Attack of the Katamari ball!

Southeastern States

The Deep South is usually associated with plantations and the Confederacy. However, except for Florida, the southeastern states have mountains as well as beaches. In the fall, the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina blaze with reds, yellows, and browns as the leaves change color. In spring, the magnificent flora of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama comes to life, sweetening the air with the perfume of countless flowers. Here, also, are the grand Mississippi River and the flat delta plain that forms the state named for it. Tennessee, the home of Elvis Presley, ranges from the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to the Great Smokey Mountains. Next door is Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, a coal-rich land of rolling plains and rocky hillsides. Further north, Virginia and West Virginia have towering mountain ranges like the Blue Ridge and Appalachians as well as being rich in colonial and Civil War history.

Room Contents: Blueshift Protectorate Interceptor Statue of Vulcan Tungsten Processing Plant

Fusillade descends from the skies above. Fusillade has arrived.

Shockwave flies into the area holding a small plexiglass like container which generates an EM field to maintain a small ball in 0 G. This is a sideline plan that the Decepticons had for a while and well, no time like the present to wreck some senseless havoc upon the terran populace.

A large dirgible chugs into the area, flame behind it. Are the flames from a high tech exhaust? Nope, its cos he's still on fire. Transforming, he lands on the ground, leaping up and down with many "ows", little men aflame

Coasting behind Shockwave, Fusillade hmms as she hovers along. She's very curious about what's going on. "Oh, what's this?" She tries to peer into the box, even going so far as to fly in front of, to the left, above, and to the right of Shockwave in an attempt to sneak a peek. Shockwave ponders his next move...He keeps his optic focused on the small floating TF-sized pea. "This is a very old experiment. We had a breakthrough recently and now it is time to test the thing. Some might consider this one of the silliest idea but it is essentially a self-sustaining weapon of mass destruction. This katamari ball will begin rolling and absorb everything it comes into contact with. It will grow bigger and denser as it rolls towards Autobot city. A most...entertaining experiment indeed." The floating cyclops opens the containment device carefully. to avoid danger to his comrades. "Be careful and avoid contact at all cost." In a dramatic moment, Shockwave gets the ball rolling...literally.

Blueshift drops Katamari Ball.

Blueshift stares at the ball as it starts to roll down the street, glowing with small pebbles and leaves starting to swirl around it as it gains mass. "Uuuh sir" he opinions. "That's a marble sir, I think you've picked the wrong box again. Look." With that, he leans to pick up the scarily humming object, and the moment he touches it...

CRUNCH! Blueshift is suddenly crumpled around it with a scream as more objects start attaching to it and covering him up, gaining mass and speed quickly

The Baby Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Mini Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Small Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Man-Sized Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger!

 Blueshift says, "Nyaaaaargh!"

 Mother Goose Fusillade says, "HE just said 'don't touch it!!!!'"

 Shockwave says, "... His sacrifice will be remembered in the interest of science."

As Shockwave cracks open the clamshell container, Fusillade heeds his warning, and hovers back. "So this is going to go all the way to Alameda? Or San Francisco? Sweet." And then it happens. Blueshift gets sucked in. "Oh PRIMUS!" she shrieks in consternation, snapping hands up to her helmet in shock and horror. "You just said..." She nnnghs. "And what about when this thing gets to the ocean? Can we eventually demagnetize or do whatever to this thing to get him out?"

Shockwave nods at Fusillade as Blueshift gets eaten by the ball "There is one way to stop the ball. I just hope the Autobors will not think about it but yes, the means are well within my power." He is slightly disappointed but not very surprised as Blueshift touches the ball. Rumble rumble rumble! No, not Rumble, its a ball! The Katamari soon swallows the struggling Blueshift as it gains mass and speed at an exponential rate, now ripping up huge sections of pavement, taking down trees and mailboxes and cats and old grannies as it begins its reign of terror!

The Large Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Jumbo Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable! The Jumbo Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

 A news flash suddenly comes across the TV stations, as we see a few Decepticons standing around a large ball that is thundering through a sleepy town in a Southwestern state, gathing mass as it rips up pavements, items seemingly clinging to it as it rolls onwards. The reporter at the scene looks disturbed. "This large, almost Katamari device has been growing steadily in size. And if it keeps going in the same direction, it will arrive... at Autobot City!" Gosh, that can't be good!

Sideswipe has arrived. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Elita One has arrived. Elita One drives into view, engine purring. Redline has arrived. Hazard arrives from the South Central State region far to the west. Hazard has arrived.

Fireflight falls forward, his wings swinging down to wither side of his cockpit as his legs merge. As his landing gear and tailfins emerge, his arms unfold into a second pair of wings, black struts shooting up to join them to the upper wings as the Sopwith Camel's nosecone falls into place and his propellor spins up to takeoff speed.

Redline folds and contorts himself into his vehicle mode, namely a black-and-red 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Shockwave flies in a Southwestern direction following the ball about 400 meters behind. "This will be amusing to say the least." The cyclops subtlely guides the ball towards it's final destination. "I am curious to see how the Autobots will try and stop this. It might be instructive to see their reasoning and how they will go about it."

Ah, the deep south. Home of gumbo, incest and gigantic rolling balls of death! For currently rolling down the street at a rather fast pace is a Transformer-sized ball. As it rolls it glows and hums, leaves rustling about it as it collects everything it touches like some gigantic dung beetle's poo pile. Cats screech as they stick to it, and you might see a Transformer hand sticking out of it. Poor, poor Blueshift is now a part of the ball

The Jumbo Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Oversized Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

Willys MB Jeep  rumbles (literally... you think they had shock absorbers on these things?) down the highway... the long hours drive from Autobot City has left his windshield coated with dust and mud (no wipers either). Underneath the layers of dirt you can make out a flecked and rusted olive-green US Army paintjob. Where you would normally see a big ol' white star though is an Autobot insignia. The jeep is just about to clear a small ridge, and come up on the "ball". "Breaker breaker... any Autobots picking up my signal?"

Swinging over the path of carnage, Fusillade mm-hmms to Shockwave, looking a bit bored. "So far, so good. Is it bad of me to want to seed it with explosives when we get close to strategic targets?" She seems pretty tightlipped about the earlier incident with Rodimus on Mars. Autobots!

Direct from a candy-colored Dirty Harry movie, the 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 that Elita One's stuck resembling rolls toward the bouncing deathsphere, keeping a safe distance as she processes exactly how this thing is gaining mass and deadly momentum. "Loud and clear, Hazard," she crackles back over the radio. "Any Autobots who can hear this, it looks like this thing is literally sucking up whatever it touches, so keep a safe distance and don't try to risk direct contact."

Mute has arrived.

The black-and-red Mitsubishi sportscar that apparently got spared the altmode-futzing roars down a nearby freeway, attempting to get into a good vantage point to attack the gigantic Ball of Crushing (tm). He deliberately screeches seemingly out of control off the road at a tight curve, transforming to mech-mode and deploying his weaponry as he lands with both feet on the pavement. Lifting a hand to his comlink, "Autobot Redline reporting in. Copy that, maintaining safe distance."

The black sportscar seemingly disassembles itself until finally reconfiguring its parts into the form of the Autobot named Redline.

 Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Oh, the Autobots are here. You realize what this means, right?"

 Mother Goose Fusillade says, "We get to pick them up, and toss them in! Eee hee hee!"

 Blueshift says, "Ahahnnnngg *bumpbump*"

 A Sopwith Camel flies east, shifting this way and that as another Autobot stands precariously balanced on its upper wings. "Hey, watch the guns, they just got recalibrate- What *is* that thing?"

 Shockwave says, "Well done Blueshift, your early blunder managed to give the ball a significant start in mass and density."

The weight balanced on top of the Sopwith Camel turns out to be Sideswipe, his feet placed between the dual barreled machine gun, and has even dressed for the occasion in a leather pilot's helmet complete with goggles. He checks his weapon to make sure it's all ready for trouble before looking toward the giant ball in the distance as it rolls steadily on. He speaks loudly over the wind. "I dunno what that thing is, which is saying a lot, cause I've seen some weird stuff! It looks uncomfortably like it's headed toward us, though!"

Sunstreaker arrives from the South Central State region far to the west. Sunstreaker has arrived.

Nice and happily tucked away in Elita Ones tape player (cause all good mechs have one). Though how long he will be there is anyones guess, afterall he takes after his guardian in some ways. Namely he is playing music fairly loudly. Unlike his guardian this is not rock and roll, but a Britich boyband (might explain the high pitched voices singing about Chills In The Evening. He remains there, since he is not as fast on foot as where he is.

The ball continues on its rampage, speeding up. No object is too small for it to pick up, as it attracts items from loose change to mailboxes to lamposts, anything and everything sticking to it as it rolls in its straight line. It continues to glow and hum, ripping trees from their roots and leaving a line of cracked and torn pavement.

The Oversized Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger!

The sensors pickup strong energy signatures heading into the area. Probably Autobots from what Fusillade mentionned. "Indeed Autobots heading towards their demise like moths to a flame or sweeps towards something shiny. "This day might turn out way better than I expected. Don't you just enjoy seeing a good plan come together?"

As the Autobots begin to roll up, Fusillade unholsters her disruptor, ready to take a defensive position on the rolling ball. The cacophony of screeches of metal on metal, building rubble grinding on asphault, the rickety crunch of deer hunting stands and the trees they're hidden in, all of it gets sucked into the alarmingly larger ball.

"So, what KIND of techology is this, anyway?" Fusillade queries of Shockwave as she watches the thing continue to rumble on. "Sweeps and shiny, hah. Well, if the Autobots get too fresh, I have a great idea," she gives a devilish grin as she cruises along in the air next to the Operations Commander. "The other guys are gonna regret not coming to this, it's a hoot."

As she continues to follow the trail of destruction left by the giant ball, Elita One crackles out another message. "It looks like a barricade is out, since it'd probably just suck up the mass of any roadblock we could put up, if it doesn't hit the point where it'd crush it outright. We need to find a way to disrupt its momentum -- or at least redirect it, since if we can't stop it now we might just have to try and steer it toward the ocean until we can come up with a better way to handle it."

Willys MB Jeep  screeeeeches to a halt as he crests a ridge on the highway leading into Atlanta, "I'm picking up a signal... something large outside the city. Not one of us and not a Decepticon, as far as I can tell." he veers off the side of the road and transforms, "Can anyone get a visual? Present location is.. "

Blitzwing has arrived.

Gold Lamborghini Urraco is racing in, a bit late to the party, but he's here now at least. He has no idea what the hell is going on, so he radios out to his fellow Autobots, sounding somewhat aggravated, "Ok, guys, what's going on? What is it this time? Evil baby dolls rigged to explode? Are they trying to harness country music as an energy source? What, what, what?"

Blitzwing unfolds and reconfigures himself rapidly, wings, propeller and landing gear snapping out and locking into position as he assumes his aerial form.

Fulcrum descends from the skies above. Fulcrum has arrived.

Ju-87D "Stuka"  hurries through soft puffy clouds to come have a look at the the Katamari before the Autobots inevitably mess it up somehow, snickering to himself almost uncontrollably.

Redline examines the sphere, his optics creasing. He replies to the unfamiliar Autobot's query over the radio, "Gigantic sphere rolling in a western trajectory, with some kind of gravitational field that's collecting random items to increase its size... anyone have any ideas besides shooting the slaggin' thing? Not that I'm against that, mind you..."

