Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

((OOC: I'll cover Slag for the time being when needed.))

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

Snarl had no sooner thrown Grimlock at Devastator’s head than he found himself under direct attack from none other than Blitzwing. “FRAG!” The Desert Warrior exclaimed as he quickly brought his energo sword up to bare in order to intercept the triplechanger’s scimitar. The two blades clashed together as Blitzwing’s momentum forced Snarl backwards, his feet sliding back through the muck of the seafloor, unable to gain a good footing.

“You throw cheap shot when me, Snarl, not looking,” the plated Dinobot growled at his Decepticon opponent, their two swords criss-crossed in front of each others’ optics. “Big mistake!” Using his energo sword, Snarl slowly forced the tan and purple mech’s scimitar down towards the seabed, the two blades remained locked together.

The Desert Warrior then quickly followed that move up by delivering a sudden and violent headbutt towards Blitzwing’s faceplate. The hope was to either force the triplechanger to move back in order to dodge the attack or get hit directly in his cranium which would disorient him long enough for Snarl to end this little contest quickly.
_______________

Several explosions occurred around Slag with one missile hitting the Triceratops’ back. The armor plating held firm, but the flamethrower’s temper did not. “Who hit me with rockets!?!” Slag roared as the enraged Dinobot spun around. He quickly spotted the source of the attack, Weirdwolf, who was now about to double team Sludge along with Skullcruncher, who was already latched on to the Jungle Warrior’s elongated neck.

“Me no think so,” Slag growled as he transformed back into robot mode and drew out his electron gun. The flamethrower immediately fired off several shots directly at Weirdwolf as the wolf-former leapt up and attempted to impale Sludge from above. “DIE, yellow doggy, DIE!!!” Slag shouted as he ran towards his besieged comrade.

((OOC: Attack on Devastator agreed to with Sid.))

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

Grimlock felt a deep sense of satisfaction when he crashed directly into Devastator’s upper torso, his Tyrannosaurus Rex jaws biting down into the gestalt’s enormous head. As his teeth sunk deeper and deeper into the green armor, the combiner staggered backwards into the rock face behind him. The Dinobot Commander then attempted to tear away a large chunk of Devastator’s face, but he was quickly stopped when the green and purple giant grabbed a hold of Grimlock’s jaws with both large hands and pried them off the gestalt’s damaged head.

"Dinobot leader dies first!" Devastator shouted as he then tried to force the Dinobot’s jaws apart in an attempt to rip the rex-former in half. Grimlock roared at the combiner through his pried opened mouth, struggling against the behemoth’s powerful grip. Thinking quickly, Grimlock brought his rocket launcher into position on his back and fired off several missiles directly at Devastator’s already damaged cranial unit. Two of the missiles hit their intended target while another simply grazed the combiner’s left shoulder.

The explosions from the rockets that struck Devastator’s head caused the gestalt to release his grip on Grimlock’s jaws, the Dinobot Commander wiggling free and falling back down to the sea floor. The mechanical Tyrannosaur gazed up at the wounded giant as Devastator covered his smoking faceplate with both hands. Grimlock did not know how much damage he had caused, and he wasn’t going to wait to find out before attacking again.

Preparing to make a follow-up strike, Grimlock was about to charge back towards Devastator’s feet when he received a call for help from Swoop over the Dinobots’ frequency. The rex-former looked around the underwater battlefield and quickly realized that all of the other Dinobots were currently engaged in battle. As a result, Grimlock transformed back into robot mode, letting out a deep sigh of frustration. He wanted to continue to take the fight to Devastator, but he also wasn’t about to leave one of his own team lying wounded in a hole.

>>”On me way, Swoop.”<<

It didn’t take long for Grimlock to find the crevice where the Dinobot bombardier was trapped, having followed Swoop’s signal straight to the location. Grimlock leapt down into the hole and landed directly next to his aerial subordinate. “Me here, Swoop. Just relax,” The rex-former said as he examined the leg wound. “This nothing, Swoop. There only trickle of energon coming out. You be fine. Little crushed leg never kill nobody, especially not Dinobot. Now, stop whining about leg and hold on! Me get you out of here.”

Wasting no further time, Grimlock grabbed a hold of the smaller Dinobot and threw him over one shoulder. The rex-former then climbed up and out of the crevice before laying the bombardier down behind a large boulder that was nearby. “Now, listen to me, Swoop. We still need you out there! You Dinobot! You tougher than regular puny Autobot so start acting like it! Try and transform if you can. You might not be able to walk, but you should be able to use beast mode wings like flippers and rear thrusters to propel yourself through water. If not, just stay here out of way. Me might not be able to save your aft next time if you get into trouble.”

