Scene #448: -Said the Tick-Tock Man

Owner	Pose
Nox	Even without desginated coordinates, it'd be difficult to miss the area the reports indicate. From the air, the blotch on the land is like an enormous scorch mark, vaguely spherical in shape, were the bare ground is buried beneath layers of ash despite not a single hint of smoke. From the ground, the closer one gets to the edge of the disaster zone, the louder the sounds of high pitched buzzing and whirring become, all the way up until stumbling out into it. It isn't just trees that have been cleared. There isn't a single shrub, flower or blade of grass to be seen. Only the withered stumps and stalks of what was once there, all caked in choking grey dust. The clearing however, is alive with motion, comprised mainly of hundreds upon thousands of insects, swarming from its center to the receding edges of the forest. It doesn't take more than a second to figure out the culprit. As the creatures alight on standing trees, they immediately begin to erode. Their leaves fall off all at once, their branches curl and snap, and their trunks collapse into dark, sickly sawdust; upon which the bugs fly back, now glowing like little blue fireflies. A handful of machines can be glimpsed at the edges of the forest. Sleek, steel coloured automatons that lumbed around on four, spider like legs, finding dead trees that were too large to fall to pieces and slicing them down with enormous blades on their front. It's a well coordinated massacre of local flora, and if one looks hard enough to find the bones amidst the ashes, the fauna as well.
Fiera Kitsun	Again, circumstances have conspired to lead Fiera away from her preferred haunts in the Pokemon Islands - but then again, warpgates make that a lot less of a haul than it would have been pre-Unification ... And honestly? This looks like the kind of crisis that would have attracted Fiera's attention no matter where she was at the time, as she judges it from her place beneath Tenkuuzan, dangling from the Skarmory's talons as the steel bird Pokemon soars through the sky. It's the Skarmory's eyes that can pick out what's happening on the ground better than Fiera's own human eyes - although Fiera can catch sight of the movement, Tenkuuzan can see what's moving, and lets out a ticked-off snarl. "Skar skar skarmory!" << Let's get down there and rip them apart! >> "We need to be sure of what we're ripping apart," Fiera points out, "but yeah, let's get down to dirt level." Even before she finishes saying it, she's tightening her grip and relaxing the rest of her body; Tenkuuzan makes rough landings when he's ticked off. Which is 'most of the time,' really. It makes life interesting for Fiera, that's for sure. But she lets go at just the right moment as her Skarmory pulls out of his dive, rolling smoothly with the landing, and coming back up with a Pokeball in hand; it clicks open and a streak of light emerges, materializing into Foxfire, her Ninetales. With Tenkuuzan ascending again and the Ninetales by her side, Fiera begins approaching the edge of the 'insect'-created clearing ... She knows full well this can't possibly be anything natural, and that leaves her ill at ease as well as on-guard.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur Lowell descends from the sky. The kid's covered in burns from yesterday's fight all over his body, but you can hardly see it under his loose-fitting mage's robes. Counterintuitively, he has his rocket-broom pointed down. The effect of this is immediately apparent: When he slams onto the ground, it's with a heavy impact of such severity that it'll likely kick up ashy dust in a huge wave. Unlike how he acts, kid's pretty smart! He's quickly assessed that the problem is insects and you can mess with insects by saturating the area's air with the dust temporarily. He may pass by Fiera Kitsun's Skarmory on his way down, while yelling. Then as soon as he impacts the dust - intentionally as close to the center of the swarm as he can - he attempts to exude a wide-area medium-strength gravitational field, trying to force the insects down and keep them down. Intent here? Get a good look at one of them, obviously! Who knows what this is all about, time to figure it out, and try to slow whatever it is down for a moment. It is REALLY attention-drawing.
Megatron	A Ground Bridge activates in the middle of the sky, contrary to its name. It forms in a greet portal, and rushing out comes a squadron of flying vehicles that seem to resemble a sleek mixture of jet and car. These flying Vehicons take to the skies in a holding pattern, for now remaining at rest while their leader emerges from the bridge itself. Megatron soars in starship form, his path decided as he moves closer to the land. THe Decepticon leader seems to scour upon the land like a vast, predatory bird, before he settles upon the sight of Union and unaffiliated personnel around the zone, as well as the swath of destruction that's been left upon the surrounding area. Converting in mid-air, Megatron lands with all of the impact of a bomb going off, standing tall and proud as he switches his fusion cannon on and surveys the area with narrowed optics. "Hmmm."
Nox	Strangely, the swarm largely seems to ignore Fiera and both of her pokemon. Real insects would obviously converge on her to defend their nest, presumably with much stinging, but the beetled-sized flying critters simply flit to and fro; whizzing right past her while making those high pitched chirping sounds. A handful of them even come to land on Megatron, alighting on his great big metal shoulders as if resting on a particularly large rock. They seem much more preoccupied with converging back at the center of the clearing, grouping together in clusters of eerie blue lights, whereupon they begin to split into small groups, tracing patterns through the air with perfect synchronization. For each group that completes its flight path, the blue glow fades from their abdomens and instead becomes a shimmering line through the air, drawn into a complete circle that glows and pulses steadily. Through each one of these circles, more machines begin to arrive, stepping through the newly created portals and thumping into the dust. Arthur's gravity field confirms what everyone is thinking. The things definitely aren't natural. Stuck to the ground by their suddenly increased weight, anyone can get a look at them. The insects too are mechanical, sporting tiny spiked legs attached to their spherical bodies, affixed with single, shuttered eyes, and large, glass orbs for abdomens, filled with some glowing substance among the bugs fresh back from the trees. The moment they fall to the ground, the sound of buzzing ceases, and a noise like high pitched, computerized chittering replaces it. The bulkier, four legged automata begin to turn from the trees, rounding to face Arthur with precise, stilted movements as the blades affixed to their front arms suddenly whirr to life.