MiG-3 is also on the scene, prop humming as it coasts through the air, torn between thinking this is the stupidest thing he's ever scene and thinking that this is the most AWESOME thing he's ever seen.

 "Sideswipe, do I need to get my sensors rechecked or is that a bunch of Earth stuff all rolled up in a ball?"

As Fireflight approaches the strange ball, he lines up for a strafing run, adding "Hang on!" as he begins his dive.

Fireflight strikes Giant Katamari Ball with Since When Do Biplanes Have Lasers?.

Sideswipe pulls up his goggles, as if that will help his vision, before zooming in toward the giant ball of unknown origin. "Yeah, I...I don't know why that is, but that's how it looks." As Fireflight begins his dive he sticks his arms out to keep his balance before leveling his weapon at the Katamari before shooting at it himself just to help out.

Sideswipe strikes Giant Katamari Ball with A Shining Point of Light.

"So that's our... ball of stuff, right? Should we be defending it? It looks like the Autobots are all swarming it," Blitzwing asks Fusillade, circling over it. "Of course, I'm assuming here that it has some objective besides just being awesome."

Quickswitch has arrived.

Fusillade slips down her amber goggles over her orange-yellow optics, and gives a sharp nod to Blitzwing. "Just about to go do that. Good to see you and..." She pauses, stares up at the stark white and scarlet aircraft overhead. It's almost as if something about the paintjob has offended her,

"What the FRAG?! Whomever -THAT- joker up there is. Use weaponsfire to keep the Autobots away from the ball."

The Katamari rumbles on. Goodbye housing development! Sorry sir, was that your car? Help mister, I lost my cat! It got sucked into a huge ball! The humming gets louder as the ball grows, collecting more stuff than bailiffs at a Council Estate. The speed picks up too getting faster and faster, so fast as to catch any Autobot off guard as it rockets for the state line. But.. oh look, Elita One is in the way. I hope the ball doesn't run over her!

 Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Dive down, grab 'em, and chuck them in."

Shockwave scans the Autobot forces in case he can spot the annoying one who annoyed him to no end during the impromptu assault on Autobot city.

Shockwave fires a couple of shots to light up a few cars so the ball has a few flaming elements added to it.

"Indeed Bliztwing, feel free to distract the Autobots from their ultimate objective. They can only take so much..."

Katamari Ball strikes Pink 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 with crush. The Giant Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Collosal Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

 Blitzwing says, "This sounds like fun."

MiG-3 is QUITE FETCHING in his white, red, and sky blue color scheme, thank you VERY mutch! From the ground he's a blue shape against the sky, two large red stars contrasting nicely! Of course, they might look a little like Autobot sigils from some distance, but that is quickly dispelled as he tilts a wing, the antique engine of the MiG roaring as it decends, twin beams of pure heat lancing out towards Sideswipe!

Fulcrum strikes Sideswipe with Heat Ray <Low>.

With much confusion, Quickswitch transforms into a Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Elita One did, indeed, pull up ahead of the Katamari ball. "I'm going to try and strike the terrain under it, see if I can't shave off some of this thing's speed." As electricity builds up and prepares to fire, though, the ball gains in speed and bounces further than anticipated -- meaning that an electrified Elita One in her Ford Galaxie mode is now a part of the ball. "Oh, damn it," she radios. "Fire at will, Autobots."

Gold Lamborghini Urraco screeches to a halt just in time to see the ball rolling over Elita, and springs up into his robot mode. He also takes a moment to stare stupidly at the Decepticons most retarded, and yet possibly most dangerous, weapon yet. "Ah, hell... can't hit Elita... well, thing's so big it's not too likely..." He raises up his pulse rifle and carefully aims down the sight at the ball, unleashing a laser blast at the demented thing.

Gold Lamborghini flips upwards and rapidly unfolds into the handsome Sunstreaker!

Redline sighs as the combat has apparently gotten underway. He whirs his shoulder-mounted plasma cannon into firing position and sends a blob of white-hot plasma streaking towards the ball. As he fires, he says into his radio, "Copy that... don't worry, we'll crack you loose from that thing."

Sunstreaker strikes Collosal Katamari Ball with Blue Laser.

Sideswipe opens fire on the Katamari, striking it, before looking around at Elita One before cringing as she gets rolled over by the giant Katamari. He steadies himself against to stand upright on the wings before getting two heat beams in the upper back from Fulcrum. He turns around, spotting the advancing Fulcrum, before jumping clear of Fireflight and hitting the jetpack. He zooms toward the Mig-3 in a ballistic trajectory while aiming his weapon down toward Fulcrum. "Nice shot! You wanna taste of your own medicine!"

Redline strikes Collosal Katamari Ball with Plasma.

Sideswipe strikes MiG-3 with A Shining Point of Light.

Willys MB Jeep <Hazard> finally gets on the trail of the ball thanks to the other Autobots. "ELITA! Watch-- oh." he winces slightly as the ball rolls over the Autobot commander. At least she looks undamaged.. mostly. "Ok... plan B it is then." Standing a good distance away, Hazard watches as the ball rolls over the Atlanta Financial Center, much to the glee of a certain unnamed human somewhere off in the distance, "Missiles away!"

Hazard strikes Collosal Katamari Ball with Rocket Barrage.

Sopwith Camel 2F1 <Fireflight> barrel-rolls the other way as Sideswipe jumps clear, then turns practically on his right wingtips back towards that... thing. One upside of this altmode, it *is* awfully maneuverable. "I second that!" he calls back toward Hazard as he gets a lock on the ball, hoping Elita doesn't roll into his sights at the wrong time.

Fireflight strikes Collosal Katamari Ball with Firefog Missile.

Grimlock descends from the skies above. Grimlock has arrived.

Katamari Ball moves the great distance west to the South Central State region.

Blueshift moves the great distance west to the South Central State region. Blueshift has left. Fulcrum moves the great distance west to the South Central State region. Fulcrum has left. You follow Blueshift. You move the great distance west to the South Central State region.

South Central States

The South Central State region consists of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Oklahoma is a rugged area turned into a populated region with oceans of grass, highly variable weather patterns, the world's largest hill, and the nation's largest Native American population. The vast state of Texas has mountains, forests, beaches, and oilfields. Arkansas, possessing the only active diamond mine in the United States, also has poultry farms, lakes, hot springs, and spectacular Ozark vistas. Finally, Louisiana includes the Mississippi delta, bayous, marshy rivers, and the Big Easy, New Orleans, the leading U.S. port and the birthplace of jazz.

Room Contents: MiG-3 Blueshift Collosal Katamari Ball Scene-Pose Station 25

Blitzwing arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Blitzwing has arrived. Redline arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Redline has arrived. Sideswipe arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Sideswipe has arrived. Elita One arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Elita One has arrived. Elita One drives into view, engine purring. Sunstreaker arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Sunstreaker has arrived. Fusillade arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Fusillade has arrived. Quickswitch arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Quickswitch has arrived. Hazard arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Hazard has arrived. Fireflight arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight soars into view somewhat less than gracefully. Grimlock arrives from the Southeastern State region far to the east. Grimlock has arrived.

The state line is crossed! Go ball go! Lasers and missiles and rockets detonate on the ball as the Autobots attack, sending large fragments flying off. Of course, it is also still attracting items as it goes. Because of these missiles, it is now a flaming ball, crushing and setting aflame buildings as it races past the state line, on its cross country journey of love and wonder! A flaming chunk of Katamari-rubble is blasted off and heads straight for Sunstreaker! Oh no!

Katamari Ball strikes Sunstreaker with blow.

The Collosal Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Prodigious Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

Nosecone has arrived.

Sideswipe is messing up Fulcrum's SHINY NEW WINTER PAINT SCHEME! Growling, the MiG-3 comes back around in a wide arc, heading straight for the airborne autobot and coincidently also following the Katamari as it rolls on westwards. Suddenly coming apart in mid air, the WW2-era aircraft folds around and reconfigures itself into a bearded Decepticon warrior, hidden jets in his boots still propelling him towards his foe, dropping his shoulder to tackle Sideswipe and drive him headlong towards the crushing ball of junk!

The MiG-3 twists around and folds in on itself with a grinding sound, transforming into the robotic form of Fulcrum.

Fulcrum strikes Sideswipe with ram.

Ju-87D "Stuka" <Blitzwing> dives towards one of the Autobots pursuing the ball with his siren howling! He skims low over the ground towards Hazard, looming large in the Jeep's rear view mirror, overtakes him and transforms into his robot mode, landing right in the Autobot's path! Blitzwing's hands go out as he assumes a fighting stance, preparing to catch Hazard in an attempt to hurl him into the Katamari! With a loud clanging and clunking Blitzwing rearranges himself into his imposing humanoid form.

Blitzwing strikes Willys MB Jeep <Hazard> with Interception Throw.

Shockwave continues to survey the situation keeping his optic open for anyone too bright for their own good. How do you solve an exponential puzzle? That is the question those Autobots must be asking themselves right now. "Defend the BMD but do not take any foolish risks."

Despite the ribbing she's given the reinforcements, Fusillade is glad to see them intercept the Autobots, although she gives a quiet 'hmm' as none of them really seem to be taking her directions very seriously -- oh, there goes Blitzwing. Well, time to strengthen the example. Balling fists up as she begins to dive, with silver-plated wingtips streaming off her elbows, she dives down into the Autobot formation closest to the burgeoning ball. She works it close, enough that she can hear the crunching of materials as they get digested from the rolling and increasing pressure. Selecting a random red and black Autobot car, she emits a faint 'boo!' before snapping down the head of her halberd in an attempt to hook him with the spike, and chuck him (in this case, Redline) into the ball's path.

Fusillade misses Redline with her Pommel Strike attack.

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "Ball of Mass Destruction?"

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "yes."

Nosecone slowly makes his way in down one of the interstates from the west. He stops to survey the action taking place in front of him for a few moments. He places his hands on his sides and looks back and forth, not exactly sure where to go from here.

Willys MB Jeep <Hazard> barrels grill-first into Blitzwing's grasp. With his currently antiquated technology, the launcher mounted on the back is useless -- still in the process of reloading some more WWII-era rockets. "YAAAAAARRRG!" The Autobot engineer transforms in mid-air as Blitzwing launches him towards the ball. In a desperate attempt to evade communion with the katamari, Hazard engages his boosters at the last second, and sends himself plowing into a series of light poles, cars, and various buildings before skidding to a halt literally in the shadow of the massive ball, "Oh smeg!" he says, and dashes out of the way as soon as possible, firing wildly over his shoulder as he does.

The Techno-Jeep quickly expands into the form of the Autobot engineer, Hazard!

Hazard strikes Prodigious Katamari Ball with Desperate Plasma Barrage.

Sunstreaker ulps and tries to run away from the flaming ball, but it's too fast, and he's soon screaming as the horrible thing rolls over and makes him a part of its insane, murderous collage. "Arrrgh! It's got me!" he screams. He struggles as he tries to pull himself free--but it's no good. "Helllp!" In the midst of his thrashing, he finally notices Elita One next to him. "Oh, hey there, Elita. This really sucks, doesn't it--" *CLONK* A detached fire hydrant smacks against his head and sticks there. "OW!"

Quickswitch succeeds in grasping Sunstreaker, throwing him off-balance.

