And then there were Ten

RULES / MUSES

"Do you think just because of your fancy tricks you can best us, Autobot? Your jests mean nothing to the new leader of the Decepticons!" Shrill voice cried, Starscream landing with an arrogant growl in his throat.

"I should thank you, though. Dealing with Megatron has left me the opening I needed to rule the Decepticons the right way! The fool was too focused on the old. Cybertron is gone and with it, all those lofty ideals! Now, I'll rule this insipid planet and show them who really ought to-"

The words are cut off as the purple light behind them is far too bright to ignore now, though only able to register it fast enough to know what is coming; the blast of energy sending the small Decepticon through one wall and the next as the beam tore a hole clean out into the cool night air.

"You would know something about jokes, wouldn't you, Starscream?"

The towering cybertronian stepped through the rubble, glowering eyes staring daggers at Ben now as she cracked her neck. There were visible dents and deep gashes in Megatron's outer armor, though she didn't seem as worse for wear as one might expect.

He wasn't about to waste his time trying to question someone as fanatic as this, but he thankfully wouldn't have to, as the faux-Prime's eyes go wide behind his visor seeing a familiar violet glow from behind the traitor just moments before he was blasted away, the smoke clearing to reveal a visage now very familiar to him.

Ben posture shifted defensively, prepared to make a witty remark about the Decepticon 'catching her train', but was caught off by... words.

A threat, to be certain, but still no less said in pursuit of negotiation.

Green eyes narrow for a moment, before shifting down to supply line he'd crashed into- even as a human he'd be able to identify alien war machines being manufactured, but something about his current form let him identify the more important aspect of the energy sources.

He knew the word intrinsically, meaning & all, before it escaped him.

"... energon." He said it aloud, voice & expression betraying his own surprise, not at the materials being here but at knowing the name at all. Something that made his gaze quickly re-lock with Megatron's.

A brief stint of silence, the faux-Cybertronian visibly taking her suggestion to think on this seriously... before, his stance relaxed.

"You're right, this technology doesn't belong here. that much is obvious." Especially to him, evidently- he'd been to Area 51. He knows what the government meddling with stolen technology looked like. "Whether it belongs to you, or the 'Autobots', I don't know- nor is it my place to weigh in on it. All I know is that it shouldn't be here."

Large arms crossed over his chest, clearly not 'happy' with this conclusion, not having forgotten Megatron's gambit from their first encounter... but, this was no longer some simple robbery.

Without taking his eyes from her, he takes several steps backward, out of the way from between her forces and what they were here for.

"As of seeing what's being meddled with, this location has voided it's right to my protection... so, take what you want." He permitted with a sigh, not waiting for a response before tapping the device now located at the center of his chest; a FLASH put away the Cybertronian visage, replacing it with a far more ghastly form floating in it's place.

"B u t y o u s h o u l d n o t b e s u r p r i s e d i f w e s e e

e a c h o t h e r a g a i n , M e g a t r o n."

"Oh, people here are very friendly!" Cream affirmed, nodding his head to the other's sentiment. "You won't find many here willing to complain about help. We're all, um, a bit overtaxed as it is on a good day. After the One Year War, everything was out of wack for awhile."

Whisper visibly tensed at the mention of the War, though did her best to just focus on giving Rocket a good pat as the Wisps took pride in being such a big help in the previous rough encounter they'd had. Still, the wolf's ear twitched, moving to keep the conversation going as she chuffed.

<Things are getting back to normal nowadays, but the Restoration is still giving aid wherever it's needed.> Whisper explained, humming quietly in thought. <Eggman never rests, so neither can we. So the more hands the better.>

"Mhm!" Cream continued, as Whisper returned to working on her vehicle. "Metal Sonic is, uh, one of Eggman's Super Badniks. So they're one of the strongest he has to offer. Well, arguably the strongest... Though, um, your powers work off of biological stuff, doesn't it?"

The question is poised as the teenager tries to get a better look at the Omnitrix, tilting his head in contemplative thought.

He doesn't pry, merely giving a knowing nod at Whisper's addition. He knew all about never-ending battles... even if he had a shockingly good track record at actually putting an end to them.

What the rabbit said after that, though, makes the hero cock his head to the side questioningly, looking between him and the Omnitrix.

"Weeeeeell... the creator would say it's a lot more complicated than that, because 'life' isn't limited to the biological, but... more or less?" He answers, waving the watch-bearing arm around as he spoke, not about to bore a kid with all the little details of how the device worked.

What was more important than that was it being a setup to a warning.

He was already so high up... so Alice figured he'd be able to spot the merry ragtag crew as they began through the clearing toward the path ahead, even as she used a spell to give them a bit more light to see their surroundings. It wasn't much, but at least they wouldn't be blind.