Fiera Kitsun	So somebody is wreaking havoc on the local environment with little bug-like robots. That actually perturbs Fiera far more than if they were biological in origin ... And she didn't bring Denki this trip. Well, she didn't exactly have time to go out of her way to a Pokemon Center and shuffle her team; as so often happens, she'll just have to do the best she can with what she has. She does, however, release her Gyarados to join Tenkuuzan in the sky - and winces a little as Taki's foul temper, characteristic as it is of Gyarados in generally, rears up in her mind next to the barely-leashed bloodlust that denotes Tenkuuzan being out and about. She moves to take a closer look at one of the fallen cyber-bugs, prodding one of the smaller ones with her toe to see how heavy it is and how it reacts ... And then a snarl from Tenkuuzan prompts Fiera to look towards Arthur, and the robots that are apparently getting to bum-rush him from all sides at pretty much once. The non-insectoid robots are a significant worry as well - but then, that's a chunk of why she let Taki out: the Gyarados is the biggest firepower on Fiera's current team. Subtlety's not going to keep helping, at any rate; Fiera just heads into the clearing at a brisk walk, Foxfire pacing beside her. "Whoever's running these buggy little robots," she calls out, "call them off and tell us who you are! Even if we can't talk you out of wrecking the forest, it'd be handy to know whose ass we're kicking by proxy if it comes to that!"
Arthur Lowell	Wow, Arthur was sort of expecting to get swarmed and attacked! He immediately strides over to the nearest ones, kneeling down and examining them closely. He seems a bit concerned. Crush one? Well, he's not gonna be able to keep the gravity up (or down, for that matter!) forever. So he's about to stomp on one, before he suddenly realizes the four-legged machines are approaching, and his magical space senses pick up the arrival of Megatron and his forces. Can't get a read on how involved they are, though. Maybe someone else here to help? "HEY." He calls out to the four-legged automata that are turned his way. "FUCK OFF." Wow, rude. "Y'ain't LICENSED for LOGGIN' up in this motherfucker. Gettin' your MURDER on with some DRYADS an' shit, yo! Knock it the hell OFF." He assumes they'll be able to respond in some way, or at least that he'll be conveying information to whatever drone operator is responsible for these things. He's not gonna attack them unless they ignore what he says, though! There's a good chance they'll ignore what he says.
Megatron	Megatron's reply is simple. He hails his Vehicons before raising his hand in a fist, then motions towards Arthur and Fiera with a growl. "DECEPTICONS, ATTACK!" That cry has been the bane of thousands of Autobots, the two words NONE of them want to hear under any circumstances, certainly not from Megatron himself. The Vehicons split up into groups of three, 'seeker formation' as they call it. One trio descends upon Fiera and her forces with blasters blazing, two of them transforming into fifteen-sixteen foot robots with blaster cannons charged and ready to fire as they approach her, as their third remains airborne. Gyarados will find himself engaged by the other three, the ships firing away at the massive Pokemon. Megatron himself pops his neck, grinning with relish as he opts to seek out Arthur himself. The Decepticon can /book it/ and he uses the flying drones to cover his advance as he barrels towards Arthur with a punch to the time mage. "Foolish humans, always intervening when matters do not concern you!"
Nox	Either the logging drones are set to automatic, or whoever is using them isn't paying attention, or doesn't deem challenges and curse words worthy of a response. The glowing bugs littered all over the ground begin moving, rolling over and scuttling off on their legs rather than flying, determined to continue their duty even under the effects of amplified gravity. Slowly but surely, they begin to head towards the trees again, clearing a circle around Arthur so that the walkers can close in. Completely heedless of his instructions, the lumber closer and closer with loud, juddering steps, cruching through the remains of the forest without an ounce of fluidity or grace. Having surrounded him completely, the few closest to him suddenly launch themselves from the ground, propelling themselves from all four legs into a surprisingly fast lunge. Getting butchered by chainsaws doesn't seem like a particularly fun idea, but neither does being pinned and crushed under the metal hulks suddenly flying at him from several directions at once. Oddly enough, Megatron's attack order doesn't seem to get the same response. Though his vehicon's gunfire surely has enough of an energy signature to attract their attention, but unlike Arthur, the robots pay him no mind. In fact, the insects on his shoulder seem to be intent on capturing the whole thing; little shutter eyes flashing like tiny cameras at the sight unfolding before them.
