Sunken Dreams

Southwest Pacific'

Not a cloud can be seen as the blue, blue ocean reflects the color of the deep blue sky almost perfectly, a pure shade that can only be found on the high seas or upper atmosphere, far, far away from the industrial pollution of the land. The cool wind is brisk, almost severe, whipping up dancing whitecaps on the eight-foot swells. Schools of sparkling silver flying fish leap from the water for brief, gravity-defying flights to escape a pod of hungry dolphins following them, not only beneath the waves but playfully leaping above them.

Contents:

Repugnus

Motorcycle &lt;James Bailey&gt;

Needlenose

Tropical Island

Obvious exits: North &lt;N&gt; leads to West Central Pacific. South &lt;S&gt; leads to Southern Ocean. East &lt;E&gt; leads to Southeast Pacific. West &lt;W&gt; leads to South Pacific - Indonesia/Australian Coast.

Fly &lt;Up&gt; Dive &lt;D&gt;

Aboard the EDC McCarthy, an EDC light aircraft carrier, in relatively shallow waters of the South Pacific, in international waters, Apocryphacius is working on one of this research projects. He is speaking with a weather officer, who is explaining how he is uncertain that the weather will allow them to do Apocryphacius's tests. They are going to wait another half hour and see if the visibility will improve any. Apocryphacius mutters, "I should just build a weather generator, at this rate..."

He has an experimental weapon that he needs to test! Stupid weather, thwarting his efforts! Apocryphacius stands near what appears to be a futuristic version of a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, which is prepped and ready for a take-off. They seem awfully concerned about the weather, given that it is just a drone! The weather is not /that/ bad.

But the drone isn't the weapon he's testing, anyway.

Of course, given the trouble Apocryphacius has gone to in finding a remote location for testing, it is virtually guaranteed that a Decepticon patroller will stumble across him. Murphy's Law is a cruel master.

Laserbeak has arrived.

Combat: Laserbeak slips into the shadows and out of sight...

When the EDC is in the water, there's bound to be surveillance of some kind. The snoop Laserbeak is flying well above the carrier, covered by the clouds. His yellow eyes light up as he starts assessing tactical data about the carrier, the basics really. Location, surmountable armaments and such. With his advanced optics and scanning system, the weather so far hasn't been an issue. Still it could be a worthwhile target for any Cons in the area. He radios the location of the carrier in on the main Con line. There's a few tarps up on deck of the carrier, perhaps in anticipation of worse weather ahead. It's enough of a small mystery that gets his interest to investigate closer. Of course, once he finds the pet Quint of the EDC onboard, that'll make things even more interesting. Until then, he chooses a distasteful path downward, and into the water, avoiding visuals on the way in.

Meanwhile, a sandy island beach resort is home to swimmers, sunbathers and other vacationers. Although not too far from the EDC McCarthy, it is well outside of Apocryphacius's weapon's range (hopefully). The clouds haven't chased away all the beach bums, though the sunbathers share Apocryphacius's frustration. The sun peaking through the clouds once every five minutes just isn't quite enough! Families with screaming little tykebombs, women in skimpy bikinis, volleyball players, and more are enjoying themselves. Out on the water is a number of surfers doing their thing. Nothing to see here other than that one of them is quite a lot better than them. The young, well-muscled man is grinning to himself as his long blonde hair flows behind him. He's really quite excellent, but surely nothing suspicious there. On the beach is an older gentleman with a horribad combover going around kicking down sand castles and then laughing about it. Unusual, but not suspicious. And up in the sky a US Air Force F-16 streaks past. Standard stuff, as this is a normal patrol route. In conclusion, there's no reason to be suspicious at all.

Robots in disguise! Needlenose transforms into his F-16XL Jet Fighter mode!

The EDC McCarthy is a pretty standard light aircraft carrier in the future! Laserbeak won't notice anything exceptional about the carrier itself. Aside from the one odd drone, the complement of aircraft looks pretty normal. On the deck of the aircraft carrier, Apocryphacius is near some equipment that sort of looks like medical monitoring equipment.

Meanwhile, the aircraft traffic controllers notice that the F-16 is not squawking the right IFF codes, and so they attempt to hail the F-16.

