The sun had set and a cool blanket of darkness smothered the sandy beach in its soft embrace.
And Ped was still talking.
Still.
In fact, he hadn't even slowed down, the words pouring out of him at a constant rate.
Galvatron was pulling at his own face plates, close to tearing them off and slicing his optics out with how tightly he dug his claws in.
Cyclonus seemed to be holding out better but there was a definite twitch to his optics as he was dangerously close to snapping.
Underbite was ready to be smug and make well-timed jibes at their expense, especially about being trapped listening to this worm jabber on.
Yet Ped continued to talk and Underbite couldn't keep himself focused long enough to do so.
The Chompazoid had long since lost interest, having slipped back into the tunnel and chowing down on some metal ore.
An event Ped told them about at length as he recited every word of their exchange as he pointed out to Underbite the veins of the stuff running deep underground and how to distinguish them.
Sighing quietly Underbite settled at the lip of the tunnel with a chunk of ore in-hand, ready to snack and power down for recharge.
Ped would probably still be talking by the time he woke up anyway.
His sigh, however, did garner some attention.
The Chompazoid squeaked and tried to stumble backwards as Galvatron suddenly launched himself at him.
"YOU! YES, YOU!" Galvatron grasped Underbites cheeks tightly holding him in place and keeping their optics on each other "YOU! Give me YOUR report! You talk instead! Please talk instead!"
Ped broke Galvatron as he pleaded with Underbite to take the other Decepticons place.
"Uh, I-I'm not done yet!" Ped weakly protested the sudden retreat.
"Uughn, yes yes Thread, you've given us a… detailed report but, I, just there was two of you, you both need to give reports!" Galvatron gasped airily clawing his way out of the conversation.
"You want me to give a report?" Underbite looked confused and Galvatron freed him from his grasp letting Underbite shuffle upright.
There were long beats of silence as Underbite furrowed his brow, looked confused and his optics zoned out.
"Re… port?" He repeated again as if the word was alien to him "No… Noooooooo! No! No no! I DON'T GIVE NO REPORTS TO NO ONE!" He finally kicked into defiant life.
"So you do give reports?" Ped chimed in, a light playful tone to his voice as he missed the apparent dangers of a screaming Chompazoid.
"NO" Underbite stomped his feet "NO! I WILL NOT! I WILL NOT!" Ignoring everyone else he barged past Galvatron and Ped "YOU! HOW DARE YOU 'OUT-JAW' ME! NO ONE OUT DOES ME! I AM UNDERBITE! I SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED AN ENTIRE CITY! I WILL NOT BE PUSHED ASIDE BE IT BY YOU! THAT PATHETIC WORM! OR THAT SELF-ENTITLED MUTT!"
Cyclonus seemed a little nonplussed at the loud roaring but stepped back allowing Underbite room to stomp about and continue his little tantrum.
"FIGHT ME" Underbite shoved the chunk of metal into his mouth hardly chewing as he shoved the stuff down his gullet, rearing up to pound his chest plates as purple temporarily enveloped his edges.
Now Cyclonus did seem to lose all interest and cast a look over to Galvatron, a tired one, like this situation, was as interesting as drying paint.
"Guess he needs a reminder, we can make an example out of him, can't we? You know what I mean, I think this one is all yours" Galvatron shrugged, Cyclonus seemed to shake his head in response apparently disagreeing with whatever notion was being suggested, again somehow communicating silently Galvatron suddenly nodded "Fair point" he admitted.
Underbite didn't want to wait,
"DON'T IGNORE ME" He screamed and lurched forwards bringing down his jaws over Cyclonus's shoulder and upper chest. His extra weight forcing Cyclonus into stepping backwards, raising his other arm Cyclonus brought his claws down on Underbites throat and dug them in.
Underbite groaned painfully into the joint as claws dug about in his neck, scraping along the connective cabling and peeling away the protective 'skin' of the neck.
Cyclonus seemed to find the point he was looking for and squeezed.
Almost like an involuntary motion, Underbite's head jerked backwards with a squawk.
With both arms free Cyclonus put them under Underbite and shoved the Chompazoid off him, taking the time to glare at the ring of dents lining his shoulder, a few of the deeper ones gathering tiny, tiny beads of Energon.
Knowing the real fight he yearned for, Cyclonus curled over and transformed.
