Who Wants to be The Boss

Darkmount - Simulator

Currently displaying an ancient styled open combat arena complete with stands full of weird creatures ready to cheer on the carnage that will ensue and to give any bored Decepticons that are watching something squishy to torture if they get bored.

Photon is leaning on a wall of the simulator, arms crossed on his chest. The golden seeker patiently waits for the trial to begin. He is rather impatient because this is the biggest opportunity he ever had to get a /big/ promotion. Of course, it would have been better if Galvatron would just nominate him but this is still a great opportunity. Photon glances towards the other, trying to evaluate who's going to be his most dangerous rival.

Harrow is dragging Artifice in, or trying to. "Stop being a protoform! Don't you want to get targetted every fight and deal with paperwork? Of course you do." She aims a kick at his shin so he'll stop resisting. "Really, anyone will look /awesome/ after Blueshift."

Blueshift saunters in to the room, his sword over his shoulder and a few scuffs on his helmet too. He is currently talking to some rather bored looking gumbies who are trying to avoid hearing his stories. "So THEN I punched Straxus in the robo-balls and shouted "BACK INTO THE TIME WAR WITH YOU STRAXUS!" and activated the time machine and got us all home, and that is exactly what happened!"

Scourge strides into the simulator, his demonic wings folded in close to his back while he takes a few moments to look over those who have come to be considered for the position of Air Commander. It will, in his mind, either be some pathetic display of weakness, or a grand fight, depending on who is vying for the command spot. Without a word, he moves into the spectators area and prepares to watch. The simulator room. What does it look like? Uh. Well. Apparently it's yet another holographic training room. Or something. Yeah, sure, let's go with that. Right now, it's been programmed to simulate a big football stadium, complete with a human audience. The actual playing field has been expanded since 100 yards isn't quite enough for a race of giant robots--although there's really nothing stopping the Decepticons for fighting IN the stands. And standing in the center of the arena is GALVATRON!

"Greetings, greetings, Decepticons!" Galvatron says. "Welcome to my little battle royale, which shall do determine who will become the next Air Commander! As I will only accept the best and most ruthless warrior in such a job, there are NO RULES for this battle royale, other than 1) Don't attack ME, and 2) Win. If that isn't clear enough for you, than you're probably not smart enough for the job." He looks about the arena. "If everyone is ready, I will begin the fight!"

"OW! Primus!" Artifice hops on one foot after he's kicked in the shin. "You harpy! You just got back; aren't you happy to see me!" He appears to have been overpowered by the Seeker femme, which doesn't help his confidence any. "Listen, if we do this, we're a team, right? I can't do this by myself."

Hi-Test enters the simulated arena or whatever it is the Decepticons call it, not that he really cares it's not like he ever needs to practice combat. He turns and calls back out the door, "Look come on it'll be fine, i'm sure Darkwing will be here to see the pain and suffering and you can try and depress him into doing nothing, you know you'd like that." Eventually his ever depressed partner trudges into view, "No i wouldn't and besides who cares who is in charge we'll just end up suffering all the more no matter who it is."

Laserbeak rests upon one of the rear seats in the stands which conveniently happens to be the area with the most protection in the area. The Cassetticon operative has been taking more steps to keep himself out of harms way since getting his rear end toasted by Harrow a while ago, and he leaves nothing to chance thus far. While there's no room for Laserbeak himself to participate in this event, nor does he really have the ambitions to do so, he is here regardless on orders by Soundwave. The tape commander intends to keep a watchful eye on all new possible up and coming potentials within the Decepticon Empire, and along with it, their strength and weaknesses. One can't be too safe in the Decepticon Empire and Soundwave and his minions intends to stay several steps ahead of the rest.

Harrow waits for Galvatron to finish spouting the extensive rules to answer, "Team? Then who would get the position? Ah! Nice try Mister Analyzer! Yeah right, forget it." Stopping in the middle of the stadium, she surveys the targets, and deems Artifice the easiest opponent. Well actually he was just closer, so she aims a punch to the gut! Combat: Harrow misses Artifice with her Punch attack!

Dreadwind has no ambition what so ever and is almost mildly surprised when he finds out that his small partner has betrayed him, he knew it was going to happen sooner or later he just didn't know when or just how bad a betrayal it would be, but entering him in a command race battle is just low. He stares at the others who entered of their own free will and sighs he is about to moan at Hi-Test when the little back stabber jumps up and merges with him, so instead he just moans to anyone who will listen, "This is going to be such a waste of effort."

Hi-Test has left.

"Make it GOOD you jerks or I'll bomb the whole stadium!!!" Fusillade bellows out from midway up in the stands. By this point several smaller Decepticons have climbed up and are sitting on her wings and fuselage to get a view of the battle.

Artifice just KNEW that Harrow was going to go after him first! Forewarned by his own jaded fears, he dodges left and actually manages to evade Harrow's attack. "Ha! Not as easy as you expected, huh?" He aims a kick in the general direction of her smug little face.

Combat: Artifice strikes Harrow with his Das Boot! (Kick) attack!

