| abstract
| - Once upon a time, on a little snowflake, there existed a whole world, full of wonder. A race full of really tiny people lived on that snowflake, known as the Whozits. They were a happy people, and this time of the year, they were making ready to celebrate the most wonderful of holidays: Christmas! Unfortunately, there is going to be a little problem with their celebration this year, because little did they know-- KRUNCH Galvatron steps on that special snowflake, which had been laying on the surface of the North Pole, as the Decepticon leader stomps towards some unknown destination. "Where is it? I know there's some sort of secret facility here, RICH with resources! I swear I'll find it and ROB IT BLIND! Hahahaha! Decepticons, let me know if you see anything... unusual!" The frigid blasts of air threaten to push you off-course as you move into the northern Polar region. Some bright blue water is visible in between the enormous glaciers and icebergs. Narwhals and beluga are the only life signs for as far as you can see. Swindle trudges unhappily through the icy wastes, his well-trained optics scanning for any sign of anything whatsoever of value. So far, he's only managed to calculate a slight profit margin by considering selling ice to desert-dwelling tribes. Dependant upon transport costs. "So," He says, "when you mentioned the 'North Pole,' did you mean Magnetic, of Geographic north?" "Plenty of human seafaring legends describe something special at the top of the planet, but most of them that went looking for it just got their puny waterships crushed by ice," Boomslang remarks, drawing on his naval background research. What in the universe is Tremor doing here? He doesn't remember when he started asking himself this question, but he is certainly no closer to answering. He trudges along behind Boomslang, his arms around himself to melt the ice formsing between his studs. "Hard to imagine anything special about this rock," he grumps, "'specially not here." Scrapper tromps along, because when Galvatron bellows, you'd better jump. The ice and snow make for annoying walking, so he eventually gives in and hovers along. Scrapper suggests, "What if the base was underwater or hidden between layers of ice? Perhaps even containing montrous beings from another dimension?" Scrapper's Santa Claus is crossed with Lovecraft. Rodimus Prime is piloting a shuttle. Fear. Well, really, most of the shuttles that can carry both humans and Transformers comfortably are the Autobot ones, so it makes sense that they'd take one. He looks down at the sensors and shakes his head. "The satellite feed reported Decepticon activity in this area. We should be coming up on just where it is." He glances down at Spike and Jayson. "Mind keeping an eye on those additional sensors for me? Whatever they're here for, it can't be good news." Good thing this exo has a cozy heating system. Spike stands near the helm with a hidden grim expression and folded arms. He appears to be the smallest metallic being present, oddly enough. "Sure thing Rodimus." His gaze shifts to an infared monitor, but every now and then he peers up to make sure they weren't careening towards the ground. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield is actually not worried about Rodimus flying the shuttle. Brave, brave lad. Although he is, of course, in his armor, and prepared to brave the cold of the Arctic Circle. At Prime's request he turns his full attention on one of the monitors. "Maybe they're taking a leaf out of the Grinch's book and trying to steal Christmas," he quips. Galvatron frowns as he looks about, seeing nothing--though with the snowstorm (did I mention the snowstorm?), that's hardly surprising. "Magnetic or geographic North Pole? Hm, well, er, what does it matter! There's bound to be something there! And if the silly humans believe there's something special here, then there MIGHT be something to it, though we must always remain skeptical!" He trudges forward, becoming harder to see in the whirling snow. "As for monstrous beings--HA! As if there's any beast on this planet that could possibly threaten us...." Galvatron eventually disappears in the blizzard, the raging snow obscuring him completely from view. Swindle nods reasonably towards Boomslang, although his response takes on a sceptical tone. "Indeed they do, however, terran mythology also describes great treasures resting at the end of the optical illusion they refer to as a 'rainbow,' but that doesn't make it true." He turns his attention back to the horizon, or whatever he can make out of it through the storm, muttering, "I should know, I checked it out once..." Starting in realisation of what he's said, he glances aside at his fellow 'Cons and raises his voice defensively, "It was a slow day, alright?" Scrapper is slagging scared of Rodimus Prime's driving skills or lack thereof. The Prime won't stay in his own stupid lane! He feels a prickle fo fear and doens't now why, as he doesn't see shuttle or drive just yet. But what he does see or, rather, doesn't see... Scrapper groans, "I think we lost Galvatron! Maybe he'll come back all super-logical after the ice bath..." Tremor huddles in the cold, shielding his face against the storm. He doesn't complain that this whole operation could have been performed from space by a single satellite. "Wouldn't count on that, Scrap." "You're the expert, but somehow I don't think it works the same way as blunt force trauma to the head," says Boomslang, hanging off the top of an iceberg by one arm. Everyone knows that in order to fix amnesia, you hit the sufferer hard over the back of the head. Wait, where the heck did this snowstorm come from? Rodimus grits his robo-teeth as he holds the shuttle steady, obviously focusing on that more than anything else. "I realize this storm is going to make it difficult, but there can't be /that/ much metal out here, right?" The shuttle shakes as a stronger wind tries to knock it down, but he manages to right regain control quickly enough. Scrapper was referring to the lava bath making Galvatron crazy. He muses, "Because, right, if heat makes him crazy, cold should make him uncrazy? Or at least make it easier to obtain a superconducting state?" He probably shouldn't be talking about this where Galvatron /could/ hear. Exo-Suit Salamander squints at some redish orange pixels on the screen. "Getting some blips. Up ahead a little... Four at least. Best set her down right here." He heads towards the shuttle's hatch and motions for Jayson to follow. "Is that the