The Intergalactic Highway

Cecaelia followed Icebreaker and too saw Sonar with that new bug guy and waved her hands. Starshadow smiled and slowly made her way to Sonar with her buddy and threw her arms on his shoulder. "Did you miss me, Slagface?" she smirked and pulled his ears, "I was hoping you would be sucked by the ground!" and with that, she pushed him off her and followed the penguin.

"Uhh...Starshadow-sama, shouldn't you be calling him "Love" or "Darling" instead of "Slagface"? He did confessed to you that he liked you." Cecaelia grinned and then followed the feline.

"I have no interest in mechs like him..." Starshadow replied with her ears going back.

"Did you miss me, Slagface?"

"Like the Cybonic plague." He growled she pulled on his ears.

I was hoping you would be sucked by the ground!"

"Funny, I was hoping for that to happen to you or for you to die some where."

"Uhh...Starshadow-sama, shouldn't you be calling him "Love" or "Darling" instead of "Slagface"? He did confessed to you that he liked you."

"Oh, please. I only told her that so she wouldn't be torn to shreds by that beast, which I regret doing now."

Inferno narrowed his optics toward Icebreaker, he wanted nothing more then to turn him into a walking BBQ.

((OOC: Whoah... I don't post on Sunday, and now I feel like I'm behind lol. Where did this sudden activity spike come from?))


Scorponok activated his thermal settings and took point, leading the group away from the unstable room. Following Glowstick's advice, they entered a long, unnatural hallway that seemed to have various routes stemming from its walls. The Predacon wondered which way to go and the decision was not easy due to the repetitive nature of the environment. The walls had strange, unfamiliar patterns and symbols carved into them. Scorponok was an expert on chemical science and mechanist, not symbology. The symbols could be telling him where the proper path was or it could be foretelling of a trap. The lieutenant was beginning to wish that Tarantulas had fallen underground with them.

"Ugh."

The voice belonging to Terrorsaur groaned aloud. Scorponok turned out of curiosity and saw the Predacon flyer bobbing his head as his processor returned to functionality.

"Are we home yet?" he wearily asked.

Scorponok replied, "No."

Terrorsaur blinked and to his confusion, everything seemed to glow blue. Glowstick was lighting up the area as if he were powered by ten megatons worth of energon. Taking a few deep breaths, the Predacon jumped back onto his shaky legs and realized that it was all in relativity. The area was just so dark that the firefly squid stood out much easier than in normal circumstance. Before he could ask, Scorponok explained.

"We're underground. Sinkhole."

Scorponok continued walking, taking a left turn instead of waiting for Terrorsaur to gather his wits. To the flyer's surprise, he was armless. Well, that was not entirely true. A very bright and luminescent tentacle was attached to his right socket. The red Predacon felt his spark lurch at the mere sight of the appendage. He attempted to move the tentacle and it began to flop.

"Wha... What did you do to me?" he asked Glowstick.

His attention never veered from the tentacle. It continued to flop up and down. Unlike a real arm, the tentacle was a much more difficult limb to control. With the absence of any skeletal structure or joint placements, it was composed of nothing but circuitry and nerve endings. Terrorsaur stared at it in a mixture of disgust and fascination and it continued to move about in randomized directions.


----------


Orcariner followed Rattrap's lead. Taking notice that his radar was useless this far below, he switched over to his body scans instead. To his surprise, the icon looked the same as it would if Orcariner was inside the Axalon. Expanding the data so that it covered his entire optics at 50% transparency, Orcariner saw that his spark was not diverting any energy to his dampers.

"Strange," he said out loud, "I'm having to readings of energon radiation effects. Unless if we're in need for emergency repairs or utilities exclusive to our beast modes, we might as well walk around in robot form with consequence."

This was good news to the orca. While the passages were wide and tall, it would be a severe inconvenience to everyone if a killer whale were to block everyone's paths.

Frilla looked between the two sides but said nothing as they began to move out and she paused when Scorponok did. Though the carvings on the walls caught her attention and the frilled lizard came up a bit,"Well confirms this is definitely the aliens doing this." She remarked and transformed paying no mind to the awakened Terrorsaur instead taking out a notebook she carried with her and copied down some of the carvings and symbols a little fascinated and hopeful that they could provide answers later.

When finished she turned to the others before glancing at the different ways branching off from where they were."Go with our gut instinct I guess Scorponok." She said to the scorpion before moving back to her position before hand and transformed back to beast mode. "Though we need to be cautious as well for these symbols may mark a trap."

Glowstick blinked as he monitored the energon readings in the area, finding that surprisingly the area had fairly low levels of energon Huh.. well nevermind the beast modes.. I'm assuming this rock is so dense that even energon radiation doesn't go through it.

