NCC Arena

A huge enclosed oval structure, the Arena is now nothing more than a deathtrap. What were once tiered rows of seats are now seamless walls that slope sharply downwards into a deep gloom. The arena floor, once a flat expanse of dull metal has sunk further into the ground and reconfigured itself, dark shadows hiding the massed array of spikes and treacherous pits that the surface has become. The Imperial box has become a virtual bunker, thick armor plates hiding the opulence inside. Small gleams of light in the shadows hint at hidden weaponry now exposed, and overall, the arena complex is now an extremely dangerous place to linger - especially if you happen to be opposed to the Decepticon Empire.

Contents:

Mixmaster

Hall of Heroes

Holo Arena

Obvious exits:

North <N> leads to NCC Dungeon.

South <S> leads to NCC Residential Plaza.

West <W> leads to NCC Central Hub.

Scrapper arrives from the NCC Central Hub to the west.

Scrapper has arrived.

Long Haul is not carrying anything! Instead, he's being followed by two seekers who are carrying quite a bit. Inefficient? Yes. Fun? Hell, yes! If Long Haul could smirk, he probably would be. And why is he carrying boxes of pieces-parts into the arena (or rather, making Seekers carry them)? He certainly wishes he knew! Long Haul, carry this here! Long Haul, carry that there! And never an explanation.

New Crystal City's arena, home of a thousand maulings. Though there is little in the way of beatings happening at the moment. Actually, there's little of anything happening, until...

>CLANG< a service panel falls from the ceiling to the ground, causing a resonating thud. Shortly followed by...

"AAAAAAAH!" And Mixmaster, in a tangle of cords and wiring, plummets from the access panel. He does not connect with the ground, however, he is stuck suspended in the air by the wires.

Scrapper arrives just in time to see Mixmaster do a Mission Impossible impression. Given that he found Hook by looking around in the arena the other day, he was hoping that maybe he'd have the same luck today and be able to find Mixmaster. Surprise, surprise, it worked. Scrapper looks up at Mixmaster and scolds, "What are you fooling around with now?"

Long Haul walks in, followed by the Thing One and Thing Two of seekers, and after a quick nod to Scrapper looks up at Mixmaster, placing his (free!) hands on his hips. "I gotcher parts here!" he shouts, although, technically, he doesn't have them. "Where d'you want me to set 'em?"

Mixmaster looks at the mess he got himself caught in. He wriggles slightly in his self-made trap, testing the strength. No luck. He returns to simply lying in there limp. He's suspended upside down, so he looks 'up' at the floor, seeing the pair of green feet. He then looks 'down' to his brother's face. "Oh, y'know." He says very matter-of-factly. "Just some routine work."

Scrapper paces a little closer to where Mixmaster is hanging and runs a few tensile strength calculations through his head. Given what those cables are probably made of, how much Mixmaster weighs, and the air speed of an African swallow, should he be worried? Scrapper snorts, "Routine? Right. Speaking of routine..."

Long Haul is being ignored. Like usual. Of course. One day he'd show 'em... one day he'd show 'em all. He crosses his (still free!) arms and grumbles, then turns to his newly acquired pet Seekers. "Eh. Just dump those anywhere," he tells them, displaying his keen managerial talents. In response, the two more or less drop the boxes where they stand, leaving the dump-truck-former to facepalm (unimpeded by his lack of a face). Even /he's/ more careful than that!

Whatever Scrapper's last comment was going to be, it doesn't matter. Because it's at this point that something /else/ that was precariously placed finally falls down - onto Scrapper's head. Something big and metal and heavy. Scrapper's missing toolbox. It hits the ground, tools that were in immaculate condition before their latest owner 'acquired' them, sprawling everywhere.

Scrapper stands quite still out of shock as a big, heavy thing perfectly obeys the law of gravity and impacts Scrapper's head. He wobbles a little and then clutches a hand to his head. His back shovel even droops! Then Scrapper blinks a bit, cycles back to normal, and starts to investigate just what hit him in the head and scattered on the floor around him. Then he glances back up at Mixmaster and shakes a fist, yelling, "You had better have a good reason it's raining toolboxes...raining my toolbox!"