problem?" asks Boomslang, squinting through the snow. "Resistance? Too many ohms?" Eventually a large shape runs back towards the Decepticons. Is it Galvatron? No--it becomes painfully obvious that it's not Galvatron very quickly. In fact, it's actually a HUGE NEPSAN YETI! And it's running right towards... TREMOR! "GWOAAARRAAAHHHHH!" the Nepsan cries, its powerfully strong hands reaching out for the Decepticon's throat. Exo-Armor Pegasus moves to follow Spike, while the pilot activates the weapons systems. "Maybe I'll get a chance to test out my new blades." Tremor backpedals, holding up his arms. "By the Pit! Whaa?" The curses that follow aren't to be repeated. Not one to back down easily, he swings at the monstrosity, aiming to make himself not worth trying to throttle by beating the yeti in the face over and over again. With the usual ratcheting sound, Boomslang spins and flips and turns into a fighter jet. Swindle shakes his head incredulously, "Are you serious? Sanity isn't a binary!" He hesitates abruptly, hoping Galvatron hasn't been listening, before continuing in a more subdued tone, "And the last thing we need is superconducted insanity, after all, AAAGH!" Swindle drops and rolls, seeking solid shelter in the face of... A Nepsan Yeti? "I've got your snow, /I'VE GOT YOUR SNOW!/ FIRST HAND!" F/A-18 Super Hornet jumps off the top of the berg and transforms, flying on instruments until he climbs out over the snowstorm. "Can't see a thing down there," he remarks to himself. "No yetis up here, though... huh, what's that?" He cruises in the direction of a radar return flickering uncertainly through the white noise of the storm. "All right," answers Rodimus, never once suspecting that maybe Spike just wants to get out of the shuttle that the Prime is piloting! He sets the thing down, somewhat crookedly, but in one piece, then opens a hatch with a button. He quickly darts out the shuttle and transforms, falling into alternate mode. "Primes come with four wheel drive and snow tires, standard," he answers cheerfully, turning on his headlights. "You two need a ride, or do your exos have it handled?" Rodimus Prime transforms into his Winnebago mode. The Yeti is punched in the face pretty hard--but it's a fairly tough creature, so while its head reels from the blows, it otherwise just gets angry. "GNARRRRR!!!" it cries, attempting to lift Tremor up. Swindle's attempts at placating it just draw its attention, so the Yeti either tosses Tremor or a block of ice at him, depending on whether or not Tremor can wiggle free. Meanwhile, a little cabin sits out in the middle of this blizzard, warm lights shining through its windows. Looks awful warm and cozy in there. Exo-Suit Salamander isn't going to pass up a chance to snow-surf with the Prime. "For the sake of keeping up, I'll tag along. Jayson, get some altitude, tell us if you see anything." He hops atop the Winnebago and crouches. "Wait... anyone hear that?" Exo-Armor Pegasus prepares to exit the hatch. "You got it," Jayson chirps, but then he pauses. "Err...that doesn't sound good. Hang on a sec." He launches from the shuttle and gains altitude easily, scanners alert for Decepticons and, perhaps, whatever is making those eerie growling sounds. Granted, it's difficult to see in the snowstorm, but he's able to make out various shapes. "Holy--that looks like one of those yetis from Nepsa! What's it doing here?!" Swindle attempts to roll out of the way of the yeti's attack, but finds he is too slow, wheareas once upon a time he'd've been incredibly nimble. Man, how times change. Drawing himself to his knees, Swindle draws out an incendiary and throws it out into the wastes, raising a wall of fire between himself and any who dare approach. Tremor is as surprised by the yeti's persistence as he is by his comrades' apparent lack of concern that he is being assaulted by a huge monster. "Shoot it!" He cries as he is hefted into the air. Further instructions are forestalled by Tremor's being thrown bodily into a snowbank. Winnebago can probably be heard before he can be seen through the snow, but he's successfully heading in the direction of the Decepticons. "Yeah, I can hear it," he answers Spike, struggling to keep moving straight. He's probably visible by now. Impactor has arrived. The Yeti does some sort of arm flailing/chest beating thing like you'd expect an aggressive monster to. "RORRRAAAAHHHH!" it screams after chucking Tremor, but Swindle's wall of fire proves to be more intimidating to it than a simple punch, and it recoils, howling in fear before it turns around and runs off, eventually disappearing into the snowy haze. "What are you people doing!?" Galvatron screams out from... somewhere? "We're not here to melt the polar ice caps... THIS time! Find that secret facility already!" Meanwhile, that comfy, warm cabin is still out there. A white-bearded old man, wearing a nice thick coat, steps out the front door and looks about curiously. "Coulda sworn I heard sumthin'..." he says. "A... a /yeti/?" Spike glances skyward through his visor, but the snow has effectively obscured Jayson. Swindle's wall of fire eventually shines through. "Well... there's our 'cons. Also picking up something large, a dwelling. Thattaway'," he gestures. Scrapper stays off in the background, because he is NOT messing with that yeti slag. There are some ways a Constructicon is not meant to combine, and most of those forbidden ways involve yetis. Scrapper will leave that nonsense to Thrust. Even here in the frigid wasteland that is the Arctic Circle is the 'ground' in fear of the mighty DRILLTANKS! Boring through the ice, none other than the Wrecker leader recieves a distressing call from Rodimus Prime. <> he transmits back, changing direction to start drilling up towards the surface. Quickly ascending above ground, Mr. Purple-pants transforms into robot mode and starts stalking off in their general direction. "What was that?" Impactor asks himself, hearing the faint echo of the Yeti scream and flail. The Drill Tank shifts and transforms, revealing the Wrecker leader Impactor! From Exo-Armor Pegasus , "A yeti," Jayson confirms. "From Nepsa. Ever been there?" He speeds through the snowstorm toward the Decepticons, and given that his armor is mostly white, he's probably hard to see amidst the raging blizzard. Swindle winces against the flames that his grenade kicked up, raising an arm to protect the sensitivity of his optics against both the flames and the reflection of the flames upon the ice, and the soft curves it casts over those creatures