He then glanced towards Terrorsaur

Terrorsaur wrote:"Wha... What did you do to me?" he asked Glowstick.

I didn't have a prosthetic kit on me, so I gave you the arm that was blown off me in the battle. I figured it was better then nothing if you have to.. grab or pick something up. Scorponok ended up with a modified auto wrench for his hand. Didn't realize these limbs were that hard to control..but I did have tentacles back on cybertron too.. so I guess I'm just used to it. Either way, it isn't permanent, you'll get your arms back when we get to base.. or if we get to base rather...

Glowstick then looked towards Frilla Trap marks huh.. Well we're in luck then.. Blackarachnia and Scorponok were on that floating island, these two should of remembered what those marks looked like.

______________________

Icebreaker turned looking towards the Predacons, noticing the ant's narrowed gaze. His red eyes gave a bored look towards the ant. He figured Inferno probably had some sort of dislike towards him, it was practically destiny as they were polar opposites. He then turned away and continued on, walking inside of the cave. Inside, he turned on the light strapped to his head looking over the environment. It appeared it was not a batcave, which would make the trek a little less gross, though he did notice strands of slime coming from the ceiling with luminescent bugs making the cave ceiling look as if it was a star lit night.The creatures being glow worms to be exact. He gave a cringe as he saw a moth caught in a slime rope and the creature pull it toward's itself Geh.. looks like some of Glowstick's friends.. he muttered to himself, then continued on his way.

Starshadow and Cecaelia just looked at the dark cave. "Hmmm...we need more light..."

Cecaelia pulled out the dagger that Glowstick gave her recently. "Maybe this will help!" the blade glowed with yellow light with a little lightning veins flashing out. "Follow me!It's going to be a long walk of horror.."

Starshadow raised an optic ridge, catching up with the short femme and Icebreaker.

Hearing Glowstick's reference to the island, Scorponok quickly glared at Blackarachnia with seething malice.

"Oh, I remember the island alright!"

Terrorsaur squawked, finally looking up from his alien-like tentacle.

"I was there, too," he pipped, "Didn't get close enough, though. I got blasted out of the sky."

Scorponok returned his attention to the front and kept marching. The memories of previous encounters with the foreign artifacts were painful enough. It did no good to his attitude for him to be trapped in this unlit labyrinth.

When they stopped Wintersong looked at the walls warching Frilla copy down the strange symbols. But watching the Predacons she couldn't help finding it mildly amusing sometimes but didn't show it and kept following as they started off again."Well if there isn't much radiation down here gives us a better chance to keep alert and react quicker." She said looking around a bit. But the thought of hidden traps made the tigeress even more uneasy since they could very well end up dead then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snow Trix paid no mind to Megatron after a while and wandered away from the other Predacons looking around the battle field, avoiding the sink holes.But the clone had been hiding for some time and it surprised the fox that Megatron didn't seem all concerned, "Wonder why though.Swept the floor with us last time." She muttered but really considered just leaving the t-rex hanging.She'd been smacked around already and being terminated didn't seem that bad at this point, not like she had anything to lose.

Dinobot started heading that direction. "I'm on my way," he responded promptly. Without speaking the command, he transformed into beast mode.

As he walked, he observed the surrounding land. It was strange to see the whole place carved and dented with pockets of sunken soil.

His thoughts were interrupted for a moment when he Snow Trix walking alone in the distance. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but that was all he could decide.

After walking a little more, he met up with Optimus, Whitegrazer, Feralnight, Valkyrie and Tigatron.

"So, what do you intend for our next move to be?" he asked Primal.

* * *

Steelclaw hauled Waspinator to his feet.

"Up you get."

Turning his light back to the hall ahead of the group, Steelclaw spoke aloud. "I may as well take the rear. I can shed some more light for you all to walk by." He considered making a joke about shooting them in the back, but he wisely decided it wasn't the time to chance creating mistrust.

Quickly getting in line with the rest, he was still walking pretty close to Airazor.

"Uh..." he started," you'll have to excuse me. Sometimes I don't engage my memory like I should. But, you see, I was trying to remember your name, and then I realized that I... well, anyways- you said you're Air-raider?"

* * *

Cheetor listened carefully to the conversation. He hadn't been at the island, but he'd heard about the marks. He hoped Blackarachnia and Scorponok wouldn't recognize them, but if they did, he hoped they recognized them soon.

"I'm Steelclaw"

The giant predicon bear certainly had a fitting name. He was likely one of the stronger members of their team. Luckily, he wasn't a flier and she would likely not have to deal with him. After his response, he found another of the predicons - this one she had known a little bit better. It was one of their fliers - Waspinator. While she had yet to fire upon him, he had engaged a few of her allies. He was an interesting character, and she smiled slightly at the notion of him having a headache in his whole body. It appeared as if another would join their strange group of travelers. If this rock slide did anything, it at least brought the Maximal's and Predicon's together for a time.