Laserbeak slips up the side of the carrier, over the edge, and underneath a tarp before long. His beady eyes narrow as be spots the Quintesson. That thing was here...So that explains the unidentified drone. He sends out a tight-band transmission mentioning his new findings. From here, beneath a bit of shade, he pulls his wings in tight, and his head down low. While the drone may be unable to be fully analyzed, he can at least get some good data on it now. If it were anything like that Citybuster the EDC deployed, it would be extremely dangerous to Cybertronian life. Like Laserbeak! As interesting as it would be to just...off that slimy five-facer...well, there were a great deal of them and only one of he. Given Needlenose's....clueless response, it may stay only one. Still...if the Quintesson could be captured...

Sunbeam kneels down on his board as the wave rushes up behind him. It's a big one, and he finds himself violently pushed forward. it's a close call, but Sunbeam handles it perfectly and stays on his feel, surfing along the wave's crest while onlookers clap and cheer. Feeling cocky, he goes ahead and waves to them while wearing a sheepish grin. On the beach, Zigzag watches this and folds his arms across his admittedly flabby chest. "Hmph," he says, obviously disapproving. Up in the sky, however, Needlenose realizes there could be trouble about. &lt;&lt;EDC Command, this is Captain Jayson Redfeld. Sorry guys, but I just couldn't resist going on a little joy ride when I found out the Hawaii Air Force base was restocked with F-16s. I should have logged a flight plan.&gt;&gt; Sure that sounds incredibly irresponsible, but it isn't like the EDC hasn't heard this story before. Meanwhile, Needlenose gets a few transmissions from Laserbeak. Huh, an EDC air craft carrier and the squiddy is on board? Of course Needlenose knows who it is--he watched the UN Hearing, after all. He fires a transmission right back.

Motorcycle &lt;James Bailey&gt; stands on an observation point on the McCarthy, occasionally scanning the horizon with a pair of high-powered binoculars. They're so powerful that at times it feels like he can see what's going on across the oceans practically. He can't hear anything from that far, of course. That would be impossible. When news spreads about an F-16, James trains the binocs that way. Finally turning away from his surveillance he tilts his head down to see what Apocryphacius is doing. "Could be trouble!" he calls down.

James exits his Ride Armor.

James Bailey hears the pilot identify himself as Jayson Redfield. "Definately trouble," he adds under his breath.

Spinister has arrived.

&lt;NEST&gt; Apocryphacius says, "Hmm, suspected Decepticon contact at &lt;coordinates&gt;."

&lt;NEST&gt; Repugnus says, "Oh, really, well, what a coinkydink, I'm close by!"

&lt;NEST&gt; Apocryphacius pities the sunbathers.

While it is true that Jayson has a habit of sometimes taking off with military aircraft... Apocryphacius has spent a fair amount of tiem with jayson. he half ducks into the small control tower on the deck, and he frowns at what he hears over the radio. He suggests, "You should check Captain Redfield's last location. I do not believe that is him."

And well, it isn't.

The carrier's guns start to track the F-16, but Apocryphacius ducks out of the tower and back onto the deck. He directs some of the EDC soldiers, "Get him below deck," and he gestures to the drone. Then he moves over towards the medical-looking equipment, and he keys up his notes on the study of lasercores. As the EDC soldiers ensconce the drone safely below deck, Apocryphacius pulls up his 'weapon' - the coding that causes Transformers to fall into a dream state.

Naptime, Decepticons. (And also Repugnus, whoops.)

The unfortunate thing, though, is that he has only one dream server, so they'll be /sharing/ this dream...

There are worse things than Decepticons here, as it turns out. Repugnus paid a cargo ship's captain a good amount of money to allow him to hide inside of one of the larger cargo crates. He also paid the captain to bring the ship coincidentally close to the EDC McCarthy as it makes its way to its destination. Thus, Repugnus was able to see everything on the deck--the Reaper, Apocryphacius, the equipment, so on.

When it becomes clear that there may be Decepticons in the area, Repugnus calls up the ship's captain, and the ship, after Repugnus explained everything will be fine, begins to steer towards the McCarthy.

James Bailey has disconnected.