Redline catches sight of the oncoming Fusillade, ducking out of the way of her attack and instantly bringing his handheld autocannon to bear on her torso. "Sorry, sweetheart, you don't get my comm-freq *that* easy..." And the trigger is squeezed...

Sideswipe feels a fleeting moment of success as he turns around to follow the movements of Fulcrum before getting a face full of the Decepticon seeker before grabbing hold of the Decepticon as they both fly toward the Katamari. Sideswipe engages his jetpack, using the added thrust to help him spin Fulcrum around before putting his leg between the two of them and kicking Fulcrum toward the ball.

Sunstreaker strikes Prodigious Katamari Ball with Desperate Thrashing.

Redline strikes Fusillade with ballistic.

Sideswipe strikes Fulcrum with Sorry, Was That Your Face?.

Elita One is half-buried in the Katamari ball now, and what's still exposed is dented, dinged and scratched by... well, impacting the ground every so often. "I think I've been in worse scrapes, Sunstreaker," she says, frame glowing blue with electricity still yet to be discharged. "I'm just having a hard time remembering any right now."

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 "Shrike" <Quickswitch> grasps Sunstreaker with massive, none too mindful hands that'll probably scratch and scuff his paint job later, if not denting his armor, and *tugs* on the loudmouthed idiot, servos stretching to their limits as he unceremoniously tosses Sounstreaker out of the way--only to get sucked up into the damned thing himself. What a day.

Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode.

Quickswitch grasps Sunstreaker with massive, none too mindful hands that'll probably scratch and scuff his paint job later, if not denting his armor, and *tugs* on the loudmouthed idiot, servos stretching to their limits as he unceremoniously tosses Sounstreaker out of the way--only to get sucked up into the damned thing himself. What a day.

Nosecone has watched the ball tumble several times now and decides that he must intervene. He takes a few more steps in the general direction of the massive pile of tumbling metal before transforming into his drill mode. His treads rumble against the pavement as he positions himself far enough way from the path of destruction but makes sure he is within range of his missiles. He targets the massive ball and launches one of his missiles.

Nosecone slowly begins to lean forward, transforming into a large Drill vehicle.

Nosecone strikes Prodigious Katamari Ball with missile.

Sopwith Camel 2F1 <Fireflight> spots Nosecone and flies over his way. He's hit this several times without much effect besides setting the thing on fire, but maybe if several Autobots fire on it from the same direction...?

Fireflight strikes Prodigious Katamari Ball with Since When Do Biplanes Have Lasers?.

Fulcrum isn't the most maneuverable of mechs at the best of times, and this is certainly not the best of times, his head still ringing from the frame-crushing impact with Sideswipe. Thus he's completely unprepared for the Autobot to spin so suddenly, let alone rotate enough to allow him to kick Fulcrum forward towards the ball. Engulfed by the katamari's magnetic field, Fulcrum knows he can't escape.. but there's still a chance that he can bring Sideswipe with him, if he can just...grab...his...leg...

Fulcrum misses Sideswipe with his grasp attack.

Ah, to be a gigantic ball. Its an ambition of many people. And it picks up so many people. A pretty Elita buried within its mass. A pretty Sunstreaker, rolling over and over, covering him in debris as he struggles. And an um... gruff and ready Quickswitch! Trees crumple and cats screech as its reign of terror continues, sucking in all and covering the Autobots attached to it with rubble both large and small. The ball sucks in Quickswitch as he tries to rescue his friend, rolling and crushing him as it moves. Mmm delicious!

Blitzwing sprints away from the ball, circling around with great jet-powered strides, to put Sideswipe between himself and the ball. He transforms into his tank mode and lines up Sideswipe in the telescopic sight. "All right, here we go... red ball, side pocket!"

Katamari Ball strikes Quickswitch with smash.

Falling to the ground, Blitzwing folds himself inwards, armor locking into place and cannon snapping down as he becomes a Tiger heavy tank.

The Prodigious Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Mammoth Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

Blitzwing strikes Sideswipe with 88mm Cannon.

Massive Drill Vehicle watches as his missile explodes directly in the center mass of the ball. He fully expects to see the ball shatter into many pieces, but to his surprise he watches only a few shards of metal flake off. He reanalyzes the situation and watches the trajectory of the ball. He rotates his treads in opposite directions and picks a spot along his anticipated trajectory and begins to dig a trench, his drill violently rotating as dirt flys everywhere.

Shockwave spots the drill tank attacking the Katamari ball. //This one could be up to something. Maybe if I distract him long enough he will get sucked up before he realizes it.// The grey and green cyclops flies over the ball and off to the left flank lining up Nosecone with his Megatron-like arm-cannon and fires a small blast of Microwave radiation.

You strike Massive Drill Vehicle with Microwave Blast.

Hazard is currently dashing back and forth in front of the giant ball, trying to figure out which way it is going so as to avoid Elita's fate. Suddenly, the Autobot engineer stops, "OH!" he exclaims, "Guys! I JUST THOUGHT of the perfect way to stop this thing. All we need to do is--" *CLANK* The enourmous katamari ball rolls over Hazard, cutting him off in mid-sentence and burying him instantly under a pile of construction equipment and smashed-up cars. Oops.

Katamari Ball strikes Hazard with crush.

Sideswipe is again trated to another brief moment of success as Fulcrum's grasping hands slide free of his leg before the Seeker is ensnared in the Katamari's magnetic field and stuck to it fast. Before he can do more, though, the shell from Blitzwing's man gun strikes him, shredding the armor there, and causing the red twin to fly forward and get stuck to the Katamari ironically not far from Fulcrum. He turns his head to look at the Seeker before reaching out and smacking Fulcrum upside the head. "I suppose you're happy with yourself now."

Grimlock swoops in, ready to save the day! Flying Superman-style with his arms out in front of him, he scowls (as best as he can with his limited facial features) once he makes visual contact with the Decepticons and their giant ball. "Hnnh... me Grimlock hate giant ball already!!" He declares, cutting his altitude and using the descent to gather up speed. Spotting Shockwave harassing Nosecone, the only Autobot who might be useful in stopping the Katamari, Grimlock tries to close to grapplin' range with the Purple One.

Sunstreaker hisses, "Ow, ow, ow, not so rough!" as Quickswitch grabs him, rips him out of the ball, and tosses him out. He lands hard on his back with an UFFF. It takes some time for him to get back up, but he does so, and he scowls at the scrapes and bumps all over him now. "Well, gee, great, THANKS for saving me--" He spies Quickswitch stuck to the thing, himself. "Ok, hold on, I'm going to try and blast you and Elita out of that thing. HOLD STILL," Sunstreaker instructs, then he crouches down to fire a rocket between the two Autobots and hopefully dislodge them. But with all that junk there, with more piling on all the time, it might not be doable...

Quickswitch is gruff and ready... and enveloped by the Katamari ball. Great. "Hello, Elita," the mech regards her with a detached sort of 'fancy meeting you here', odd considering the situation they're in. He gives the ball a sharp punch of one of his balled up, angrily trembling fists. Rage transference? Nah.

You evade Grimlock's grasp attack.

Quickswitch strikes Mammoth Katamari Ball with punch.

Sunstreaker strikes Mammoth Katamari Ball with Laser-Guided Rocket.

And the blast comes from Redline's blaster. Fusillade had been getting better with using her wingblades to deflect shots, but that was before she got turned into a different mode, with a lumbering two-handed weapon that flat out just wasn't that well supported by her middling servos. She's not even a third of the way through the pickup swing when Redline's defense nails her. With an oof! she nearly drops the weapon, before she holsters it, and then pulls out her own blaster. "FINE, you wanna do it that way!" She squeezes the trigger on the chromed Desert Eagle, the handgun's vents blaring to life.

Fusillade strikes Redline with Not So Standard Issue Argon Disruptor. "Here goes nothing," Elita One says to no one in particular, since she's completely buried within the ball now, under several layers of wacky sediment-like debris. She's been charging her electricity attack for all this time -- literally bringing herself to redline levels, in a dangerous gambit to achieve both freedom and hopefully leave the ball lopsided enough to have trouble rolling. "See you soon, Quickswitch." When the electricity goes off, it's like the ball vomits neon blue -- a large chunk of the imperfect sphere is blasted out from the inside, with Elita One launched out like a rocket, smoking and bashed-up. Landing on the ground roughly in her car mode and rolling end-over-end, she finally comes to a stop and transforms, trying to see if she affected the ball's momentum at all.

Elita One strikes Mammoth Katamari Ball with electricity. Elita One rises into her robot form.

Massive Drill Vehicle continues drilling back and forth in an organized pattern, still several miles in front of the massive ball. His drill is rotating at a stunning 5000 RPM as his trench is finally getting noticably larger. As he's making another pass in his trench he's struck from a blow from Shockwave. The attack momentarily distrupts his concentration and his drill slows to 3500RPM, but he knows that there's a bigger issue to deal with. He temporarily ignores the attack and continues his current pass in the trench.

Redline takes Fusillade's shot square in the right shoulder, scorching the metal and causing him to drop his hand weapon. "Ernh... persistent, I'll give you that. Along with THIS!" he says as the plasma cannon on his shoulder whirs to life once again before launching a plasma pulse at his attacker, hopefully giving him enough time to recover his sidearm.

Redline strikes Fusillade with plasma.

Fireflight could circle and marvel at this weird thing all day, if not for the several Autobots flailing and shouting from within it - and for Nosecone's irritation over the comm. He thought it was a reasonable question, really, considering the recent changes in so many of them... Uh oh, looks like the Decepticons have also realized that Nosecone can still drill! The Sopwith Camel loops around, ready to open fire on Shockwave when Grimlock makes his entrance - so much for that, but who's that stuck in the rolling thing? It's that bot he saw talking to Sky Lynx. "Hey, you! I'm going to fly by, try and grab hold of my landing gear!" the Aerialbot calls out to Quickswitch, that was his name, right?

PzKpfw VI "Tiger" <Blitzwing> spies Sunstreaker lining up a shot against the Katamari and charges towards him, determined to ruin his day. (Ruining Sunstreaker's day is one of Blitzwing's hobbies.) "Not so fast, Goldenrod! You'll get your turn in the ball too!" He takes a running leap off of the roof of an orphanage just before it gets picked up by the ball, executing an impressive flying kick towards Sunstreaker!

With a loud clanging and clunking Blitzwing rearranges himself into his imposing humanoid form.

Blitzwing strikes Sunstreaker with Boot to the Head!.

Shockwave watches Grimlock charging towards him all superman-like. The camo-pattern cyclops fakes not paying attention but at the last second twists and smacks Grimlock in a very very insulting manner. "You are powerful Grimlock I will give you that. But you are also clumsy and predictable. There is a reason why /I/ am leading this attack. Wether you can figure out why for yourself is the big question." Yeah throw a riddle at a dinobot and see just how much processing power they have.

You strike Grimlock with The Starscreamer.

With a huge CRUNCH, Fulcrum flies aft-backwards into the rolling sphere of doomy doomy DOOM. Biting off a graphic and anatomically impossible curse, the blacksmith watches the world tumble sickeningly around him. And then Sideswipe smacks into the Katamari beside him. HA. Scowling as the Autobot cuffs him around the head, Fulcrum wrenches one arm free to return the favor with more force than his opposite number. "This is another fine mess you've got me into" he grinds.