Photon doesn't waste any time as Galvatron gives the signal the begin the fight. He takes off and goes high above the stadium to make sure he has enough room to maneuver and to ensure that all his opponents remain in his line of sight. He carefully evaluates the situation and decides that he must force Dreadwind into action... this alone could impress lord Galvatron! He raises his right arm, aiming it at the powermaster and fires a quick short blast.

Combat: Photon sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Photon misses Dreadwind with his Laser Cannon attack!

Galvatron grins as Harrow immediately turns on and betrays the very person she dragged into the arena with her. "Now that's what I like to see! Very treacherous of you, Harrow! Just try to CONNECT next time. Well. Have fun, Decepticons! I'll be up *here* to declare the winner." Galvatron then jumps up into the stands, and makes his way over to the somewhat out-of-place Transformer-sized seats higher up in the stadium, his feet crushing numerous virtual humans on his way up. Eventually he takes a seat near Fusillade, and a Decepticon eventually arrives to present him with an energon drink of his own. "Ahh, I do so love spectator sports!" Galvatron says, taking the drink and shaking a bit of virtual human off of one of his feet.

As Harrow and Artifice start fighting, Blueshift pauses, staring. Staring. STARING. 'This is rather awesome' he thinks as he watches Harrow miss horribly and then get blutched for her treachery. Hopefully someone will get it on film! With that thought out of his head, he hefts his sword, and sees his nearest opponent - Photon who is attacking Dreadwind! "Photon!" he shouts. "Behind you!" Blueshift is actually standing right behind Photon, but hopes the call will confuse the seeker, as he hurls his sword like a spear at Photon's head!

Combat: Blueshift sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Blueshift misses Photon with his Piercing Strike attack!

Harrow flinches at Fusillade's 'cheers', then gets PUNTED INNA FACE. She staggers backwards and spits out some energon. Ah! What's that!? PRAISE?! From Galvatron! "For the empire!" she exclaims, and turns a glare on Artifice. "Alright then!" Drawing her scalpel, she makes to slash him across the middle.

Combat: Harrow strikes Artifice with her Slash (Kick) attack!

Hearing the loud call from the mid-section of the stands, Scourge turns his optics briefly that direction, but says nothing and after only a moment, turns back to the combat. Harrow had some potential, and had already gotten Galvatron's attention with the 'betrayal' of Artifice, but the battle had only just begun. Already seated, the leader of the Sweeps chuckles a bit at Blueshift's tactics, and subsequent failure to connect with his first attack. Seems this was going to be, at best, a somewhat comical free-for-all.

Laserbeak is already well underway with the task of recording the current unfolding scene inside the arena. The red mechnical condor takes notice of Harrow's ambitious strike, and the resulting failure that follows it before recording some of his own comments into his databanks. Tsk tsk. Even the Empire's greatest coward can be a critic. Another fact that Laserbeak doesn't fail to realize at this point is the atrocious accuracy that most of the Decepticon air warriors here possess, he too makes a note on that as well. One could only assume what that might be. Maybe it's a reminder for himself to never go anywhere remotely close to these individuals' field of fire. Ever.

Dreadwind looks up into the stand at Fusillade, "It would certainly speed things up, it's not like we aren't all going to suffer anyway" A blast of fire streaks over Dreadwind's shoulder which just barely gets his attention or perhaps it's the incessant little voice urging him to make an effort whilst also flooding his systems with more energy. "We won't win Hi-Test, i never do." Slowly he turns to see just where all the other combatants are and draws his weapons, they're all grouped together nicely perhaps under estimating the impetus supplied by the annoying urging Dreadwind can hear in his head. "We're doomed, we should all just stop now, but you won't listen will you, none of you ever do." Having said that Dreadwind opens fire filling the arena with blasts of thermal energy.

Combat: Dreadwind misses Photon with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Combat: Dreadwind misses Blueshift with his Thermal Melters Area attack! Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his Thermal Melters Area attack!

Artifice doesn't gloat too long. He cocks his fist back to follow up, but he's caught with a slash to the midsection that leaves him with a nice, smoking scar across his canopy. He swears and activates his bootrockets to start to retaliate before Dreadwind's thermal melters pound him unceremoniously back to the ground. "Gah! A cheap shot from the mopey one? Harrow..."

Combat: Artifice analyzes Dreadwind for weaknesses Harrow can exploit.

Photon followed Blueshift from the corner of his optics when the little cons positioned himself behind him so he quickly react when Blueshift shouts at him. He spins on himself and deflects the sword wth his armored right arm. "Nice try...but far from enough." Raising both arms the golden seeker fires a dual blast towards the annoyingly fast Blueshift. Before he can see if his attack struck his opponent, the stadium is filled with thermal blast, forcing the seeker to execute some kind of wierd dance into the air. It may not be gracious but at least it prevents him from being burned.

Combat: Photon strikes Blueshift with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -2]

The prickling of her air pressure antennae tells Fusillade that Galvatron is a bit above and behind her. She transforms, unceremoniously dumping all the spectators that had parked on her. Shimmying up to Galvatron, she shoves a wait=bot out of the way, and presents the drink to the Emperor. "Think we should stick her in Medical if she gives a good showing? Harrow I mean." She mmms at the beverage, and then pops open her chest compartment and pulls out an inexplicable carafe filled with a decent grade white energon.