Spinister has disconnected.

Laserbeak shakes his head, the strange aural waves emitted from the device were very similar to that of a defrag cycle. Whether it was lulling him or forcing, either way it was having an affect. The condortape had little recompense, aside from a hasty transmission on the Con-Net that simply read &lt;&lt;&lt;Waaazzzzzzzzz&gt;&gt;&gt; He folds up into his tape mode automatically and begins to slumber. Oh, there are dark places in the world, indeed. Towers of metal, prisms of crystal, all cast in a dark purple light. It is Cybertron, and it is theirs. Power springs eternal, and the Creed is enforced. The strong rule over the weak. The weak become slaves. Slaves obey... E-Whips crackle as enforcers move along a construction of some sort, hauled on the back of those remaining Autobots still magnamanously left alive.. Up above, a strange figure looms over the scene. He didn't NEED to be here, but he chose to be. For he had eyes everywhere, he WAS the Decepticon Central Intelligence. The backstory comes fuzily to him, Something about death, about an upgrade, and unbridled power...the name Vultros...And although he still served Megatron, there were none who challenged him. Respect was given, and returned in kind. His glory...is that of the Decepticons, and this is his world.

&lt;Autobot&gt; Repugnus says, "Guys, we may have a sit...*clonk*"

...and just as Repugnus was going to explain to the EDC not to shoot at the cargo ship, he flops over onto his face inside the cargo crate.

Then the next thing he knows he's a slave getting whipped by a Decepticon! Now, of course, no one ever remembers how their dreams start or how they even got there to be begin with, so Repugnus has no idea that his perspective suddenly shifted. However, he is who he is, so when some no-name Decepticon whips him across the back, the Monsterbot slooooowly turns.

"What are you doing, slave!?" the Decepticon slavemaster shouts, whipping harder. Repugnus takes the whipping in stride, and glances down at the plasma burner in his hands, then up at the slavemaster. "I said work!" the slavemaster says before the tables suddenly and horrifically turn. "Wait, what are you doing? Get back! No, stop, what are you doing! No, no, don't put that up there, please! AH! AHHH! YEEEAAGHGHGH!"

"Turns out it will fit up there!" Repugnus says cheerfully, wiping his hands as he steps away from the scene of the crime.

&lt;&lt;Laserbeak, see if you can... wha?&gt;&gt; Needlenose's transmission fades at the same time as Laserbeak's. The F-16 begins circling around lazily, unconsciously losing altitude. Before long, the F-16 slams into the water on an angle, vanishing beneath the waves. But that isn't what Needlenose sees, however. He sees himself back on Cybertron, in robot mode, back when the planet was seemingly its best. Laserbeak's vision of perfect Decepticon rule over the planet is suddenly shattered when the faux-Seeker approaches him from behind with the kind of swagger that ruins any hope of cool spy tropes. "Sup, Beaker?" Needlenose says, "What brings you here on Cybertron where everybody's in love with my fashion microchips and that killjoy Optimus Prime isn't around to say that they're a waste of time even though NOBODY EVER ASKED HIM?" Indeed, there are gaudy billboards plastered on every tower, each with Needlenose's beautiful mug on it. 'Microchips, by Needlenose: If You're Transforming With Needlenose Brand Microchips, You're Transforming Into Something Cool'. Were those billboards there the whole time? Tough to tell. Little does Needlenose know about the trouble brewing in the slave pits. Out in the real world, the instant Needlenose loses radio contact, his partners spring into action, devising a five point rescue plan to save their comrade an- ha ha, no, I'm just kidding. Neither of them even notice. Sunbeam keeps surfing (awesomely) and Zigzag keeps being a pouty puss (not awesomely).

Apocryphacius &lt;Judgement Face&gt; is quite surprised to find out that /Laserbeak/ was there all along? What did he see!? His faces spin around in shock, and he decides to inject something into Laserbeak's comfy little scenario: a Coda Remote for a Guardian Robot, right next to Repugnus, who is unfortunately collateral damage in this weapons test.

Apocryphacius &lt;Judgement Face&gt; transforms into his Apocryphacius &lt;Wrath Face&gt; mode.