"I'm having no readings of energon radiation effects. Unless if we're in need for emergency repairs or utilities exclusive to our beast modes, we might as well walk around in robot form without consequence."

Orcariners comment was good news for the falcon. While she loved her beast mode when there was clear and open air, it was times like these when she realized it had severe limitations. Without flight, her alternate mode was quite useless. Others, like Rhinox or Optimus, could use their forms to aid them in combat if they so desired. The extent Airazor could do with a Falcon was peck at someone. Yet, that would likely cause more damage to her own beak and neck than it would whomever she was attacking. Perhaps in time she would learn how to better use both modes in conjunction with each other, but for now, she was limited by the biggest problem of all: lack of real legs. Talons were great for perching and could walk a short distance, but they wouldn't get her too far and not quickly either. Being able to use her Robot Form without energon interference in this cave was nice.

Having gotten lost in her thoughts for a few moments, Steelclaw's voice brought her back to reality.

"Uh... you'll have to excuse me. Sometimes I don't engage my memory like I should. But, you see, I was trying to remember your name, and then I realized that I... well, anyways- you said you're Air-raider?"

The smaller maximal chuckled at the idea of being called Air-raider. It would perhaps be a great Predicon name, but it certainly was not fitting for her. "Close! It's Airazor." She answered. Steelclaw seemed quite nice to her, it seemed strange that he would associate himself with the crazed lunatics on the Predicon team. Some of the stories she had heard of Tarantulas and Megatron sometimes gave her chills. Yet, this one had a very calm demeanor about him. He acted almost as if he could be just as good as a Maximal as a predicon. Perhaps her entire view of the enemy team was wrong... maybe they weren't as crazy as she thought. Then again, SteelClaw could be an exception.

Their group had so far gotten nowhere. The only thing to pass the time now was to talk and hope that they find a way out of here soon. Perhaps she could get some better insight on the predicon's in the meantime. Deciding to continue her conversation with Steelclaw, she addressed him in again. "I'm curious, what is it like to be a Predicon?"

---

"But be careful. It might be Manterror."

The Mantis had heard most of their conversation, and had a fairly good idea of what they were up against. Two Optimus Primals, one of them fake the other one real, blah blah. That part didn't really matter much to him as he would kill them both anyway. The fact that his presence was detected however, that was a bit more important. Running would get him nowhere, yet, neither would staying put. He would try diplomacy. Yes. That would work!

Jumping from the bushes, he stood in front of the Maximal team and yelled his blatant lies in hopes they wouldn't shoot him right away. As usual, his insane ideas of what the Maximal's stood for came through. "MAXIMALS! I have aligned myself with these aliens! They have given me unspeakable powers which only I have! They think I am an ally, but they are wrong! I wish to help you in your quest for global domination and destroying these invaders! It is with my powers alone that this alien threat can be defeated!"

Feralnight watched Icebreaker and the two predacons before they left before looking at the others,"Think the Predacon femmes are starting a fan club next." She commented trying not to laugh and looked back at the others. Though the thought of facing the clone wasn't settling well with the fuzor as the memory of the clone nearly getting her and Cheetor a while back before back up came was still fresh in her mind. "We really need to watch his mace this time,that can do some damage with enough force behind it." She added instinctively folding her wings closer at the memory of the mace striking her left wing.

Pushing the memory back she turned as Dinobot was coming back, glad to see he wasn't one of the ones under ground since they could use his help. Though as Manterror leapt out the fuzor looked at the Mantis and raised an 'eye brow'. "Mantis you must be delusional, the aliens wouldn't grant a insane bug ultimate power. Especially a predacon." She remarked and stepped forward towards Manterror with a low growl.

After watching them leave Inferno turned to Sonar.

"How will we find, this Primal clone?"

Sonar was silent for a moment before replying. "If he's gone invisible, I'll be able to find him with my echo's. If we have to fight while he's cloaked, I'll have to be your optics."

Inferno nodded in agreement. "This clone buuurrrnnnn in the fires of Inferno."

"MAXIMALS! I have aligned myself with these aliens! They have given me unspeakable powers which only I have! They think I am an ally, but they are wrong! I wish to help you in your quest for global domination and destroying these invaders! It is with my powers alone that this alien threat can be defeated!"

Sonar's freakishly good hearing caught Manterror boast.

I thought Inferno and I were crazy. Sonar thought.

Both Predacons transformed into thier robot forms and found Manterror with the Maximals.

"Manterror, quit making an aft out of yourself. And no sane Alien would give you powers, just so you can use them against the aliens." He said before he spotted Saber and smiled darkly.

* * *

"Up you get."