Fiera Kitsun	Fiera is not so boldly heroic as to stand her ground when robots about three times her size (or the vehicular forms of same, for that matter) are bearing down on her position. She bolts right, Foxfire darts to the left, and both trainer and Ninetales attempt to disappear among the remaining trees. Fiera is REALLY wishing she'd had the foresight to bring Denki now, but she'll just have to do her best ... And the Vehicons might notice another blink of light from behind another tree. As for Tenkuuzan and Taki, the Skarmory twists away, snarling up a storm of what could be considered Pokespeech cursing - which, thanks to some particularly tangled concepts, not even the Multiverse can translate coherently. Tenkuuzan is trying, however, to whip back around and apply a Razor Wing to the back of one of the Vehicons' necks who was going after Fiera (and/or Foxfire). The Gyarados isn't even going that far; it attempts to wrap its body around the other robot and Slam it into the ground.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur's response is quick and simple! Using his own complete space-like weightlessness, he leaps up. This would have dodged completely, if it weren't for the fact that he's still a bit injured from the fight yesterday, so one of them catches him on the foot, tearing through part of his ankle viciously. "Aw FUCK YOU!" He calls out in pain. "Well SHIT, that's straight up HOSTILE, yo!" In his hands, he abruptly summons up his hefty, mechanically-complex broom, pointing it down. He loads up a DANMAKU MAGAZINE, and fires it down, trying to catch the machines in a column of brilliant lights and then saturate the surrounding area in high-strength kinetic impacts, hopefully interfering with the progress of those insects! He only gets a little done before Megatron slams down with one huge fist, sending him down into the dirt and evoking a harsh bony cracking noise. The injured boy bounces off the ground, flailing and flipping. He's conveniently knockeover near Fiera Kitsun and her group, and finds his footing after he bounces right onto the body of her Gyarados; he takes this opportunity to dash up its body and use the momentum at its head from rearing back to slam the robot to launch himself at Megatron. "SHIT YEAH I'm intervening in ALL KINDS of shit! So if you don't want your shit MEDDLED TO HELL AND BACK you best STEP THE FUCK OFF and get these things CALLED OFF!" He flips in mid-air as he attempts to strike Megatron square on the torso, intending to strike with such force that it'll hopefully slam him into the ground and crush some more of those bugs.
Megatron	"Tch." Megatron couldn't care less about who caused the bugs, only that they may end up a useful ally for the Confederacy. On the other hand, he doesn't see much use in protesting Arthur's accusations either. "What makes you think I care?" he taunts, before he sees Arthur's approach. Any ordinary child would've been pulped by a punch like that, and Megatron is certainly intrigued by this kid's tenacity. "You face the champion of Kaon, a miner who became a god of war, I will /enjoy/ breaking you." He grins before he takes the hit like a champ, slamming back as he grabs onto Arthur to keep him close. As he lands onto his back, Megatron grips Arthur like a doll in hand. Rolling onto his front, he stands before he throws Arthur into the air. Then he fires his fusion cannon at the teenaged space-mage. Meanwhile... The Vehicon the Gyarados smashes is pretty much broken in half, its 'spine' snapped with a nasty cracking sound. The one Tenkuuzan is engaging finds himself unsuccessful in killing Fiera, his head coming off pretty easily from the attack after gravity takes out the remaining material holding it onto his neck. The others bunch up, their fire intensifying on Fiera and her pokemon still as Megatron engages Arthur personally. They know better than to butt in when the boss is brawling.
Nox	The sound of danmaku fire hitting metal fills the clearing with rapid, hollow clanging loud enough to give someone banging a tin roof a run for their money, bullets and sparks bouncing every which way as the robots are pounded from above under the hail of fire. Despite their hulking appearance, their outer casing is rather thin, showing dozens upon dozens of dents and craters from repeated impacts until it starts to break off entirely. Clearly built for logging and not combat, the machines are cheap and disposable; several of them keeling over with broken legs and battered shells on the spot. The larger portion of them cluster around where Arthur had taken off, but lacking their own means of flight, they are limited to waving their chainsaws at him menacingly as he goes on to fight Megatron. Even under Arthur's saturation fire, the dimunitive, mechanical bugs are such small targets that it's almost impossible to hit them without aiming. A handful of them shatter into little pieces the instant they are hit; the danmaku fire pulping them into shards of metal and glass. When one of his bullets hits an insect loaded with that glowing substance however, the area explodes with a flash of blue-white light, and an entire, fully grown tree, root to bough, bursts out from the point of impact, showering part of the clearing in little glowing motes. It is actually much larger than the trees of the surrounding forest, suddenly dominating the center clearing with its sheer height. The moment Megatron's punch connects with Arthur and interrupts his concentration, the air is once again filled with the buzzing thrum of thousands of little metal wings. The dust comes to life as the entire swarm takes off at once, dispersing from the site of the battle, save for one last group that stays to form a singular portal. The robots are one thing, but apparently interfering with the insects is another entirely. Whoever had been content to watch Fiera's taunting and Arthur scrapping his robots in silence, will not abide by a waste of perfectly good, tree-harvested energy. Out of the portal emerges a lone figure, effortlessly hovering above the ground. An imposing man completely covered in steel-grey armour and what appear to be bandages underneath, wearing a vaguely skeletal mask with lenses glowing the same off-blue as the gaping hole in his chest. Despite the sounds of smashing metal and gunfire now filling the clearing, he drifts out at an unhurried pace, hands behind his back in a gesture of businesslike appraisal. "Well, well, well. I look away for five minutes and a fight breaks out on my doorstep. Between a robot and a pair of children no less. If you don't mind, I would appreciate you taking it /elsewhere/." His voice is muffled to a tinny echo behind the mask, but the swarm seems to understand him well enough, flocking to who is presumably their master.