Needlenose gets a glare from the vast predatory bird, hunched over. Of course Laserbeak saw him, he saw ALL. His sunken yellow eyes were bare pips of light in the dark where he loves to lurk. Even crouched as he is, he looms over Needlenose, most of his form covered by his sharp wings. "You would do well..." He croaks, a sinister voice, "to address me more carefully....IN YOUR NEXT BODY." A paralytic shock runs through his talons, he grasps at Needlenose with one, easily capable to hold him fully, to toss him down below! Whether Needlenose landed in the slave pits and added to the roster, broke into a thousand pieces or just got smelted while functional was no concern. NOBODY addressed Vultros like that.

Then what should Repugnus find? "A... Coda Remote for a Guardian Robot?" Repugnus says aloud squinting at the device he just picked up. Yes, he was reading the label on it. Which was in English, but, this being a dream, he doesn't realize how odd that is. Nevertheless, he starts pressing buttons on the remote, and suddenly a HUGE Guardian bursts forth from underground, sending Decepticon slavers flying in every direction, and it immediately begins wreaking havoc on everything, blowing Decepticons and Decepticon facilities to pieces. It seems to settle its gaze upon Needlenose, and raises its foot to stomp him into the ground.

Needlenose gives Laserbeak a goofy grin, "Hey, man, lets just chill out. Maybe you should try one of the new microchips? It'll get rid of that stuffy image you have with all the protoforms these days. May- hey, whoa, whatcha doin' there, Laserb- IEEE!" 'Vultros' grabs the Targetmaster, causing his body to sieze up and refuse to respond. Needlenose is then violently hurled down into the slave pits, where he's caught by... no, not slaves... adoring fans! "We love you, Needlenose!" "You're the best ever!" "Squee, it's Needlenose!" "Have my baby, Needlenose!" Funny how, from way up high, they looked like slaves and not adoring fans, but what can ya do? "Hey hey," Needlenose says with a smile, "Don't you worry, there's plenty of me to go around." Suddenly a shadow looms over them. "Uh..." says Needlenose, staring up at the massive Guardian Robot that exploded from underground. "...gotta go!" he exclaims. Igniting his anti-gravs, Needlenose blasts away from his fans just as the foot comes down, crushing them all with one vicious step. Swooping upwards into the sky, Needlenose hrms. "Good thing I have, like, a million more fans out there. Hey, Vulture-dude or whatever you're calling yourself. Come kill this renegade Guardian for me! I don't think he wants an autograph..."

Apocryphacius &lt;Wrath Face&gt; is somewhat amused to see that Needlenose just... wants adoring fans. That is pretty tame, as far as Decepticons go! Sheesh, even Laserbeak seems to have darker desires. Apocryphacius pulls up his function library of different concepts and tries to plop down an auditorium full of a disapproving audience. Bad dreams are supposed to be full of those, right?

Meanwhile, some EDC soldiers bicker about getting a submarine going to try to retrieve Needlenose's body.

'*I don't think he wants... an...* Needlenose blinks. "...autograph?" The Guardian robot rears up to his full height. In its massive claw-like hand, it clutches a teeny tiny little notepad and pen. "SIGNATURE: REQUIRED!!" the Guardian booms. "THIS UNIT: YOUR BIGGEST FAN." And the Guardian robot isn't alone! Why, the streets of the Cybertronian city is jam packed with a huge assortment of Transformers, all cheering and applauding wildly. The ener-booze is flowing, the cyber-drugs are prevalent, and everyone is partying hard. Suddenly, a new voice is heard. It sounds sort of like what Dr. Claw would sound like if he had a crazy reverb added to his voice. "PREPARE YOURSELVES," the big blue robot drones, amplifying his voice using his Primus-given powers over all things sonic. "...FOR THE MAYHEM ATTACK BAND!" On the stage--you did know there was a stage, right?--the strobe lights turn on and the beats can be heard. Needlenose, lead singer, grabs the microphone, launching into an extra heavy metal version of Instruments of Destruction. Scorn is on lead guitar, Spinister on base, Misfire is rocking the drums, and Buzzkill's hands are flying over the keyboard.