that seek to use it as protection. "A dwelling?" Rodimus asks, startled. "Who the blazes lives up /here/?" He hesitates, but just for a moment, then steers towards it. "We'd better warn them about the Decepticons," he says, then slows down as Impactor pops up out of nowhere. "Yeti. We'll have to figure out how he got here later. We may have locals in danger." F/A-18 Super Hornet circles down and transforms to descend back through the storm in search of the Autobot shuttle, vanishing into the snow more thoroughly than most. The F-18 produces that distinctive transformation sound as it flips around and pops out limbs to assume a humanoid shape. Combat: Boomslang activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! Tremor struggles to free himself from this blasted snow pile. He finally transforms his arms into his altmode's padfoot drum and activates his antigravs, battering his way through with no small amount of swearing. He rejoins the Decepticons too late to hear Galvatron's order. He settles beside Swindle. "What'd I miss?" "Yeti? You mean like abominable snowmech and all that noise?" Impactor grumbles, the harpoon attachment on his hand descends back into his forearm to be replaced by a normal hand mere seconds later. "Lead tha way Prime, right behind ya!" he yells out, trying to be heard over the winds ripping through the area. The bearded old man gasps as he sees large forms approaching his isolated cabin in the distance. "Oh, no!" he gasps. "I always knew this day would come! Martha! Tell them to get ready!" With that, the old man rushes back into the cabin. It turns out, though, that the shapes he saw were the Autobots, who should be coming up on the cabin any moment now. "Can't say I have, Jase. Watch our tail will ya'? Hey Impactor." Spike jumps from Roddy's roof as he pulls up towards the cabin. "I'll handle this." Because I am a diplomat! Apparently. He knocks on the door and puts on a winning smile, despite the fact that no one can see it. Swindle frowns thoughtfully, having only just managed to regain his footing himself. "Well," he starts, thoughtfully, "One thought is that it's better to be near the common exit between us. Another is..." Swindle frowns, casting his optics about himself. "I guess It's time to head up to the cabin..." Boomslang shuffles through the snow to the Autobot shuttlecraft, climbing up onto its broad prow to peek through the windshield and see if anyone is still aboard. For obvious reasons he doesn't worry about whether they can see him as well. "Like the creatures from Nespa," Rodimus answers Impactor. As Spike leaps from his roof, Rodimus transforms, then crouches, peering at the cabin. "Definitely looks inhabited," he murmurs. The shuttle, however, is not. It's empty. No one peers back out. Someone yells from behind the door of the cabin, "GO AWAY! You Decepticons aren't going to ruin THIS Christmas!" Exo-Armor Pegasus hovers about the cabin, now *away* from the Decepticons that it previously approached. The exo is almost perfectly camouflaged in the snowstorm. Scrapper starts to approach the cabin cautiously, and he hollers back, "Okay, we'll go ruin THAT Christmas instead." He points off into the distance. Impactor nods, following behind the two mechs of Jayson and Spike. The Wrecker leader whould be kinda worried about being out here without any proper backup, but then again ... the frickin' Matrix bearer is here too, so any adverse situations should be well handled. "So what's the deal with tha house boss?" "That's what we're trying to figure out," Rodimus answers Impactor, peering at the cabin. "The Decepticons are nearby, so they could be in dang-" then he cuts himself off as he hears Scrapper shout. "Even nearer than I thought," he mutters, then, louder, "What are you idiots doing out here, Scrapper? Galvatron decide to give up on lava baths and try for ice instead?" Exo-Suit Salamander blinks, then answers through the door. "Actually we're here to warn you that they're in the area, but seeing as you already know... I pressume you're fixing to head for cover." Scrapper's hollering makes him jump. "I guess this is a yearly thing," he mumbles to Impactor. Boomslang clambers up onto the top of the shuttle and works his way back to the engine cluster, working with his knife to lever up an armor panel. He reaches inside, hanging upside-down into the compartment to slice wires and hoses open. "That should slow 'em down if they try to chase us down with our ill-gotten... whatevers," he reassures himself with a grin. "Scrapper!? He's a Decepticon!" the old man in the cabin says. "I'm not falling for your tricks, whoever you are! We're well prepared THIS time!" And suddenly, there's a HUGE rumbling noise! The very ice itself shakes as if the area is in the grip of an earthquake! Tremor huffs. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." With this he trudges off in his own direction. Maybe he'll find the cabin. Maybe he'll fall into a hole and get chomped by some kind of giant worm. The mood he's in, he really wouldn't care either way. "Gotchya." Impactor replies to Rodimus Prime, sauntering up behind Spike and peering into a window. Suddenly he's spooked by Scrapper's shouting, and it causes the Wrecker to fall over on his aft knee deep in snow. "Oh fer tha love 'o Primus, Decepticons? What do they want here?" he gruffs, getting back up to his feet and brushing snow from his frame. Then the ground quakes. Tremor says, "Earthquakes. Excellent."" Exo-Armor Pegasus is in the air, so Jayson does not detect the shaking, but he does pick up the rumbling. "What in the world?!" Boomslang, standing on the shuttle, wobbles, throws out an arm for balance, and falls back into the service compartment he had just climbed out of. "Whoah!" "Hey, what's going-" Rodimus starts, then he's knocked off his feet from the ground quaking. The young Prime twists himself to his knees, but remains down while the ground still shakes. "Spike! You got anything? Jayson, what can you see from up there?" And wouldn't you know, the ground itself splits in half under Tremor's feet, giving way to a hundred-foot drop. Is the ice cap breaking up? No--it seems that there was a hidden door here, right in the middle of the North Pole! And as the door opens, SOMETHING is rising up under it, like a great big elevator! Scrapper shouts back at the sound of the WORST DRIVER EVER, "I already made that joke! Swindle, where did you go? I oughta sue..." Then the ground shakes. Ruh-roh! From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield stares. "Hard