Our hero, the gigantic Katamari ball continues rolling as fast as possible towards the state line, tearing a line of chaos and destruction with its delicious cargo of Autobots and Decepticons, picking them up as if delicious sweets, and it were a greedy schoolboy. It rocks violently as Elita rips herself free, bouncing somewhat as the uneven surface causes it to rise into the air. But soon it regains its mass, the waves eminiating off it attracting all and sundry, increasing the magnetic potential of all objects, both living and inanimate into a clinging sphere of doom. And then it manages to scoop up both Fulcrum and Sideswipe. It is like a delightful funfair ride. Except one that is evil and lethal and killy.

Katamari Ball strikes Fulcrum with slap. Katamari Ball strikes Sideswipe with slap. The Mammoth Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Gargantuan Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "I think this might be our most effective secret weapon yet. Who came up with this one?"

"OW!! Heh, okay, that's more like it," Fusillade murmurs as the plasma round begins to chew through her flank and thigh armor. "But now now, no need to pick THAT thing back up!" Baring silvery fangs, she leaps at him, flicking obsidian finger talons in a scooping chop motion to drive the points into Redline's wrist servos. Fusillade misses Redline with her Clawed Scorn attack. Autobots

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "Yes, who.. OW.. who came.. ARG.. up with this.. OW..."

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Mmph mpmh *crack*"

Bandit emerges from the state of Texas. Bandit has arrived.

With a leap canards and wings begin to fold out and rotate into place. Arms retract and legs change into powerful engines. Out of what seems a flurry of motion streaks a sleek and powerful jet fighter.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "It was an experiment. I am pretty satisfied so far because at this rate the ball WILL reach it's destination."

Sideswipe scowls at Fulcrum before shaking his fist at the Decepticon. "What do you mean, I got you into this? You're the one who...hey, what's going on?" He looks down as he sees the ground rushing up toward them before turning to look over at Fulcrum just before they're rotated underneath the ball. "This is all your fault." Sideswipe's vision goes dark as he is pushed deeper into the ball before popping back up again as the ball rolls over. He shakes his head rapidly to clear it before pulling first one arm free and then the other. "I'm getting out of here." His arms shift into his piledrivers before battering them against the Katamari to free himself.

Sideswipe strikes Gargantuan Katamari Ball with Piling On The Hurt.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "It is also important to avoid touching the ball."

From the upper atmosphere a black jet comes into view. It is barely a speck, but then as its swept forward wings start to come into range, it is none other than the seeker Bandit. His scanners pick up numerous targets and of course, the huge ball.

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "Oh...OW... really?"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Mmpph MmMMmph!"

<Decepticon> Bandit says, "Bandit reporting in.......situation report?"

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Yes touching the ball may result in being absorbed by it. Fascinating device."

Sunstreaker's optics temporarily go offline as Blitzwing nails him in the head. He does an involuntary backflip through the air, but manages to land on his feet some 25 yards away, sliding across the pavement. "BLITZWING. You know, I'm real sorry, but, I already had my turn on that thing. I'll pass this time." He charges towards Blitzwing, looking ticked. "I have a better idea, though--why don't I throw YOU onto it?" Rushing towards the triple-changer, Sunstreaker tries to grab onto his arm, vault over him, then use his forward moment to toss Blitzwing towards the Katamari. It's a risky move--Blitzwing's a tough customer in close combat, and the ball is fast and currently moving away. Will he succeed?

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "We are currently escorting the large ball, mostly to protect it from being deflected from its course or destroyed, by the Autobots."

Redline dives for his autocannon and manages to snatch it up just as Fusillade tries turn his wrist myomers into hydraulic linguini. The weapon is swung into Fusillade's face. "Sorry. Feel all protoformed without it." Another trigger pull sends a burst of titanium-jacketed rounds in her direction.

Sunstreaker misses Blitzwing with his Super Judo Toss attack.

Redline strikes Fusillade with ballistic.

Quickswitch spots Fireflight somewhere outside of the rapidly tumbling ball of magnetized debris. He finds himself chuckling at his predicament, "Remind me to thank whoever designed this thing!" He reaches out as Fireflight passes close, grasping for the landing gear and gritting his teeth as he's torn off the gigantic ball, faaling his paint peel right off his armor, and maybe a thin layer of THAT too.

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "If at all possible, try tossing them into the thing. This... red and back fellow is proving to be rather difficult."

Clang! Grimlock recoils from Shockwave's devestating pimp slap -- the damage dealing stinging humiliation! "OH SNAP!" A bystander cries out, seeing the brutal slap, only to be sucked into the Katamari a second later.

Grimlock is not one to be tutored by a little slapping around, though, and the Dinobot commander is on his heels, lunging towards Shockwave and trying to grab him by the gun-hand -- and if successful, wrench it up behind his back in an arm lock. "Me Grimlock know why you here, One Eye! You here to stop stupid Big Ball after me Grimlock throw you into it!"

Grimlock succeeds in grasping Shockwave, throwing him off-balance.

Elita One hates the hard decisions sometimes. True, the thing is accumulating living things like toys on a shelf suck up dust, but she grudgingly resigns herself to the fact that soft mostly-water things that are not hard and metal probably got smashed, suffocated, or worse within moments of being assimilated. It doesn't make her feel any better about what she's going to do, though -- just makes her even more displeased with having to do it. Raising her heavy pink cannon from subspace, she gets ready to unload one clear shot at the ball, trying to hit it right at the bottom, where it's touching the ground.

Elita One strikes Gargantuan Katamari Ball with BPG.

Massive Drill Vehicle continues making passes back and forth in his makeshift trench. His drill is once again violently rotating at 5000RPM, nearly maxing out his engines. With every pass Nosecone makes his trench is growing, now nearly 100 feet wide and 20 feet deep. He pauses at the end of his last pass and notices that he underestimated the speed of the ball and realizes that he is directly in its path. His treads rotate in opposite directions so that he is now facing the massive hunk of debris. He waits several moments before reving up his engines and charging directly towards the ball. With his drill rotating, he drives directly into the ball, fully expecting to become the next victim but hopes that his trench will pose a big enough obstacle to dismantle the ball.

Nosecone strikes Gargantuan Katamari Ball with crush.

<Decepticon> Bandit says, "Red and Black fellow? Give me co'ordinates and I will be laying down some fire...."

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "He's on top of me!"

"Urrrgh!" Is this guy heavier than Hot Spot was that one time, or is it just the suction force of this ball thing? Probably both, Fireflight concludes as he pulls, engine straining and landing gear stressing as Quickswitch finally comes free of the thing with a weird *squelch* - and over and over the two of them go as Fireflight is suddenly pulling against only the weight of the Autobot hanging onto his landing gear.

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "Doing my best with Sunstreaker over here, you know how he is."

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "I will...OW.. assist you..GNN...shortly.."

Katamari Ball moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Fusillade moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Fusillade has left. Nosecone moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Nosecone has left. Bandit moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Bandit has left. Sunstreaker moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Sunstreaker has left. Elita One moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Elita One has left. Fireflight moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Fireflight has left. Blueshift moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Blueshift has left. Fulcrum moves the great distance west to the Southwestern State region. Fulcrum has left. You follow Blueshift. You move the great distance west to the Southwestern State region.

Southwestern States

The Southwest covers such vastly different states as California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. New Mexico is a land of broken mesas and high peaks. Colorado has the Rocky Mountains running north-south through the center of the state, and the arid Colorado Plateau to the west, with its many canyons carved by the Colorado River. Spectacularly scenic Utah shares both the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau with Colorado. Nevada lies mostly in the Great Basin, its mountain ranges and high plateaus alternating with valleys running north to east.

Room Contents: Fulcrum Blueshift Sopwith Camel 2F1 <Fireflight> Elita One Sunstreaker Black S-37 XF Massive Drill Vehicle Fusillade Gargantuan Katamari Ball Log cabin Autobot Standard Troops #5235

Blitzwing arrives from the South Central State region far to the east. Blitzwing has arrived. Sideswipe arrives from the South Central State region far to the east. Sideswipe has arrived. Grimlock arrives from the South Central State region far to the east. Grimlock has arrived. Quickswitch arrives from the South Central State region far to the east. Quickswitch has arrived.

Fulcrum has a totally amazing comeback planned. Seriously. It would put Sideswipe in his place FOREVER. But whatever it was, it's now lost to the ages, as the huge ball rolls over, crushing Fulcrum into its surface. Ow ow ow. "Pffft!" the dour Decepticon emits, spitting out some gravel. "No you don't, Autobot!" he proclaims, as Sideswipe attempts to free himself from the death orb. "Not without me!" Pulling his arm free once more, he grabs for Sideswipe, attempting to be pulled along as his foe frees himself.

Blitzwing pulls the seized arm in towards his belly and elbows Sunstreaker off of it as he simultaneously grabs the Autobot by the same arm, spinning with the motion. He throws his shoulder into Sunstreaker's weight, attempting to roll him over his back and hurl him into the Katamari! "No chance, Sunshine!" They're fast as lightning! In fact, it's a little bit frightening, but fortunately, both Blitzwing and Sunstreaker have perfect timing.

Fulcrum misses Sideswipe with his grasp attack.

Shockwave has his arm grabbed but...there is no more gun arm! The transmogrification saw to that. This means Grimlock is dealing with a fully melee capable Shockwave. The Decepticon winces as his arm gets twisted backwards but does not resists he flows with the attack and spins his right elbow backwards to try and nail Grimlock on the side of the head and maybe break free. "Your 'reasoning' only serves to prove my point. Do you really think I would even get close to this thing if I did not have the means to protect myself from it?"

Blitzwing strikes Sunstreaker with Rapid Reversal (Kung-Fu Fighting).

You strike Grimlock with Elbow strike!.

Redline arrives from the South Central State region far to the east. Redline has arrived.

Katamari Ball strikes Elita One with smash.

The Gargantuan Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger!

The Ridiculously Huge Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

Fusillade strikes Redline with Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.

The damage was starting to accumulate, and with a howl, Fusillade backs off from Redline, shattered panelling stripped and pockmarked from her shoulders. There's a faint flick of her optics as her systems divert energy, fuel, and hydraulic fluids to the second of her quadruple redundant systems. "Well, you've finally gotten my attention. Smile wide, hun. That red and black's quite nice, but it's not going to stop that ball, and it's not going to stop me, either." She cants her head to the side in an entirely too charming manner. She rears back, the loading mechanisms from within her chest disgorging a warhead into a slot on her shoulder, before she throws her hand forward, the motion catapaulting the missile on its designated trajectory before its propulsion systems ignite. There's a brief flash of 'Urban Renewal at Its Finest' on its hull as it zooms to Redline's thighs.

Black S-37 XF moves into position and is about to line up on Redline when he notices Quickswitch barely hanging on to Fireflight's landing gear. His processors go back and forth trying to decide what to do...millions of possibilities in merely astroseconds. The jet transforms and dives downard, watching as Fusillade makes her move, he has the information he needs. With the explosoion that erupts he focuses on the multi-changer and fires a blast from his Null-Ray, hoping that if he hits.....he will be easy pickins to throw into the ball of doom.

The nose bends forward as the wings flip and rotate backwards. The engines spilt and extend, as arms, fists and feet are revealed. A head flips upward and locks into place with a purple shimmer of the optics.

Bandit strikes Quickswitch with his Null Ray attack.