Grimlock stood tall over his subordinate as he drew out his energo sword again. “Meanwhile, me go back to destroying Devastator. Me hope to see you out there.” With those last words spoken, the rex-former headed back out onto the underwater battlefield, his sights set squarely on the Constructicon gestalt.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome:

Swoop was so glad to see that ol lug of a leader's face. He tried to not whimper as the pain of his crushed leg still shot through his whole body. It seemed to take a bit of effort to get out, but not as much as Swoop assumed it'd be. Though, it is Grimlock, and "Me Grimlock no wimp".

After the two made it out of the crevice, Grimlock said,

“Now, listen to me, Swoop. We still need you out there! You Dinobot! You tougher than regular puny Autobot so start acting like it! Try and transform if you can.

The words both made Swoop at first focus slightly more on the pain wondering if he could transform, yet the rex-former's words then gave Swoop pride in who he was, and what he could pull through. "You're right," said Swoop, "Lemme- I'll try to transform."

As Swoop attempted to change form, the pain increased greatly. The feeling of the distorted and mangled leg mangling up even more trying to shape shift was excruciating. Yet, it wasn't the pain that was making it impossible to transform properly, but his leg was tearing itself apart- it, oh Primus my- my leg it's-

At this point though Grimlock was off, so Swoop could whimper just a bit as he watched his leg jerk while intense pain was gushing throughout his systems. Then though, he noticed a piece of metal debris nearby. It was a rod-like shape, and looked sturdy enough to hold the weight of him. Quickly he reached out, crawling, and grabbed it.

Swoop then grabbed his energo sword and unsheathed it. The blade lit up scarily as he looked at it briefly. But before he could change his mind, he was slicing his own leg off. He yelped at first, but then turned his vocal processors down out of fear that his fellow team-mates might hear him.

Swoop then took the metal rod and forced it in the now legless hip joint. He then grabbed his energo sword again and used the heat of it to perform a crude welding of the rod into his hip joint.

After this, the Dinobot stood up, testing his makeshift peg leg. The crash had not entirely destroyed his hip joint, so he still was able to move the prosthetic ever so slightly. With this he slashed his sword once again through the water. He turned up his vocal processors again, and without hesitation he hobbled as fast as he could back into the action.

"I'm back, sir!" said Swoop to Grimlock after he finally made it back, "And I'm ready for a fight."

Devastator was looking significantly more damaged than when Swoop last saw him. "Save some fun for me, willya?" said the Dinobot with a smirk before using his pteranodon wings to seemingly swim through the water towards the green giant before releasing his own barrage of rockets. He then lunged with his still intact leg towards the monster's Scrapper leg to swipe with his thermal sword.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

It was a familiar feeling this. Sent a certain chill down Weirdwolf’s spine it did. Ah, and it was there. Slag. The Dinobot. Having a taste of his earlier assault, retaliate the Dinobot did now. Too soon then perhaps was it to gang upon the long-necked Dinobot. With the deft use of his robot mode flight capabilities, altered his own trajectory he did so that Slag’s shots merely passed harmlessly.

Of course, put him off course this did, though a real bother it was not. More than happy he was to oblige the Dinobot. A shot at fair play and all that. Even if push came to shove, switch out he and Skullcruncher could, such was their dynamic teamwork and trust.

“Think I not as well, Dinobot,” Weirdwolf snarled, “Help your comrade you shall not!”

Launching a volley of missiles anew, charge Weirdwolf did with sword in hand at this Dinobot Slag. “Glory and honors today will be ours, my friend,” he called back to Skullcruncher, “For vanquish we shall the Dinobots! Remind me it does of that time on Regulon IV. Remember it do you?”

Undersea Dome Alpha

“Kinda looks like stealth is out,” Blaster muttered, having taken cover behind some kind of structure. A couple of Decepticons had stumbled upon them. Or maybe they’d been alerted to their presence. Either way, the cat was out of the bag now. They were made. Anything they’d get now would just be a smash and grab if they got anything at all.

One of them – they all looked alike in battle – had actually shot himself somehow as neither Blaster nor Scoop had fired their weapons yet. However, their cover wasn’t meant to last. A grenade was being lobbed in their general direction. Though it was off target. It probably wouldn’t hurt them if they stayed put. Still, they couldn’t just sit here and wait to die.

“Time to rock n’ roll out, Scoop!” Blaster said, darting out of cover. He pointed his blaster at the Cons and fired, ducking to the next cover. They had to get to a terminal and fast. Now that the Cons knew they were here, they’d probably start dumping the data if they hadn’t already.


Alpha Dome – Control Center

During her dump of the databases and transferal of vital information to the Thanatos, Flamewar had stumbled upon an interesting security log. One of Thunderwing and Scrapper. Quite fascinating. She would review it in detail later. Storing that tidbit away in her own personal databanks and sending another copy to the Thanatos heavily encrypted, Flamewar hit upon an idea.

Taking the time out to develop it, Flamewar multitasked, creating her little spy and continuing to send vital data back to the Thanatos. When the last scrap of somewhat valuable and vital information was sent, she turned all of her attentions to finishing her little idea. A virus. It would roam the databanks, deleting and corrupting data. Once that was done, it would reside in a very singular piece of data that Flamewar had singled out.