Ped and Galvatron stood on the sidelines as two beasts squared off, Cyclonus had the intimidation factor with his wings and size but Underbites stubborn determination to get one over kept the fight going. Even if he seemed like little more than an angry Terrier.
Confident in his abilities to finish this as soon as possible Galvatron finally peeled his optics from Cyclonus, where they had been locked for the past few minutes, and looked to Ped, whispering something to him.
Cyclonus didn't need long to figure out his pattern, Underbite wasn't the brightest star in the galaxy and his temper was only diminishing any light he did have.
He was determined to wrestle and bite, to prove his strength and 'win'.
Taking steps back and to the side led the Chomazoid in a tight dance around the beach.
Underbite snarled and snapped at the air taking any chance to ram himself into Cyclonus trying to bodyslam the beast into submission if he couldn't get his jaws on him.
Sensibly avoiding his teeth Cyclonus started backing away from the angry purple snapper.
His wings flared and waved about as they tried to move about but Cyclonus seemed unsure.
Seeing this Underbite began yelling something about cowards and began charging at him head-on.
Anyone close enough to hear the noises Cyclonus could make would have heard a quiet frustrated whine as he dealt with the situation.
The loud crack that followed echoed around the area loudly.
Despite having walked away from them the sound still caused Ped to double over, shielding his audio receptors with his hands and to make Galvatron stumble around to stare at what just happened.
Underbite was flat on the floor with a large dent on his head, Cyclonus's neck was arched over as he rubbed his head in the sand groaning quietly.
Headbutting the enemy into submission worked as Underbite was thoroughly out for the count, but the recoil from that thick-skulled moron had left a few dents on Cyclonus too.
Disregarding everything he was doing with Ped Galvatron ran over, quickly colliding with Cyclonus and clinging on while pulling the Dragon's head over so he could cradle it.
"Ooh, why did you do that?" He fussed "You could have bitten him! Wrestled him to the floor Predacons aren't exactly weak!"
Silence was his only response, yet words were coming to him through whatever silent communication Cyclonus could utilise.
"Energy conservation? I know, but it wouldn't waste that much energy!" Galvatron complained "We only need to fight away the Autobots, and we KNOW we can do that! No need to conserve energy! We know we can defeat them, we can afford to spend some energy to ensure obedience!"
At the sidelines, Ped was left to stare at the two mutter over their plans and thoughts while giving the occasional glance to Underbite who looked like he'd seen better days at this point.
"Fine! Let's deal with our current pains in the aft first, then we're moving out! You two!" Galvatron barked, ignoring Underbite's lack of consciousness "Once we retrieve our missing party members we're going to Nevada!"
"They're not missing" Ped waved his claws, "I told you, they're off getting more recruits!"
Galvatron's face fell slightly before a sigh filled him.
"Yes… Of course Ched… Of course, they are" Galvatron rubbed his Optics in frustration "Look, you stay here and make sure your important and oh-so-special skills are ready for use!" He returned to the Decepticon's side clasping a hand on his shoulder.
"I have to stay with him?" Ped crossed his arms "He won't learn! He called me a 'pathetic worm'! You heard it! I proved my superior skills, you can see my superior skills! He can't!"
"Eeuuugh ha ha Oookay look here" Galvatron's grip on Ped's shoulder strut tightened as he was eager to just leave and deal with their missing 'party' "Just think about this, it's a compliment! Worms are important, or some scrap, here. Y'know they keep this planet's flimsy organic ecosystem going and stuff, that's important Shed! He can see your superiority and importance too but just like worms it goes unrecognised! Uh, see what I mean?"
Ped had looked hurt during the whole exchange but his face slowly lit up.
"Me!? Important!? It's really been a compliment all along!? It has! It really has! They are recognising me! I'M IMPORTANT!" He squealed loudly, before uncontrollably launching himself at Galvatron and wrapping his arms around him "You're right! I am great! I'm great! You're right about me Boss! I won't let you down, Boss!" Ped dropped off Galvatron and began winking every time he said 'Boss' "I'm proud to work with you, Boss!"
Galvatron looked both horrified and shell-shocked, his body stiff and frozen in the startled position it had taken upon Ped's sudden unwarranted hug. Seemingly unable to move from that pose Galvatron said nothing but slowly turned away and shuffled off into the distance, quietly followed by Cyclonus.
"I'll bite his head off if he does that again" Cyclonus whispered manipulating the air next to Galvatron's helm so only he could hear it.
"I wasn't bloody expecting that!" Was all Galvatron could manage.