Long Haul, STILL being ignored, no doubt because he's Long Haul, trudges over to his two Seekers. "I din't mean like that!" he snaps. He bends over and opens the top box. "If any of this scrap is broken, /you're/ getting the replacements!" Of course, Long Haul, not being technically inclined, can only spot really obvious breakages. Anything too subtle for him is not likely to show up until someone tries to use the bad part - or until Hook notices it.

Mixmaster's optics look as if they're going to pop out of his head for a moment, as the mystery of Scrapper's missing toolbox rears its ugly head. Time to implement emergency constructicon plan omega! No, wait, Plan Omega is where we radio Crystal City and mock a certain guardian sentinel. This is Plan 'Blame another Constructicon.'

But unfortunately, our hero Mixmaster has been arguing with Scrapper and, yes, ignoring someone else in the room. So let's see how Plan 'BAC' works out.. "It was Long Haul's idea!"

Scrapper sets his toolbox to one side and starts gathering up his poor, abused tools, cringing every now and then. Then, he looks from Mixmaster to Long Haul and back to Mixmaster and asks very slowly, "Eh? What did he want with it? It's not like he needs a precision-calibrated multimeter." He crosses his arms and looks at Long Haul sternly, "Am I going to have to give your Seekers to Boncrusher and Hok?"

Long Haul snaps his head up in Mixmaster's direction. "My idea?! I don't even know what the Pitt you're talking about!" Then he turns to Scrapper, looking a bit exasperated despite his inability to actually support a facial expression. "I don't even know what he's talking! What /are/ you guys talking about?"

Mixmaster's optics bulge out again, as his scapegoat is in the room! But Long Haul is acting oblivious (no surprise there,) but it also seems as if he's.. trying to hide something! "You said that Scrapper wouldn't mind!" He yells from his entanglement. "And /then/ you said that you were going to help yourself to some of the nicer-looking pieces of art Scrapper made!"

*Clang!* Long Haul's palm goes to his forehead with a fair amount of force, his fingers brushing his metal mohawk thing. "Mixmaster, will you jus- what the /scrap/ would I do with Scrapper's art?! S'just more stuff for me to lug around!" His tone could possibly be taken as something of an insult towards Scrapper's fine works, but Long Haul isn't thinking of that right now. "Besides, I'm the supply officer! If I want a tool kit, I can get a tool kit! But I doan' use 'em!"

You mutter to yourself, "Buncha leakin' GENIUSES and not a lick of common sense among 'em!"

Scrapper could probably rationally reason out that, gee, the acid scoring on his number nine scalpel is a lot more characteristic of one of the suspects than the other. However, it's his number nine scalpel! It's got acid scoring on it! Scrapper wants to see someone die here! Or at least suffer painfully. That would be nice. Long Haul's cluelessness and what Mixmaster is saying aren't helping any, really. "What? That little junker...and you went along with it? Oh for..." Scrapper glares up at Mixmaster. "Down here! Now!"

"See!" Mixmaster says, squirming in his bonds, his desperation starting to show. "Did you hear that? If he wants a tool kit, he can get one! He makes no apologies! He's also planning to lug around stuff! You heard him!"

"I makin' no apologies 'cause I ain't done nuthin' wrong!" shouts Long Haul, hands flung out angrily at his sides, palms facing the other two, fingers splayed. "And of /course/ I plan to lug stuff around! 'Cos whether I like it or not, Lugging stuff around is my /job/!" Really, sometimes trying to follow Mixmaster in conversation was like... trying to find where parts and supplies are supposed to go in the Earth based supply rooms. Funny thing, that...

Mixmaster could always write a note explaining the conversation and stick it on you.

Scrapper finishes gathering up the remains of his tools and clamps his hands firmly over his audios. Cautiously, he peers up at Mixmaster, who is still not down. From his reclaimed toolkit, Scrapper grabs a laser-cutter, which looks like it has sung its swan song, fires it up, and tosses it at the cables above Mixmaster. There, that feels much better, now to deal with Long Haul and...he's standing right under Mixmaster, isn't he? Uh-oh.

He sure was! Look out world, here comes Miiiiiixmaster!