And Laserbeak....Laserbeak is on Needlenose's shoulder? What in the name of the Great Smelter just...wasn't he...? This..this is the life. Sure he might not care for the fans as much or the spikes on his head, giving the illusion of hair, but the Turbohawk stays, dang it! He spreads his wings wide as Needlenose does his big entrance spiel, "OOOOHHHH--HHHH YEAHHHHHHHHH!" Wait, that wasn't...right! He certainly didn't talk like that, he did bird-like things. Still, he was a team player for the moment. There was little else to do except ROCK THE HELL OUT.

Repugnus is going through the crowds, looking for drugs. He finds some cyber-ecstacy soon enough, and after paying the dealer, pops the pills into his mouth. He goes about the crowds, dazed, the lights seeming brighter, the colors are more intense...

Of course, Repugnus is an agent of chaos, so simply being high isn't enough for him. Soon, he's shoving people around and blaming it on others, starting several fights in the crowds. And then, like the jerk he is, he takes a full enerbottle and throws it across the auditorium at Needlenose's head. "YOU SUCK NEEDLENOSE!"

DISCLAIMER: REPUGNUS IS NOT A ROLE MODEL. PLEASE DO NOT EMULATE HIS ACTIONS, AS YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF DEAD, IMPRISONED, OR PLACED IN AN INSANE ASYLUM.

Apocryphacius &lt;Wrath Face&gt;'s faces shift around a bit more. If only General Cross could see this, Apocryphacius is sure that Cross would realise that Transformers must be real people because their behaviour is simply /too illogical/ for them to simply be imitation intelligence. Transformers are real, thinking people! Who make /really bad choices/. Apocryphacius stares at the screen as Laserbeak turns into a Turbohawk with a mohawk and as Repugnus actually /pays/ for some cyber-ecstacy before doing it. He injects some multiple choice tests into the scenario, because everyone hates dreaming about those.

Meanwhile, the EDC soldiers do get a minisub going, but Apocryphacius's equipment is starting to get some funny readings...

Apocryphacius &lt;Wrath Face&gt; transforms into his Apocryphacius &lt;Death Face&gt; mode.

The concert starts getting its feet underneath it, and Needlenose is on the stage. Groupies, cyberdrugs, and a giant Guardian Bot. Sure there were fights, there were scuffles, but it was the music...man. And then...THEN the music was cut off. The crowd gasps in surprise and confusion, their voices blending into the murmuring question of 'what was going on?' An older mech took to the stage, an archivist...was it...Alpha Trion perhaps, or some other old fogey? Turbohawk didn't really care either way, they were delaying the music! The archivist takes to the stage, raising his hand, "If...if you could all just settle down for a moment, I won't take much of your time." He kneels down, dropping a box of datapads, "If you'd just pass these around...." Returning to the microphone he announces, "I have a survey here that will help ensure everyone here has the most beneficial time. There's only six thousand questions, and then we'll let you get right back to the music. Let us begin then..." Moments later, the banner above the stage collapses backwards. Apparently someone threw their enormous robo-undies on stage. In a booming voice from the background, the Guardian Bot waves its fingers, "CALL ME."

Be thankful you're not Ratbat, Beaker, or Needlenose would have to bite your head off. Just as he's belts out the second verse, an enerbottle comes flying past his head! Needlenose doesn't seem to notice. Most of the crowd doesn't, either. It's /that/ kind of rave. A few, though, including Needlenose's number one Guardian Sentinel fan, does. The Sentinel glares down at Repugnus. "CONCERT DISRUPTION: UNACCEPTABLE!" The Omega Sentinel reaches down with a massive claw in an attempt to pug Repugnus up and hurl him half way across the venue. This, again, is something most party-goers won't even notice. Then, Alpha Trion... oh oh. The crowd gasps in horror. "Alright," Trion drones, "First question: What are you going to do with your life?" Before he can get to the multiple choice section, however, Needlenose whips out a gun that looks nothing like either of his Targetmasters. "I wanna /rock/," he screams. Alpha Trion is blown away by the sheer power of rock and roll. He goes flying off the stage to the horizon! "Alright now femmes and mechs," Needlenose shouts, "*I* got a question for you... what do you want?! A) Lame-ass country music..." Boo! Hiss! "B) Boring as hell jazz..." Boo! Hiss! "or C) I grab Laserbeak and we go back to ROCKING THE F--- OUT!" The crowd goes wild. "You asked for it, Cybertron!" Needlenose screams. "Give it up for Lasssssssssssssssserbeak!" Needlenose snatches the Cassetticon from his shoulder and twists him around into... a guitar! Yeah! Needlenose rips into an awe-inspiring guitar solo while Buzzkill transforms into insect mode since she'll need all six legs to pull off the keyboard backup she's rolling with. PS: She's wearing Elton John sunglasses.

