A CAT’S TOY Pacific Northwest A mixture of level plains and vast forested mountain chains compose much of the northwestern regions of the United States. Shrubby low-lying deserts alternate with forested and occasionally tundra -- or ice capped -- mountains. The most prominent of these are the Rocky Mountains, extending in full from Canada to New Mexico. Another mountainous chain, known as the Cascade Range of Oregan and Washington is a lofty range with a complicated geological history, one which includes several alterations due to the nature of volcanic activity. These areas present the last refuge of many of the big game animals that have been a favorite of human hunters over the years: elk, pronghorn, moose, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, timber wolves, and in some remote areas, brown bears. Contents: Tomcat [Human] [H] Mount St Hillary Seattle Tomcat stands at a hilltop a suprising distance from Hillary. Several people might be anxious if he went this far alone....so he snuck out. Shrubby blanketed by the oncoming birth of spring slightly rustles somewhere beneath the hilltop where the human boy postures himself. By outward appearances little is out of the ordinary. Simply some sort of animal making his way through the wooded area... Tomcat peers towards the sound. Usual sound or no.....he's grown up learning to listen to everything. Even if he is used to an urban environment. After awhile of nothing seeming to emerge...he turns his gaze slowly back towards the lake.....then looks downwards. Realizing he's standing in a huge footprint (Sludge's) The rustling stops for a moment. And, for a rather brief time, there may have the sudden uncomfortable feeling you are currently being watched. The wind whistles about, giving little hint anything may be amiss. After a few long minutes the slight rustling continues. The budding leaves upon the fauna sway and seem to trail towards the distant mountain of Hillary herself... Tomcat narrows his eyes for a moment....although he continues to stare ahead. Oh yes.....something does -not- feel right here. Almost casually.... he looks left.....then right....and begins to walk along, with his hands in his pockets....as if nothing is out of the ordinary..... A sudden, horrific snarl of a forest dweller, possibly a fox, is heard not far from the hill's base. Sure enough, the animal backs away from the camoflage offered by the leaves and branches of nearby shrubs and into view. She begins barking at whatever has decided to invade within her designated area in attempts of attepmting to frighten the intruder. A cub or two is seen behind the mother...wimpering. one of the young one's happens to sniff the air and looks dirrectly at the young human boy. He tilts his had in curiosity while his sibling baps him on the head and pushes him further behind his mother. The second cub then takes notice of the boy as well. He sniffs the air too, recognizing the scent as that of Man. He yips anxiously at the mother's paws... Tomcat pauses and stares for a moment....thinking something really not right here. He turns back to his walk for a moment, starting down the hillside and around the side of a very large boulder. Tomcat tries to peek back without being seen. He kind of fails miserably though. No doubt those foxes are going to go into a riot now. The mother fox immediatly snaps her head around as her young gain her attention. They had appearantly lost track of the small human...but not for too long. As he once disappereared, his reappearance brings him closer. The mother turns from her sight of Tom...to whatever she feels threatening her and her childern. Without a second thought she snaps at the cubs... chasing them away from the immediate sight, wanting no part with whatever that had invaded her domain. There is some more brief rustling within the shrubbery before it once more falls silent after the animals have left. Strange. Another type of animal? But wouldn't such a threat to the fox be a bit more...vocal at least? As a quietness again falls there may be a distinct feeling the animal in question may not have departed. Indeed... once more there may be a feeling you are being closely studdied. Tomcat continues to peer for a moment....then disappears back around the side of the rock again.... If one were to follow around to there......it seems as if he disappeared from sight. The serene calmness is then shattered as shining glass slits of ruby peer out from the foliage...followed by the mettalic hide of a robtioc feline predator. The mechanoid ventures a little more fully, uncharacteristically revealing himself before his time. However, it seems as if, in *his* view, he may have been spotted. And such a thing can not be allowed to be passed to his enemies if his assignment were to work. He emits a low growl. A hunter, searching for his prey... Tomcat huddles underneath the boulder, moving silently to another spot at the side. He claws at the dirt, exposing a very small hole for him to peak through, catching sight of the purple cat. He breathes an almost inadible, "Woah..." Ravage perks up his ears...as if listing to a sound, any type of sound, as he strides towards the boulder. Without warning he leaps atop the boulder and surveys the area, narrowing his optics further. He sniffs the air once or twice, trying to pick up a scent even as he looks at the dirt surrounding his self-proclaimed perch. Tomcat erks quietly.....trying to think what he should do. He caught a climpse of that purple symbol. And his memory serves him well in reminding that this isn't one of the friendly ones. He can almost certainly figure its only a matter of time before he gets caught....and desperately he starts to dig in his pouch.... Ravage lands back to the woodland floor with the grace the species he was patterned after is known for. Yes...indeed. Very amusing. He studdies the boulder a