The virus wasn't the only surprise that she had in store for the Autobots. She had added a little something extra. A seed that could grow into something potentially fruitful. When all was safe, she would give the command to Warwolf to back down a little to allow the Autobots their chance.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea–-Outside Alpha Dome

The titanic Constructicon had been more than staggered by the Dinobot Commander's weaponry, allowing him to free himself from the gestalt's grip. Devastator roared in rage as his head was momentarily engulfed in ballistic flames and damage before being quickly extinguished by the sea waters.

All of the gestalt's internal sensors were reading critical damage levels and most of the Constructicon minds inside the gestalt's head were now howling different commands, each trying to assert their own will over the combiner now that they were experiencing critical levels of pain.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" the combiner roared, producing his oversized weapon once more and firing erratically into the sea depths. Doing so, he took no notice of the approaching aerial Dinobot warrior who proceeded to bury his thermal sword into the gestalt's leg.

It was then Scrapper's scream of anguish that took front and center in Devastator's mind as the others attempted to recalibrate the titan's actions and hopefully swat the attacker away or crush him.

Undersea Dome Alpha

"Bwahahaha!" Warwolf's laughter cried out into the room as gunfire flew past. The lupine mech transformed out of his three-headed wolf form and back into his robot form, but continued to run in a quadrupedal manner. "Now the real fun begins!"

The interrogator took note of the red communication officer hiding behind one of the corners and shifted his sprinting towards him. The lupine-former leapt into the air and drew both his swords before preparing to swipe down upon Blaster.

"Oh that idiot..." Cloudbreaker commented, as to who he was initially referring to was anyone's guess given the current situation. The magenta and gold thief tucked behind one of the corners and checked his reserves. Specialized ammo was nearly full, but he frowned behind his faceplate when he took note his personal flask of high-grade was running running rather low. Cloudbreaker sighed at the sight before dropping his faceplate to take a hearty swig.

With his faceplate retracting back into position and stuffing his flask back into its storage compartment, Cloudbreaker turned the corner to fire off supporting fire for the two idiots he was assigned to help.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

There was a loud and twisted cracking noise before Sludge lost feeling and control of his motor functions. His dino-mode's optics watched his body go helplessly limp as the severed head sank to the sea floor. The jungle warrior's headless alternate mode then rumbled as his t-cog was forced to revert him back into his robot form. What a strange sensation losing a head was, Sludge thought as he stared down to his lifeless apatosaurus processor.

"You make Sludge lose head... Now Sludge going to take yours!" The Dinobot yelled back to the crocodilian Decepticon. Sludge the drew his laser rifle and energon sword in each hand, cutting through the water each time the croc got close enough to hit and firings off a laser bolt each time he tried to swim away.

-

"Cheap trick?" Blitzwing snarled as his sword was locked with the plated Dinobot's own, "You must not know how I play-"

*THWACK!*

The Dinobot's head came colliding with Blitzwing processor, not doing much external damage save for a small crack forming along his visor, but enough to make the commando's sensors scramble for a few moments. Blitzwing winced in a moment of pain, dropping his scimitar in the muck below. He's one to talk about cheap tricks, pulling a dirty move like that. But like Blitzwing said, this is how he likes to play.

With what little amount of sensibility he could muster, the triplechanger wrapped both arms around Snarl's waist as he attempted to raise the plated Dinobot up and preform a Simanzi Suplex on the beast.

Eye or an eye, head for a head.

Alpha Dome – Control Center

It took Battletrap a few moments to get oriented from the bounce. For him the process was a bit rougher due to his connection circuits around his waist. Once he was certain he wouldn't fall apart, he heard the first order to attack the Dinobots outside of the dome in the water. This idea didn't sound pleasant to Battletrap due to lack of water form. Then it seemed some of the Autobots were coming to them on the inside. This sounded much better to him as he followed Misfire and Warwolf.

"Flamewar ally of Commander Shockwave. Battletrap will protect Flamewar. Autobots in base will go down or leave."

Battletrap split apart and transformed into his two components. His copter portion had taken to the roof of the dome while the jeep portion backed up Warwolf. He knew little of Misfire but from his aerial view point, he could tell Misfire lived up to his name with the random and chaotic firing into the other part of the dome missing almost everything but the walls. Battletrap wondered if this Con could hit the broad side of Optimus Prime's trailer if it was a few meters away and staying put. To help his fellow Cons, he opened fire from the air on the green Autobot, Scoop, hiding behind some cover.

Undersea Base – Alpha Dome

Oh, that wasn’t fun. Scrap, the Cons really weren’t playing around this time were they? From what Blaster had seen, they had a force outside strong enough to give even the Dinobots trouble, and then these guys guarding the interior? There must be something the Cons really didn’t want them to find.

Jumping back as a lupine mech bore down on him with swords, Blaster deployed his own reinforcements. Steeljaw and Ramhorn. The two cassettobots leaped out from his chest, transforming into their beast modes as they hit the ground.