<Decepticon> Bandit says, "Quickswitch is immobilized....push him into the ball comrades..."

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "I am.. HNN.. having difficulty..pfft.. getting free..."

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Mmph!"

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "I should be able to join you shortly, Fusillade."

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Nailed him, may not need the help."

"WAAAAAHHHHHH!" Sunstreaker screams as he's flung into the Katamari AGAIN. He sticks to it like a fly on sticky paper, limbs splayed out. "Blitzwing!!! I hate your fragging guts--" he shouts, but as the ball rolls around, and over him, he's cut off. "--going to kill you so hard--" WOOSH! The next time he comes up he's managed to get his arm free, and he's pointing his rifle at Blitzwing. He immediately starts firing until the ball rotates him out of view. "--then I'm gonna kill Astrotrain--" WOOSH! Bzzrap! Another rotation later, he's covered in post boxes. "--then I'll dump used oil on both your dead bodies--" WHOOSH Bzzrap! On the next rotation, Sunstreaker is completely buried under junk, save for the tip of his barrel. He shoots it one last time. Finally, as the ball rotates again, every single part of him is covered by something. Sideswipe is launched backward as the force of his pile driver arms propels him away from the Katamari at a rate that is fast enough so that Fulcrum, once again, entirely misses. Sideswipe gives the Decepticon a cheerful wave before igniting the remaining fuel in his jetpack before zooming down toward Blitzwing. "Hey, Blitzbut! Stop messing with my bro!" The missile on his right shoulder leaps from his housing and flies in a curved path before Blitzwing before(hopefully) colliding with the Triplechanger.

Sideswipe misses Blitzwing with his Here Comes The Sun! attack.

Sunstreaker misses Blitzwing with his electricity attack.

The resulting explosion pitches Redline off his feet and into a forward flop, landing him chest first onto the pavement with a clangy thud. He lifts his head to lock optics with his opponent. "Rnngh... thanks for the design assessment, dollface... but quite honestly, I got an oversized bowling ball to put the brakes on." The shoulder cannon whines to life and targets Fusillade for a second assault.

Redline strikes Fusillade with Plasma.

Massive Drill Vehicle strikes the ball with his drill but becomes the newest member of the mass. He causes minimal damage to the ball, but now finds his drill solidly embedded within the ball. With no other option now that he's clearly stuck to this pile, he revs his engines to full RPM in hopes of burrowing deeper into the massive ball to dismantle it from the inside out.

The best-laid plans, and all that. Elita One, cannon still in hand, rejoins the Katamari ball, pinned and splayed like a grostesque pink robot gun-wielding butterfly display. She brought this on herself.

Grimlock's thrown out of his armlock with Shockwave, who is fighting like a robot Cassius Clay now that he has two hands! Grimlock is doomed! But still, the grammatically-challenged robot doesn't give up. "Me Grimlock say you bluffing!" Grimlock accuses, pointing a finger of shame at Shockwave as he wipes some leaking lubricant from a crack in his visor. "ME GRIMLOCK CALL YOUR BLUFF!" Grimlock snarls, charging forward, throwing one clawed fist up towards Shockwave's "chin" (or whatever he has, bottom hexagon point maybe?), trying to clock him into the path of the Katamari!

<Attack:> Grimlock used smash. (&combatspam me=1 to stop this.) Grimlock strikes you with Uppercut for 12 points of damage.

Nosecone strikes Ridiculously Huge Katamari Ball with ram.

The massive green and grey robot goes tumbling in the air, hands still holding fast to Fireflight's landing gear. A powerful blast strikes him from behind before he can recover, as a feeling dullness and ice spreads through his circuitry, pins and needless, and finally numbness. His hands slip, freeing Fireflight, but sending him tumbling for the ground. The Autobot--fails--to feel his cog turning in response as he tries to transform, first one mode, then another, then a random series in rapid succession without the expected results. Panic builds quickly, "--I can't transform--I--CAN'T--"

Freed of Quickswitch's weight, the Sopwith Camel climbs as fast as he can, Fireflight trying not only to get enough altitude to stay above the sticky ball on his next strafing run but also to get an idea of what lies in the thing's path. Nosecone's trench wasn't big enough, but they must be nearing Arizona judging by the landscape below - maybe they'll pass near the Grand Canyon or something?

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Oh for the love of... Nnnnph. I'm having to withdraw. Nothing unusual there.  Make sure there's nothing left of him but a SMEAR."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "What are you "geniuses" up to now?"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Mmppph!"

Fireflight strikes Ridiculously Huge Katamari Ball with Since When Do Biplanes Have Lasers?.

Oh to slag with this. Waving his fist at the cheerfully retreating Autobot, Fulcrum lets off a string of curses, the least of which implying that Sideswipe's fabrication unit lets any and all mechs use her interface ports without engaging the proper firewall protocols. Servos straining, Fulcrum pulls himself as far as he can from the surrounding debris, then with a herculean effort, transforms, anachronistic afterburners popping from the back of the MiG-3. With a shuddering roar, the assorted junk beneath him is bathed in almost invisible blue flame as the Soviet fighter breaks free, the ferocious flames NARROWLY missing an entire pet-shop full of kittens and puppies! Awww...

Fulcrum crouches, then leaps up, his joints screeching as he transforms into a white MiG-3.

Fulcrum strikes Ridiculously Huge Katamari Ball with Afterburners.

Bandit watches as his blast strikes true. He dives towards the mech and at the last minute springs around, kicking him towards into the ball of doom. As his feet plant into the Autobot he springs upwards into the air gaining altitude with the redirected momentum. "Now play nice with the ball kossack...I am sure you will be finding it quite inviting..." The seeker looks about for more targets, noticing Fusillades tactical withdrawl.

Bandit succeeds in grasping Quickswitch, throwing him off-balance.

The relentless barrage from the Autobot newcomer bursts through the compensation that Fusillade's systems were trying to compensate for. With a shatter of flight surfaces and infrastructure, Fusillade curses viciously, and wrenches herself free of the Autobot's range, transforming as she does.

Leaning forward, Fusillade transforms. Her arms billow out to the silvery spans of an atomic era B-29, its tail telescoping from her back.

Fusillade retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots.

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Blueshift. Report."

Defcon arrives from the California to the west. Defcon has arrived.

Blitzwing drops his visor and engages his unique Early-Warning Threat-Assessment Reflex-Accelerator system as he executes the throw.
 * deedle deedle deet!* Ion rifle blasts are outlined in red hexagons in his HUD, their lines of travel projected automatically as Blitzwing's reflexes accelerate to nearly stop time relative to him. He crouches to let the first shot sizzle over his shoulder, laughing for joy as he leaps over the next, which hisses past under his right arm. His jets kick in, pinwheeling him to the left (towards Redline) as the third and fourth blasts pass harmlessly between his knees.

He touches the ground again with both feet, springing towards Redline. The sun glares behind his head as he raises his right hand, fist retracting and thermal blade snapping out of the wrist. "No chance! None of you have the slightest chance of defeating me!" He comes down like a meteor! Will Redline survive?!
 * deedle-deedle-deet!* A missile rockets towards him, spiraling in hot! He hits the ground on his left palm as a combat knife snaps out of his wrist into his right... he flings it unerringly, upside down and in mid-air, along the path laid out for it on his HUD. The knife strikes the missile on one of its guidance fins, sending it corkscrewing into the ground behind Blitzwing with a deafening KA-WHAMM.

Blitzwing strikes Redline with Unstoppable Force.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Any decepticon warrior stuck in the ball. Preprare to make a break for it."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "You know, generally when I demand a report. I am answered."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "When I'm not, bad things happen."

Tumbling over and over as it coats its occupants in kittens, bicycles public toilets, the Katamari continues to roll and roll! It hits a sweet shop, delicious candy spraying into the air as it sticks to the outside like some delightful gigantic gobstopper. Mmm. But one that is deadly and will crush you. As Nosecone buries into it, he will probably find a myriad of pleasures and objects. More and more cling to the surface, the ball getting so large that its field of attraction stretches out, clinging at the Autobot Fireflight who is getting a bit too close for comfort...

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "I beleive Blueshift is experiencing communications issues."

Katamari Ball strikes Sopwith Camel 2F1 <Fireflight> with blow.

The Ridiculously Huge Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Behemothic Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "That would require you retrieving him from the center of this ball."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Very well. Then anyone."

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Uump!"

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "And a BALL? Oh, you have got to be kidding me..."

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "It is proving most effective, though somewhat dangerous to our own troops."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "What will our genius engineering corps think of next? Perhaps a rubber band powered assault rifle?"

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Experimental technology. Shockwave released it in the Southeastern United States. This was actually the project Scrapper intiated, although the Protectorate wasn't KIND enough to share Epcot Center's globe with us, we had to improvise. It is accumulating material as it moves toward Autobot City, and soon will CRUSH them."

Shockwave gets knocked down solidly by Grimlock and right into the Katamari ball. This is not good but then again when you actually built the thing. You always keep a way out. Shockwave begins to use his mastery of the EM Spectrum (as per his +finger) to alter the ball's magnetic field and weaken it's grasp. In combination with the anti-gravs it should be enough to break free.

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "It's the latest secret weapon. It's called a 'Katamari.' It grows exponentially by crushing and picking up everything it passes over. The plan, so far as I understand it, is for it to be larger than Metroplex by the time it arrives in Autobot City, and collect them all, and roll into the ocean."

Shockwave succeeds in grasping Shockwave, throwing him off-balance.

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Oh, I've got to see this."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Where is it now?"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Mmmppph!"

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Southwestern United States, although I have been forced to withdraw early. Again."

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "Yes, Blueshift is correct."

Scourge has arrived.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "It is a self-sustaining weapon of mass destruction Scourge. Works quite well actually.  Minimum effort with maximized results."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Until you lose control of where it's going."

Bounce bounce bounce Elita One is getting pretty sick of this but she's not really in a position to free herself -- unless she grabs onto Shockwave, which his alteration of local magnetics makes easier. Still clutching her gun while trying to wrap her other arm around his big purple and silver leg, it's a situation she never thought she'd find herself in.

You evade Elita One's grasp attack.

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "But I will judge for myself."

Sideswipe mutters to himself as his missile...well, misses before the fuel in his jetpack is emptied and he falls the rest of the way to the ground. He lands on both feet but is knocked a bit off balance before regaining his feet in time to see Blitzwing smacking Redline down. He charges toward the triplechanger commando, cupping both his fists together, before attempting to bring them down on the back of Blitzwing's neck. "Try picking on someone else, pal!"

Sideswipe strikes Blitzwing with Piling On The Hurt.

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Oh, it might go off course and roll over Alameda instead. Terrible loss, that. Really glad we have no holdings on that continent."

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "And the troops that are currently trapped in it...how do you plan to explain their loss to Lord Galvatron? Just...idle curiousity."

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "MmppppH!"

<Decepticon> Fulcrum says, "I beleive it's only Blueshift at this time."

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Streamlining the rank structure."

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Improving quality control?"

<Decepticon> Blitzwing says, "We'll have to endure a severe shortage of self-immolating zeppelins until we can find a replacement."

Defcon streaks in from above....you'd think he'd be surprised at a situation like this, but after millions of years of fighting this war there is little that surprises him. Scanning quickly he accepts the fact that Elita One is the highest ranking here, though as the femme is a bit incapacitated, he makes for Grimlock. "I need a status report." He wastes no words, transforming with rifle in hand, he lands firmly on the ground.