little and simply begins circling. Ravage pauses as he eyes a particular... unnatural indenture within the ground recently made. Curious as ever he peers closer. The scent is rather strong he notices. Tomcat gulps and continues to dig through his pouch, grabbing what he was searching for. It looks like nothing more than a small egg....and he peers back towards the way he got in. Its big enough for Ravage to probably fit in......if he crawls. Ravage begins digging within the dirt...trying to get at the bouy, his prey. He knows well enough not to get himself trapped within small places. However, if there were a way he could get within the small niche *without* the indignity of *crawling* he will do so. As his paws brush aside the pieces of ground his mechanized animalistic sounds can be ominously heard... Tomcat gulps. "Hope this works...." he says, tossing the small egg shaped device towards the widening hole, causing it to roll out almost under Ravage's nose. Ravage stops his pawing enough to examine the small thing. After all... what can a mere human child have which could hold a threat to the Decepticon Master of Stealth? Thinking he would humor the organic flesh-creature the feline even goes as far as to sniff the small device. the corners of his mouth seem to even twitch. Tomcat turns away from the opening and covers his eyes.... The small device suddenly bursts in a -VERY- bright flash, giving a loud BANG accompanying it too. To the kids on the street......they're known as flashbangs....very easy to make...and they can be temporarily blinding to look at them. Tomcat wastes no time as he hears the bang, he's already out the hole he came in and running. Ravage releases a startled howl of rage and pain at the small explosion. Shuts his optics tightly and jerks back...manaing to his his head against the top of the boulder. the huge rock tilts just as Tom is leaving and manages to snare the metallic cat within a trap. The Decepticon blindly thrashes wildly in attempts to wrench hismelf free... Tomcat can't help it...he stops to stare, actually smirking to himself. Ever the antagonist...he calls out, "Ain't ya ever heard curiosity killed the cat!?" Ravage continuing struggling. His pride is badly tarnished. And the human's taunts aren't helping matters. "You shall regret this day, flesh creature!" his muffled voice retorts as a front should scrapes against the bare stone. ROLL: Ravage's random Strength roll succeeds. OOC: Tomcat eeps! Tomcat snickers....then suddenly realizes Ravage is starting to get free. "Oh crap!" he says, turning and starting to hoof it. Ravage's anger fules his strength as his bulk pulls his head from underneath the momentary imprisonment. But something is wrong. The Decepticon is still rather bling. His over-sensitivity to light is one thing he curses relentlessly. However, his sense of smell is not affected. He inputs Tom's particular scent within his own data banks. Nor is his sense of hearing affaceted. He hears the fleeing steps of the fleshling and growls deeply in annoyance. "Run, human. For you have just become one among the prey for the master of the hunt. Reckoning will come..." Tomcat slips and ends up tumbling down a large embankment, his body twisting and turning then suddenly coming to a violent stop as he gets caught on a tree branch. "UGH!" Well..actually its more like his jacket that's caught. Ravage shakes his head in order to clear it as little by little his sight begins to return. His head perks up at the noise of the boy's own entrapment. he grins evilly to himself and softly pads over to the embankment's edge, peering down. Although only able to see shapes at the moment his vision is improving as his internal repair systems stress to undo the damage done to them. He narrows his optics and stares within the lad's direction, daring for the human to toss any taunts *now*. Twin Twist arrives from the south. Twin Twist has arrived. OOC: Ravage says, "Eep! :)" Tomcat tries to untangle his jacket, pulling away with a loud *RIIIIIIIIIIP* as the fabric gives way. Somewhere he feels a bit of guilt....Candice got him that jacket. But there's little time for that as he tumbles the rest of the way....losing his hat in the process as well......finally smacking onto the ground at the bottom of the hill..... winded. Twin Twist is heading back towards the mountain, and home. His spiked treads carry him in a straight line, over road and unpaved ground Ravage begins is slow decent towards the bottom of the hill, marking his movemnets as measured. After all, the boy cannot be going very far from within his present state. And, even if he could, the feline could easily match his speed. His present actions resemble that of a cat toying with a kiyse... Ravage slides a little as he continues down. But he quickly regains his balance as he makes his final approach. "Any more such parcels of wisdom on cats you wish to share?" he growls ominiously. Tomcat growls once. He still isn't about to give in yet as he slowly sits up, peering at the cat. "Ain't ya gotta chase one of them uh...." he remembers that incident with Daris. "Turbo-rats? Huh? Don't cats like rats?" Twin Twist is getting closer. Apparently deciding to take a shortcut, he dives underground, visible as a moving hill of dirt. He rounds the top of the hill and starts downwards Ravage doesn't immediatly anwer. Instead he leaps towards and actually right over Tom. He pins the young lad with his weight easliy enough. Strangly...he doesn't bear down. Such an act would all too easily crush the boy and end the small game. "I perfer...