Angry Birds Is Not Productive

 Skydive says, "DID YOU KNOW THAT PORCUPINES ARE LION'S WORST ENEMIES? Ha! Too bad none of us have a porcupine alt mode. Hehe...""

 Air Raid says, "Do you people see what I have to work with."

 Red Alert says, "That you know of, Skydive."

 Silverbolt says, "Umm...thank you, Skydive."

 Skydive says, "Ooh! Did you know that Sky Lynx is pretty cuddly? And WOW! I would LOVE to see an Autobot transform into a porcupine! That would be.. simply amazing..!"

 Sky Lynx manages to get through the haze of static afflicting his radio. "Cuddly?"

 Silverbolt laughs.

 Silverbolt says, "Cuddly? What makes you think that?"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Air Raid says, "Ughh, nerds."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Raid, please refrain from insulting your teammates."

<p class="MsoNormal">Air Raid is partially smoldering. Well okay he's not on fire. But he's charred up something fierce. "Look at this! /Look/ at this!"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Air Raid mutters.

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Thank you."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Skydive says, "Oh. Aha. I .. should have known you were listening, Sky Lynx. *coughcough* Because his neck is so.. huggable! It has the perfect circumference! I measured it once...! When he was idle, of course."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Sky Lynx says, "I see."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Sky Lynx says, "At any rate, to those who supported the operation both on the front lines and behind, job well done. You have my thanks."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Skydive says, "Eheh. I hope you don't mind, Sky Lynx."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Sky Lynx says, "Just this once, I will overlook it."

<p class="MsoNormal">The Aerialbots have returned from Cybertron on board a shuttle. Silverbolt has taken damage, though quite minimal. He examines Air Raid's smoking form, once he has congratulated everyone on a job well done.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Hmm, you aren't typically this upset by injuries inflicted during battle, Air Raid...is something the matter?"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Indeed, we took some heavy hits, but overall everyone performed excellently, which ultimately led to the success of our mission."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Tch, it's A-OK if /I/ cause damage, but y'know, I'm just ARMOR when we Supe it up," Raid rants, likely for the hell of it. His attention span is that of a turbo-gnat.

<p class="MsoNormal">Well maybe that's better than Skydive, whose optics are glued to a datapad as he carefully places a finger servo on the touch screen, trying to calculate the perfect trajectory of a small digital pebble in the game Angry Birds.

<p class="MsoNormal">Silverbolt synthesizes a sigh. "You're just as much a vital part of Superion as I am, Air Raid. Without you, we wouldn't be able to utilize the firepower and strength he has to offer. Just as Slingshot, Fireflight, and..." he frowns as he glances over at Skydive and notices he is playing another one of those human video games again.

<p class="MsoNormal">"...Skydive."

<p class="MsoNormal">He strides over to the nerd-bot. "What are you doing? I thought we'd been over this already."

<p class="MsoNormal">Air Raid leers at bossbot, jutting his jaw defiantly. "Oh I've heard that before!" He abruptly 'smooths' a coat that's not there and dusts his shoulders, making very snooty gestures. "I need to be in a certain /mood/ to form up. I can take these clowns on by myself, y'know!" He eyes Skydive distantly.

<p class="MsoNormal">He just gives Bolt an innocent look. optics wide as he quickly stashes away the datapad he'd been holding a moment ago. "Over what?" Skydive says meekly. "Eh-heh.." He gives Air Raid a 'Halp' look. Although he sincerely doubts he'll be getting any assistance from his fellow Aerialbot. Air Raid really doesn't seem to be in the mood anyway....

<p class="MsoNormal">"Over the issue of you playing these human video games. It's a waste of previous time that we don't have, Skydive." Silverbolt reprimands, folding his arms and giving him a stern look before turning back to Air Raid.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Air Raid, as much as your emotional state has an influence over your combat abilities, we can't just let your moods determine our next strategic action in battle against the Decepticons." the Aerialbot commander reasons, doing his best not to lose it as well. "And I beg to differ on your alleged capability to take on those 'clowns' by yourself, especially when it comes to Galvatron, Shockwave, or Cyclonus, all of whom were present. In addition to that grossly mutated Predaking."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Silverbolt sighs in a frustrated manner, wondering if Hot Spot has to deal with the same kind of slag he has to on a daily basis...

<p class="MsoNormal">Air Raid ain't helpin' no one no how! Even nerdbot. Silverbolt directs his attention back to him, and like the attention hound Raid is, he seems pleased almost, smirking with his hands on his hips. He appears even more pleased when Silverbolt looks to be on the verge of losing composure. "Fine, fine." And as usual he doesn't know when to let up. "Be an example boss, and don't let your /fear/ determine your next strategic action."