Fiera Kitsun	Fiera STILL isn't staying in one place, even with some trees between her and the giant robots with entirely too much firepower for her to deal with - but the Vehicon firepower is still chasing her and Foxfire amongst the trees, and both Tenkuuzan and Taki take their share of hits as well. None of them are happy about it in the slightest. The two flying Pokemon are definitely the most vocal about it, though, as the Skarmory lets out an ungodly SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH of a Metal Sound attack - it may not work on the Vehicons, but it should at least surprise them. Taki, by contrast, is doing something far more direct with her throat: to wit, she's cutting loose with a Hyper Beam and trying to blow several of the Vehicons into scrap metal. Neither of them trouble to notice the new arrival, by all appearances. As for Fiera herself - enough blasts have been focused on her that she's currently down, albeit not out, and she's taking cover behind the biggest rock she can find in a hurry. Foxfire has used Safeguard for what protection it'll provide, and is taking advantage of being FAR more mobile than Fiera - but is heading back towards her Trainer right now. And the flicker of light from earlier ... well, there's movement underground, but you'd need fairly sensitive seismc monitors to detect it or figure out what it's doing. And Megatron stomping around might well mean that even those sensors wouldn't pick up on the comparatively subtler activity.
Arthur Lowell	"Well the GOD OF WAR'S about to get his SHIT PUSHED IN by a KNOW-NOTHIN' HUMAN PUNK, so get ready for some PANTHEON TRASHING--" Arthur starts, obnoxiously, before being grabbed and bodily tossed! The forceful, sudden movements are actually pretty injuring all on their own. Fusion huh? Arthur knows that. With his celestial space-magic, he feels the star-esque power of that shot building and immediately whirls his broom around so the bristles face the arm cannon. He fires his own blast of compressed fusion process. The dispersing impact of the clashing energies is likely to be explosive, but it should at least only minorly singe him. He's trying to get his shot off before Megatron does so it explodes closer to him. He doesn't land, rather just staying floating at the height of his arc, as per the recommendations of Fiera Kitsun, who he's apparently working in tandem with now. Nox's arrival catches Arthur's attention because of his sensitivity to space-related magics. He observes the pattern of the swarms, narrowing his eyes. "This shit YOURS?" He gestures widely to the remains of the trees. "No, FUCK THAT, I ain't STEPPIN' OFF, I'm here to do some fuckin' HEROICS. Look at this! This shit's NOT OKAY. Not gonna just leave some FOREST MURDER alone!" As if to accentuate the point, he goes for a wide-beam attack, suddenly blasting a high volume of intense star-fire from the bristle end of his broom through the swarm of bugs around the similarly floating man that they're around, hopefully hitting more with a particularly wide shot, like some kind of celestial shotgun.
Megatron	The projectiles DOES actually dissipate by Arthur's own counter-attack, very fascinating all and all. Megatron's optics narrow as he observes this, "You control the very cosmos, it seems. /This/ is new..." He comments under his 'breath' before he begins to take off after Arthur- You could hear a record needle screeching as Megatron pauses mid-shot, glancing at the arrival of the skeletal faced one. Were Megatron even /capable/ of giving such a regard to someone, he would be snarkily giving a 'you're welcome' to Nox. Instead, Megatron settles for continuing the fight, before firing upon Arthur with several blasts as he flies towards the teen, his blade extending as he slashes at Arthur in melee range to interrupt him once more. MEANWHILE Vehicons 3, 4, and 5 are reduced to doubling over in pain from the sonic attack. Their audio receptors are overloaded for a moment before thye stand back up, and they take aim at Skamory with blasters firing. Another Vehicon presses the assault on Fiera, firing at Foxfire before he goes to polish the trainer off.
Nox	The figure in the mask lets out a metallic sounding sigh, tilting his head up with an audible click to fix eyes on Arthur. He remains indifferent to the sudden roaring blast of celestial plasma, staring down the column of hyper destructive flame far too calmly for anyone who knows what stars are made of to be doing. At the last moment, a few meters before impact, the torrent suddenly parts straight down the middle, swerving wildly in every direction but the one Arthur had aimed it in. As the last of the flames pass, Nox is left inside a circle of untouched dirt amidst the inferno still merrily blazing away on the roots and stumps that remain. A ripple of air gives the faintest impression of a bubble around him as the warped space queitly collapses back in on itself. "Interesting. I'm certain your parents didn't teach you that trick, just as I'm certain that didn't teach you how to run that foul mouth boy. Tell me, wherever did you learn to do something like that?" Despite his apparent interest, he seems to be in no particular rush to stop Megatron from obliterating the kid. His head instead snaps in Fiera's direction, the movement more like old, slightly stuck clockwork than a smooth, human motion. "And you. Are these animals yours? Perhaps some kind of new-world Osamodas? Oh there are so many things I could ask right now, but I think I'll choose the most important question first." Bringing his hands out from behind his back, he levels his arm out in front of him; an aperture in his palm suddenly flaring with that omnipresent blue light as an incendescent bolt of /something/ blasts straight out of it on a perfectly aimed course for Arthur. Before it reaches its target, he swivels and aims another one for Fiera's rock, which upon impact, immediately detonates into an absurdly violent explosion; kicking up what must be a metric ton of dirt and ash into a miniature mushroom cloud. He raises his voice. "Would the both of you please LEAVE? My time is precious, and you are both making a habit of wasting it!"
Fiera Kitsun	By this point, Fiera is in pretty bad shape - physically injured on her own part and reeling from sympathetic pain suffered by her Pokemon. The blast which takes out the rock she was hiding behind sends her flying, nearly wrapping around a tree the wrong way before she flops to the ground, groaning ... And with the sudden absence of intervening foliage, Foxfire lets out a yowl and sends a Flamethrower attack racing towards the Vehicon who's still harassing her and Fiera. "Nine nine ninetales nine ta tales ... !!" << We don't 'belong' to her, you forest-defiling son of a Muk! We're her PARTNERS, and we came to find out what you're doing to this forest - and we'll thank you to STOP doing it!!! >> Massed firepower actually has Tenkuuzan on the proverbial ropes - but if Taki is being ignored, she cuts loose with a Dragon Rage attack to try and send the Vehicons flying and get the aggro off of the Skarmory. (If the Gyarados is taking fire as well, then she's trying to tank it rather than continuing to press the attack.) And whatever was happening below ground seems to have stopped for now, what with Fiera being out of it ...