“Get ‘em,” Blaster ordered. Ramhorn was all too happy to oblige. He charged Warwolf, head low and horn down. Steeljaw was a bit more tactical. He flanked the lupine Decepticons, firing his hip cannons at the Con while Blaster provided cover fire for his two cassettes.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

"I'm back, sir! And I'm ready for a fight. Save some fun for me, willya?"

Grimlock heard Swoop’s voice through the murky waters and was pleased to see that his earlier pep talk had worked. The aerial bombardier was back in action even with only one usable leg. “There still plenty fun left for you, Swoop!” The Dinobot Commander bellowed as Devastator fired his oversized weapon sporadically into the seabed. One blast struck near Grimlock, the resulting explosion knocking the rex-former off his charge and faceplate first into the slimy muck of the sea floor.

“Fraggit!!” Grimlock roared and his quickly got back to his feet. More soot and debris had now filled the waters of the surrounding area due to the green gestalt’s scattered attacks. This did not deter the rex-former, however, as his sensors easily picked up the combined signatures of the Constructicons through the dirty water. Perhaps if they had been separate mechs it would've been more difficult to pinpoint each of them, but together it was hard to miss a metal monster of that size.

The Dinobot Commander charged through the organic matter that enveloped him and eventually found his way through to his enormous prey as he drew closer and closer. Swoop had managed to embed his thermal sword deep into Devastator’s right leg, the Scrapper component. Between Grimlock’s previous attack and Swoops successful strike, the gestalt appeared a bit dazed and confused. It was now the perfect time to finally bring the behemoth down once and for all.

With his very large target directly ahead, Grimlock pulled out his launcher and fired several more rockets straight up at Devastator’s already damaged faceplate while simultaneously bringing his sword up to bare as the rex-former quickly approached the gestalt’s left leg. Lunging forward through the water, Grimlock thrust his energo sword towards the Mixmaster component, hoping to achieve the same result Swoop had done moments before.

“Time for you to fall, Devastator!!!”
_______________

"Cheap trick? You must not know how I play-"

Snarl chuckled under his breath as his head slammed into Blitzwing’s faceplate, cutting off the triplechanger’s comment. The damage was minimal, only a crack across his visor, but it still felt satisfying, regardless. “Me sorry, were you about to say something else?” Snarl remarked as Blitzwing dropped his scimitar into the muck around their feet. “I think you dropped something...”

This time it was the Desert Warrior that was cut off as Blitzwing grabbed him around his waist area with both arms in an attempt to lift him up. “What this?! A hug? Touching, but you not me type,” the plated Dinobot quipped with a grin. With his energo sword still in one hand, Snarl brought the blade up over his head, switching to a two-handed grip, before then brining it back down in a single, swift stabbing motion towards Blitzwing’s left shoulder joint. With any luck, the triplechanger would soon be without his left arm or at the very least a badly damaged shoulder plate.
_______________

“Think I not as well, Dinobot. Help your comrade you shall not!”

“You talk stupid,” Slag growled at Weirdwolf, having successfully forced the lupine mech off his course to double team Sludge. “Me already help Sludge, dog breath. You mine now!” The horned Dinobot charged forward with his energo sword up to bare just as the yellow Decepticon did the same, following a new volley of missiles. Slag dove forward into the muck to avoid the ensuing explosions that erupted all around him, debris and rock pelting his tough armored plating. Wiping off the mud and grime, the flamethrower quickly realized that he no longer had his blade.

“Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!” Slag roared at Weirdwolf. “You made me lose sword! You pay for that, little doggy! You pay dearly!!!!”

Full of a renewed rage, Slag transformed into his triceratops alt mode and charged forward once again directly at Weirdwolf with the intent of impaling the lupine Decepticon on the ends of his three sharp horns.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome:

The Dinobird had really done a number of the huge green giant. And with missiles slamming into his face, it was making Devastator ANGRY.

"I HATE YOU."

The giant's three cold words were directly from Bonecrusher's merged mind. He didn't accept defeat. He didn't accept humiliation. HE DIDN'T ACCEPT THIS.

Bonecrusher tried his hardest to surpass the other minds half-merged with his own to do more than just try to win. If he was going out, he was going to take Grimlock WITH HIM. And Grimlock will FEEL TEN TIMES THE PAIN inflicted on Bonecrusher and his brothers.

Grimlock charged at Devastator's Mixmaster leg it attempts to do the EXACT same thing as Swoop. Pathetic. No creativity.

"FRAG YOU, DINOBLOT."

With the swiftness Bonecrusher had previously resisted to show, the giant green arm; drill deployed; swiped suddenly towards Grimlock. Shock and awe was his method. Bring him down fast, then afterwards, torture the little spit until the Dinobots truly see the power of the Constructicons. And more importantly, "DEVASTATOR IS KING. NOT YOU."

