well you fair against the talons of the Eagle, punk!" Combat: Air Raid sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: F-15 Eagle strikes Tremor with his Leave those vultures alone! (Laser) attack! Roadbuster gets socked right in the kisser or atleast where his kisser would be if he actually had a face instead of the weird thing he's got going on now. Roadbuster takes a step back after the impact and brings his own fist up. "You call that a punch? Haw haw haw! I'll show you a punch, punk!" Oh yeah. Tremor's goin' down. Combat: Roadbuster misses Tremor with its Punch attack! Tremor already has a nice smoking hole where the projectile from Roadbuster's gauss pistol passed straight through his pectoral plating. It was all he could do to no-sell that. But now, he's knocked flat by Air Raid's attack. He hisses a curse, but the upside is that he's flat on his back when Roadbuster throws his punch. Tremor rolls to his feet and tries to duck around Roadbuster's left side and put a nice fist in the big mech's abdomen. Combat: Tremor strikes Roadbuster with his Gut Shot (Punch) attack! Roadbuster is struck once more and, like the last few hits, doesn't seem perturbed by it at all. "You will try and try and try to take me down," Roadbuster begins. He brings his pistol up and aims it at the determined Decepticon. "But your attempts are futile. I, Roadbuster, will be victorious!" He fires another shot. "WRECK AND RULE!" Combat: Roadbuster misses Tremor with its Gauss Pistol attack! Tremor ducks in close under Roadbuster's gun arm and manages to avoid taking yet another gauss pistol shot. "Great idea!" Proclaims the former Monacan pit fighter and he attempts to grab Roadbuster's arm and brace his foot against the big mech's heel, knocking him down. Combat: Tremor misses Roadbuster with his Space Takedown Ogawa! (Grab) attack! F-15 Eagle watches the melee ensue, and can't land a ranged shot with Roadbuster that close to Tremor. "MOVE YOUR FAT AFT OUTTA' THE WAY ROADBUSTER." Combat: F-15 Eagle takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Roadbuster is not one to be easilly knocked down although all the wrestling moves are very impressive. "Heh. Nice try, kid." Roadbuster says with a grunt. He gets ready to lay the beatdown on Tremor when Air Raid starts yelling. The Wrecker transforms and throws his gear into reverse to put as much room between him and his opponent as possible. Roadbuster transforms into a ridiculously armed vehicle. Combat: Battlewagon takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Tremor holds up his hands as his opponent transforms and begins back away. "Aww, I was just startin' to have fun with ya big guy! Ya still haven't given me that punch you promised!" He raises his hands above his head. "Stop retreatin'!" Combat: Tremor misses Battlewagon with his Tectonic Shock attack! F-15 Eagle is rather thankful he's in the air now. Without wasting a split second, he dives when Tremor's hands are occupied and fires off a few missiles. "EAT NAPALM FRAGFACE!" he cries, cackling like the dolt he is. Fairway gives him far too much credit. Combat: F-15 Eagle strikes Tremor with his Heat-Seeking Missile nce Air Raid fires off his missiles, Roadbuster steps into action again. Well, rolls into action since he's a car and he's got wheels....yeah.. Anyway, the ridiculously large gun attached to the top of his vehicle mode sets its aim on Tremor and fires. Combat: Battlewagon strikes Tremor with his Linear Blaster Gun attack! [Pulled -2] Tremor is pounded by Air Raid's heat seekers as he attempts to bring his hands down for a ground pound. There's probably a sound like Bthoooom or Krrblaaaaammmm-mm-m as he is battered to the ground and engulfed in the eye of the firestorm, his extraordinarily offensive and hateful swearing drowned out. When the smoke clears, he is stuggling to his feet, his armor blackened and dented. His optic visor is cushed on one side, revealing a glowing yellow bulb. Despite this, his smirk is intact. He leers at Roadbuster. "That's how it's done, see?" With that, he's blasted by RB's ridiculously large gun and goes flying backward, pieces of his armor falling off as he drags a furrow in the dirt. Combat: Tremor takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Battlewagon transforms and begins to make his way over to the battered and busted Decepticon. His rifle is in hand which is kind of redundant since he has a shoulder cannon but whatever. He prods Tremor with the barrel of his gun and hmms. "I think this deserves a more personal touch." Roadbuster subspaces his rifle and... ..throws himself at Tremor to crush him ): Roadbuster transforms into a robot. Combat: Battlewagon