>KA-LAND!<

"Mixmaster, and a series of cables fall down to the ground. But don't worry, two self-sacrificing brothers are going to break his fall!

Long Haul had only just stepped near his brothers (to better allow for the yelling) when he gets clonked by something that weighs suspiciously like a cement trunk, knocking him over. "Gha!" he exclaims eloquently, falling forward. "Get off my back!" This is /not/ how things are supposed to go! Normally, Long Haul only has to deal with Hook falling on him! It's Mixmaster's 'job' to be fallen ON, dammit!

Scrapper is a (pretty high-heeled) foot. He should be used to his brothers crashing down on him. However, Scrapper doesn't do this 'self-sacrifice' thing very well. Ack! In one last vaguely sensible notion, he hollers, "Both of you! Holo arena! Now!" That way, if he 'accidentally' starts removing limbs, he won't have to just weld them back on an hour later.

"It was Long Haul's idea!" Mixy says as he goes into the arena, cables still tangled on his body.

Mixmaster has left.

Mixmaster enters the Holo Arena.

"Liar!" Long Haul shouts back, like a bickering child, as he follows. Isn't it wonderful how the brothers bring out the very best in each other?

You enter the Holo Arena.

Holo Arena

Inside the Holo Arena are black, rubber-coated walls to protect the steel and also to reduce the noise, as these sparring matches can get very violent. A central control room is suspended from the ceiling, heavily reinforced to protect the advanced computer that controls the holo-imaging and stores thousands of simulation scenariors. If a desired scenario isn't already available, then the computer allows for additional programming.

Contents:

Mixmaster

Training Drone <NCC/Trypticon>

Scrapper comes into the Holo Arena.

Mixmaster trudges into the arena. "Honestly Scrapper, if you wanted to be embarrassed, there are less painful ways than this. But, well, I guess you have to spice things up. I can't trounce you through trumpet playing /all/ the time.." Mixy forgets what he was talking about earlier. "Uh, I mean it's Long Haul's fault."

Long Haul crosses his arms and looks at Mixmaster, his body language radiating anger in indignation. "Hnh. I would ask just /what/ was my fault, but I bet by now /you've/ forgotten it, too!"

Mixmaster shakes off a couple of his wires that are still strewn on his body. "Shut up! I still know!" Hmm, maybe it's his fault that these wires are on him?

Scrapper has had far too many things fall on his head to today and has seen his beautiful tools ruined. He has a headache like he tried to think about his origin. Scrapper is not in a good mood at all and paces over to a wall. He taps along it, pops open a panel, and removes a trumpet, waving it vaguely as he fumes, "One or both of you are lying, and you haven't even bothered to make your stories match up! That's just galling! So...let's see how well your tales match up percussively, eh?" He glares at Mixmaster. "I'm not going to fight you. Long Haul is!" Because they're Decepticons, the loser is obviously lying. Something like truth serum or a lie detector would make far too much sense.

Mixmaster looks at Long Haul, who he has been bickering with for the past while. Then he looks at his brother, who seems to expect Mixmaster to perform like a trained turbo-seal. Hasn't Scrapper learned yet? That Mixmaster doesn't do what he's told. At least, not by him. "Don't tell /me/ what to do, brother!" Mixy yells at happy Scrappy, emphasising his point with a backhand.

Mixmaster strikes Scrapper with Constructicon Smackdown.

Long Haul, who is normally eager for any excuse to fight, is highly tempted to /not/ fight this time just to piss of Scrapper. Then Mixmaster attacks Scrapper, and Long Haul decides that /that/ would make for an excellent plan as well. But instead of running toward his brother (don't want to seem like /too/ much of a copycat) he pulls out his laser and fires. "Uhm, yeah! What he said!" See? Constructicons can occasionally agree with each other!

You strike Scrapper with Pathetic Laser.

Scrapper bridles, "And just who has the big purple wing around here, huh? Me!" And then he gets smacked and shot. He glowers and sputters, ''If you're both going to be so difficult, I'm going to assume you're both lying! Long Haul, no Seekers for you! Mixmaster...oh for..." Scrapper pauses. Eh. He'll just sign Mixmaster up for Energonaholics Anonymous. Now, Scrapper turns on his heel with what he assumes is a flourish and stalks out to do just that, ranting about just punishment as he goes.