Arthur Lowell	Arthur bites a lip in frustration as solar plasma is just redirected effortlessly. A shot rushes past the floating boy, singeing a bit of that excessively long hair of his too. "FUCK." He says, urgently. "HOLD THAT THOUGHT." And then he drops, firing his own easily-dodged shots wide as the shots from Megatron graze him on the approach. The two flying combatants come together with a mighty CRASH! The boy's broom should have snapped in half under Megatron's blade, but the tiny, slender figure strikes Megatron's blade square on, the two weapons slamming together and likely locking in place, the jarring impact traveling up the boy's arm and bringing fresh trauma to the joints in his shoulders. Arthur pushes forward with gravity magic and sheer MANGRIT; presumably Megatron will have something similar to force his way through with. As he weapon-clashes in mid-air with this giant robot-man, he calls out to the much smaller robot-man. "My DAD was a goddamn RAD DUDE and he didn't teach me a damn WORD of my SICK FIRES 'cause he was HELLA FATHERLY, yo!" He sweeps one arm out. "But I'm 'bout to school YOUR dumb ass about how you ain't the ONLY ONE that can get his REDIRECTING on!" Unclasping one hand from the broom, he flicks his palm out, summoning up a bright green spirographic GATE to intercept the blast of energy. Then with a quick clenched fist, a flick of the wrist, and a freshly opened palm, the Gate flips around and ejects the strike right back in Nox's direction! "If you're doin' ANY of THIS SHIT that needs MURDERS to do it, motherfucker, you better be READY to get some TIME goddamn WASTED!" And with that, the hand's back on his broom to engage Megatron more directly again.
Megatron	Megatron's freed up, luckily, and he subvoncalizes an order to retreat as Nox begins to focus his attention upon Fiera and her beasts. The Vehicons take the hint, bridging back as they fly away while their leader remains present to continue the fight. His focus redoubled, Megatron growls out in fury as he forces Arthur's defense open with superior strength, then lashing out to impale the boy upon his blade. Given the blade's size in length and width, it'd probably do more than just stab Arthur in this case. Of course, he somewhat finds himself knocked aside when Arthur fires off that blast of energy, the sheer intensity of it giving him cause to recoil mildly enough to knock him off-balance now. Backing off to prevent his systems from being fried by the energy wave, Megatron takes fire once more at Arthur with fusion blasts.
Nox	"So hostile. Are the youth of today all as ill-mannered and ill-tempered as you?" Nox immediately looks to the Ninetales babbling absolute gibberish at him, only to wind up understanding all of it. It's impossible to affect an expression of surprise behind the mask, Fiera can probably imagine it anyways. "Language? Self-awareness and intelligence. Oh that /is/ interesting. I'll have to examine this later, however for the time being, do you really think you can stop me? Aside from that, how is this any of your business? I already know this definitely isn't your land. I've thoroughly scouted the area and nobody at all lives here for miles around. Tell me, do you simply stick your nose in where it isn't wanted for fun?" Two for two on surprises today when Arthur sends his own projectile flying right back at him. Nox has just enough time to throw his arm out in front of him, summoning some kind of energy shielding overtop of it that takes the brunt of the blast head on. The impact sends him flying backwards in much the same way as he had launched Fiera, only to suddenly halt in mid-air with jarring swiftness, arresting any and all momentum and coming to a stop at the exact same floating height as before. "Hm. Space altering magic? Clearly. You're a dangerous little monkey aren't you? Unfortunately, I can't afford to waste any more time playing around with you, so you'll have to save your meddling for someone /other/ than me." Nox vanishes from the spot, fizzling away in a flicker of blue static and a quiet electric zip, and reappearing a short distance behind Arthur at almost the exact same instant. His hand snaps up in the boy's direction, but rather than another projectile attack, blueish wave of energy so faint it can barely be seen washes over both him and Megatron. Arthur's movement suddenly drops to a slow-motion crawl, leaving him suspended in mid-air. Megatron's fusion cannon fire is likewise stunted to a snail's pace, the individual bolts hanging halfway to Arthur like something out of a diorama. As for the transformer himself? Absolutely nothing. Megatron is free to walk around and look at the bizarre spectacle as much as he wants, despite ostensibly being inside of a bubble of stagnated time. "Please excuse my rudeness." He directs towards Megatron. "Here you are protecting my interests, and I haven't even given you my name! I am called Nox, and this is . . . mmm . . . something of a project of mine. I don't know what history you have with these kids, but I appreciate your generosity in playing with them in my stead. If you wouldn't mind terribly much however, I now have plans for this boy." Retractable shielding around the lenses in his mask lowers halfway, giving the impression of narrowed eyes.