Defcon now stand before you.

Redline takes Blitzwing's swordslash in where the right ribcage would be were he human, cleaving bits of the armor off and eliciting a pained grunt from the Autobot. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he rears his fist back and sends it towards his face in a desperation ploy (in concert with Sideswipe's efforts) to get the triple-changer out of his immediate sphere of concern. "Wait your turn, Decepticon, the lady and I were having a nice chat..!"

Redline misses Blitzwing with his punch attack.

Sunstreaker feels hundreds and hundreds of pounds pressure piling onto him, getting worse every time the ball rolls over. He struggles, screaming out, but he's buried alive and his voice doesn't escape the ball. Worse is the radio, stuck near his head, that happened to be on before getting sucking. "Laaaaa, lalalalala la, la la la la," goes the radio, playing some absurdly happy music. "Arrgh, shut up!!!" Sunstreaker screams at it. He realizes he doesn't want to die with that damn music being the last thing he hears, so he does the last thing he can think of to free himself--fire his missiles into the mass of junk, point blank.

Somewhere near the bottom of the sphere, just as it's rotating up back to the apex, a ball of fire bursts out, blasting out tons of junk--and Sunstreaker, who lies gasping on the ground. Then the radio plops down near him, still playing. "Dun dun dun!!! Laaaaa, lalalala--" "SHUT UP!"

Massive Drill Vehicle burrows his way deeper into the tumbling mass. The rotation of the ball has thrown off his processors sense of direction and instead off heading directly towards the center of the mass, his trajectory is slightly off. He's clearly not used to digging into a moving object. As his engines turn his massive drill, he passes by the midpoint without finding the causes of this disruption. He pauses for a moment near the center and notices a Dewalt 12volt drill. He thinks to himself, "What a shame" before he continues to drill his way towards the surface of the mass, leaving a small tunnel in his wake.

WHACK! Fireflight might have accounted for the increasing overall size of the thing, but apparently not for that office building. At least for once he can honestly say that the scenery sneaked up and hit him and not the other way around. That doesn't appear to be much consolation for the Aerialbot now stuck face-down to the surface of the ball, flailing away like a Terran new-built in a temper tantrum. The Sopwith Camel's upper wings turn straight up as the wing-struts retract into the lower wings, which fold and refold into a pair of arms as its landing gear and stabilizers retract and the tail-end of the fuselage splits into a pair of legs. Finally, Fireflight's head pops up in front of the nosecone, just below the propellor.

With a steely glint, Quickswitch spies the bastard who did this to him as Bandit's foot connects solidly with his torso, sending him flying toward the ball. Quickswitch aims his photon rifles in that afthole's general direction, feeling his circuits coming to life again, "Kiss my aft--" he roars, firing at Bandit just before he's stuck once again, to the gigantic ball of doom. Quickswitch misses Bandit with his Photon Blaster - High Intensity attack.

"Hnnh..." Grimlock grunts inarticulately to himself as he watches Shockwave get pulled into the Katamari and subsequently free himself using mystical electromagnetick energies. "Maybe he no bluff after all," he comments, casually pulling out his rocket launcher. Flying alongside the Rolling Ball o' Doom, he fires some rockets towards its base until he gets further inspiration.

Katamari Ball crosses the vastness of the Southwestern States to California. Blueshift crosses the vastness of the Southwestern States to California. Blueshift has left. Fulcrum crosses the vastness of the Southwestern States to California. Fulcrum has left. You follow Blueshift. You cross the vastness of the Southwestern States to California.

California

Covering almost 158,700 square miles, the Golden State contains everything from redwood and sequoia forests in the north, to the fertile Central Valley, to the deserts of the south and east. A land of contrasts, the lush beauty of forested national parks such as Redwood and Yosemite are matched by the harsh beauty of the Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks. The coast, too, varies from waves dashing themselves at the foot of the rocky cliffs in the north to gentle swells lapping the sandy beaches in Southern California. The state is not only one of the most beautiful, but is also the most populous in the United States, concentrated mostly in major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Room Contents: MiG-3 Blueshift Baby Katamari Ball Santa Cruz Autobot Standard Troops #5672 Taco Farm!

Blitzwing arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Blitzwing has arrived. Blueshift strikes Baby Katamari Ball with slap. Bandit arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Bandit has arrived. Quickswitch arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Quickswitch has arrived. Fusillade arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Fusillade has arrived. Nosecone arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Nosecone has arrived. Fireflight arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Grimlock comes ashore from the North Pacific - North American Coast. Grimlock has arrived. Scourge arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Scourge has arrived. Elita One comes ashore from the North Pacific - North American Coast. Elita One has arrived. Elita One strides confidently into the area. Defcon arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Defcon has arrived. Redline arrives from Oregon to the north. Redline has arrived. Sunstreaker arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Sunstreaker has arrived. Sideswipe arrives from out the Southwestern States region. Sideswipe has arrived. Hazard has arrived.

Scourge soars down into view from above, purple fire streaking from behind him. This, he's gotta see. A giant ball that eats stuff. Oh, that's amusing. He's so gotta see this idiotic hair brained scheme they've come up with. He cuts his verniers and stares at the scene before him, hovering on anti-gravs. "Oh for the love of. What will they think of next?"

Blitzwing tucks and rolls away from Sideswipe's (slightly painful but not terribly deadly) strike, swinging up the giant MP40 he 'received' when he was altered by the Protectorate time bomb. As he comes back up to his feet he fires from the hip, hosing down Redline with pulse blasts. Brass cartridge casings arc out of the machine pistol's ejector in an arc like a rainbow's curve, jingle-jingle-jangling onto the ground as the enormous ball rolls by in the background. "Gonna teach you a lesson about hitting a lady, little guy," Blitzwing sneers, chrome teeth glinting brightly in his dark face.

Bandit uses his own momentum, and calculates the angular shift in Quickswitch's fire, to roll harmlessly out of the way of the blast. "Ahhh ahh ahhhhh such hard words for someone who is now being hopelessly in peril" his basso russian accented voice chortles. The seeker shifts and searches for a new target, trying to keep the attention away from the ball as much as possible. He darts to the left and then upwards and to the right as fire is exchanged back and forth. The ball grows larger and moves faster with every second that passes.

Bandit twirls and spots the dinobot commander and lines up on him from range. He raises his right hand, which begins to glow and then clamps down, sending a magnetic pulse towards Grimlock. "Can't you see that your feeble attempts are gettiing you nowhere......you might as well be accepting the fate that has been set in motion...."

Bandit strikes Grimlock with Magnetic Pulse.

Blitzwing strikes Redline with Machine Pistol (full auto).

Silverplate B-29 Superfortress is still monitoring from high above, stewing over having to withdraw. It at least allows her to watch the airspace, and who is coming and going. At Defcon's and Scourge's entrance, she makes note on broadband.

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Hmm, looks like Defcon's arrived too, guys. Keep an optic out."

The Katamari of doom crosses into Californa. It is smoking, shaking, shuddering and on fire, but still it rolls. Rolling rolling to the Autobots doom! Who cares if someone (I blame Elita) broke the code! It comes like a sphere of death. Like the Terminator but without arms and legs and a head or any weapons, and bigger than a skyscraper. Who will find themselves in this gigantic behemoths path next? Oh look, Grimlock seems to be nearby, and ripe for the slaughter...

Katamari Ball strikes Grimlock with smash.

The Behemothic Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Cyclopean Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

MiG-3 describes a large arc in the air as he comes in for an attack run, using the flash and impact from Blitzwing's fire on Redline's frame as a target. After all, his last orders were to help Fusillade out with the pesky Autobot, and Fulcrum's not one to disobey orders!

Fulcrum strikes Redline with Heat Ray <High>.

<Decepticon> Lord Scourge says, "Oh, I'm so scared.  Perhaps I should rip him open for you?"

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "I don't care."

<Decepticon> Mother Goose Fusillade says, "Figured I'd just do something USEFUL"

<Decepticon> Bandit says, "I have stuck Quickswitch to the ball and have engaged Grimlock....how much longer before the ball reaches its target comrades?"

Shockwave flies up and spins around to get a better overall view of the situation. He listens at the exchange on broadband about Defcon being in the area and prepares to deal with it should the occasion comes up. <No attack>

Elita One couldn't grab Shockwave, but since she managed to get her arm free, she can reach into subspace and swap guns. No more cannon -- instead, it's superheated plasma, fired behind her to try and melt free the chunk of the ball she's stuck to.

Sunstreaker pulls himself up to his feet once more, and makes sure to crush that irritating radio under his heel. He stares at the Katamari for a moment--it's too fast for him to run after, so Sunstreaker transforms and races after it. After closing in on the now absurdly massive ball, he does a 360 degree spin, and blasts it with a disruptor that pops out of a hatch on his back. Ordinarily, it would come out of his spoiler, but that's not there anymore, so...

Massive Drill Vehicle continues burrowing from the center of the mass outward. It's taking him much longer to tunnel out of the ball than it was to burrow inwards due to the mass continually collecting more and more 'stuff'. All of his effort has been spent trying to free himself from the mass. In his continuous drilling state, his drillbit has finally starting to show some wear. He decides to fire a few shots with the lasers mounted on the sides of his drill, trying to soften up the debris in front of him.

Defcon watches in vain as the ball *SMACKS* into Grimlock, content that he will not be receiving a status report from him. He moves quickly, finding a spot that he *feels* is well out of the way of the rampaging ball and takes aim. With the scattered Cybertronians amidst the ball, he takes careful precision and fires.....a tight stream of electricity racing towards the Cyclopean Katamari Ball. Defcon does not wait to see where the attack lands, just sure that it will and moves farther along, setting up for another attack.

Round and round and round he goes; where he stops, Fireflight thinks he knows. Unfortunately, the Aerialbot can't do much about it right now, as his flailing has left him very much stuck to the rolling ball. <No attack>

Hazard soars upward into the sky. Hazard has left.

Fire erupts around Quickswitch's magnetized body as the monstrous mech struggles to free himself. A crushed car digs into his shoulder and flames heat and blacken along his armor. Snarling, Quickswitch frantically tears at the ball, trying to free himself. He /was/ having a good day.

Sideswipe is nonplussed that Blitz would keep on attacking when Sideswipe was standing right behind him. He activates his subspace storage unit, reaches into it, and pulls out a smaller rocket then what he had before. He quickly slots it into the launcher before firing it at Blitzwing at what is probably dangerously short range. "Maybe you'll pay attention to this!"

The combination of Blitzwing and Fulcrum's strikes set off a series of system failure and caution alerts over Redline's vision. He falls backwards onto his side, barely still mobile and looking a sheer, unadulterated mess. His weakened optics crease in determination as he attempts to try and get back to his feet. "F-funny, can't s-say as I saw any... 'ladies' 'round here..." He hefts his sidearm and switches triggers to the one for his handcannon's attached disruptor, squeezing off a burst at Blitzwing in sheer defiance, if nothing else. Hazard has arrived.

Fusillade moves east to the Nevada. Fusillade has left.

Defcon strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with electricity.

Redline misses Blitzwing with his disruptor attack.

Blueshift strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with slap.

Sideswipe strikes Blitzwing with Rocket.

Elita One strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with plasma.

Grimlock strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with Galaxial Rocket.

Sunstreaker strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with Rocket Salvo.