Undersea Base – Alpha Dome

The jeep portion of Battletrap arrived just in time to see Warwolf get surrounded by two of Blaster's pets. He opened fire on Steeljaw hoping to eliminate the pest. If anyone would flank an enemy, it would be Battletrap.

>>Warwolf, take big player and I take small Autobots. Small Autobots no match for me.<<

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

“Glory and honors today will be ours, my friend,” he called back to Skullcruncher, “For vanquish we shall the Dinobots! Remind me it does of that time on Regulon IV. Remember it do you?”

Skullcruncher never replied back to Weirdwolf. He was too busy biting down into Sludge’s neck when his friend uttered his words. And even if he hadn’t been, all he would have said would have been something along the lines ’Not now’ or ’This is not the time’.

There was a loud and twisted cracking noise before Sludge lost feeling and control of his motor functions. His dino-mode's optics watched his body go helplessly limp as the severed head sank to the sea floor. The jungle warrior's headless alternate mode then rumbled as his t-cog was forced to revert him back into his robot form. What a strange sensation losing a head was, Sludge thought as he stared down to his lifeless apatosaurus processor.

What a triumphant feeling that was. The Dinobot’s neck breaking under his attack, the massive Autobot warrior practically stumbling down into the sea floor before his emergency systems kicked in and forced a transformation into robot form. Only that Skullcruncher himself had already transformed too when Sludge regained his senses. He just felt like giving the Dinobot a fighting chance instead of having gone for the kill while the Autobot had been down.

"You make Sludge lose head... Now Sludge going to take yours!"

”You can have it back.” Skullcruncher smirked, tossing Sludge’s lifeless dinohead back at the large warrior while making no effort to dodge his laser blasts. Even if it wasn’t for his thick armor plating, the water alone took much of the punch away from Sludge’s weapon fire. At this point it was more for a show than anything else. Besides, Sludge was barely aiming in his wobbly state of being. It was as if the Dinobot was slower than usual and out of balance. To be fair, Skullcruncher would likely have been as much out of it if he had been in Sludge’s shoes.

To make the situation even more hilarious, the Dinobot was swinging wildly around with his sword too despite of being way out of range to hit Skullcruncher.

Pulling out his own sword, Skullcruncher gestured for Sludge to attack him, ”Not to save the ocean from your wrath but are you going to fight me or not?”

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

"FRAG YOU, DINOBLOT. DEVASTATOR IS KING. NOT YOU.”

The booming sound of the green gestalt’s cursing drew Grimlock’s attention momentarily upward, which was just in time to see the giant drill head come swinging down in the Dinobot Commander’s direction. Twisting himself around and falling backwards in the process, the rex-former managed to block the drill with his energo sword, preventing it from striking his chassis. However, the force behind the Bonecrusher appendage easily knocked the blade out of Grimlock’s hands as he hit his back against the seafloor hard.

“Fraggit!” Grimlock bellowed as he now found himself lying between Devastator’s enormous legs. Swoop was not far away, having successfully plunged his thermal sword into the combiner’s Scrapper component. “Swoop! Keep hacking at leg joints. Try chop Devastator down to size!”

With his order given, the rex-former got to his feet and plodded through the muck until he was behind the Constructicon giant once again. Looking around, Grimlock realized he was close to the cliff face. At the top, a certain green Autobot was still mulling about as though he was waiting for something. >>“Hardhead, what you doing up there?! Get your aft down here and help fight Decepticons! NOW!!”<<

Closing his comm line, Grimlock refocused on Devastator. With his sword lost in the muck somewhere, the rex-former’s options were now fewer. Of course, that never stopped him before. Thinking fast, Grimlock quickly scaled the cliff wall part way up until he had reached a small outcropping of rock. Once there, the Dinobot Commander leapt from the cliff face and landed on the green gestalt’s upper back.

Holding on firmly with his left hand, Grimlock used his right to produce a double-barreled laser rifle. He then aimed the weapon directly at the connection joint where the Hook and Long Haul components were merged together. In the front this junction is well protected by purple armored plating unlike the back side where it is more vulnerable to attack. “Time to fall, DEVASTATOR!!!” With those words spoken, Grimlock opened fire repeatedly, hoping that the joint would fail and the gestalt would finally come crashing down.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

“You talk stupid.”

“Hah!” Weirdwolf chuckled at that, “One to talk you are! Mangle the language you do.” It did not bother Weirdwolf in the least that he was now facing off against one of the more volatile Dinobots or that Skullcruncher was not replying to him. “Mm-mm, but help you who is going to?” The Dinobot charged into his volley, ducking down but losing his sword, something he was quite vocal about.

As he neared, however, the Dinobot transformed. Weirdwolf, however, had already bounded up using his superior agility – and a little assistance from his foot thrusters – effortlessly evading the triceratops. Lashing out with his sword as he twisted around in the water, he brought his blade down to bear on the triceratops’ back.

“Have at you!”