Fiera Kitsun	"<Some of us don't HAVE a fixed territory,>" Foxfire continues yipping at Nox ... and then the bug-robots' boss has other fish to fry, thanks to Arthur stamping Nox's own blast 'RETURN TO SENDER' by way of a tactically placed portal. It's generally a convenient excuse for Fiera's Pokemon to start pretending they're not in this fight. Foxfire goes over to nose at her partner, trying to rouse Fiera and help her get to her feet. Tenkuuzan, no longer beset by the Vehicons, takes the opportunity to fly over and find a still-intact branch to roost on and collect his wits. Gods help any of those drainer bugs that come anywhere NEAR the Skarmory, though. And Taki is taking a breather, circling over the clearing - or at least, where the clearing's edges were when Fiera and Arthur got here ... There's some movement underground again, now, for good measure - Chika the Dugtrio, finishing the task that Fiera assigned to her when the ground-type was released from her Pokeball. Specifically, an unorthodox and rather large application of the Dig technique. Now if Arthur can just maneuver Megatron into the right spot ...
Arthur Lowell	Arthur's broom is forced wide, and the huge blade comes in for an impalement! Ohhhh SHIT! Megatron looks about ready to eviscerate the boy, but a quick dodge to one side leaves him 'only' suffering a huge gash straight through the side of his torso. He does his best to take advantage of the sudden lash; it should leave Megatron open to a sudden downward GRAVITY SPIKE, intended to force him down to the ground... And to wherever Fiera Kitsun is doing her particular bit of trappping! "Hell NO they're not, I'm just the BEST of 'em!" Arthur calls out, clasping a desperate hand to the huge gash in his torso. And then, suddenly, slowdowns! Right as Arthur was about to try to move out of the way of those followup fusion blasts. "Gghhhh... Fuckin' TIME BULLSHIT..." He grunts, struggling against the slow motion effect. "You think I can't kick ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of your ass at FIFTY PERCENT SPEED you're about to get TWICE THE SURPRISE you JUST GOT, you son of a bitch." He rambles in hostile tones as he dodges around the blasts. "You think shit's gonna be EASIER if you SLOW ME DOWN? Don't matter if I give your beatings at DOUBLE SPEED!!" The bristles of his broom open up, and the rocket comes into action! Using the thrusters, he begins to try to speed up his strikes, trying to move in at something approaching a reasonably high speed at Nox and smash him square on the skull with what WOULD be a lightning-fast strike but now is probably just reasonably quick.
Megatron	Whoops. This is not one of megatron's better days. He is about to yell at Nox in his usual, bombastic manner, but he is struck in the chest by Arthur's gravity spike. He tries to resist the force, digging in his heels as he stands his ground. "Nng...NOTHING...CONTROLS.../MEGATRON!/" He roars in defiance, stomping forwards as much as he can before he is knocked towards the pit trap. He can't even believe it. Conned by a pair of stupid human children like this, and not even those three juviniles that pal about with Optimus' sychophants. Megatron lets out a howl of anger as he's forced down the pit, only stopping himself by grabbing at the earthen wall and holding on for dear life. He begins to climb, snarling as he reaches up to the edge.
Nox	Whatever Nox thinks of Arthur's "bombastic" mouthing-off will probably have to wait, both completely concealed behind the featureless mask, and also abruptly interrupted by being hit upside the head with a broom. The clang of metal is distinctly audible as the time mage reels back, placing a hand to his helmet as that the look he gives Arthur turns to something much angrier. "Listen here you /microbe/! None of this has a single iota to do with you and the only reason you're still /alive/ is that I am conducting myself with restraint when handling a mere child! If you don't want me to take you apart piece by piece, I would strongly suggest shutting your mouth and removing your nose from my business!" Being hit with a broom is definitely one way to get someone to go from interest to infuriation, and it seems whatever questions Nox had planned on asking Arthur will have to wait. The Xelor cocks back his arm, and then delivers a bone-breaking punch straight to whatever part of Arthur he can reach, aiming to slam him into a nice little crater of his own making. A metallic sigh punctuates the moment Nox takes to compose himself, before turning his attention to the decepticon present. "Megatron? What a curious name. You'll have to tell me more about your creator at a later date, or are you perhaps your own creation? Please excuse me for a moment." Nox teleports on the spot, suddenly facing towards where he expects Fiera to be rather than simply turning around normally. "Are you still there, girl? If you're done playing now, please find your own way out. I must say I'm impressed by your command of these creatures, however I sincerely doubt you intend to answer all the questions I wish to ask. Take the boy and go." Then he looks over his shoulder to make sure that Arthur isn't currently in the process of making some kind of angry comeback at him from behind. The boy had taken him off guard enough already.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur's slams into the ground like a meteor, impacting the dirt and kicking up more of that horrible tree-dust. The punch had a horrible, sick fleshy impact sound. Arthur laughs weakly. "Hhh... He heh..." He says, weakly. Looks like that hit him pretty square. "Well yeah it's got nothing to do with me. That's how this works! That's what heroism's for. You go out and you find shit that's got nothing to do with you, and you meddle your dumb ass in it until it's better than it was before." He's trying to get to his feet in slow motion. "Ffffffffff..." He says, articulately. Did he spring a leak? "Fuck, bro, if you're looking for shut mouths and noses where they belong you're in the wrong business and talking to the wrong kid. And hell," He points a hand at Nox accusingly. A VERY SERIOUS ACCUSATION. "You don't even have a nose. Don't you start giving me the business about what I do with mine." "Look, the stuff it's got to do with me consists entirely of 'you're killing a lot of dudes'. You want me to step off? You stop the part where you're killing a lot of dudes." He gesticulates enthusiastically, in slow motion as he says this. He's also not extricated himself from the crater.