Sunstreaker falls backwards and collapses into his awe-inspiring Gold Lamborghini mode!

Grimlock is sucked into the ball, having flown too close! "ME GRIMLOCK HATE BIG BALLS!" He shouts, shaking a fist in vain as he's pulled into the churning debris.

Quickswitch strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with smash.

Sunstreaker strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with Aerial Blaster.

Fireflight strikes Cyclopean Katamari Ball with Stuck, and Steaming Mad.

Katamari Ball moves towards the city of San Francisco.

Blueshift moves towards the city of San Francisco. Blueshift has left. Fulcrum moves towards the city of San Francisco. Fulcrum has left. You follow Blueshift. You move towards the city of San Francisco.

Outskirts of San Francisco, California

Northern California still struggles to maintain its natural beauty, even though it is teeming with people and fighting with all the problems of a modern society. For the most part, the hilly green city of San Francisco succeeds in that venture. Still, you get the sense of vast overcrowding pushing at the seams of this place, where no privacy can truly be afforded. Even the outskirts and suburbs overflow with people.

Room Contents: MiG-3 Blueshift Cyclopean Katamari Ball Scourge Simulator Conrad's Tent Autobot City <AC> Autobot City Base Defense Perimeter Parking Lot

Blitzwing arrives from the Southwestern States. Blitzwing has arrived. Fireflight arrives from the Southwestern States. Fireflight has arrived. Fireflight enters the area and looks around. Redline arrives from the Southwestern States. Redline has arrived. Sideswipe arrives from the Southwestern States. Sideswipe has arrived. Nosecone arrives from the Southwestern States. Nosecone has arrived. Quickswitch arrives from the Southwestern States. Quickswitch has arrived. Grimlock arrives from the Southwestern States. Grimlock has arrived. Defcon arrives from the Southwestern States. Defcon has arrived. Fusillade arrives from the Southwestern States. Fusillade has arrived. Sunstreaker arrives from the Southwestern States. Sunstreaker has arrived. Elita One arrives from the Southwestern States. Elita One has arrived. Elita One strides confidently into the area.

The titanic ball rumbles towards its destiny. Will it break again? Is it scared of other people? Who knows! What we do know though, is that it looms above Autobot City like a ball of death, rolling and tearing up the pavement. Who will lose. Who will win? Who will draw? One round is left, one round to decide the fate of the UNIVERSE!

The Cyclopean Katamari Ball has grown significantly larger! The Tremendous Katamari Ball looks a lot more durable!

Brawl has connected. Bandit arrives from the Southwestern States. Bandit has arrived. Fusillade moves west to Uptown San Francisco. Fusillade has left.

And as an aside, the huge ball continues to crush Quickswitch as if he is a delicious grape. Mmmm.

Katamari Ball strikes Quickswitch with smash.

Fusillade arrives from Uptown San Francisco to the west. Fusillade has arrived.

"Wait your turn, all right!" Blitzwing snaps at Sideswipe as a rocket bursts against his shoulder. "I'll get to you in a second!" He swings a heavy boot towards Redline's flank, proceeding to stomp the offending Autobot into the hard dry ground of the Altemont Pass.

Blueshift strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with slap.

Blitzwing strikes Redline with Vicious Curbing.

MiG-3 seems satisfied with the damage that his heat rays have inflicted on Redline, but it seems that the feisty Autobot is still firing at Blitzwing! That's not good! Someone could get HURT! Transforming in mid air, he drops to the ground next to the prone and smoking Autobot. Sharing a glance with Blitzwing, the dour Decepticon medic lifts one heavy, jet-mounted boot and brings it down on Redline's frame. Yes, the two Decepticons are kicking the Autobot when he's down.

The MiG-3 twists around and folds in on itself with a grinding sound, transforming into the robotic form of Fulcrum. Bandit darts around in an arc, and watches as Quickswitch is smushed. He grunts a bit as he was about to let loose a shot from his cannon. His optics watch as the veritable merry go round of targets present themselves. He finally spots Grimlock again and opens fire. "Your dim-witted determination is commendable in many aspects Grimlock......but it is not comparable to my resolve...." The seeker fires his thrusters to put himself into a position to open fire, which he does. *KRAKOOOOOOM*

Fulcrum strikes Redline with STOMP.

Redline falls to the ground unconscious.

Bandit strikes Grimlock with Fusion Beam.

Shockwave watches with...an almost juvenile glee but such things are below the master of logic. Instead he classifies those emotions down as 'pride' 'satisfaction' and files them away for later study. "Keep up the pressure Decepticons. We are almost there." Still Shockwave is far from being stupid. He sees the integrity of the ball becoming a bit unstable. He prepares to pull a fast one when the moment comes. <No attack>

Hazard has arrived.

Hazard folds inwards and collapses, transforming into a rugged techno-jeep!

Sideswipe frowns at Blitzwing as the other continues to pummel and eventually knock Redline to the ground. "What are you, anyway, some kind of weirdo?" He leaps forward in an attempt to tackle Blitzwing and shove him face first into the dirt. "Let's see how you like it!"

Sideswipe succeeds in grasping Blitzwing, throwing him off-balance.

Redline drops without another word after the final strikes from Blitzwing and Fulcrum, his optics going dark.

Quickswitch grunts as debris combined with the momentum of the ball itself slams into his body. That's--ENOUGH--of this! Pushing his cog to its limit, Quickswitch's form groans as it shifts from one fluid form into another in defiance of the magnetized Katamari, surrounded by flames, he roars as he blasts away with his puma mode and blends into his plane mode to escape.

Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into a Tasmanian Tiger!

With much confusion, Quickswitch transforms into a Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Defcon can hardly believe that while there is a gigantic ball headed towards Autobot City, all Autobots in the immediate area would not be focused on stopping it. It matters not, he is used to working alone and actually prefers it, so stopping this monstronsity is just another day on the job. Spotting a large city bus up ahead he shoulders his rifle and moves towards it, careful that there are no humans inside. "Bus. Stop." he thinks to himself, noticing a sign directly behind he and the transport vehicle and hoping it holds truth. Hefting the bus towards the ever-growing ball he now watches in silence, hoping that it does the trick.

Defcon strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with crush.

Fireflight is still stuck fast, with the ball building up around and over him. Over him? Hey, his jet- er, plane-mode's guns are mounted on his back now! Fireflight fires away, scorching his own propellor in the process. Who cares? He can't miss this thing that's all around him, and maybe he can at least slow it down if he keeps blasting away at the section of it in front of his head.

Fireflight strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with Laser Blast.

Having blasted herself free, Elita One barks into her radio, "Autobots, /ignore the damned Decepticons/, because if we don't get this ball /under control now/, we'll be fighting them from a /hole in the ground/. These are /ORDERS/." With that, she raises her gun and fires off another bust toward the Katamari, she fires another blast, trying to at least knock it off-balance, or do /something/.

Elita One strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with Laser Burst.

Gold Lamborghini Urraco, due to his speed and hasty pursuit, is far, far away from Redline, and so is no position to help him out of his predicament. There's a larger problem facing them, anyway--that giant ball of doom! "Is there anybody out there that ISN'T stuck to that thing?!" Sunstreaker yells. "Dammit... it might be up to me. Me! But then... heheh... I'm the right guy for the job!" The Lambo closes in rapidly on the ball, and just as he starts to feel the tug of its magnetic pull, he transforms, his feet sliding along the ground as his momentum brings him ever forward. He stoops down somewhat to point his launchers at the ball, and fires one last rocket at it. "This time, *I* am gonna save the day!" Gold Lamborghini flips upwards and rapidly unfolds into the handsome Sunstreaker!

Sunstreaker strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with Laser-Guided Rocket.

Fuselage dark and smoking, Quickswitch heads back and around to fire off a missile toward the gigantic thing. BOOM.

Quickswitch strikes Tremendous Katamari Ball with Missle.

Katamari Ball is deactivated under the fierce barrage of attacks.

Attack after attack strikes the Katamari as it nears its target. Metroplex, delicious and pickupable. Aflame, it rolls through the city, bouncing in its line, picking up people and mailboxes and fliers. And then after attack and attack it shudders, stops, rolls forward through momentum more than anything... and literally EXPLODES as its structural integrity finally dies, so so so close to its target it was nearly touching the Autobot's City. Debris and rubble from all across America is spewed out as it breaks down, coating everything with the flotsam of half a continent

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Prepare to disengage and cover me. I will recover our damaged comrade."

In the middle of the wreckage, there's a blue hand sticking out. What brave manner of Cybertronian could this be, armour charred and smoking with some flames popping about it

Willys MB Jeep <Hazard> is finally expelled from the ball and is caught in the tremendous explosion, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" The engineer is sent sailing over Autobot City, hopefully towards something soft, like a pillow factory or... the ocean. Sadly a nail factory looms in the way

Fulcrum is just about to pick Redline up and add him to the katamari when the sphere of doom is pushed beyond its limits and explodes, small pieces of metallic debris pinging from his armor. "Hrm" he grunts, frowning as yet ANOTHER secret weapon goes aft-up. He pauses for a moment, looking around and idly stroking his beard.. before putting one final kick into the deactivated body of Redline.

Blitzwing is fed sand by Sideswipe leaping suddenly onto his back! "Mghrfrgr!" he exclaims, standing up and throwing off the Autobot with his great strength. "All right, you wanted my attention? You've got it!" He reaches down and rips a leg off of Redline's immobile body as if separating a chicken drumstick. Blitzwing grips the leg tightly by the thigh end and cocks it back over his shoulder like a baseball bat. "It's ON NOW."

Fireflight lies face down on the pavement, unmoving as a litter of beagle puppies swarm out of the open cockpit on his back, yipping, playing with each other, apparently entirely unaffected by the whole ordeal.

Blitzwing strikes Sideswipe with Redline's Leg.

Elita One is buried in debris.

CRACK across the face! With a severed limb in fact! Oooh, Blitzwing is fully warmed up now. Sunstreaker gasps as he falls down to his knees. "I... I never wanna do that again," he mutters. He wipes his brow of soot and grime, only to notice a small object flying at him. Thinking fast Sunstreaker catches it--"Yip!" the object complains. When Sunstreaker takes a look at it, he sees that it's none other than a cute little puppy dog! It runs around in his hands, yapping loudly. "Oh, you're one of the lucky ones," Sunstreaker remarks. "All your other buddies in there... uh... they kinda got crushed. Sorry, man."

Sideswipe is knocked backward by a severed robotic limb swung like a Louisville Slugger by Blitzwing. He hits the ground, carving out a shallow path in the dirt, before he slumps down on his back. He hears a meowing suddenly and opens his eyes to see a kitten, evidently one of the pet shop survivors, curled up on his head. He chuckles and rolls his eyes. "Nice to see you're liking this."

Shockwave scans the rubbles and dives down towards the core of the ball and grabs the blue hand yanking Blueshift out and putting him across his shoulder. Before heading out, the Decepticon commander activates the self-destruct on the ball's core so the Autobots do not have anything to work on to duplicate such a thing. <Retreating openly without +retreat since I am carrying blueshift. So anyone wants to take a parting shot. Feel free. It will even out the fact I am carrying someone.>

The tiny pea-shaped centre of the now defunct ball beeps and then explodes in a tiny shower of parts. Blueshift, battered, grimy and not at all looking well tries to salute his rescuer. "Nmmp" he manages. "T-this mean you'll reccommend me for the MSE job mummy" he croaks finally Defcon does not consider the threat over, though it is a little relieving to have the Ball of Doom (tm) littered across the city as opposed to atop Metroplex. Watching Blitzwing rip the leg from Redline he reacts, cooly and calmly, shouldering his rifle and taking aim at the tripl-changer. "You will regret your decision not to leave when I let you, Decepticon. You at least have the pleasure in knowing that you will only make that mistake once." With a quick flick of his index finger the output of his weapon changes, pulse after pulse of plasma energy moving towards Blitzwing.