misses Tremor with his BODY CRUSH (Smash) attack! "Hahaha!" Raid banks into a vertical climb, humming the beat to some death metal song. "Bahdahdadada, bahdah!" Something distracts him, perhaps that turtle-shaped cloud; in any case he seems to be channeling Fireflight, and doesn't attack right away. Combat: F-15 Eagle takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] The lights are on in Tremor's head, but no one is home. He rolls out of the way as Roadbuster attempts to crush him with a big splash Ultimate Warrior style, but it's not because he has any idea what's going on. "Goooooo," he says, his smirk returning, "That is the spirit..." He pushes himself to his feet and shakes his head. He's not completely back yet, but he has the wherewithal to try and drop a big elbow on Roadbuster. Combat: Tremor strikes Roadbuster with his Elbow Drop (Punch) attack! Roadbuster is elbowed! And in such a cool way, too! Fortunately for Roadbuster, he took a lot of steroid in highschool and can pretty much take anything that's thrown at him; elbows or otherwise. The strike is shrugged off and Roadbuster lifts a fist. "I still owe you that punch!" Combat: Roadbuster strikes Tremor with his Punch attack! The still dizzy Tremor is decked hard in the jaw. He tilts back on his heel, very close to toppling. At precisely the right moment, he comes to his sense and just barely manages to regain his balance. He's forced to take a big step back to support himself. Now, his smirk is gone. In its place is an expression of abject hate. "You punch like a human," he hisses. Then he raises his arms to try his ground pound again. Combat: Tremor misses Roadbuster with his Tectonic Shock attack! Ooooohhhh daaaaaaammmnnn! Roadbuster is going to need some ice for that burn! If Roadbuster had a face, it would be plastered with the saddest and most hurt frown you can think of. "I punch like a human, do I?" He subspaces his pocket and pulls out his rifle. Roadbuster has a lot of guns, okay? "Tell me, Decepticon... Do I shoot like one too?" He pulls the trigger. Combat: Roadbuster misses Tremor with his Assault Laser Rifle attack! Tremor curses the ground. It seems his ground pound attack can't to break today - for whatever reason. He sneers and pulls himself up in time to evade Roadbuster's blast. The smirk is back in full force. "Ya do, you know?" He taunts. Then he cocks his fist back and swings for Roadbuster's optics. Unfortunately, what was destined to be the single most epic punch in the history of everything is disrupted by Air Raid's head on charge! Tremor is rammed and finds himself on his back yet again. This time though, he uses the momentum to roll to his feet. He isn't very stable though, and his chest carries a massive dent from which blue sparks now jump constantly. "Autobrat!" He turns, unsubs his pistol, and fires at Air Raid. Combat: Tremor strikes F-15 Eagle with his Laser attack! "Yeah, i don't think so!" Roadbuster bellows at Tremor as the Decepticon opens fire on his Aerialbot buddy. The Wrecker tightens his grasp around his rifle but instead of shooting another round he swings the weapon at Tremor's head. Did you know guns can be used for bludgeoning? The more you know! Combat: Roadbuster misses Tremor with his Punch attack! That laser shot is timed and placed well enough to hit something vital, forcing Raid to waver in the air above the ground and abruptly transform, tumbling violently for a good distance across the valley floor. "Oof!" He sprawls there for a moment, seeing stars. Air Raid folds and compacts, transforming into his robot mode. Combat: Air Raid takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Tremor rises into the air, avoiding a shot from the butt of Roadbuster's rifle that would probably have knocked his smug little head clean off. He laughs as he ascends. "Good fight, Biggins. I look forward to the next - you'll be a nice big pile a' parts when that one's over!" Now he points in Air Raid's direction. "You're already on my list, pal," he chuckles, "Too bad your crackshot meatbag friend wasn't here to save your aft this time." With this he flies away, dripping fluid, and hardly able to keep on course. Combat: Tremor begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Air Raid Roadbuster leans his rifle up against his shoulder and watches Tremor fly off. "We shall see, Decepticon. We shall see..." He turns and looks over at the dazed Air Raid and snorts. "Good job out there, kid. We gave 'im hell." Air Raid sits up and /fumes/, shaking a fist after Tremor, "COWARD! YOU CAN SC- ..." He trails off and sulks, looking over at Roadbuster. "Yeah. Thanks."
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