Scrapper has disconnected.

Mixmaster turns from Scrapper who is now retreating, to his brother. "Now look what you've gone and done!" Mixmaster snaps at Long Haul as he runs toward him. "You got us /both/ in trouble!" Mixmaster follows his accusation up with a 'gut' punch to Long Haul.

Mixmaster strikes you with Lime Green Fists! for 5 points of damage.

"Uhn," grunts Long Haul as he takes the punch. "Look what /I've/ done?" he shouts back. "You're the one trying to blame me for... I don't even know what you're trying to blame me for! And you lost me my seekers, dammit!" He was having fun tormenting those seekers! To vent his frustration, and return the favor of Mixmaster's attack, he swings at him in a plain, graceless arc.

You strike Mixmaster with Big Liar Head!.

Mixmaster is too busy 'emoting' to notice the graceless black (not green! black!) fist of Long Haul connect with his skullplate. "You're getting upset over a pair of Seekers?!" Mixmaster says as he steadies himself again. "They're a deci-litre a dozen!" Mixmaster breaks out his laser pistol, and decides to send a quick blast in the direction of his brother.

Mixmaster strikes you with Laser Pistol! (Low) for 7 points of damage.

Long Haul is shot in the shoulder, scorching his pretty green shoulder guards. "Yeah, so?" he grumbles. "S'not like I get any to command or anything, usually!" Usually Long Haul was dumped on (or in, as the case may be), and he rarely has the chance to dump on others. Well, aside his own brothers, but it's not like they ever take orders. They don't even take orders from Scrapper, who's technically their boss! "'Sides, what I'm /torqued/ about is you tryin' to blame me for whatever the scrap you were doin'!" He scuttles backwards a couple more steps and then falls forward, backing up a bit more before throwing himself in high gear and roaring towards his brother.

Long Haul folds in on himself and transforms into a dump truck.

You strike Mixmaster with Who's The Boss?.

Mixmaster gets knocked about by the dumptruck! Mixy doesn't bother to get up from where he fell, instead he himself transforms! "I didn't know you were there!" He says. It's standard constructicon procedure to blame the others, so he's not going to apologize for that at all. What he /is/ going to do, however, is coat Long Haul with something that should take the paint off him and hurt him while it happens! A nozzle extends from the end of his cab, and Mixmaster shoots forth the most potent acid he's made thus far, hopefully coating his dear old brother.

Mixmaster leans down as his legs fold up backwards. He falls down frontwards as he completes his transformation into a Green Cement Truck. His Cauldron begins rotating once again.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> strikes you with Fast-Acting Acid Coat! for 13 points of damage.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s Fast-Acting Acid Coat! attack continues to sear away at you, doing 6 damage.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s Fast-Acting Acid Coat! attack continues to sear away at you, doing 3 damage.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s Fast-Acting Acid Coat! attack wears off at last.

Dump Truck <Long Haul>'s paint job is ruined! Long Haul's hurting in the process! "Aaaaah.... SCRAP!" Long Haul screams, pulling back as fast as he can (which isn't very fast at all). Lucky for Mixmaster this is all virtual, or he would have just made more work for himself, what with the paint mixing and all. Long Haul transforms and pushes himself off the floor in a motion that is practiced, if not pretty, and runs forward deliver a lime green kick in his brother's direction. "You're gonna hurt for that!" he threatens lamely.

The dump truck stretches out and unfolds into Long Haul.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> evades your Dump Truck Foot attack.

"Am I?" Mixmaster asked, a mocking tone in is voice, as he reverses away from Long Haul's strike. But Mixy doesn't waste a minute, and while Haulie is still there, Mixmaster revs his engine and rushes forward to his brother, hoping to mow him down.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> strikes you with Cement Truck Knockdown! for 13 points of damage.

Long Haul is knocked backwards, and slides a bit on his rear as Mixmaster pushes him a bit. "Yeah!" he shouts back, then continues on, a bit less certainly, "S'just... maybe later insteada sooner!" With that he clasps both fists together and, moving just enough to get better angle of attack, brings his black hands down towards his brother's hood.