Defcon misses Blitzwing with its Plasma attack.

Hazard vanishes out of reality. Hazard has left.

Quickswitch watches from above as the gigantic Katamari explode on impact with his missile. Fire and debris explodes everywhere, roaring, cracking. He heads toward the ground and transforms. Quickswitch savors the glorious gratification of the destruction he's caused, taking it in with awed and hungry optics. Somewhere inside his laser core all is right with the world as it sings...

Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode.

Blitzwing grin practically splits his face as he advances on Sideswipe with the leg held up over his head. He brings it swinging down when suddenly there's a *deedle-deedle-deet!* from his early warning system. A movement out of the corner of his eye is lit up by the HUD as Defcon takes aim. Blitzwing spins down into a crouch, flinging the leg towards the movement as Defcon's plasma blast sears past harmlessly over his left shoulder. "You too, spaceman? You want a piece of this?!"

Blitzwing misses Defcon with his Redline's Leg attack.

Fulcrum, on the other hand, can't see any real reason to retreat. Blitzwing's in a spot of bother, but he assumes the tripple changer's enjoying himself and/or will retreat as well. Transforming, Fulcrum follows Shockwave and his damaged cargo back to base.

Fulcrum crouches, then leaps up, his joints screeching as he transforms into a white MiG-3.

Fulcrum retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots.

The kitten runs away in fright as Blitzwing approaches but, luckily, Sidseswipe is given a reprieve as Defcon takes a shot at the commando. He finds a rough hewn branch before raising himself up slightly and tossing it toward Blitz.

Sideswipe misses Blitzwing with his Wirt's Peg Leg attack.

Day late and a dollar short. Story of Brawl's life - he's no speed demon at the best of times. But he's there to guard Blitz's back, finally, roaring incoherently, loud enough to make his audio circuits crackle with the strain. He soars down to land as close to his comrade in arms as he can.

The sound of a roaring engine precedes the return of Sunstreaker into the fray against the Decepticons. The Lamborghini races between Blitzwing and Sideswipe, its rear disruptor popping back up and blasting away at the triple-changer. "Now that your stupid toy is out of the way... we can settle things!"

Sunstreaker falls backwards and collapses into his awe-inspiring Gold Lamborghini mode!

Sunstreaker strikes Blitzwing with Aerial Blaster.

"Brawl!" exclaims Blitzwing as he swats away a rough projectile tossed at him by Sideswipe and gets pinged by Sunstreaker. "I'm glad to see you, you big lug. I'm almost out of ammo, but let's give 'em hell!" He snaps down into his tank mode, his cannon elevating towards Sunstreaker. "Volley fire- GO!"

Falling to the ground, Blitzwing folds himself inwards, armor locking into place and cannon snapping down as he becomes a Tiger heavy tank. Surprisingly swiftly, the robot folds himself down, resolving into the compact form of a tank.

Blitzwing strikes Gold Lamborghini Urraco with 88mm Cannon.

Brawl merely grunts his assent. He's never been terribly eloquent at the best of times. ANd nevermind the grace, he collapses down into a nearly untidy heap, that resolves itself into the squat from of a Stug. There's the boom of fire, only a second or two behind Blitz's.

Blueshift soars upward into the sky. Blueshift has left. You follow Blueshift. You take off and soar upward to Sky Above San Francisco.


 * Travel spam **

NCC Medical Ward

Like its previous incarnation, this medical ward was designed with the medic in mind, with all the modern advances to make the dirty work of repairs a world easier. It is well lit, the blue and violet metal of the walls and decor is a shade paler here, and the ubiquitous filigree is missing, all to assist in ease of cleaning. Still, the place veritably sparkles. In the furniture, there is a subtle motif of blades and sharp edges, as if to evoke the scalpel of a surgeon, although it is all quite safe. Around two dozen beds, more comfortable than their sharp looks would suggest, fill the medical ward, laid out in a tidy grid, and more can be flipped out of the walls should emergency demand it. A set of tracks on the ceiling mirror the grid of beds, allowing advanced scanning equipment and tolls to be swiveled around to the various beds. Computer terminals and cabinets are molded right into the walls at intervals, and while there are the normal medical security cameras, it appears as if someone has set some of the cameras specifically to watch the cabinets.

Room Contents: Soundwave Catechism Sixshot Mecha-Tiger <Rampage> Shockwave's laboratory Gumby Medic <NCC> MSE CO OFFICE (Earth) Medical Rules Scrapper's Art <SA> - Sixteen Pieces

Blueshift has arrived. You drop Blueshift. You stop following anyone.

You put your hand on the authentification device. ACCESS GRANTED appears on a small screen above your hand. The door unlocks and you hear a female mechanical voice greeting you. "Welcome Shockwave"

Shockwave's laboratory The interior of Shockwave's laboratory is way bigger than it looks from the outside. There is a huge computer console with multiple screens and a throne-like chair infront of it. In the middle of the room is an operating table, very similar to ones find in medical wards and above it a multi-purpose engineering/medical drone to assist during procedures. There is a workbench in the corner with various power-tools and next to it is a big rack full of different spare parts/components. The creepiest thing is in the back of the room, there are lockers very similar to ones found in human morgues (Type 'morgue' for details, README for the OOC information about the room and +commands for a list of the room's commands and functions)

Camera> Blitzwing arrives from the steel-spun tunnel from the NCC Spinal Pathway to the south. Camera> Blitzwing has arrived. Camera> Blitzwing swaggers in looking tired, but pleased with himself. "Well, that was a load of munitions well-spent.

Camera> Blueshift is currently lying on a medbay bed, looking like he has spent the last few hours at the centre of a gigantic rolling ball. Which he has. "Mmppphnnn" he replies to Blitzwing

Camera> Blitzwing asks the Gumby Medic for refueling. The medic complies. Camera> Gumby Medic <NCC> refuels Blitzwing.

Camera> Soundwave begins work on Blitzwing's minor injuries.

Camera> Mecha-Tiger <Rampage> is still watching TV while curled up on a med bed. His damage is nearly completely healed. His tail twitches as his golden optics are glued to the healing rays of the Cathode Ray Tube. South Park is on.

Camera> Blitzwing heads over to the recharging station to top off his fuel and replace his ammunition. Good thing Soundwave is here to knock out the dents, too. "I'm honestly surprised at how effective that thing was. Best secret weapon yet."

Camera> Blueshift seems to agree. "MmMmph-HEM!" he croaks, looking like someone tried to roll him up. Which they did

Camera> Fusillade arrives from the steel-spun tunnel from the NCC Spinal Pathway to the south. Camera> Fusillade has arrived. Camera> Fusillade asks the Gumby Medic for refueling. The medic complies. Camera> Gumby Medic <NCC> refuels Fusillade.

Camera> Fusillade asks Gumby Medic <NCC> to fix her. Camera> Gumby Medic <NCC> begins work on Fusillade's injuries. Camera> Fusillade exits a set of doors to the imposing slope of Mount R'lyeh to the east. Camera> Fusillade has left.

Camera> Monitor arrives from the steel-spun tunnel from the NCC Spinal Pathway to the south. Camera> Monitor has arrived.

Camera> Brawl arrives from the steel-spun tunnel from the NCC Spinal Pathway to the south. Camera> Brawl has arrived. Camera> Brawl asks the Gumby Medic for refueling. The medic complies. Camera> Gumby Medic <NCC> refuels Brawl. Camera> Brawl asks Gumby Medic <NCC> to fix it. Camera> Gumby Medic <NCC> begins work on Brawl's minor injuries.

You leave Shockwave's laboratory.

NCC Medical Ward

Like its previous incarnation, this medical ward was designed with the medic in mind, with all the modern advances to make the dirty work of repairs a world easier. It is well lit, the blue and violet metal of the walls and decor is a shade paler here, and the ubiquitous filigree is missing, all to assist in ease of cleaning. Still, the place veritably sparkles. In the furniture, there is a subtle motif of blades and sharp edges, as if to evoke the scalpel of a surgeon, although it is all quite safe. Around two dozen beds, more comfortable than their sharp looks would suggest, fill the medical ward, laid out in a tidy grid, and more can be flipped out of the walls should emergency demand it. A set of tracks on the ceiling mirror the grid of beds, allowing advanced scanning equipment and tolls to be swiveled around to the various beds. Computer terminals and cabinets are molded right into the walls at intervals, and while there are the normal medical security cameras, it appears as if someone has set some of the cameras specifically to watch the cabinets.

Room Contents: Brawl Monitor Blitzwing Blueshift Sixshot Mecha-Tiger <Rampage> Shockwave's laboratory Gumby Medic <NCC> MSE CO OFFICE (Earth) Medical Rules Scrapper's Art <SA> - Sixteen Pieces

Shockwave would smirk if he had a FACE but he does not so instead he lets off a quick muted blink. "No worries Blitzwing. This was not an actual attack, it was only a test. Had I really wished to cause incalculable damage I would have sent it through the refineries in Houston Texas and lit the thing up while it rolled around town spreading thick oily fire all over the place. Just a test..." The Decepticon grabs his datapad and begins typing up the report. (Anyone is severely damaged or in need of repairs?

=
=============== BB Post in Progress ============================= Group: Decepticon Title: Test report --
 * The Decepticon spinny disappears and is replaced by Shockwave's transmorified face ***

"Earlier this cycle, I went to north america with a small contingent of Decepticons in order to test a new weapon. The weapon in question was a Katamari ball, a self-sustaining weapon of mass destruction. Powered by a small magnetic core it amplifies the magnetic field in everything it comes in contact with making it 'stick' to it. This means that whatever the ball collides with becomes part of it. You can picture that after a dozen cars, mailboxes and public telephone units, the ball was growing exponentially. The test consisted on letting the ball roll towards Autobot city. We managed to observe the Autobot's counterattack which was laughable at best. They never tried to examine, scan or study it. They just shot at it hoping it would eventually work. I regret to say that it did work at the last moment but...it does not change the fact that the test was successful."

"While it does not take much for the weapon to grow and cause mass destruction it is complicated to build. High build cost, low deployment cost, generally high results."

"There was only one friendly casualty from this test. It seems that trooper Blueshift could not help himself touching the ball after I explicitly said it was a bad idea. He is now recovering in the medical ward and will require intensive repairs, mostly bodywork. His internals are not too damaged."

"Good performance reviews go out to the Decepticons involved in the operation: Fusillade, Blitzwing, Fulcrum and Bandit. That is all."

"End of line."


 * Shockwave's face disappears and is once more replaced by the Decepticon spinny ***

=
================================================================= ***** *** *  *      *   *   *      *   ***  ***   **** *  * ***       *    *  *   *     ***  *   *     ***  ***  **    *  * ** * **      *   *** *** ***  *   * *** ***  *   * *  * ***   **** *  * ***  * * * * *