| abstract
| - Louisiana A photographers, sportsmen, and bird watchers paradise... National Wildlife Refuges and bird sanctuary. Fishing, crabbing, and beaches. Traveling from south to north, the rolling pasture land gradually gets wetter as the elevation slowly decreases. Small ponds and bayous begin to appear, and the vegetation begins to change from freshwater to more brackish waters. Nearing the end of the journey in North Louisiana, the elevation has increased again, and the marshes are left behind. Finally is the Shreveport/Monroe area, where the land use is divided into cattle production as well as rice and soybean farming. Both rice and soybeans are important crops in Louisiana, and there are many fields of these, as well as pre-Civil War cotton and sugarcane fields. "So you see, Powerglide, that's why we grow so much cotton. It's very important," explains Spike from his exo-suit, leading the minibot down some dusty side road. They were in the area to inspect something IMPORTANT, but got sidetracked by the /magic/ of Louisiana. "Uh.." Powerglide scratches at the back of his head, feet kicking up dirt as he follows Spike through a history lesson. "I thought the only reason any one cared about Louisiana was because of New Orleans. You know, Mardi Gras?" He looks around. "I mean, no offense, but there aint anything 'magic' about this stuff." "This place is magical, comrade!" Bellows Avalanche, as he scares the locals away. "We can use this land to build a new base, for his lordship! I mean look, there is nothing here...but weeds..." With that, Avalanche roars and belches out liquid nitrogen, destroying huge sections of the cotton fields. "Looks like we gotta do some cleaning up, before we plan anything for this land..." Tremor grinds his palm into his hand and smirks - the default Tremor pose - as Avalanche lays waste to a wide swath of cotton crops. "Not much fer buildin," he says, "'cept small stuff. It's the cleanin up I'm int'rested in." He lifts his arms above his head and brings them down to strike the earth with incredible force, creating a tectonic shock that rends a nearby cotton field in two. "Thas NICE." "Well Mardi Gras is... fairly enjoyable too," is all Spike can think to respond with. "Have you ever been?- Sunnuva'!" Avalanche's icy onslaught catches his attention right away. "Decepticons," he growls, charging a plasma laser on his arm. Tremor's quake makes him brace to keep his footing. "Have a preference, Powerglide?" Powerglide watches the cotton fields ice over. "Oh wow, you weren't kidding when you said magic.." He looks a bit harder and sees that's actually Avalanche. "....I knew it was a lie. Magic is for suckers." Powerglide transforms into his super special awesome plane mode. "Preference? Ehh..not really. They're both gunna be heaps of trash once we're done with 'em, right? Right??" He zooms into the sky before Spike and agree (or protest). Mecha Tiger continues to just freeze the land, hoping to nail some humans as well. Who doesn't want little crystal humans, they are the best collector's items ever. Haulting his attack, he turns his head to face Tremor, "Well I guess we agree here, nothing beats an old fashion showing of power...." He cackles, the frost shattering on his jaws. "Though we'll see what we can do for now, just make sure to clear this entire area." Tremor nods. "Wanna make it int'restin? I'll go this way, you go that way, and I bet'a c'n do more damage." He produces his pistol and begins using its heating element to start fires. Exo-Suit Salamander doesn't protest, mashing a metallic fist into his palm as he turns to head for Tremor. "Alright then... er... steamroller? Best get a move on and save yourself some trouble," he tries, striding for the not-steamroller with his laser lifted. "Last chance to leave quietly." Hinder is currently just a quiet little stow-away, a small whitish rectangular patch on the back of Avalanche's shoulder. "Oh, yeah, Spike! Good idea!" Powerglide jeers from above. "I wonder if they're going to rethink their choices and turn back." He snorts and cackles. "Yeah right!" The gattling gun under his nosecone spins and scatters bullets towards the Decepticons. Mecha Tiger just turns his head, as it seems Tremor has run into some trouble. "Awww how cute, I think he wants to stop you comrade...." He chuckles, that is...until he is struck by a small slew of bullets. They ping off his armor, leaving small dents in it. Grumbling as he turns his head skywards, the Horrorcon just snaps his jaw. "You just made the biggest mistake you ever could..." With that, the Tiger just sprays the nitrogen