Swamplands Arrival Thread

[Sky-byte]

Power lines and sink holes, hmm this was getting to be quite the mystery and as much as Sky-byte enjoyed poetry, mysteries came in quite close afterwards.

"You don't think whatever's down there is connected to whatever's on that ridge? Or maybe, it's got something to do with these wires?" Just because Sky-byte liked mysteries didn't mean he was any good at them. He was still the master of the obvious. He wasn't too sure about what that creepy insect was talking about though.

Uh-oh, the storm was definitely getting nearer and they were definitely like giant lightning rods in the middle of all of this. Okay, maybe not Demolisher. Demolisher isn't pointy.

"So what do you propose that we do?"

[Demolishor]

His missile turrets were spiky, though.

Demolishor bent over, took hold of his own leg, and tugged it out of the muck with a loud shlurping noise. Several pieces of metal came up with it, imbedded in his leg like little thorns.

"We get inside. Might be fuel in there, or weaponry, or something to figure out what the heck's going on here."

The tank shook his ankle, scattering the fragments before he turned and kept marching up to the ridge. "And less mud. I like less mud."

[Shrapnel]

"Then let's move, move!" Less loitering around in the muck, more getting undercover if they actually wanted to get undercover. Honestly, keeping these two in line was like herding jets that you couldn't even kick to death if they got annoying.

Shrapnel didn't actually make a move towards the buildings, mind you.

"You should stop antagonizing Starscream, Starscream."

[Sky-byte]

Sky-byte has never been kicked for being annoying. Actually, he has been blasted at, burnt to a crispy golden outside, yelled and berated at, humiliated, and pummelled. But never kicked. Megatron would never stoop low enough to actually kick his Predacon general (Sky-byte hoped).

Transforming with less grace and more mud, Sky-byte casts one last look back at the two before setting off at a rushed pace.

"That's right, Demolisher. Stop antagonizing Starscream." Sky-byte can't resist opportunities to shove blame on someone else, especially if that someone else happens to be a Decepticon. "Honestly, who do you think you are, calling you our leader? I can do whatever I want."

[Demolishor]

"I'm the leader because I'm telling everyone else where to go. And look; you can go get your own self lost in the swamp and rot if you want, or you can stick with us and stop complaining. And I'm not antagonizing the Starscream guy, I got him confused with someone else called Starscream. He's the one who got bored and hung up on me."

The tank followed Sky-byte, grumbling internally but refusing to berate Shrapnel again. Tensions were high enough.

Demolishor kept to the more metallic places as he walked, stepping only on areas where the mud didn't come up above his ankles. There seemed to be some sort of stairs at the bottom of the ridge, although made for something smaller than them. Demolishor gingerly planted his foot on the bottom two steps and they creaked beneath his weight--but held.

"Besides, I'm the one who's actually finding stuff." He beckoned to Shrapnel. "Come over here and see if this is stable; you're the one who flies."

[Shrapnel]

Shrapnel turned his head towards Sky-Byte, though this was only apparent as his antlers turned towards the flying shark. He didn't say anything for a long moment, then scuttled over to the metal steps.

He transformed before actually stepping on them, then jogged his way to the top, skipping two or three steps with each stride. "It seems stable, stable."

[Sky-byte]

Oh fine, they were against him. The whole world was against him! Oh woes to Sky-byte.

"Well, at the moment I'm choosing to just follow the both of you. Don't think I can't make my own choices though." He mosied skulkily after the two. "I can find things too." he muttered pitifully under his breath.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor began climbing after Shrapnel, gripping the cliffside for support. "You come up after I get to the top, no point in both of us stressing the stairs. And we'll deal with command after we reach the others, you can fight for your place later."

There was a loud groan of metal as Demolishor took the next step and he froze, fingers digging into the crumbling rock and dirt. Rain was starting to fall ever so lightly and it was hardly helping the mood.

[Shrapnel]

Shrapnel meant that the shark could fly, too, but he wasn't particularly communicative with his insect body.

And now he was going to continue with making people's lives more difficult.

"You coming, coming?"

[Sky-byte]

Fight? Sky-byte glanced at Demolisher's large build and the obvious firepower that the Decepticon carried. He then glanced at himself with only his wits, probable advantage in speed, and one large but troublesome to aim laser (why it was opted to be placed on his chest, Sky-byte didn't know. Why not someplace cool and useful, like his mouth or optics?). It was obvious who would win in a one-on-one bout of brute force. No, Sky-byte preferred victories of the more subtle kind....honest to goodness he did. So he couldn't help but cheer a little when the tank nearly slipped.

"I know my place already, no need for useless wastes of energy," grumbled Sky-byte as he floated past Demolisher.

Rain began to patter smartly off his back.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor glared slightly at Sky-byte as he continued to climb. The metal stairs groaned under his large feet, but they continued to hold. He used his hands the way a human might use a climbing axe, slamming his fingers into the crumbling ground and gripping it firmly before taking a few more steps.

If Cyclonus was here, he could have just grabbed on to the helicoptor's underside and reached the top in moments. But relying on Sky-byte to cart him around would indicate weakness and that was the last thing he needed when his grip of command was as shaky as the stairs.

"Good."

He was almost at the top now. There was a long pipe sticking out over the edge, probably for dumping out waste or something like that, and if he could just get a few feet closer he might be able to grab it and pull himself over the edge...

The stairs creaked, groaned, and dropped down about five feet as the tank took his next step. Demolishor clung to the wall and tried not to whimper.

[Shrapnel]

OOC: Sky-Byte's player has gone on a trip, so until she returns, Sky-Byte will be assumed to be rather quiet and following Demolishor around.

And the three of us really need to get on to morning and synch up with the other Decepticons.

---

Shrapnel peered down at Demolishor, providing a temporary block from the rain. Climbing in the dark and wet probably wasn't much fun for anybody. "Not going to hurry then, then?"

What? Did someone forget that Shrapnel's purpose in the universe was to be the badboy Megatron goes ga-ga over annoying to all non-Insecticon Transformers?

His antlers feel like they're crawling with sparks. There's going to be a lightning-strike soon, and lightning always travels to Shrapnel when he's in the open. Which would be bad for his companions. "No time to play around, Demolishier, Demolishor."

With the familiar transformation sound, Shrapnel folded up into his beetle form and hovered down next to the tank. "Wrap you arms around me, quick, quick, quick, quick!"

[Demolishor]

...screw commanderly pride.

Demolishor relinquished his grip on the wall with one hand and swung out. He grabbed Shrapnel's leg and clung to him as the stairs beneath him, now bearing most of his full weight, shrieked and began to fall beneath him. His other hand managed to snag Shrapnel's horn right before he ran out of things to stand on.

"Think you can get me up to the top?" Demolishor asked as he dangled below the Insecticons, swaying slightly as the wind began to pick up. This was really, really not his day.

[Shrapnel]

Shrapnel's leg groaned alarmingly under Demolishor's weight, and the Insecticon tilted to one side as the tank pulled him down.

Then his lifters powered up enough to compensate for the tank, and he righted himself and ascended to the top.

Of course, abusing his lifters like this absolutely guzzled fuel. By the time he reached the top, Shrapnel was famished.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor dropped down from Shrapnel the moment they reached the top, falling to his knees in the mud with a depressing squish.

There was a decaying metal structure at the top of the ridge, small by Transformer standards but large enough to fit the three of them with enough room to spare to keep them from killing each other. All according to Demolishor's plan, of course.

"C'mon. We can stay in there until morning."