to say...but, uh, there's *something* rising up from the ground." "Rising up? Is it Twin Twist ... knew that little bugger woulda tailed me here." Impactor asks, trying to stablize himself in leiu of the ground shaking. "Whoa," Spike throws his hands out to steady himself, then takes to a hover. "Looks like...an elevator?" Boomslang climbs back out of the shuttle's engine compartment again, replacing the access panel behind himself so that the Autobots don't immediately notice the sabotage on their return, and sets off through the snow in the direction of the others' radio signals. "This looks a bit... big... for Twin Twist," Rodimus answers, remaining down until the rumbling stops. He looks towards where it came from, totally unconcerned with the Decepticon that was where the ground split. "How the hell did we not /know/ about this?" "Sweet howling mercy!" Trem is seldom bothered by a little bit of shaking, but this is a different thing altogether. He barely has time to activate his antigravs as the ground opens up beneath him to make way for...What in the Pit IS that. "Hey!" He calls to his comrades. "Hey, lookit this! I got somethin here!" He hovers around the pillar as it rises. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , Jayson Redfield mutters, "A wizard did it." Ever the smartass. Exo-Suit Salamander just stares at Jayson. Exo-Armor Pegasus makes a show of shrugging at the Salamander. Jayson likes to play with the controls. "Right, what's tha call boss?" Impactor questions again, making his way over towards the fissure and rising platform. "I know ya don't care, but I don't like the sound of this..." he mumbles. The hidden door opens all the way, and the elevator finally ascends to ground level, revealing... a fleet of cargo planes, all painted brown and bearing a logo that says, "C.L.A.U.S." The cargo plane that appears to be in the lead position has a red nosecone for some reason. Maybe it's a stylistic thing. However, as the cargo planes finally reveal themselves, so too do several cylindrical laser turrets which burst out of the ground nearby, and they proceed to blast red and green lasers at anything that moves (except for the cargo planes, of course). If there was Christmas music playing this might have been oddly festive. From Exo-Armor Pegasus , "Holy cow!" Jayson shouts as he directs his armor to dodge a laser. Winnebago 's jaw drops at what's revealed. "That's... you've /gotta/ be kidding me!" he exclaims, then shakes his head. "Do you guys see that, too?" At the moment, he's still, and is thus laser-free, but it's easy enough to see what those lasers are doing. "Yeah, for now? Don't move! Listen, they're just protecting themselves, but we've got to be ready to help them if the Decepticons move in - even if... Claus," Rodimus can't believe he's saying this, "even if he can't tell us apart." "Decepticon scheme no doubt. You sure you want to do that, Impactor?" says Spike, just before the fleet of cargo planes fly out. "Holy-!! Take cover!" He ducks behind a snowbank as a few lasers shoot just over his helm. Falling still, he does notice that the lasers, in fact, swivel away from him. "We're protecting Santa now, huh. Alright then." Winnebago transforms into his Robot mode. Windshear has arrived. Pretty boy Windshear transforms into a Cybertronian pyramid/Tetrajet. "Huh?" Impactor mutters, looking towards Spike. A couple of well placed green and red laser blasts collide with his backside, sending him sprawling forward and tiny black scorch marks on his aft. "Owww, what tha heck?" the Wrecker leader grumbles, scratching at the dings while tiny trails of smoke wisp up into the air and are whisked off by the wind. Scurrying forward to his feet, Impactor transforms into his DrillTank mode and burrows into the icy ground as soon as possible. Folding down upon himself, Impactor transforms back into his Drill Tank mode. Scrapper hits the deck... er... the soft, powdery snow when lasers start spraying about. If only he had time to build a snow fort! Tetrajet is flying along -- again minding his own business and listening to some earth rock music LOUDLY from the CD player in his cockpit (he does this a lot...). Hes riding the artic blasts and sky dancing in a sense just minding his own business when he sees laserfire from below. He runs a scan and picks up bots, cons, and humans and he opens a chan, <"Where can I be of assistance?"> Galvatron suddenly walks back into view, pointing at the cargo planes. "That's them! The cargo planes from the Center for Low-Profile Action to Universally Save children! I KNEW they were here somewhere! Decepticons, don't let those planes escape! This year, it's going to be a very DECEPTICON Christmas!" Several lasers blast him then, and Galvatron brings up a forearm to protect himself. "Blast! It gets more difficult every year!" He squints upwards as he receives a transmission, and sends one back. "Windshear, we're here to capture these cargo planes INTACT. Do you see them?" The cargo planes' engines roar into life, with the white bearded man seen earlier taking up position in the pilot's seat and putting on his headset. Exo-Armor Pegasus hovers motionlessly for a moment, then zips toward the cabin, dodging a few laser blasts along the way. Jayson lands the exo at the dwelling's entrance. "Hey!" he emits, trying to get the attention of the cabin's occupants. "We're not your enemies! Well, some are, but the rest aren't! Shut down the weapons!" And that's when he notices that the bearded man is, in fact, no longer in the cabin. Oh, look, there's Galvatron. "Oh for the love of--" Rodimus Prime groans as he hears Galvatron's orders. It figures. It just figures. He stands, drawing the fire of several of the lasers, some of which score hits. "Galvatron! Stay away from those planes!" he demands, drawing his photon eliminator from subspace. "Whatever these people are here to do," Rodimus can't quite believe that it's what it looks like, "they're going to do it without your interference!" "Holy dammit!" Tremor tucks into a ball and drops from the air. He takes cover in the snow for a few seconds as lasers and cargo planes whiz by overhead. When he's finally fairly sure that he's not going to be zapped, Tremor uncurls and starts to pound on the pylon supporting the platform from which all the chaos is issuing. Drill_Tank continues drilling around the area, trying to keep hidden from the laser blasts and awaiting orders from Prime. <> he transmits to their fearless leader. The cargo planes haven't lifted off yet, but