Outside, Long Haul strikes Cement Truck <Mixmaster> with Two Fists Are Better Than One.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> sits there, pleased at how he plowed through his brother.. forgetting that he will be up soon to return the favour. Eep! Mixy crunches his gears as he tries to reverse but it's too late, and Long Haul smacks him one good, leaving a sizable holo dent on his cab.

Mixmaster transforms as he decides to return the favour, giving his brother a sharp kick in his side.

The Cement Truck's cab folds down and splits in two, forming Mixmaster's legs and feet. His wheels and part of his sides shift out into his arms, which push himself up. The Constructicon lifts himself up onto his feet and looks eagerly for something to smelt.

Mixmaster strikes you with Cement Shoes for 5 points of damage.

Long Haul grunts as his brother delivers the kick to his side, but his only comment is, "Was that s'posed to hurt?" as he reaches over to try and grab the offending leg. Should he succeed he intends to pull, hard, to yank Mixmaster off his feet and into the floor.

You strike Mixmaster with The Floor.

"Well, um, yeah, it wa-OW!" Mixmaster says in response to his brother's question, when he suddenly gets slammed to the ground. "That /hurt!/" He snaps at his brother, before taking a swipe at Long Haul's own legs, hoping to knock Haulie down th the floor too.

Mixmaster strikes you with Constructicon Smackdown for 3 points of damage.

Long Haul was already /on/ the floor! He never got up after Mixmaster mowed him down earlier! He's been fighting from the floor since then! "It was supposed to!" he snaps back as Mixmaster, somewhat pointlessly, delivers a rather wussy kick to his leg. Then he leans back, taking advantage of his position to transform all the more easily, and powers up his rockets, attempting to use them against the floor-bound target that is his brother.

Long Haul folds in on himself and transforms into a dump truck.

Mixmaster evades your Anti-Cement Truck Rocket attack.

Mixmaster, luckily still on the ground, stays down while the rockets soar past him. "You'd better have more in store than that!" He snaps at his brother. He accesses his gun from subspace again, shooting Long Haul right in the cab.

Mixmaster strikes you with Laser Pistol! (High) for 11 points of damage.

Dump Truck <Long Haul> is shot right in the cab! Ohno! If he had a driver, that guy would be in really big trouble! "What izzit with you guys going after my cab? Not like I need it for anything!" And with that something occurs to him that should have occured to him before. He's a dump truck. Mixmaster is laying on the ground. Time to tray and run someone over!

You strike Mixmaster with Smashed 'Neath His TIRES!.

Mixmaster has no answer for why they always attack the cab, it's just somewhere to shoot! But even if he did, it would be replaced the the "AAH! EEH! OOH! WAAH!" that he makes as four large tyres drive over him. "You got skidmarks on my cauldron!" Mixmaster yells angrily. Ooh, this schmuckicon is gonna hurt now.. Mixmaster's nozzle extends from his headpiece, spraying even more noxious (virtual!) chemicals on the floor of the holo arena.

Mixmaster strikes you with Wide-Angle Acid Spray! for 14 points of damage.

Dump Truck <Long Haul> hurts! "Yeeeoooouch!" Again with the acid! Not the Long Haul should have expected anything else, really, but still. As if his paint job weren't already virtually ruined from earlier, this is definitely the end of it! He transforms again, nor more gray then green and black, his TIRES suffering from Mixmaster's dangerous brew, and he runs towards his brother, intent on kicking his brother while he's still down.

The dump truck stretches out and unfolds into Long Haul.

Mixmaster evades your Dump Truck Foot attack.

<Decepticon> Soundwave says, "Time until assault; 1,265 astro-seconds."

<Decepticon> Soundwave says, "Lord Galvatron. Commander Cyclonus. Our primary assault force is prepared for transportation."

Mixmaster TIRES of the problems with Long Haul's TYRES! He also gets out of the way in time from Haulie's kick. Deciding to remain on the floor no more, Mixmaster gets up, taking a close-range shot with his pistol to buy him some time for a retreat.

Mixmaster strikes you with Laser Pistol! (Low) for 5 points of damage.