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

Even with his immense strength, Blitzwing was finding it hard to lift the plated Dinobot into something more a long the lines of rough-necked grapple combat. Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat as they say. If he can't lift the Dinobot, he sure was close enough to not miss anything he throws at him. Blitzwing let go from his grapple and immediately converted to his tank-mode, his primary cannon aimed towards Snarl's chest. Just as the commando fired, Snarl's already-in-motion swing came down into the armor plating around his tank treads.

Blitzwing hissed in pain as he readied another round, this glitch was gonna pay for that.

-

>>"Hardhead, what you doing up there?! Get your aft down here and help fight Decepticons! NOW!"<<

Annnd there was Grimlock being shortsighted was again. The Dinobot commander was too hard-focused on fighting the big Constructicon monstrosity that he didn't even notice the tank-former providing ample artillery-fire from the top of this ridge.

>>"I'm on it!"<< the warrior replied not wanting to further invoke that infamous Dinobot fury. Then again, hard to complain about finally getting to venture out and shoot something once again. Looks like his attempt to corral the Decepticons and keep them at bay with his last volley paid them no heed. Time to really dig the treads into the dirt!

Hardhead shifted to his robot mode and leap from the cliff-face, gently landing into the seafloor further below. He drew his two rifles and immediately began to focus on the servo joints that connected the Boncrusher component to the Hook component on this "Devastator" thing that keeps shouting its own name. If Grimlock's theory is right, breaking the big one apart will give them six more Decepticons to bash around, and Hardhead loved those kind of numbers.

-

"Ge-Get 'im off! We won't hold out li-like this for much longer!" Long Haul's thought circumvented though Devastator's collective processor, the Dinobot's assault beginning to take its toll on the collective processor unit.

-

"Not to save the ocean from your wrath but are you going to fight me or not?"

Sludge's frantic swinging died down as the rest of his processing power was diverted back to his robot head. A forced transformation like that seemed to have dazed him for a moment, making the jungle warrior attack frustrated and primally. And now the croc was taunting him about it.

Sludge only snarled as he tightened the grip on his energo-sword, digging his massive boot into the mud to push him off towards Skullcruncher. He brought his sword out wide to ready a massive swipe. As bulky as the apatosaurus-former was in his robot mode he still had quite the reach on him. He may be in Skullcruncher's element, but it wasn't too different from the swamps and jungles Sludge was accustomed to fighting in.

Undersea Base - Alpha Dome

>>"Warwolf, take big player and I take small Autobots. Small Autobots no match for me."<<

>>"Appreciated."<< Warwolf hissed as he tried to dodge both cassettebot fire and Blaster's own counterattack. One of Steeljaw's volleys struck the hilt of his sword causing the interrogator to drop one of his blades. The two components of Battletrap soon came about and took the pressure off Warwolf, who returned his visored-gaze to the red communications officer.

"And here I thought you Autobots were a civil sort!" The lupine scowled, "Throwing your pets at me... Tsk tsk." With his free hand, Warwolf quickly drew his heavy-pistol and fired a few return shots towards Blaster as he tried to close the distance between he and the Autobot comms specialist.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

Sludge finally stopped his frantic swinging and seemed to process the situation at least somewhat better. Good. Skullcruncher had had no desire to battle a berserker who really had no chance against him - or even understanding what he was going to do to him.

As the largest of the Dinobots finally came at him, Skullcruncher dug his own feet into the sea floor and met up Sludge’s swing with one his own. Bringing his sword against the Dinobot’s with such force that Sludge had likely met before only when sparring with Grimlock. This wasn’t the first time for him to fight one of the Dinobots. And likely wouldn’t be the last. He had survived encounters with them before. Beaten pretty much all of them before too couple of times except for their leader whose skill and strength surpassed even his own. They weren’t as invincible as they liked to tell everyone they were.

Having stopped Sludge’s attack on his tracks, Skullcruncher grinning viciously at the Dinobot and while their swords were still locked together – deliver a powerful kick at Sludge’s midsection, sending the Dinobot staggering backwards.

”Is this all you can do?” He taunted again, wanting to set Sludge’s focus further off, ”Seems to me that your notorious reputation is hardly deserved!”

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

"Ge-Get 'im off! We won't hold out li-like this for much longer!" Long Haul cried out in pain, ringing clearly in Devastator's mind. Hook, too, joined the agonized cries as more than one of the Dinobots blasts found their mark.

"The blasted primitives are everywhere!" Hook added.

"Keep it together!" Scrapper said, trying to keep his team focused, but it was hard. He was feeling it too. The Dinobots were....formidable, to say the least.

"Rarrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" the gestalt roared, but just at that moment, Grimlock's rifle found a critical joint that had, so far, gone unscathed in the battle. Not now. The fiery explosion sent all six Constructicons reeling in mental and physical anguish before Devastator finally shattered, his component parts dropping like stones in the murky water to the sea floor.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

Snarl had hoped his sword would strike Blitzwing’s shoulder joint, possibly severing his entire arm in the process. However, it was not meant to be as the triplechanger let go of him and quickly transformed into his tank mode. As a result, the Desert Warrior’s energo blade struck the armored plating around his opponent’s tank treads just as Blitzwing fired his primary weapon at point blank range.