at Powerglide. Combat: Mecha Tiger strikes A-10 Thunderbolt II with his freezing blast (Disruptor) attack! Tremor barely hears the squeaky human voice. He only turns because he thinks he might have stepped on some brainless fleshie thing, and wants to be sure he stomps it a few more times. He laughs when he sees Spike in his exo. "Ohoho! Lookit this! You wanna play with the big mechs, eh little meatbag?" He puts his hands on his hips. "I got things to do, right? N'I aint wasting time on small fry like you. So just back up, and go find somebody who's EAGER ta kill ya. Yeah?" With that, he draws back his foot and tries to punt Spike out of his sight. Combat: Tremor misses Exo-Suit Salamander with his Field Goal! (Kick) attack! Exo-Suit Salamander inwardly frowns at Powerglide, but doesn't bother with a snide retort, for he is above that! "Watch your tail!" he advises as the Horrorcon attempts to freeze it off. "Gah!" Suddenly a giant foot is flying for his helm, and he just barely manages to sidestep it. "Wouldn't want to mess up your schedule!" He fires off a plasma burst at Tremor's midsection. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander sets its defense level to Fearless. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tremor with its Laser attack! "Ha! Don't worry about me! I'm a PROFESSIONAL!" Powerglide exclaims just moments before getting sprayed with liquid nitrogen. "AAAGHOHGODWHYYY??" The Warthog begins to drop altitude but fights back by firing a fusillade of red lasers at the robot tiger. Combat: Powerglide sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: A-10 Thunderbolt II strikes Mecha Tiger with his KAPEW KAPOWY (Laser) attack! Tremor sneers as Spike somehow manages to evade his amazingly sophisticated attack! But he decides he doesn't care and turns back to try and do more damage while Avalanche is busy. When a plasma burst goes screaming past him, he starts and wheels back around. "Gotta deathwish huh?" He laughs. "How's this?" Combat: Tremor misses Exo-Suit Salamander with his Tectonic Shock Low Level (Punch) attack! Hinder hmphs softly at the radio chatter. << NOT a rat. >> Mecha Tiger is just riddled by the small lasers, as they leave tiny scorch marks in their wake. "Was that all you had?" He asks the Autobot, seeming very disappointed at it. Shaking himself, the mech tries to keep Hinder from being in harm's way. "Unless there is more of you coming, I would suggest running. There is little hope of victory here." The Horrorcon begins to strafe along with the A-10, and once he feels that it's close enough...he leaps and tries to bite into it's wing. "Come down and PLAY!!!" Combat: Mecha Tiger strikes A-10 Thunderbolt II with his not enough...A-1 0 sauce. (Punch) attack! Exo-Suit Salamander grunts as the shockwave careens towards him, flinging himself backwards to flip from the ground and avoid getting blasted. "Nasty trick you got there," he comments, advancing on the 'con with his arm lifted again. "Pretty swift for a stout fellow." Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Tremor with its Disruptor attack! "Hey! Piss off, you fat cat!" Powerglide snorts. "I'm better than you'll ever be!" Then just like that, Avalanche bites onto his wing and drags him down. "GET OFFA ME! JESUS H CHRIST IN A BIRCHBARK CANOE!" The Warthog transforms and Powerglide dangles from the Decepticon's jaws by his shoulder/wing. He pulls out his awesome gun and levels it at Avalanche's face before pulling the trigger. Powerglide turns into an AWESOME robot. Tremor is surprised by the power that disruptor packs... nothing like a Cybertronian weapon of course, but it's more than than he ever thought a fleshie could do. "M'not stout," he laughs, "s'just that yer PUNY." He stoops to try and pick Spike up. Combat: Tremor strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Grab attack! Mecha Tiger takes the blast right to the side of his maw, releasing the tiny minibot from it's crushing grip. The attack actually had blown off part of the armor, leaving exposed circuitry in it's wake. Slowly, the creature turned it head and dimmed it's optics. "DIE KOSSACK!!" Bellowed the beast, as he raised his claw up and swiped at Powerglide! Combat: Mecha Tiger strikes Powerglide with his severe clawing (Kick) attack! Exo-Suit Salamander is suddenly grasped! And none too pleased about it. "Let me GO you Constructicon reject!" He thrashes in the grip for a moment, then aims his other arm at Tremor's face, pointblank, letting loose a stream of white hot flames. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander misses Tremor with its Flamethrower attack! Hinder yeeks at the combat SO CLOSE and transforms abruptly, for all intents and appearances just bursting up out of the mechatiger's shoulder. "Nono! Go away!" she snaps at Powerglide. Tremor holds Spike at arm's lenght as the flame's lick out at his face. He feels the heat, definitely, and he gets a little charred on the chin, but he is mostly unaffected. This warrants a laugh. "Shouldn' be playin with fire!" Like any nice, mondern gentlemech, he attempts to throw Spike into the dirt and stomp him. Combat: Tremor strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Das Bootheeel (Kick) attack! Powerglide is released from Avalanche's maw and hits the ground with a thump. He quickly rises to his feet and takes off in the other direction but not before getting his back clawed open. It's a pretty gruesome scene, what with the rended metal and leaking fluids. "ADHTDJFGHDJF!" Powerglide sputters as he struggles to remain on his feet. He turns around for but a second to fire another shot at the Decepticon. Combat: Powerglide strikes Mecha Tiger with his KAZOWOW (Laser) attack! Mecha Tiger gets struck on his shoulder, far too close to Hinder for his taste. "Give in Kossack, you can't even win when Im being held back!" Obviously he can't access his greater attacks, because the tape is riding on his shoulder and it would fling her off to transform. Leveling his optics at Powerglide, they glow brightly and like that, fire off deadly red beams! Combat: Mecha Tiger misses Powerglide with his EYE LAZORSSS! (Laser) attack! Exo-Suit Salamander apparently ain't doin' so hot against this stout fellow. He gets flung to the ground and more or less flattened by a giant mech foot. Warnings pop up on the suit's HUD as red metal gets warped and twisted. His head smacks back against the cockpit, leaving him a bit dazed as he tries to scramble away. "Hey!" he finally shouts at Powerglide, "You doin' okay?" Not the one to talk, Spike flips the suit around fires another, milder stream of flames at the soil compactor. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Tremor with its HIT ALREADY attack! [Pulled -3] Hinder yelps in surprise and loses her grip on Avalanche's shoulder, skittering in a momentary panic before falling off with all the grace of a sack of onions. She hits the ground with an "Oof!" but doesn't just lay there. She scrambles to her feet and skitters clear of the tiger's WAY bigger paws so she doesn't get stepped on. Tremor is pretty certain he's crushed Spike. He lifts up his foot and is shocked to see the fleshling still alive! "You better be glad you got that suit!" He begins to gloat before he is flamed. He can't avoid it this time, eager as he is to crack open that exo and pull Spike's limbs off. "Gaaah!" He holds up one big arm to keep the flames away from his face. Then he lashes out angrily. "Laugh THIS off, bonebag!" Combat: Tremor strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his Hammer Blow! (Punch) attack! Mecha Tiger is struck again, more armor flying off his form this time. However, as Hinder falls off his shoulder and runs for safety, he turns to Powerglide and cackles. "Time to...DIE!" He shrieks and begins to transform, his gigantic form rising up and locking into his robot mode. "Now, you'll pay for attacking my comrade..." He swings his arm around and unleashes his warhammer. Raising it back, he takes aim. "Ill see you in the next town over!" He comments and tries to hit a home run! Leaping up, Avalanche transforms into his titanic robot mode. Combat: Avalanche strikes Powerglide with his Energon Warhammer attack! [Pulled -2] Powerglide pumps his fist when he sees Avalanche's armor fly off. "Yess! I am the shooting master!" Powerglide suddenly becomes less enthusiastic when Avalanche transforms and towers over him. "W-what? What comrade?" He shrinks back and waves his hands around, "H-hey man, it's cool.. Let's just chill out and-" Powerglide turns to run but it's no use! He's smashed with the warhammer and is sent flying into one of the empty fields where he eventually lands in a crumpled heap. Hinder stops a safe distance from Avalanche and looks around. Avvypants making loud Autobot go crunch. Tremorses stepping on something that's still moving. She moves closer to the Exo-unit, clearly curious. Combat: Avalanche strikes Powerglide with his Grab attack! Avalanche reaches down, and grasps the minibot by the throat, raising him into the air and staring him down. Canting his head to the side, as he just looks over the mech. "Come now, let me see....YOUR FEAR!" He roars, energon spittle flying out of his mouth. "This is NOTHING if I can't see your terror!" He starts to squeeze his hand, trying to crush the Autobot's throat. Not that it'll do much, but it looks pretty epic! Exo-Suit Salamander fails to avoid Tremor's next blow, a /heavy/ blow to the helm of the suit, which crumples a bit. The single optic band cracks, screwing up the visuals. "Ugh," he groans, staggering backwards while the world spins. "Damnit... you... you!" He dashes forward and aims to slam a foot into the side of Tremor's knee. Hinder doesn't quite catch his attention yet. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Tremor with its RAWRGHHG (Kick) attack! Tremor takes a hit to the knee and decides to play a bit of a game with Spike. He crumples, holding his knee and crying out. "Ohh, by the Pit! Ya got me! Ya busted mah bad knee, you disgusting germ!" He begins to crawl, expression pained, clawing the dirt and dragging his leg as if it's dead. "Ah, Av, buddy... this Earthrat's about ta finish me off... run... save yerself!" "What more do you want from me!?" Powerglide shouts, squirming around in Avalanche's grasp. "If I could piss myself, I would!" Getting yelled at by a scary Russian tiger is absolutely frightening despite the comical splatters of spittle flying all over Powerglide's face. As his throat gets crushed in Avalanche's massive hand, Powerglide flails his legs around in a feeble attempt to kick his assailant. Combat: Powerglide strikes Avalanche with his Kick attack! Avalanche is struck in the arm by the kick, but it does VERY little in terms of damage. "Not good enough!" He roars, and literally tosses the mech to the side. "Your fear isn't NEARLY what I need to sate my thirst!" He shifts his optics to the side, "Maybe I should just crush your human friend over there?" He asks, smirking towards the Autobot. Exo-Suit Salamander blinks. He didn't think he hit /that/ hard. The token human cautiously steps forward, lifting his flamethrower. Slag, how stupid did this soil compactor think Spike was? Nonetheless, he smirks, "That's a fitting position for you, 'con." He fires a spurt of flames at Tremor's feet, perhaps to spook him back upright. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander takes extra time to steady itself. [Pass] Hinder looks back over at Avvy. He's being mean...that's wrong! But then he lets Powerglide go, so maybe he was just talking to the Autobot really close-like. She looks back toward Tremor and the odd-short mech again, who's burning the ground near Tremorses' feet, maybe to get him to stop being stompy? Yeah, that makes sense. Powerglide is tossed aside like a (totally awesome) piece of trash. He grimaces in pain, the impact against the ground further damaging his already battered body. "Yeah! Go pick on the old guy in a robot suit! That's real tough! FREAKIN' WUSSY!" Tremor believes that humans are quite stupid indeed. He's actually surprised that this ruse doesn't work. But no matter... on to plan X! "Fine," he says, feeling the light flames on the soles of his feet, "we'll go this way!" He transforms and tries to run spike down! Tremor retracts his fists, falling forward as he slams his arms together to form his roller. His legs retract, flipping upward. With a declining sequence of five 8hz pulses, Tremor transforms into a soil compactor! Combat: Steamroller strikes Exo-Suit Salamander with his ROAD PIZZA! attack! [Pulled -3] Avalanche looks down at Powerglide, "Coming from a mech who tears like paper mache, that isn't much." He cackles, and just turns his back towards the Autobot. "Shoot me now, and I will murder you." He stomps over towards where Hinder is, and leans down. "Come Hinder, this on is finished. He's not worth my effort anymore." Hinder looks up at Avalanche and ohs softly, then looks at Tremor and the Exo-unit again. "But...smallmech getting hurt." Powerglide pulls himself up into a sitting position and /glares/ at Avalanche (actually, at his back since he's turned away from him but whatever). "What did you say? WHAT....DIDYOUSAY!?" Powerglide brings his gun up and holds it steady with both hands. "Kiss my ridiculous red ass, Decepticraphead!" Combat: Powerglide strikes Avalanche with his Pistol attack! "Holy..." Spike doesn't get a chance to flee the attack, as Tremor snags his robotic foot right away, and draws him under! "Gahh!" It's every human's worst nightmare (well, among them) - Spike endures a heavy drum of treads that crushes the cockpit and flattens armor. Metal presses in and nigh breaks his arm. There's little else he can do for the moment as he's left sprawling in the dirt. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander takes extra time to steady itself. [Pass] Steamroller laughs as he runs over Spike. What an ass! Well, it IS Trem. He briefly considers backing up and just leaving the human crippled. That would please him indeed... but then who knows? He might come back in some kind of super suit and rain fiery death upon Tremor. Nah... he's just crush Spike and get it over with. Combat: Steamroller takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Hinder yips in startlement as Avalanche takes a hit to the back and turns to look at Powerglide and his ridiculous red ass. Her beady little red optics flare briefly. << Go help littleflatmech, Avvy. >> Then she's pelting full speed straight at Powerglide...which is REALLY not as intimidating as it sounds. The dirt underneath Tremor and poor Spike is far weaker than it appears. There is actually a sinkhole directly under Spike, which could well save him from being rendered 2 dimensional. Avalanche just leans back, and slowly turns to look at Powerglide, "What did I..." He stops, and looks down at Hinder. "Fine, take care of that Kossack." However, he refuses to help Tremor. "It isn't my place to fight his battles..." He comments, watching while crossing his arms. "Yeah, I said it! RIDICULOUS. RED. ASS. EAT IT UP! EAT IT ALL UP!" Powerglide chortles for a few seconds before grimacing in pain again. He lifts his head and sees Hinder coming straight for him and he groans. "Is this how it's going to end? Mauling by ferret? WHAT A CRUEL WORLD!" Exo-Suit Salamander suddenly slides into a small pit, spared from another flattening. Straining, he somehow wriggles his way out and lifts his good arm at Tremor's face once more, "That /hurt/." He fires a full blast of flames, using up what was left of his power. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander strikes Steamroller with its Flamethrower attack! "Wut tha..." Trem's prey suddenly drops into the earth. The ground beneath him starts to give way, and he scrambles to transform before he drops into the sinkhole as well. This leaves hime standing directly over the sinkhole's mouth with one foot on either side of it. Spike's gout of flame washes mercilessly over the absolute worst parts for anyone, ever a Cybertronian, to have bathed in fire! "GAAAHH! You slagrat!" He swears furiously as he kicks on his antigravs and rises into the air. The big roller separates, fists sliding out to lift the front end of the compactor, legs flip down and extend, and the head slides up to reveal the smirking face of Tremor! Combat: Steamroller takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Hinder runs right up into Powerglide's face and HISSES at him. "You are mean." Avalanche continues to watch Hinder, making sure she doesn't bite off more than she can chew. Powerglide would forfeit his life, should he decide to attack the little one Powerglide looks insulted. "I'M mean!? /I'M/ mean!?" He lifts a finger and prods Hinder between the eyes. "I just got my ass kicked by a guy who could be in the robot UFC! Give me a break!" Exo-Suit Salamander checks his flickering HUD, frowning at the rather poor readings. <> he mutters into the radio, stepping away as Tremor takes to the air. He makes no attempt to provoke him this time. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander takes extra time to steady itself. [Pass] Combat: Steamroller begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Exo-Suit Salamander "OH YEAH! I STARTED IT!" Powerglide throws his arms in the air. "YEAH, 'CAUSE, YOU KNOW! I WAS THE ONE RUNNIN' AROUND TURNING COTTON FIELDS OR WHATEVER THE HECK THESE THINGS ARE INTO ICE!" He reaches out his arms, "GET BACK HERE SO I CAN THROTTLE YOU, YOU TWERP!" Despite his efforts, Powerglide just falls onto his side. "Damn it.." Avalanche lowers himself down and offers his hand to the much smaller Decepticon, "Next time Autobot, you will be ground down into metallic shavings..." "We shall see!" Powerglide exclaims, shaking a fist. "We shall see..." "Powerglide, let's GO," Spike snaps, and heads off before Avalanche has a chance to SMITE him. Hopefully. Combat: Exo-Suit Salamander begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Hinder hops and scrambles up into the palm of Avalanche's offered hand and immediately transforms down into a tiny off-white rectangular shape. Avalanche leaps into the air, and takes off. Powerglide uses the rest of his energy to transform and take to the sky after Spike yells at him. "Okay, okay! Chill out, MOM." Combat: A-10 Thunderbolt II begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)