*mice*," he retorts within a low voice. "You will do *nicely* I think." The feline stares down at the human child with two orbs of scarlet, "Indeed..." Tomcat's eyes widen as he peers up at Ravage, breathing heavily...and grunting from the pressure that -is- there to begin with. "Ugh...hey, it’s bad man...ners...for a pet to jump up on ya...." he continues to stare eye to optic with Ravage...as he reaches for his tool belt with one hand again. A tactic when pickpocketing.......keep them talking and distracted....while you do something else. Maybe it can work here.... ROLL: Ravage's random Intelligence roll fails. OOC: Ravage says, "Doh :)" OOC: Tomcat nyah nyahs. "Dumb kitty." :) OOC: Ravage ain't dumb! Er...mentally challenged! Twin Twist digs through the soft soil like an oversized gopher. Suddenly he stops short, his ground sonar picking up a familiar energy signature. He sends out a loud pulse that vibrates the ground Tomcat thinks he feels the ground vibrate under his back...then again he's -kind- of preocupied at the moment. Just a little further....his fingers start to dig through his pouch, trying to be nonchalant about it. "Whatsamatter? Cat got yer tongue?" Ravage ignores the human's arm movements since he's too preoccupied with other matters at the moment. "A pet?" he responds with darkened amusement. "I think *not*, fleshcreature. I do find you amusung. But your prattle is becoming rather tiresome." He bends down lower. if he had breath, Tom would be feeling it across his neck. "A fact that can be remidied, don't you agree?" He stops as he begins becoming acutely aware of the tremors...Ravage waits until the tremors fade. He flicks his tail. "Well, now..." Twin Twist is suddenly on the move again, sure of his reading this time. With shocking speed, the moving mound shoots towards Ravage. In an explosion of dirt and rock, he breaks the surface about 25 feet away, porposing up out of the ground and landing with a crash on his treads. Tomcat gulps. "Uh..yeah I agree.....oh....by the way..." he says during Ravage's moment of distraction......that and the sudden surge of dirt from Twin Twist's arrival....he takes ahold of his socket wrench and aims for one heck of a wallop on Ravage's nose. Ravage quickly snaps his head upwards at the Jumpstarter's arrival. An Autobot! *here* of all places?! Well, than again, he is quite near their base. Doh! He's quite taken off guard by the pesky brat's attack. This coupled with the sudden Autobot suprise causes him to jump back a little startled...perhaps giving Tom just barely enough time to roll out from under him. Tomcat makes a break for it as soon as Ravage jumps back, clutching his chest from the weight. He proceeds to trip and stumble forward....losing one of his sneakers as well but he dosen't stop, leaping right into a nearby bush. Unfortunately...he finds out they're brambles. OUCH! Twin Twist gives a delighted snarl, lining up Ravage in his sights between his drills now that the human is out of the way. He spins his treads, making ready for a charge... Ravage is busy rubbing his nose with a front paw. He flickers a glance towards Twin Twist and gathers the small distance between him and the boy, placing himself in between. "Fire on me...and you harm the fleshing," he warns... Tomcat pulls himself over a bit...the brambles tearing at his clothing... and his skin. "Ow!" he yelps....then suddenly looks back, mentally omparing Twin Twist to a raging bull. "I don't think he's plannin to shoot!" he calls out, hoping to see Ravage get smeared all over the landscape. Ravage very well knows what Twin Twist is going to do. Well, almost anuyway. The point is if action is taken against hin, provided Tomcat doesn't free himself and leave the vicinity, the boy will also be harmed. And for an Autobot to bring harm to a human being...tsk, tsk. Tomcat proceeds to pull and tear at the brambles again...trying to get out of his little entrampment. Whoops.....Tom never was very strong....and he bites his lip as a particularly nasty thorn digs into his wrist, a tiny trickle of blood running down his arm. Twin Twist shoots forwards, picking up speed while ripping the turf to shreds. He doesn't even seem to have heard the warning. Then at the last moment, he flips up into robot mode in a split second, the momentum carrying him in a high arc. With a distinctly un-Autobotlike sadistic grin, he attempts to give Ravage a taste of his own medicine by pouncing on him for a change. Twin Twist transforms into Robot mode. Twin Twist flips up to form a robot faster than you can follow. Ravage is widely known for his agility...something he places into practice at the moment. He quickly darts out of the way and bounds a few feet from the Autobot and the human. If he attacks or open fire all this Autobot would have to do was call for backup....which is quite readily accessible from here. He makes a conscious decesion to perhaps return another day...and maybe finish the little game he had with this particular human as well... Twin Twist lands on his feet, overbalancing a bit and thumping down on his hands. Spinning around, he makes a wild grab and attempts to take the literal tiger by the tail. Tomcat digs out his wirecutters...the same ones Blurr gave to him. They can clip through wires in a transformer....they do wonders on a thornbush... and soon he's literally tearing the bush to shreds in his bid for freedom. It isn't long before he stands, scratched...hurting and bloodied...but free. Ravage growls in return as he again swiftly moves out of the jumpstarter's reach. He takes a swipe at a nearby tree...hoping to bring it sown on the opponant as he takes his leave... Ravage doesn't wait to hear if the tree crashes or makes it's intended impact, He directly heads into the nearby foliage to again disappear... Twin Twist oofs as the tree hits him on the shoulder. His face dissolves into a snarl, and he hauls back on the tree, breaking off the top and flinging it after Ravage with his considerable brute strength. Tomcat gives out a loud, "Yeah kick his butt!" Ravage is too swift. As the tree falls, missing the robotic panther by mere inches, the Decepticon fades into the surrounding greenery...