—A soldier without commands. Good. —
Ever Onward.
— Megatron hissed, studying his own band.—
It's Experiencing A Lull At The Moment, Costs Have Been High...
—The eyes remained utterly glacial as the Emperor of Destruction bared a sliver of his teeth.—
But The Autobots Cannot Touch Us When They Live In Fear Of Each Other On Their Own Undeserved Homeworld, Wallowing In Incompetence. It's A War Of Attrition, And We Are Winning It.
"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."The flickering, wavering planet which sprang into existence above the back of Kimimaro's hand was a terrestrial one; it was of a comparable mass to earth, if the readouts and graphs surrounding it were any indication, but several differences were readily apparent. First, whereas Earth was dominated largely by water with only a small percentage of its surface given over to land, for this world the inverse was true—land covered far more of Thor's surface than that of Earth, and while this unfamiliar world still had reasonably large seas and ocean they were predominantly inland, for the world was broken up not into a number of continents and arhipelagos, but rather a pair of jaw-droppingly massive superconinents which covered over half the world's surface in and of themselves.
Second, the terrain and geography of this world was far less varried than that of Earth; lush, tropical jungles and rainforests predominated, with cooler arboreal forests to the north and south and only a few deserts near the easternmost tip of the larger supercontinent—Mjolnirsson, if the display was any indication.
Finally, unlike Earth, the planet of Thor was orbited by two moons. These large, round satellites—named Tanngrisnir and Tannjostr—circled the planet in opposing orbits so that one traversed the sky of Thor from east to west, while the other did so from west to east; furthermore, their orbital periods did not quite match, so a double-lunar eclipse was a fairly rare occurance.
The physician nodded at the holographic representation of Thor. "a magnificent planet, if I do say so myself; certainly one of the more pleasant worlds in the universe which I've seen. But I digress; right this way, please."
And without further comment, he turned and strode out of the ward; doubtless he was heading for the passenger compartment, where the group could reclaim their items and weapons.
"So in other words, the Autobots have the upper hand at the moment," Ravage sighed. "For some reason, this does not surprise or disappoint me anywhere near as much as it should. Much the same has happened in my own reality, the difference being that the war has largely gone cold, and the players have...changed somewhat, you might say." The Danse Macabre Codex
Jack admired the projection of the planet. He had never seen a world as it could be seen from among the stars before, and it was a beautiful sight. However, he also took note of the planet's geography and the nature and shape of the lands upon it. It might well be they would need to travel within the thick woods visible upon the surface. Upon hearing that the planet was peaceful, he frowned. It would likely not remain so for long. There was a great problem here, or else it would not be a Challenge. He supposed part of it was to figure out the nature of the problem on their own.
"Let us stay together, then," he said to the group, motioning for them to follow the guide, and looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was left behind as he suited action to words.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao TzuGordon looked the hologram over. This planet was quite fantastic, a huge wonder of geography. It was, to put it simply, beautiful. And the challenge would be taking place there... at least, that's what he could assume.
This did not bode well for the planet itself. Not at all.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""A spectral type K2V star," the physician explained, not breaking stride as he led the group down the dimly-lit, gunmetal grey hallways of the ship. "Or in layman's terms, an orange two-tenths towards red main sequence star. It is called Wotan if such information interests you, Commander Zod."
Several minutes later, the group had arrived in a room resembling a high-tech locker room of sorts. A curator sat behind a small desk off in one corner, examining something on his Phi-module; he looked up when the Champions and Overlords approached, hastily shutting the holographic display off and adopting a pleasant smile.
"Welcome back, friends! What can I do you for—"
"the flash freeze robbed them of their short-term memories, Sven," the physician cut in. "They probably don't remember you. Just let them claim their luggage so that they can disembark."
"But of course," 'Sven' said, getting up with a huff to go rifle through the many lockers in the back. Seconds later he returned, huffing and red-faced, as he carried a pair of heavy metal cases up to the desk. "Y-yer goods, Doctor Freeman," he hissed, plopping the smaller case down on the surface. "Don't know what an astrophysicist needs with a gravitic force manipulator and a suit of hazmat armour, but then it ain't my business innit?"
"In the present, no one knows," Ravage snarled. "Prime disappeared at some point prior to the Great Upgrade; he could be scrap metal, or he could have retired to some paradise world for all I know. Of course, if I had had my way he would have died a good deal sooner..."
edited 17th May '11 6:43:20 PM by SullenFrog
The Danse Macabre CodexGordon eyed the cases for a moment, then slowly nodded as he took the first case. "Well, who knows when anyone could need anything, right?"
He pulled the metal case off the counter and was immediately weighted down a bit, but held it up fairly well. Was he only going to get the H.E.V suit and the gravity gun back? Where were all his other weapons?
edited 17th May '11 6:52:13 PM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."Narumi rolled his eyes as he didn't get his answer. "Fine, I'll assume your planet is Fueled By Nonsensoleum." Narumi said to the physician.
edited 17th May '11 6:48:55 PM by Psyga315
Kimimaro hadn't brought much, but he still checked his pack upon reclaiming it. All his kunai, shuriken, ninja-wire, explosive tags, poisons, and the several scrolls he had stored premade bone-items in were all present. He clipped the pack to his hip.
edited 17th May '11 6:55:31 PM by DKN117
Bendy Slendy in Upendi. Also, check out my ficThe physician turned his visored gaze upon Narumi. "What a ridiculous notion; our primary power sources are solar and nuclear in nature. Not counting, of course, our use of etherium in our bleed drives."
That caused Ravage to raise an eyebrow. "You say that as though it were a change from the ordinary; when hasn't Prime been the Autobots' hero?" The Danse Macabre Codex
Gordon took a glance at Flandre when she looked at his luggage, and smiled. He couldn't really help it, the little girl's cheerful innocence and light-hearted enthusiasm was a welcome break from the dark and twisted stories he'd been hearing, or the vague feeling of foreboding that had hung over the Common Room.
He went back to reclaiming his luggage. Hopefully, the girl, along with everyone else who wasn't involved in the Challenge, would be alright this time.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."Jack stepped up to the counter as soon as there was a lull in the crowd and received a similar metal case, thanking the quartermaster politely and retiring to a corner to open it. Inside, he found, among other things, his ancestral sword, which eased his mind greatly. He slid it through his belt and closed the case again, waiting for the rest of the champions to retrieve their belongings. Then they could begin exploring this world.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao TzuThe Predacon's eyebrow raised even higher, threatening to creep right off the top of his head and crawl down the other side. "Clearly, the differences between our worlds are deeper than I would have thought...very well, then; if Optimus Prime has only recently become the Prime, then who has led the Autobots for most of the Great War?"
The Danse Macabre Codex

This creature recognises Megatron as an alternate universe version of another? Fascinating... at least, moreso than whatever insipid scheme the Nomads have in store for us now.
-he examined the bracelet on his wrist-
"Human technology is so unintuitive..."