“Frag it!” Snarl exclaimed an astrosecond before the blast struck him directly in the center of his chest plate, propelling him back through the murky water until his body slammed into the rock face of the nearby cliff. Sliding into a seated position, the plated Dinobot glanced down at the sizable dent that now adorned the armored plating of his chest area. There was even a minor crack in the center where a small amount of energon began to seep out of. It was nothing Snarl couldn’t shake off, but it was also a hit he could likely not take again in that same spot without incurring more serious damage.

Noticing that Blitzwing was taking aim at him again, Snarl pushed himself back up to his feet and rushed towards the tan and purple tank. The Desert Warrior dove forward as he approached, transforming into his Stegosaurus alt mode in the process. Hoping that whatever shot Blitzwing fired would fly right over him, Snarl swung his spiked tail around, aiming it directly at his adversary’s tank treads. With any luck, the triplechanger’s tank mode would soon be immobile and perhaps even sent for a little tumble.
____________

“Have at you!”

With an agility that Slag could only dream of, Weirdwolf easily evaded his charge, jumping up through the water and over the mechanical Triceratops while at the same time slashing down at him with his thermal sword. The lupine mech’s blade sliced across the enraged Dinobot’s back, leaving a deep gash in its wake. Slag felt a sharp sting of pain, but it wasn’t deep enough to do any internal damage and thus he did not allow it to stop him. If anything, it only made him more angry and hellbent on ending the yellow tracker’s existence once and for all.

Digging his front feet into the muck of the seafloor, Slag came to a slow stop just inches away from a large boulder. Transforming back into robot mode, the Dinobot flamethrower quickly took note of where Weirdwolf was about to land before then lifting the huge boulder up over his head. “Hey, little doggy! Let’s play fetch, Dinobot style!” With that said, Slag hurled the boulder with all of his might directly at the lupine Decepticon with the hopes that it would pulverize him into oblivion.

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome

“Rarrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!”

Grimlock held on and continued to fire relentlessly at the connection joint as Devastator roared in apparent pain from the attack. The flames from the resulting explosion were put out quickly in the depths of the sea, but that did not help the green combiner. It’s body shook violently as it finally began to break apart and collapse. The Dinobot Commander put away his rifle and quickly leapt from the gestalt’s back as the behemoth came crashing down in pieces to the sea floor.

Before he hit, Grimlock tucked and rolled as he landed in the muck while debris and soot filled the surrounding water, making it even more murky than before. Once everything had settled, the rex-former rose from the slime of the seabed and looked around in the direction where Devastator had once stood. He walked forward with pride and confidence as he opened a comm line to his partners in crime:

>>”Good job, Hardhead and Swoop. Now, let’s finish them! Don’t let them try and recombine!”<<

With his transmission sent, Grimlock approached the scene where the Constructicons now lay apart. The Dinobot Commander was banged up, having taken more than his fair share of damage during the battle with the gestalt, but he wasn’t done dishing out punishment just yet. Not by a long shot!

“Main course is over. Now, time for dessert!” Grimlock bellowed as he transformed into his Tyrannosaurus Rex alt mode and charged forward through the murky water, setting his sights on Scrapper first. The Dinobot leader’s jaws were wide open and ready to bite the Constructicon Commander in half if he didn't get up and move.

Secured Transmission to Flamewar:

>>”Flamewar, this is Lord Razorclaw. Devastator has just fallen to the Dinobots. What is your status? Report at once.”<<

Bottom of the Yellow Sea – Outside Alpha Dome:

Pain, rage, and shock filled Bonecrusher as he screamed with their gestalt's separation. He was furious. Hatred filled his optics.

"WE DON'T NEED NO GESTALT TO TEAR YOU ALL APART BIT BY BIT BEFORE BATHING IN YOUR ENERGON, DINOBOT FRAGS!"

As Grimlock transformed into his T-Rex mode, he had started charging towards Scrapper. For Bonecrusher, the pain didn't matter. Rage was his driving energy. He jumped up with body throbbing in pain, and ran as fast as he could in the water towards the much larger Dinobot commander. His goal: grab its head and hold it shut while the others get up.

"FRAG YOU!" shouted Bonecrusher as he came in close proximity to the Dinobot fool.

Alpha Dome:

Misfire couldn't tell if he was excited to fight, or utterly terrified, but he decided not to think about it too much. He began loading his gun again, and then proceeded to fire once again at the Autobot intruders. Though, missing some, some seemed to get pretty close at least. That was a plus in his mind.

Alpha Dome

Landgrab had gradually crawled, walked and ultimately ran away from the core battlefield and towards the main base of operations that the Constructicons had established. For the moment, he wasn't of any use to anyone out there. It's not like he was going to take out one of the Dinobots. It was far more likely that he'd get taken out, and then what use would his alt mode be for the injured?