Eventually, another clearing in the trees opened up around the entrance to a cave, where the same trail of damage went from the trees to the ground, and eventually even to the stone, as by the looks of it someone exceptionally strong was dragged into it.

The trailing Ectonurite floating down to examine the scene right as the group reached it, nodding at the sight.

"Yep, Kev is definitely in there." He says, not sounding the least bit concerned for his friend's safety despite the scene, before turning his gaze down to Alice. "This'll be pretty dangerous, so I can handle things from here." He said with complete confidence, in spite of the clear disparity between him and the group, and the fact he'd already admitted to losing. "Appreciate the help. I'll seeya to return that favor aft-"

The Ectonurite's words of gratitude were abruptly interrupted by what might've been recognized as the animated bandages of a mummy, dusted with an odd glowing purple substance, launching out of the darkness of the cave, instantaneously wrapping the ghost up, and after a comical pause of blinking, yanking him inside.

Before the heroes could attempt a rescue (or decide whether they'd even try), the sound of a rumbling growl rang out from up above.

Several beastly silhouettes outlined by the night sky atop the mouth of the cave, dropping down between the group and the poor stranger that just got whisked away, revealed to be... werewolves?

That's what it'd initially seem like as the small pack of three took a clearly hostile stance against the four, fangs bared...

His initial response to the name of the valley only earned a few audible blinks as they were unsure what the other meant. It was a somewhat standard naming convention in the Underworld.

When the next questions were asked, she did perk back up just a bit. So this person was looking for their friends...? Admittedly, the descriptions did sound vaguely familiar, but she sort of doubted they were the right people, considering.

"Um.. we know someone made of paper mache?" She offers, clearly aware that wasn't quite what he meant given she shook her head right after.

In the background, the android girl was staring at Ben still, before glancing at the others' way. "Scans indicate that this is a Ghost." She asserted, before returning her attention to the conversation.

"If it isn't a Ghost, a sample of a new species could do wonders for plague research..." The other skeleton murmured, barely audible over the ambience of the forest.

The peanut gallery was very chatty, at the very least, while the frankenling was more busy watching Ben with absolute silence. Imposing fella.

The singular green eye darts between the girl's different companions as they add their individual two-cents into the conversation, though he doesn't respond vocally to any of it... the Ectonurite's singular eye just starting to become ever slightly more concerned by their talk.

At Alice's (party-reluctant) offer, though, he refocuses on her.

"Oh, that'd be a real help! I'll owe ya one!" Ben says, nodding his head and turning to survey the area. "They can't have gone too far from here, I'd have turned back to normal by now if it had been that long."

Before Alice would be able to ask for any elaboration on what he meant by 'back to normal', the supposed ghost would fly up into the air to look down on the area with a birds-eye view, trying to get a bigger picture that he could pick out clues for.

Before being promptly reminded that this device didn't actually receive audio, which meant that she could do nothing but show her begrudging attitude as he promptly hung up on her. Along with a comment behind her from Webs that she just as promptly tuned out. Right, if it was right there, she'd get to it... after finishing up what she was doing.

Hence it's why, a short time later, the party led by the skelie-witch headed down the pathway for the.. battleground? A blink, as bright purple eyes scanned the scene before her. Was a Creepy nearby...? Just as the thought arised to take a quick power nap before something happened, a voice that made her bolt upright.

A staff was raised overhead like she might have bonked the ghost clean on the head, though was stopped when he thankfully didn't seem dangerous either... at least for now. So the spirit was able to see the skelie-witch, the green-haired skeleton behind her peering around her with a look of discontent, the hulking frankenling behind them, and then finally the blue-haired robot girl flying just above Bolt to see Ben.

It was certainly.. a group.

Still, the witch's attention turned to the question at hand, along with the words preceding it. This was definitely a very strange night...

"And you're a ghost?" Alice would retort, in a rare moment of sass. "You're in Horrorvale- or, um, the woods around Horrorvale- though, the whole valley is also called Horrorvale.. um.."

The Transylian and the android on the other hand were both entirely normal to him, of course, so he wasn't surprised about them.

What was a little surprising was how the skeleton responded, the specter not turning around, but it's singular green eye traveling along the black membrane to the back of his head to stare at her.

"Ectonurite, actually. Common mistake." He replied, before the eye would travel back to his 'face', before he turns back around to face the group properly once she'd sort-of answered his own question.

"Horrorvale, huh? That's a bit on the nose, isn't it?" He asks back, clawed hands on his nonexistent hips. He hadn't heard of the town or the valley, but again, that wasn't really unexpected. Really would have preferred a planetary designation for that reason, but there would be plenty of time for that later. For now, important things come first.

Like finding the friends he'd fell down here with.