Fiera Kitsun	Fiera really isn't in any shape to make much conversation right now. She's got a number of cracked ribs, she's not sure about her spine, and she's had the wind knocked out of her very recently. She's also trying to mentally corral her Pokemon - Taki and Tenkuuzan are both still in a state of what could be termed 'extremely high dudgeon,' and neither of them is of a mind to return to a Pokeball while enemies are still on the field and posing a potential threat. So it's the Gyarados who 'answers' Nox, with a reverb-heavy rumble, "GYARADOS ADOS GYAR ..." << None of this was PLAYING, you verminous cretin. Some people RESPECT and CHERISH nature - which automatically makes the likes of you an enemy, when you treat nature as an expendable commodity. >> And in the back of the Gyarados's throat, a hint of light flickers and begins to grow ... "< And that's just mistake number one!! >" chimes in Tenkuuzan from his branch. "< Mistake number TWO is putting our Trainer out of action when we can sti- >" "NINE!!" << ENOUGH!! >> snaps Foxfire, as the Ninetales pads back out into view, her eyes literally burning with a tightly-leashed fury. "< You want us to leave peacefully, have your mechanical mites stand down until we're gone. >" The Ninetales turns to look at Arthur, her tails fanning out with a pronounced flick. "< Fiera needs help getting out without making her injuries worse. Can you provide that? >"
Megatron	Megatron hears the remark about creators, and he growls in response. That's definitely a hot button, implying he's just some automaton a maniac built in his workshop or some such. "Perfection...nngh," He grunts, before ascending to solid ground again as he stands high. "Perfection is born, not created. Cybertronians are no mere devices to give menial tasks to by a creator." He says towardss Nox, before he stares at Arthur. "I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons and Elite of the Confederacy." He introduces after a moment to send a /scalding/ glare towards Fiera, Arthur, and Fiera's varied pokemon that are in sight, before turning back to Nox. "These two and the pets were attempting to attack your forces, as I assume these drones to be, as they went to work. Dare I ask what the intention of this act might be?" He sounds oddly cordial considering what Nox was doing here, compared to the usual angry indignation heroes tend to give. "We might be able to provide some...mutual assistance regarding common enemies, such as these two." He adds, shark-smile on full blast.
Nox	Suddenly, those expressionless, perfectly circular lenses are the exact look Nox needs to drive home just the kind of silent stare he gives Arthur. When next he speaks, his voice is much lower and more even, lacking the indignance of only a few moments ago. "I don't remember murdering anyone today. Did a tree fall on a hiker somewhere? I don't know who told you what you seem to believe, but it seems to me that someone has taken advantage of your "heroic" nature. It happens all the time to people like you young enough to have strong ideals but still nothing in the way of sense. Are you really so worked up about the trees? This world is /infinite/! There will always be more trees, and even here they will grow back eventually. What kind of mentor would allow a boy with such powers to gamble his life on trivial matters at such an age? You're wasting your talents." No matter how fascinating it is to listen to a pokemon talk, Nox can't help but laugh in the face of the gyarados' thunderous roar; not with any measure of derisiveness, but as though he had found something extremely funny. Perhaps unnervingly so. "Ahahahaha! /Nature/?! Does a being as powerful as as you rely on fruit bearing trees to survive? Ahaha! Nature is for animals! For intelligent minds such as ourselves, nature is whatever we make out of it! These trees were going to live out their lives doing absolutely nothing! Rest assured, they have been put towards something of monumental significance, far, /far/ more important than this forest was ever going to be in the length of its miserable existence. If you want nature, there is plenty of it elsewhere, but this is only something /I/ can do." Apparently over his amusement at the revelation Fiera is here to protect the natural surroundings rather than out of the specific desire to oppose him, he waves vaguely in Arthur's direction, addressing the ninetails next. "Of course, of course. You may leave any time you wish." Megatron however, is who really gets his undivided attention. Clasping his hands behind his back again, Nox floats upwards until he is at eye level with the decepticon king, the interested tone clear in his voice. "The forest here is especially old and dense, making it a prime location to harvest energy. I'm afraid I can't divulge the nature of my work to just anyone who asks, but suffice to say, I need the largest amount of it possible. Once I succeed, the amount of damage done to this speck of land will be nothing compared to the good it will do the world. I'm glad to see someone who isn't so short-sighted. Perhaps we /could/ discuss something." For the time being, Nox has his back turned completely to both Arthur and Fiera. Unfortunately, it really looks like he's buying into the Confederate recruitment drive.
Arthur Lowell	"HELLO YES, this is PEST." Arthur says, casually waving and then making a very rude one-fingered gesture with his hand in slow-motion to Megatron. Just, you know, that brief bit of acknowledgement to the big guy. "Gotta admit I'm curious what the hell THIS is all for TOO." Well at least he seems to be recovering his ALLCAPS EMPHASIS. "FOREST SPIRITS, bro, that shit was ALL OVER my net." Arthur says. "DRYADS getting their shit DYING. And HELL, I don't even give a shit if there's a LOT of 'em. This is what HEROES do. You hear about BAD SHIT going down, and then you go STOP IT." He finally has managed to get to his feet in slow motion, rising from one knee. "I dunno what the fuck YOU think you're DOING, but-- FUCK." He declares as he catches his wound again and goes back onto one knee. "But the way I've seen it, this is the SHITTIEST way of doing this. Friend of mine's goddamn ROGUE OF LIFE, bitch STEALS that shit. Y'know what she doesn't DO? KILL FORESTS. Know what she DOES? Anything that ain't fuckin' VILLAINOUS yo." "Talk all you wanna 'bout BIG CAUSES or whatever but you're still murderin' hundreds of DUDES, yo." Arthur's on his feet. "So YEAH, we're gonna try to STOP it. If you want us NOT to, then C'MON, ease up the ECOLOGICAL SABOTAGE up ins." He takes a proper ready stance, a little hampered by his injured ankle. "OTHERWISE we can get back to the part where I BEAT YOU UP and LOOK REALLY COOL doing it because it's all in DRAMATIC SLOW MOTION." Yeah, that's not intimidating at all, Arthur. He's kinda summoning up more of the image of a wounded puppy barking a lot than a noble wounded warrior.