"It's crazy out there!" the repaircon huffed as he saw other Decepticons also occupying some of the dome space.

"Who knew those slaggin' Dinos were so durable? Well...most 'Cons do, I guess. Just, I dunno, weird to see it in person."

Alpha Dome

Done.

>>”Flamewar, this is Lord Razorclaw. Devastator has just fallen to the Dinobots. What is your status? Report at once.”<<

And not a moment too soon, it seemed.

Devastator had fallen. Flamewar had prepared for as much, but it was unfortunate nonetheless. Stepping out of the control center and into the whole of Alpha Dome proper, Flamewar prepared an answer for her current lord and commander as he referred to himself. She supposed that he was trying to reinforce the fleeting title.

>>”I read you, my lord. The extraction of sensitive data has been completed, and most of our resources have been moved from the base. The base is set to a delayed remote detonation as well. As for Devastator, I intend to recall forces deployed to attack the Autobots within the base and redeploy them to collect the Constructicons, then order a retreat to lure the Dinobots into our trap.”<<

>>”Unfortunately, we lack some of the manpower to deal with the Dinobots and their reinforcements. Is there anyone you can spare, my lord?”<<

Without pausing in step, Flamewar moved toward the outer wall of the undersea dome, wondering where in the Pit Thunderwing had scurried off to. He hadn’t made an appearance yet. Did he perhaps hope to enjoy the show? Flamewar shook her head. For one who sought the throne, he was severely lacking in action.

>>”Warwolf, fall back to my location. Leave the Autobots be. We have more pressing matters,<< Flamewar transmitted to her former pupil and his team before switching to all of the Decepticons present, >>”Attention all forces, we’ve accomplished our objective here. Constructicons, fall back to the base. Everyone else outside of the dome, assist the Constructicons in their retreat and fall back yourselves. We’ll provide suppressing fire from the dome.”<<

Drawing out her fusion bow, Flamewar stepped out into the water surrounding the dome. >>”Warwolf, when you get here, watch our six. I want our path of retreat unobstructed by those Autobots.”<<

Purple energy arrow materialized on the bow. Flamewar lifted it up and fired off a volley in the general direction of the Dinobot rear forces.

Alpha Dome

“Heh. Those ‘pets’ might give your buddy a hard time,” Blaster shot back, darting to the side trying to evade Warwolf’s return fire. A few of them hit their mark, but as Warwolf rushed to close the distance between them, a smile plastered itself on the Autobots’ Voice’s faceplate. Oh, he wanted to play at close quarters? Well, Blaster would give the Con a bit more than he bargained for.

Charging forward with a tenacity that did not bespeak one who shied away from battle, Blaster sent a sharp punch toward Warwolf’s face. As he did, Steeljaw and Ramhorn focused on the separate components of Battletrap. Steeljaw jumped away to evade Battletrap’s weapons fire while Ramhorn, in typical fashion, charged with Steeljaw providing suppressing fire.


Bottom of the Yellow Sea

“Ah ha!” Weirdwolf chuckled as Slag dug in his heels and grasped a boulder. His visor flickered with delight, seeing the Dinobot’s intent even before he executed it. My, he was enjoying himself. It was a rare opportunity that he got to exert himself so fully. The Dinobots surely kept him on his toes! That was more than could be said of a variety of enemies. He’d delight in ripping this one apart when the time came, but for the moment, he was more than happy to indulge in a little play.

The boulder came at him, but he could only grin with ecstatic, wicked glee. Using the thrusters in his feet, he launched himself at the boulder. Not quite with the velocity that he could manage in alternate mode, but it would suffice. He sent a volley of missiles forth, exploding into the boulder. It threatened to knock him back, but his thrusters kept him on a forward trajectory.

Debris smacked and dented his armor, galvanized with the force of the explosion, but Weirdwolf had achieved the effect he was after. He had leaped through the exploding boulder with a diabolical grin and now shot toward Slag with sword in hand. He twisted in the water and thrust his blade forward at the Dinobot like a very sharp missile.

“Fetched, Dinobot!”

His smile wavered, however, as the call for retreat was sounded. Ah, disappointing.


Oh, it didn’t feel good this time either. There was a lot of pain, shock and relative confusion that Scavenger felt as he slammed into the seafloor. He pushed himself up as best he could, glancing around. His optics immediately went wide when he saw Grimlock bearing down on them. “OH SCRAP!” Scavenger scuttled back on his aft even as Bonecrusher rose up to meet the Dinobot commander.

Over the comm, the order to retreat was given. By who? Scavenger didn’t have a clue! He scampered over to Scrapper, the only leader he actually trusted in this situation, and tried helping him up while also vaguely standing in front of him so that if Grimlock got through, he could at least help by being in the way of the dumb ole Dinobot.

“B-Boss! What do we do?!”