Waspinator felt light headed but he shook it off.

"Thank you, bear-bot."

"I may as well take the rear. I can shed some more light for you all to walk by."

Waspinator stayed close to Steelclaw, but gave the bear his space.

(*LOL* Giant predacon bear.. Steelclaw is roughly around Rattrap and Airazor's height. Though admittedly he is the Solid Snake of the Predacons with his firepower and stealth skills.)

Rhinox looked towards Steelclaw ,Waspinator,and Airazor, he was glad to see Airazor was safe, though surprised at the sight of Steelclaw and Waspinator. He transformed to his robot mode, the magnetic light still attached to his shoulder. He stopped as he thought for a moment Steelclaw.. Ah, I remember now.. Been awhile. You were the one that infiltrated our base months ago with the help of Glowstick. You two sure made a mess of our security protocols.. Always did wonder why you did it though..

He then started to move again, still following Rattrap.

As Rattrap made his way through the tunnel, a strange glowing rune appeared on the floor where Rattrap stepped, a slight creaking noise was heard like stone grinding against itself from above him, then suddenly a square pillar of stone came slamming down from the ceiling towards Rattrap.

Rhinox shouted in horror Rattrap!

________________________

Icebreaker looked towards Cecaelia and Starshadow noticing the glowing dagger Huh.. it's like a mini version of that pigsticker Glowstick carries around. Nice! He then looked around the cave, drops of water seen dropping from stalactites of the ceiling, as they made their way further into the cave, they noticed the ground was wet with pools of water of various depths from shallow to deep and the water being rather cold.The ground itself was also slopping leading them down further and that the light from outside simply became obscured into the distance leaving only the illumination of the two light sources they brought.


Icebreaker looked towards the ground as he noticed oddly placed stones,like a walkway in bedded into the cave rock, he then looked up as he noticed a temple like structure with two large stone doors sealed tightly with strange images depicted on them. Long walk of horror.. well, you got the horror part right..I'm not sure if the other's told you about the aliens Cecaelia, but these things are bad news. When I first came to this planet we found a temple with a strange ball of energon that could force you into beast mode, and stone turrets that fired energy blasts at anything in robot form.. It seems their technology is mostly organic in nature.. but that's all any of us could figure out. We'll have to be careful and stick close, who knows what could happen around here.

He looked around the area as he noticed two small column like structures with pyramids on top, he raised an eyebrow I think Tigatron mentioned those once.. but I forget what they do.. some sort of beam attack under a specific response..

_____________________

Glowstick rubbed the side of his mantle nervously with a tentacle as he looked towards Scorponok looking at Blackarachnia Lets.. try not to focus on past mistakes.

As they moved, a rune on the wall started to glow once Scorponok and Frilla walked past it, the floor started to rumble and shift violently in an area under Scorponok, Frilla, Blackarachnia, and Terrorsaur. The floor suddenly gave out from under the four as the tiles appeared to just slip apart revealing a 20 ft by 20 ft wide pit leading to a 50 ft drop of stone spikes.

Glowstick fired out his feeder tentacles towards Scorponok and Frilla grabbing their backsides with the suction cups, his limbs remained stretched as he floated above the pit with his siphon continuously blowing a jet of air downward but he seemed off kilter, the weight of trying to hold Scorponok with one tentacle was throwing off his balance and making it difficult for him to fly. Geez Scorponok.. you weigh more then Inferno! he then shouted down, his tentacle seemed to be stretched out to around 20 ft. He started to pull Frilla up on his other tentacle, compared to the large scorpion she weighed next to nothing to the squid.

___________________

As Sonar made his presence known to the Maximals, Tarantulus sneaked closer to their group observing, though he did not wish to make himself noticed like the bat, ant, and mantis had. He looked over the three with a slight stifled chuckle, realizing with some amusement the group of psychological disorders that were together. Paranoia,Pyromania, and Megalomania.. what a motley crew for this assignment.

The situation was getting interesting. An underground building in an unknown planet? Starshadow took a closer look and traced the image on the doors with a sharp nail. "Hmm..very interesting..I've never seen images like this before." the feline took a flat rock and bit her wrist.

"I must add these findings in my discovery journal.." she said as she used her mech fluid as an ink and her nail to draw out the image that was on the stone. Cecaelia just stared at the building with optics widen.

Frilla stopped as the floor began to rumble and looked down, yelling in surprise as it shifted beneath her,Scorponok, Terrorsaur, and Blackarachnia. Seeing the spikes the frilled lizard was almost sure they'd meet a spike through the chest or something though Glowstick luckily caught two of them,"Have to admit Glowstick glad your here." She said and looked up at the squid,but he seemed having trouble with Scorponok so she quickly swung to the wall, using her claws to dig into the rock and pull herself out of the pit and onto the path.