Repugnus is eventually handed a test. He scowls at it. The questions look so easy to him, and he glances around as some of the other audience members are clearly struggling with the questions, which ask about difficult concepts like subspace physics and energon composition. Snorting in contempt, Repugnus fills out the entire test, full of thousands of questions, almost immediately... though of course it helps that this is only a dream. Even so, he glances around and sees that everyone else is clearly lagging behind far, far behind him. Some people are still on the first page. So Repugnus takes the tests from some of the slow pokes and tears them in half! "Primus, you people are DUMB!"

Alas, Repugnus's reign of terror comes to an end as the Guardian flings him easily across the room. He crashes through several more concert-goers, especially hitting the STUPID ones.

Repugnus's perspective of the dream may be just a weeee bit off from everyone else's.

The EDC minisub putters along through the shallow water, looking for Needlenose's body. However, on the carrier deck, the readings on Apocryphacius's server are becoming unstable. Looks like his Terran-built components just aren't very good at keeping three Transformers' minds in a dream state! It really is unfortunate that EDC regulations specify that everything has to be designed to self-destruct, because the fans whine as his equipment definitely starts overheating...

With what time he has left, Apocryphacius debates what to add. A cliff? Stairs? No, two of these Transformers fly. So he adds some... rabid squirrels. Monster rabid squirrels. That are also witches. That's what google tells him should be scary in a dream!

All these people. So stupid. So weak. So worthless. Wouldn't it be best if they all just DIED? And so, fueled by a comic book Repugnus read called 'Crossed,' the dream takes on a horrifying twist as suddenly a horde of maniacs bursts into the auditorium! They set upon the concert-goers, biting them and infecting them, and then their victims become just as violent! But these are no zombies--everyone infected has a big red cross on their faces, as if welded on there crudely, and they are all grinning sadistically!

Repugnus himself is soon infected, but he's already a violent maniac, so he hardly notices the difference. And soon, he's leading the charge of the infected, and they climb up onto the stage! "Gonna GET YOU, Needlenose!" he hisses, grinning. "Gonna rip you apart piece by piece!" The infected advance...

Needlenose's axe flies the heck away as fast as it can, without even transforming!

Laserbeak has disconnected.

Man, nothing could ruin this except MAYBE a horde of maniacs, rabid squirrels, maniac squirrels, and rabid maniacs, Needlenose thinks as he Laserbeaks the hell out of his solo. But what are the odds of that, he decides just as said horde suddenly bursts in from no-where. "Huh...? What? Where's the party? I had a big party!" The Decepticon looks left and right, all confused as his fans and bandmates start getting mauled. It isn't long before he spies the biggest maniac of them all rushing towards him. "Eeeeek! Get off the stage! Amber alert, amber alert!" Needlenose turns and tries to run away from the Monsterbot, but it's no good! He tries to fly, but oh sh-, /flying squirrels/ swamp him, forcing him back down to the ground. Soon Needlenose is covered in the furry bastards, and only his arm is seen sticking out as he tries desperately to knock them all away.

Repugnus looms over Needlenose, arms outstretched, a hideous grin on his face as he leans in to finish what the squirrels (!?!?) started... and as he reaches for him, Needlenose fades away, and Repugnus finds himself inside the cargo crate he had been hiding in. "What a weird... dream?" he says quizzically. "Dream? But... I wasn't tired..." He peers through the peepholes in the cargo crate, allowing him to see the EDC ship. He scowls, suspecting something was afoot.