Tremor's shaking isn't going to help them do it. They shift and slide about on the icy tarmac, and if this keeps up they might collide with each other! Exo-Suit Salamander doesn't seem too shook up about the lead pilot looking suspiciously like Kris Kringle. "Don't think you're gonna' convince 'em, Jayson. Get up there and take care of that lugnut!" He's of course referring to Tremor. His flamethrower-mounted arm lifts towards the nearest 'con, pilot light igniting. <> Rodimus answers Impactor over the radio. <> He pauses. <> Scrapper transforms, because hey, airplanes need a good runaway to take off. So he tries to shovel up snow and fling it at the runway to ruin the liftoff conditions. Really, he just want an excuse to shovel. Scrapper cleverly disguises himself as a bright green payloader. No one will ever suspect! "I see them, My Lord." Windshear says and wings over toward the joustling cargo planes. Why not heat things up a bit? He brings his lasers online and speeding up, does a scrafing run over the planes. He drops low and scatters his shots trying to damage as many as he can as he streaks by. Exo-Armor Pegasus shifts so that it's facing Tremor. "All right," Jayson replies to Spike. "You got it." The armor speeds toward the Decepticon in question, and tries to tackle him! Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Tremor with its Grab attack! Tremor hasn't heard Galvatron's order. He's standing underneath a very loud gun emplacement/cargo plane runway. He continues to bang on the structure. At some point, he forgets exactly why he's doing what he's doing. It's when he stops to try and recall what exactly is going on that he's tackled by Jayson. "Grah! Freakin meatwad!" He tries to roll with the tackle and shove Jayson away. Combat: Tremor misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Back off! (Grab) attack! The lead pilot scrambles to keep his plan from slamming into another plane, gritting his teeth. But as his plane is brought around involuntarily, he catches a glimpse of who exactly is here. "Autobots? EDC? Oh, was that who knocked on my door? Blast, those Decepticons--I thought it was THEM!" Picking up his receiver, he radios to the Autobots, "Autobots, EDC, this is Santa 1! Whatever assistance you can provide, we would appreciate it!" The laser turrets continue to do their work. Windshear punctures the fuselage of one of the cargo planes, but he might pay for it, as the motion-tracking turrets all align towards the fastest moving object and fire away at him. Elsewhere, Galvatron grins gleefully at Scrapper. "Excellent idea, Scrapper! If we pile snow all over their runway, those cargo planes won't be able to take off!" Cackling evilly, Galvatron hunches over and starts shoveling snow onto the runway with his hands. His laughter ceases, however, when he finally realizes how silly he looks, and he sighs ruefully. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Galvatron has 'skipped' his action for this round. Payloader continues to shovel snow and fling it at the runway. He could pew pew pew with little lasers but shovelling things is much more fun than lasering things. Lasers just go zweoooww and are boring and soulless. But shovels, ahhh! Shovels are awesome. See? Even Galvatron wishes he had a shovel, and all he has are hands. Scrapper demurs, "Oh, thank you, sir." The Global Pose Tracker marks that Payloader has 'skipped' his action for this round. Exo-Suit Salamander sets his sights on Windshear, a Seeker he's not too familiar with. He springs up and takes to the air towards Windy. Actually catching up to him would be quite a feat, but Spike only intends to draw the jet's fire. "Over here!" Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tetrajet with its Laser attack! Rodimus Prime is... ignored by Galvatron. Well. That's unusual. He looks up and offers the lead pilot a thumbs up. "You got it!" Right now, it looks as if Galvatron, of all of them, is doing the /least/ damage to the jets, but given his potential to do damage (and the fact that everyone else the Prime can see is being dealt with), Rodimus decides not to return the favor and instead charges for Galvatron. "Playing in the snow, Galvatron? Here! How about a snow angel!" he shouts as he charges right for the Decepticon leader, attempting to knock him back and off the runway. Combat: Rodimus Prime sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Rodimus Prime misses Galvatron with his Snow Angel attack! [Pulled -7] Exo-Armor Pegasus ducks back, breaking off physical contact with Tremor. "Time to test my new weapon," he says. "Eat this!" From the wrists of his armor, two blades extend, and with the one on the right arm he stabs at the Decepticon. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Tremor with its Arm Blade attack! <> Impactor emits over the radio to Prime, drilling under the surface's crust towards the runway. Locating the Constructicon's specific location on his HUD, the Wrecker leader turns up and begins to come up ... right underneath the payloader! <> Combat: Impactor sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Drill_Tank misses Payloader with his Drills Ahoy! (Punch) attack! Tetrajet is pleased when he damages the one plane but as he swings around to take a second run, laserfire erupts from auto cannons below toward him. With some fancy wing work he manages to evade most of the shots but a couple singe down his belly. That doesnt slow him down though but as he pulls back to the left to attempt another run he sees one of those exo suits in the air firing at him to. Quickly the Seeker banks right and down and avoids the shot. "My turn now, human." he rasps and levels up toward the exo suit and fires his lasers. Combat: Tetrajet strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Laser attack! Galvatron sighs again, looking disappointed in himself. "Ridiculous. What am I--" Then he notices Rodimus dashing through the snow right for him, but Galvatron is just a bit quicker, and with a fiery boost from the rockets in his feet, the tyrant is in the air before Rodimus can hit him. "Oh, no Rodimus, you know me--I'm not as fond of CHILDREN'S games as much as you are! Oh, and watch your footing! Wouldn't want you to fall, especially not while I seize the cargo in these planes!" He may be referring to the patch of ice he just lifted off of, which melted thanks to his rocket boosters, but may have quickly refrozen into a patch of slick ice. "What is the DEAL with you fleshbags!" Tremor raises his arms in an exaggerated shrug. The