Long Haul has no problem with Mixmaster having tyres, but he has TIRES, dammit! Just like he has colors even while Mixmaster has colours! It's all relative here (and in this case we're not talking about relatives as in the two being brothers). The shot takes him mid-grill and scorches the metal, but even as badly hurt as the transporter is, it's a rather weak shot. Still, he pulls out his own laser and fires after his retreating brother, intending to close the distance shortly (if he lasts that long!)

You strike Mixmaster with Pathetic Laser.

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "Excellent."

Mixmaster will call them Tyres, and you'll damn well like it, beeotch! Mixmaster follows up with a higher-power blast from his gun, still running away. If Long Haul keeps on chasing, they'll look like a pair of human children playing cops & robbers. Yay!

Mixmaster strikes you with Laser Pistol! (High) for 4 points of damage.

A rumble can be heard to the west... as if a portion of the city itself were moving.

Mixmaster can call them whatever he wants, but they're still leaking tires! Right now, quite literally, as the holes the acid put in them earlier lets the air at. And Long Haul does, indeed, keep chasing, because, well, there's not much else to do at this point! He can't punch someone who's across the room, and his flat tires have rendered his alt mode more or less useless, so he uses the only option available to him and fires as he continues to run.

You strike Mixmaster with Pathetic Laser.

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "All available units, report to my location at once."

Running! Shooting! Running! Whee! And now that Long Haul has his reactions dulled with a predictable routine of running and shooting, Mixy transforms! And hits reverse!

Mixmaster leans down as his legs fold up backwards. He falls down frontwards as he completes his transformation into a Green Cement Truck. His Cauldron begins rotating once again.

You evade Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s Cement Truck Knockdown! attack.

Long Haul's optic band flashes in surprise and he leaps clumsily out of the way, but a clumsy leap is still sufficient. He turns as quickly as he can (not very quick, but still... he's fighting a cement truck here!) and swings a (mostly black) fist towards Mixmaster's door as he backs past.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> evades your Hit 'Em Inna Door! attack.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s unfortunate to miss, but at least he's going too fast for Long Haul to land a good hit either. Mixmaster wastes no time, his thermal emitter cannon already extended and ready to melt some paint (that is the COLOUR of green) off his hyde.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> strikes you with Thermal Beam! for 4 points of damage.

Long Haul stumbles backwards, but by this point there's little enough paint left to scorch, leaving the other to char bare metal instead. He's in obvious pain and very near the end of his endurance, but determined to make Mixmaster pay for... what the hell was it they were fighting about again? Well, whatever it was, Long Haul wants to make him hurt. He stumbles forward, raising both fists and bringing them down against the cab.

You strike Cement Truck <Mixmaster> with Two Fists Are Better Than One.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> doesn't miss /that/ punch, however. Oh well, this worse-for-wear Mixer has one hope left, that this chemical spray eats out his optics so Long Haul can't see where to punch. It's either that or the junkpile.. the nozzle extends, sprays, and..

You evade Cement Truck <Mixmaster>'s Fast-Acting Acid Coat! attack.

...and apparently the damage Mixmaster has taken is interfering with his aim, because we all know that Long Haul doesn't move particularly quickly. A slight stumble is enough to take him out of the way of the poorly aimed spray, and in response Long Haul raises his hand to give the dump truck an open handed slap. "Stop that!" he says, as though rebuking a puppy for piddling on the carpet.

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> evades your Bad Mixmaster! No Treat! attack.

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "NCC is to be placed in battlestation mode. Full alert status. Is that understood?"

<Decepticon> Mixmaster says, "Um.. sure thing, Galvatron.. OW! Quit it, Long Haul!"

Cement Truck <Mixmaster> is too fast for Long Haul! Neener neener! But if Long Haul is gonna slap, Mixmaster is gonna follow through. "YOU stop that!" He yells back, transforming and responding with flurry of backhands.

You evade Mixmaster's Constructicon Smackdown attack.

Long Haul is getting tired of this comedy of errors, and has pretty much forgotten why he was fighting Mixmaster to begin with. Still, before stumbling off, he attempts one last kick against Mixmaster's leg. "I WILL!" he shouts back as he kicks, then, hit or miss, he turns and stumbles out.

You strike Mixmaster with Dump Truck Foot.

Mixmaster falls to the ground unconscious.