Megatron	"Yesssss..." Megatron certainly seems to have a winning effect on Nox. What that says about him or Nox is rather...best unsaid, for the time being. "You will find yourself amid friends with the Confederates, I assure you. But please, do not let me keep you from tending to your garden for the time being, so to speak." He says, motioning towards Fiera and Arthur casually. "I offer my assistance in throwing them out, if that might be acceptable as well." If Starscream saw this, he would be howling with laughter. Good thing Megatron /never/ brings him along after the UPTENTH backstab attempt. At this point, it's absurdly tempting to just void the bastard altogether and put someone /else/ in charge. Why he slagged Dreadwing he has no idea... Sigh. Megatron just glances at Arthur flatly. After spending millions of years listening to Optimus Prime's speeches, and thousands before that listening to the speeches of past Primes and countless corrupt politicians, he's learned to just tune it out altogether.
Fiera Kitsun	"< Pets ... ?! >" The Gyarados rears up in the air, the glow at the back of her throat steadily growing brighter. "< You call us PETS?! THEN PET THIS - !!! >" Cue the second Hyper Beam of the night - this time aimed SQUARELY into Megatron's face. Foxfire is torn between facepawing and throwing into the fray; she's about ready to crank up a Fire Spin for the sake of buying time to get Fiera out of there - but Arthur is still engaged in arguing (and potentially more fighting). Tenkuuzan, on the other hand, looks ready to reach for the popcorn if he doesn't need to jump into the fray. (This currently leaves a lone Dugtrio in the unlikely position of watching out to make sure nothing happens to the not-quite-unconscious Fiera.)
Nox	Now Arthur has Nox's attention. For a yappy little kid, he seems to have something about him that causes the Xelor to at least listen without immediately dismissing him out of hand like a properly arrogant villain should. "Ahaha. Oh I see now! Forest spirits? Now it makes sense! You see them as people don't you? Flighty, ephemeral and useless. I considering a geographical feature more than anything. Like butterflies at best." An electric bzzzip has him teleporting right back in front of Arthur in another flicker of static, looking down on him as he waves his hand to dispel the field of slowed time, sending so much hanging smoke and debris flying off in all directions. "Make no mistake, I will have the energy I need one way or another. I'm not about to give up and go home because I was told to after I've spent two hundred years setting this up. So would you prefer it if I had chosen a town to harvest instead? I don't think you would. Even you must have enough perspective to know that how pretty a patch of forest is to look at means nothing compared to human lives. When you grow up some more, you'll quickly learn that bad things happen to everyone, no matter how undeserving you may think they are, and no matter how much it riles up your heroic indignation. After that, perhaps you'll learn to choose your battles instead of throwing yourself into every petty injustice you hear of. I look forward to meeting you again when that happens."
Megatron	Megatron is about to speak, before he suddenly draws his blade upon sensing an energy blast thrown towards him. "Speaking of vermi-" Nope. Gyarados. Megatron is taken by surprise in what feels like a century. It hurts like a BITCH, too, as he's knocked a good fifty feet or so away, skidding off and leaving a trench of earth behind him. NOW Starscream would be howling with laughter. Phew.
Megatron	Oh and he's back in the hole again. Oh the irony, the great Megatron stuck in a hole TWICE. All that good will to Nox just...pissed away in one strike.
Arthur Lowell	There's a flicker, just the slightest little gleam in the eye, a vicious, biting cleverness under the arrogant bullheadedness. You can only see it for a second during a specific part of Nox's discussion before it's obfuscated again. Arthur refuses to acknowledge the matter of throwing everything he has into this, or growing up. "Doesn't matter HOW MANY bad things happen. STOP 'EM when I CAN. Let 'em GO when I CAN'T." He says, firmly, trying to stand up in a properly heroic way and kinda failing. "Not gonna pretend I know about what YOUR deal is. I'm sure you got PLENTY of excuses. But if you're gonna get your MURDER on, don't matter how IMPORTANT your mission is or how many EXCUSES you got, gonna get HEROES up in your shit NO MATTER WHAT." A bit of an aggressive stance. Then there's a bit of noise from his abstracted inventory. A pair of sunglasses flicker onto his head. "YEAH? Needing HELP?" He asks quickly. "RAD." Sunglasses gone. "Looks like this is gonna be one of those LET IT GO times. I'll be back for more WASTING YOUR TIME next time you do this shit. 'Scuse me, OLLIES OUTIE now." With a quick flickering, Arthur's summoning another Gate to leap over to Fiera's all-but-unconscious form and generate a quick Gate to take them both away from Nox and Megatron. Enough time for some last words in there though!
Fiera Kitsun	With Arthur on the way, Fiera recalls Chika, and Foxfire as well. If she has time to get Taki and Tenkuuzan, great. If not - well, she's kind of in too much pain to make Arthur wait for them, and they know how to navigate via warpgates. Plus, they can fly. So they'll link up somewhere. Not that Fiera LIKES doing it that way, but she's not blessed with an abundance of options right now. Just an abundance of pain.