slash to his side hurts, but he plays it off like he can't even feel it. No good showing the humans he's vulnerable. "Messin with the Decepticons...Yer whole species gotta deathwish?" With this he draws back his right leg and attempts to boot Jayson into the ionosphere. Combat: Galvatron strikes Rodimus Prime with his Ice Skating (Grab) attack! Combat: Tremor strikes Exo-Armor Pegasus with his On With the Kicking! (Kick) attack! Payloader swerves and skids across the ice as the Wrecker tries to wreck him. He transforms, looks Impactor up and down, and he says calmly, "I'll have your harpoon." Scrapper draws his plain metal blade and brings it chopping down at the drill. The totally unassuming lime green payloader unfolds to become Scrapper, the architect of destruction! Combat: Scrapper strikes Drill_Tank with his Sword attack! [Pulled -5] Exo-Armor Pegasus staggers back slightly from the kick, but it quickly regains its balance. "Nope," the pilot replies. "We just don't take kindly to creeps who try to take over our planet." The blades retract, disappearing from view, and then the Pegasus lunges at Tremor, aiming a metal fist at his face. Exo-Suit Salamander gets a nice laser wound to his chassis, marring glassy red armor. It sends him flipping head-over-heels, but he manages to right himself and shoot off a lengthy stream of fire, hopefully before Windshear flies out of range. Spike totally stops himself from making terrible 'heat' jokes as Mr. ArnoldFreeze might've. "Watch yourself Jase!" Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Tremor with its Punch attack! Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tetrajet with its Flamethrower attack! Rodimus Prime goes sliding on the patch of ice, despite Galvatron's /kind/ warnings not to! His feet fly up from beneath him, and he ends up on his rear, still moving in the wrong direction. Then he bends his legs to place his feet on the ground and leans back just far enough to spot Galvatron overhead. "If you don't play children's games, why are you robbing jets full of toys?" Well, of course, Rodimus isn't /sure/ that's what's on the jets, but he's making a guess. He stretches his right arm up towards the Decepticon leader and fires a blast from his arm-pipes. "You seem a little confused, Galvatron. Let me bring you back down to earth!" Combat: Rodimus Prime misses Galvatron with his Arm Blasters attack! [Pulled -3] Drill_Tank slightly misses his mark, coming through the ground and landing with a *THUNK*. Scrapper's sword thrust dings the drill a bit, scratching a long slash into the armor of the front end as well ... but mostly superficial damage. Transforming to robot mode in an astrosecond, the Wrecker looks the Constructicon up and down once. "You got it!" Impactor shrugs, his hand descending into the forearm soon to be replaced by the harpoon ... which is being swung at Scrappers face. Combat: Impactor sets his defense level to Fearless. The Drill Tank shifts and transforms, revealing the Wrecker leader Impactor! Combat: Impactor strikes Scrapper with his Hook 2 Da Face attack! [Pulled -1] Scrapper is hooked in his lack-of-face, and he flails his arms about in pain. This is somewhat dangerous, given that he is holding a sword. He tries to take a few steps back, but he forget how slippery it is, and he falls over. This sends him sliding across the tarmac, likely still hooked to Impactor. Combat: Scrapper misses Impactor with his Yanking Your Chain (Kick) attack! Tetrajet does a barral roll and is again missed by the exo suit. He cant help but chuckle, "Why dont you pick on someone you own level there, fleshling?" he guns it toward the exo suit and fires his lasers again. Tremor puts his chin forward to take the hit like a mech. It's a good punch, and Trem nods at Jayson as he rubs his jaw. "Pretty good hit," he says, ignoring Jayson's comment about taking over the planet. Tremor isn't really interested in anything like that, to be honest. It's simple contests like this that fire his capacitors, though he usually reserves his strength for more worthy opponents. "My turn now," he says. He aims a punch in the general vicinty of Jayson's head. Combat: Tremor misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Noggin Cracker (Punch) attack! Combat: Tetrajet strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Laser attack! [Pulled -1] Galvatron grins evilly as he ducks under the shot. "Toys? Oh, no, Rodimus these planes are filled with supplies for downtrodden third-world countries. They airlift them into villages, whole crates full of food, fuel, and medicinal supplies. Well, honestly I don't really need to steal these planes, I just like making children *cry.* HAHAHAHAHA!" He cackles, but fails to notice that the planes are starting to head down the runway, snow or no snow. Combat: Galvatron takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Exo-Armor Pegasus ducks to the side, allowing the retaliated punch to go right past it. Jayson grins. "C'mon, you can do better than that!" Maybe. Either way, he's in the mood for a good fight. He gets right up close to Tremor, and opens fire with the exo's machine guns at pointblank! Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Tremor with its Medium Machine Gun attack! Exo-Suit Salamander gets yet another lovely laser searing, and starts to get disgruntled. He fires off more bursts of red-orange flame between his angered words. "Stay-" *FWOOSH* "still, you-" *FWOOSH* "damn Seeker!" *FWWWOOSH* Dang, Jayson's doin' pretty good! Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Tetrajet with its Flamethrower attack! [Pulled -3] Impactor manages to evade Scrapper's fall combo by wrenching his hook hand free. Crouching low with one hand held out in caution near the ground, the Wrecker leader jumps upwards and holds a knee out underneath him. "Ya gotta pick on little kids medicine? Wow, you guys are low!" he jests, coming down from the air and aiming to put his knee right in Scrapper's gut. Combat: Impactor strikes Scrapper with his Nefarious Knee-Drop (Kick) attack! Rodimus Prime really seems to be having an off day today. However, unlike Galvatron, he sees the planes taking off. It doesn't matter if he hits or misses, really - all he has to do is keep Galvatron busy! "You've come all the way out here just to upset some children! That's pretty pathetic, Galvatron, even for you," he says, twisting on the ice to right himself. Carefully, rather carefully, he stands and takes aim with his photon eliminator. "I have to admit, I'm surprised, though. I didn't even know you even paid this much attention to human holidays! Feeling left out, Galvs? No need! I've got a gift for you!" And then he fires. Combat: Rodimus Prime strikes Galvatron with his Photon Eliminator attack! [Pulled -9] Combat: You took 5 damage. Tetrajet knew he shouldnt have closed in. the return flamethrowing shots seem to not be in a set pattern and in evading one he gets nailed by the next shot. Oh that was slick. He feels paint bubble and melt and gets a minor system warning on his internal HUD. He shrugs it off and puts a small bit of distance between he and the exo suit. It is then that he notices the planes are still trying to take off. Slag it. Windshear abandons his target to launch fire at the runway in the attempt to make it impossible for the planes to take off. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Tetrajet has 'skipped' his action for this round. Tremor holds up his right arm. Those bullets that are not deflected sink into shallow dents. This is the strongest part of his armor, and he laughs as Jayson sprays him with machine gun fire. "Aww, ya had to bring GUNS into it? Weak." He is seriously tiring of wasting time with with this metal-clad meatball. He pulls his pistol. Combat: Tremor misses Exo-Armor Pegasus with his Generic Lasers (Pistol) attack! Galvatron cackles evilly until the photon eliminator blast strikes him in the chest! "NYAAAHHHH!" He lands in a puff of snow, snarling as he stands back up. "Curse you, Prime! How dare you--what the!?" Galvatron stares off to the side, unbelieving, as a Nepsan Yeti charges at him. "Wait, no, get away from me!" Galvatron screams, but the Yeti ignores him, lifting the tyrant up into the air and tossing him over the horizon. The Yeti then grins and gives the old man in the first plane a thumbs up, which is returned. The planes then roll down the tarmac, with the old man radioing to the Autobots, "Thanks, Rodimus Prime--but you need to clear that snow before we can take off!" Scrapper protests, "I'm just a working Joe, doing the job given to me by the Man!" Seriously. Scrapper doesn't make up these plans. If he did, a death laser would be involved. He is booted away by the Wrecker captain. Scrapper changes his grip on his sword and punches it at Impactor's knee. Combat: Scrapper strikes Impactor with his Sword Punch attack! [Pulled -3] Exo-Armor Pegasus zips into the air above the weapon fire, narrowing avoiding it. "Yeah, you're right," Jayson responds. "I much prefer close-range combat." That said, he descends quickly, aiming a flying kick at Tremor. Combat: Exo-Armor Pegasus strikes Tremor with its Kick attack! Exo-Suit Salamander isn't going to let up on Windshear just yet. He darts after him down towards the runway and aims to light those pretty Seekerboi tailfins on fire. "Hey, tryin' to have a fight here!" Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Tetrajet with its Flamethrower attack! [Pulled -5] Rodimus Prime just stares as the Yeti rushes in out of nowhere and deals with Galvatron. "Ooooookay," he mutters softly to himself, then turns towards the person in the lead plane. "Got it!" he shouts, then turns towards the runway. He adjusts his Photon Eliminator to full power and turns it on the snow, sweeping it back and forth across the stuff, trying to melt it out of the way. Impactor's knee is sliced open from the sword stab, circuits flayed and energon leaking out ever so slightly. The Wrecker leader stumbles forward and takes a knee, trying to give his systems time to quickfix the damage. "Likely excuse." he grumbles, swiveling around on the good knee and charging up a tiny shot from the cannon attached to his shoulder. "Time ta pay tha piper!" he yells out, the weapons system firing out a tiny globule of superheated plasma at the Constructicon leader. Combat: Impactor strikes Scrapper with his Impcannon attack! [Pulled -1] How embarrassing! The human is running circles around him. He tilts his head to avoid taking the kick in the face; Jayson's foot comes down on his shoulder and he actually stumbles with the force of it. He takes a few uncertain stpes back and regains his balance. His smirk remains, but his visor burns hatefully. As this is clearly not Jayson's day to die, Trem decides not to waste any more energy on him. "Come back when ya got some bearings," he says turning his back on Jayson, "I got no time for slagmites like you." He makes as if he's going to go after Rodimus. Combat: Tremor takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Tetrajet is firing at the runway when he gets shot in the tail section by that exo suit. Ok that stung a bit and smokw pours off his tailsection. The Seeker angles off a bit clumisly and pulls up in a climb to bank around and take another shot at the exo suit. "And Im trying to do what Galvatron ordered. Do you mind?" He fires. Combat: Tetrajet misses Exo-Suit Salamander with his Laser attack! The cargo planes roar down the runway, but there's still problems! "Crap!" the lead pilot says. "Autobots, EDC, there's some fire up ahead on the runway! You have to snuff it out or we'll never make it off!" The cargo planes are building up speed, now, but not quite in the air yet. Scrapper grumbles, "No, no, that is the actual excuse." He is blasted back, crashing into another snowbank. Scrapper points out, "You aren't even a piper! I would know. I'm a musician." He withdraws his trumpet case and attempts to bludgeon Impactor over the head with the hard box. Rodimus Prime may or may not see the mock-Constructicon coming after him. He's still dealing with the runway. First ice, now fire... the Prime slaps the side of his head with his right hand and groans. "Where's a firetruck when you need one?" he mutters. Then dives forward and transforms, rolling /into/ the flames. Once he has them as covered as he can get them, he separates into funny-cab-looking-thing and trailer, leaving the trailer covering the flames as it opens up. Really, the best he can do, without, well, dumping more snow on the runway, which would rather put them back where they started. Combat: Scrapper strikes Impactor with his Trumpet Case attack! [Pulled -2] Rodimus Prime transforms into his Winnebago mode. Exo-Suit Salamander pitches to the side, mid-air to avoid the laser fire narrowly. "Jayson, leave 'im, take out the first!" he barks, and continues to try and distract the Seeker, hopefully leading him away from the runway. "Thatta'con..." He fires a few token lasers at Windshear's canopy. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tetrajet with its Laser attack! Impactor is knocked silly over the head with Scrapper's trumpet case, sending him sprawling totally to the ground now. His knee still recovering from the slice, the Wrecker flails out with a fist to the back of his opponent's knee ... hopefully buckling his stance and deflating the fight within him. "Musician? I thought you guys built stuff?" "HEY!" Jayson shouts after Tremor. "Get back here!" And then he hears about the fire. "...Or not. Crap." The armor speeds toward the runway, to where Rodimus is attempting to smother the flames. There might be not much he can do, but damned if he doesn't at least try. Combat: Impactor strikes Scrapper with his We all fall down... (Punch) attack! Tetrajet dodges yet more laserfire from the exo suit. This human is persistant. He banks around the exo suit and attampts to get a shot at the back of the armor. Combat: Tetrajet strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Laser attack! The pilot in the lead plane transmits, "Thanks, Autobots! And the EDC, too! A Merry Christmas to all of you! But, uh, I'm not really Santa Claus, of course. My name's Larry." Awkward silence. "Uh, but, again, thanks!" With the snow cleared and the fires extinguished, the cargo planes lift up into the sky, now, and vanish into the snowstorm. "Oh, and don't worry--" Larry transmits. "We can see fine in the snowstorm, thanks to this infrared sensor I've got in my nosecone!" Which happened to be red. Scrapper has many talents. Dodging is not one of them. The punch knocks him back and breaks one of his lifting servos. Scrapper admits, "I also build things. For example, I think you'd make an excellent whaling boat, in another life!" But the aircraft are getting away. They have failed. Scrapper darts into a snow drift to patch his wounds. Combat: Scrapper sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Scrapper quickly patches up some of his minor injuries. Tremor is a little surprised that the little fleshling didn't try and attack him when he turned his back. Perhaps it realized that today was not the day for it to die. If so, he thinks, perhaps it is wiser than he has given it credit for. He stands in the snow, needing direction. He isn't the most goal-oriented of mechs. "What's the plan, now? The planes are gone." Combat: Tremor takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] "Oh. Of course," Rodimus mutters as 'Larry' takes off. Larry Claus, friend to Yeti. Rodimus throws his hands up in an exaggerated shrug and turns towards his allies. "I think we won, but I still don't get what the heck is going o- hey, Spike!" This last is shouted. "You need help up there with that Seeker?" Impactor laughs as Scrapper retreats into a nearby snowbank, but his attention is pulled elsewhere when Windshear streaks by the area. What really grabs his eye is Spike's exo-suit, horribly missing in his attempt at damaging the Decepticon. <> he informs the terran over the shortwave. Combat: Impactor sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Impactor analyzes Windshear for weaknesses Exo-Suit Salamander can exploit. Exo-Armor Pegasus settles down to hover near Rodimus. "You okay, Prime?" Combat: Your COMBAT flag has been cleared. Tremor looks around. The blizzard still raging makes it difficult to see who's around him. He tries to shield his optics visor, but it's simply no good. Total whiteout. He thinks he hears a Seeker's engines above him, but looking up at the sky disorients him. He loses the distinction between the ground and the air, and commences to wandering about with his arms out in front of him. "Hey," he starts to shout, "what's going on? Where's the Chief, huh? Scrap? Anyone?" The poor clod. Winnebago heads back to his shuttle, and quickly discovers it's been sabotaged. Good thing he has a couple of EDCers along to help him get it back in the air! "Nah, I got it!" Spike calls back to Roddy, just before getting nailed in the backside. It's enough to split his armor open and singe the fabric of his jacket. He whirls and set his flamethrower upon Windshear, following Impactor's advice by aiming for the jet's undercarriage. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tetrajet with its Flamethrower attack! Tetrajet pulls up hard and feels the heat from that blast but luckily it didnt impact with is underside. He then sees the planes take off and scans around for any of the other cons. <"OK... I go after them or, are we done?"> he calls out to anyone who will answer. Impactor sticks around to make sure Spike Witwicky doesn't get himself obliterated against the jetformer. <> he chastises over the shortwave radio. <> Combat: Impactor inspires Exo-Suit Salamander with patriotic and majestic words! Scrapper decides to just bail, since the objective has escaped. Retreat! Scrapper cleverly disguises himself as a bright green payloader. No one will ever suspect! Combat: Payloader begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Exo-Suit Salamander and Tetrajet Tremor finally catches sight of some green. He doesn't hear the call to retreat, but he doesn't exactly want to get stranded up here - least of all with Autbots still possibly roaming around. He antigravs out, following Scrapper. Combat: Tremor begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Exo-Suit Salamander , Payloader , Galvatron, Exo-Armor Pegasus , and Tetrajet Exo-Suit Salamander huffs and puffs and resists flinging an obscene hand gesture at Windshear. And at Impactor. Must set a good example... <> Well damn, he might've been inspired if the 'cons hadn't skedattled. <> From Exo-Suit Salamander , Spike Witwicky vanishes out of reality. Impactor follows course, heading back for the shuttle. He was going to try and give the humie some pointers for taking the Seeker down, but I guess his heart wasn't in it. Another time then, he considers ... starting his long trek to the craft. Combat: Impactor begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Payloader , Galvatron, Exo-Armor Pegasus , and Tetrajet LATER Why, it's a Christmas tree! With red and purple bulbs, yellow flashing lights, and a glowing Matrix at the top! Gifts for all and sundry line the bottom -- even some for you, Galvatron! Why not <+present> to see what you got? Or, if you're the giving sort, why not <+addpresent a ___________>? Happy holidays! Galvatron picks up their present from under the Christmas tree and unwraps it to reveal: dRuGz! You say, "Ooh, nice." You say, "That'll be all I need."
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