"Bad touch!" the F-16 shrieks as Repugnus reaches for him, though his voice is muffled from the water. Wait... F-16? Water? Needlenose's sensors come back online. He's in the sea and not back on Cybertron? The heck? Even the hard stuff doesn't give him a hallucination THAT powerful. Although deeply confused, he realizes he'll have to worry about this later. EDC subs are coming in around him! Normally this wouldn't be a problem for a cool cat like Needlenose, but as usual both his guns are off doing something retardedly unhelpful. Transforming into robot mode just as one sub fires a torpedo, Needlenose bursts up from the water. He swoops in towards the EDC McCarthy long enough to give everyone on board the double middle finger. "F--- all of ya!" he shouts before blasting off into the sky.

More Than Meets The Eye! F-16XL Jet Fighter &lt;Needlenose&gt; transforms into robot mode!

Apocryphacius &lt;Death Face&gt; sighs over the pile of charred scraps on the deck, all that remains of his dream server. An EDC soldier nearby, who was watching the whole time, comments, "Y'know, that was really, really weird. The hawk with the mohawk..."

Apocryphacius steeples a pair of tentacles and tenders hesistantly, "...but an effective stalling tactic? The minisubs /almost/ had Needlenose."

The soldier suggests, "Maybe stick with guns, squiddo," and he makes a chk-chk gesture.

Apocryphacius sighs, "I suppose so..." and he shuffles off to write his report.

==================================== EDC ===================================== Message: 22/27                    Posted        Author Field Testing Report              Wed Oct 10    Apocryphacius -- A lot of very dry and boring data is attached.

Blather, blather, blather, function call to blather...

There is a small video portion, wherein Apocryphacius reports, "The dream trigger was a nominal success. However, the server proved unable to handle the strain of maintaining three Transformers, subjects Laserbeak, Needlenose, and Repugnus, in a dreaming state. Better quality components would be required in order to sustain longer dreaming states. EDC minisubs were almost able to secure Needlenose, but the server failed before capture could be completed, and he escaped. In conclusion, the dream trigger could be used as a temporary nonviolent delaying tactic with very low collateral damage... if I could find better components to rebuild it. As a reminder, always be careful of cassettes. They could be anywhere and are very easy to overlook."

=
=================================================================

================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/86                     Posted        Author Southwest Pacific Patrol          Wed Oct 10    Needlenose --

Decepticon spinny.

Needlenose appears on the screen. "Hey guys, just finished my patrol of the Southwest Pacific region on Earth with Laserbeak's help. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened. Uh, Needlenose out."

Decepticon spinny.

=
=================================================================

================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/130                    Posted        Author Weird dream                       Wed Oct 10    Repugnus -- AUTOBOTS ONLY:

Repugnus appears on-screen, looking perturbed. "Hey, idiots. Just wanna warn you guys about a weird incident in the Southwest Pacific. I was doing surveillance on the EDC McCarthy, a light carrier, because, you know. We ain't exactly friends with them anymore. Then, right after I received a report of 'cons in the area and responded to that call, I passed out! Just like that! I wasn't tired, either! And I had this... WEIRD dream. First I was a slave of the Decepticons, then there was a concert or something, then there was like a zombie attack, but they weren't really zombies, just evil, and... well, it was weird. Needlenose and Laserbeak were in the dream repeatedly, and I coulda sworn the EDC had reported a bogey with his altmode in the area. Didn't see Laserbeak, but odds are good he was there, too. So, yeah, my theory is the EDC's playing with weird science again and doesn't care if bots get caught in the crossfire. Watch out, guys."

=
=================================================================

================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/87                     Posted        Author Southwest Pacific Patrol Addendum Wed Oct 10    Buzzsaw -- Intel Spinny! Then, TEXT. "Apparently, Needlenose FORGOT to mention that while on his patrol, he went near an EDC air-craft carrier. Soon after that, he apparently had a lucid dream that he was back on Cybertron at some sort of concert, and snapped out of it only to find he had crashed into the ocean. Considering that Repugnus and that damn EDC Quintesson were apparently on the carrier, I find this of some concern. The last thing we need is some sort of ridiculous day-dream device. Laserbeak, if you could update us with your observations and datalogs as supplement, Intel would appreciate it."

=
=================================================================