<p class="MsoNormal">"But.. but~! It isn't a waste of time! This game helps me to perfect my air strategy by improving my trajectory predictions," he protests, once again glancing down at the datapad again. Then he stand up and sidles over to Air Raid. "Hey.. hey! You should try playing it! It could help you! Maybe you wouldn't be so banged up right now if you indulged in a few academic exercises." Then he notices Air Raid is purposefully grating on Bolt's servos and frowns. "Hey quit being such a jerk, okay?" Skydive bonks Air Raid on the helm with the data pad.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I do my best." Silverbolt answers, no longer near to losing his composure. He needed to remain calm and collected in order to be an effective example not only to his own troops but to other Autobots who looked up to him as well. "But none of us are perfect, certainly not me. We all need to work toward overcoming our weaknesses."

<p class="MsoNormal">And then Skydive is not only arguing with him, but encouraging Air Raid to indulge in it as well. He groans. "Absolutely not. There are many, much more productive ways to exercise your skills, such as training simulations."

<p class="MsoNormal">Welp, Bolt knows his bots, and Raid is begrudgingly disarmed by the absence of rageful response. Skydive helps with bonking. "Ow, hey! Hrrn. Whatever. Academics are /your/ thing. I know how to /fly/, Skydive. You can't learn how to fly on... Angry Birds."

<p class="MsoNormal">He makes a face at Air Raid. "Oh yeah? And who's the better flier?" Skydive arches his brow ridges and sticks his chassis out, pointing at himself. "Pft! Flying is basic. Me? I'm beyond that! I'm learning how to actually hit a targeted enemy this way! Nine times out of ten, anyway." He waves the datapad in an irritating fashion in front of Air Raid.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Weaknesses...Oh! Speaking of weaknesses, I've found a way to help you overcome yours, Bolt! Did you know that my namesake is actually a human sport?! Yeah, one where they jump out of planes and free fall until just the right moment! Then they activate their.. uh. para.. para-what-si-ma-callits? Oh, parachutes! That's right. So I was thinking, you should fly up really high and then totally turn off your engines until you're about a mile from the ground! And don't get all worried, I tried it, it was really fun and COMPLETELY safe...!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Silverbolt smirks slightly at the challenge directed at Air Raid. Such rivalry was healthy--at least in moderated amounts. It helped motivate them to hone their abilities.

<p class="MsoNormal">But then Skydive decides to suggest something that has actually already happened. Not on purpose, but...he just stares at the strategist as if he were crazy. "No thank you Skydive, that's already happened once, and I really, really would prefer it if I didn't have to endure it again." Desiring to quickly move on to another topic and not dwell upon his problems, he changes the subject. "Anyway, we won't know who the better flier is until we put it to the test, now will we?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Air Raid visibly twitches. "Better /flier/?" He eyes the waving data pad like a crouched jaguar and glares for all of a few seconds before busying himself with rubbing charred paint from his arm. With a steady outward vent, he shakes his head. "I don't know, Bolt, would that be proper training? And I skydive all the time!" He nudges Skydive's shoulder, "I've got it down to an art form."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Boo, why you have to be such a bent axle, Bolty? You have to keep doing it until you don't mind it anymore. It's called sensory adaptation.." Skydive sits back down, taking out the datapad again, ignoring Air Raid's playful nudging. "Nn. Uh-huh." His optics are already glued to the screen again, and he pays no attention to the others.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Of course it would be proper training. Both of you are excellent fliers. To compete against each other could only make you better." Silverbolt replies, ignoring Skydive as he continues to make a case for this 'sensory adaptation' technique. While he appreciates his comrade's efforts, he's convinced that he's already mastered his fear for the most part, thanks to the fact that Optimus assigned him to lead the Aerialbots all those stellar cycles ago. He folds his arms and sighs as Skydive goes back to playing the game. He's just going to have to give the mech something else to do in order to keep him from indulging in that...

<p class="MsoNormal">"Skydive, I want you on patrol at Magnaron. Also, Predaking may have been downed, but we need to be prepared for all circumstances. Shockwave may yet find a way to revive him. In that case our patrol routes near Crystal City need to be altered to keep him from tracking us down so easily."

<p class="MsoNormal">Air Raid swells at the praise. Just a bit. "All right, 'Dive, you an' me, over Panama. I got th' rules. Be there, be square." His optics shift up to Silverbolt. "Permission to hit up the med bay, there's a femme achin' to fix me up, I just know it."

<p class="MsoNormal">He looks up from the datapad momentarily, frowning, and making a 'Wah, do I have to?' look. Skydive knows that Silverbolt is just trying to occupy him so that he won't play Angry Birds. "Ugh, fine," he mutters unhappily, but just goes back to the datapad. "Nn. And what if I don't want to? I hear being square isn't so bad..."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Actually, I will oversee this competition." Silverbolt retorts, giving Air Raid a pointed look. "And Skydive--yes, you have to. On the patrols, the routes, and the competition." He nods to Air Raid. "Permission granted. Now off with both of you. There are repairs to be seen to, and much to be done afterward."

<p class="MsoNormal">"What?! Okay, I'll do patrols, but the competition? Really? Why is that mandatory?" Skydive moans. "I don't waaaant to." he drags his feet, muttering unhappily.