"ARGH!" shouts Blueshift as Photon hits him with his laser cannon! Blueshift staggers back somewhat, staring as Photon dances like a girl in the air. "WHAT IS THAT?!" he cries as he dodges Dreadwind's thermal attack. "Are you femming it up?" With that, he aims his speed gun at Photon's chest, pulling the trigger!"

Combat: Blueshift misses Photon with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Harrow is spared a thermal melt, somehow. She springs into the air and turns her attention to Dreadwind. "Come get some, emobot!" Scalpel high over her helm, she makes to dive and pierce a shoulder joint, with some help from Artifice's analyzing.

Combat: Harrow strikes Dreadwind with her Vibro-Scalpel attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Harrow's attack has corrupted your Velocity systems!

Galvatron also notices Photon dancing around in the air, and for a moment he looks a bit... surprised? "What the... is that this aerial dancing again? Dammit all, you people are warriors! Killers! Not ballerinas!" He sighs, shaking his head before he slurps down a bit of his drink.

Galvatron notices Fusillade's offerings as she exposes her chest to him. "Hm, what? She's a medic, isn't she? I thought she was already in medical." He reaches inside Fusillade's chest to get some of the good stuff. "Hm, yes, this looks rather good." If they were humans this would be very inappropriate

Dreadwind just stands there looking like he just won a fast draw, weapons smoking slightly from the energy discharge and seems somewhat depressed, well more than usual. "Typical i managed to hit one, well at least they should all attack me now and then i can lie down and rest, forgotten and alone to await my inevitably slow and painful demise." Dreadwind would rather just give up right now but an annoying insistance keeps pushing him on as well as pushing more energon through his sytems. He turns his head to look at the scalpel stabbed deep into his shoulder, "Great, an open wound, you do realise that will leave me open to all sorts of infections, just great... I guess that's what happens when you try to leave the medics alive, i told Darkwing it was a stupid idea but he never listens."

Combat: Dreadwind takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Ahh, now this event was starting to look like combat. Scourge's optics follow the dancing Photon for a moment, and turns to Galvatron at his comment, with a look of complete agreement. But then, that femme-like move had allowed Photon to evade the incoming fire, both from Dreadwind and Blueshift's returning fire. But would it allow him to strike his opponents? Doubtful. Raising himself from his seat, he moved quietly in Galvatron's direction, not paying attention to where he was stepping, and thus marring his feet with the remains of anything pathetic enough to be where he stepped. Finding a seat nearby, he lowered himself into it. "With this spectacle being so pathetic thus far, Lord Galvatron, do you really intend to promote the winner to the Air Commander position? So far, I have seen nothing to indicate that any of these are worthy of the position."

Artifice boosts into the air and recedes a bit from the action, scanning for Harrow's next target and hoping to be fairly out of the way of any further thermal meltings. Photon or Blueshift? The latter seems to be the fast of the two...he sets his sights on Photon, analyzing the gold Decepticon's armor and movements to transmit information to his teammate...whome he imagines will probably turn and kill him soon enough.

Combat: Artifice analyzes Photon for weaknesses Harrow can exploit.

Fusillade's expression is a rictus of horror as Galvatron fists her. She does a magnificent job of keeping a pleasant grin, although the glaze in her optics tells the sordid story. "It's quite nice when you add a shot of jet fuel through, makes a nice caramel colored ripple, sir. And yes, you are probably right. I should get more involved. Already helped myself to Fleet's student... and I see him down there right now. I am glad that Harrow heeded my ah... request. Although, who's the gold guy? Wasn't he around for the Olympics? Oh, heyya Scourge." She turns toward him. "Want some?"

Photon is closely keeping watch on Blueshift's every move so he is not caught off guard when he draws his weapon. He quickly slides to his left and the speed stealing ray strikes some holographic human in the stands. He is so concentrated on Blueshift that he doesn't notice that Artifice is closely analyzing him. He raises his arm to fires once again at Blueshift but he suddenly changes his mind and charges him, launching his foot forward, right towards Blueshift's chest.

Combat: Photon misses Blueshift with his Blind Table Smash (Kick) attack!

Laserbeak walks across the stands as best as he can while maintaining a stable view with the camera that had extended out from his forehead. The combatants are starting to scatter across the arena, making it a challenge for any typical recording equipment to capture all of the visual data in the area. Fortunately for the cassetticon operative, the surveillance equipment that he possesses proves to be much more capable as it shifts into 3D hologrpahic recording mode. For the moment, the red mechanical condor is focusing more of his attention onto Artifice at the moment. The seeker's tendancy to analyze targets and his dependency on Harrow does not escape Laserbeak's notice as he continues to study the situation with that pair of sharp red optics of his.

Mr Blueshift ain't doing very well here, in fact he's not hit a thing all fight! That'd better change! Leaping to the air, he folds down, collapsing into his alt mode as he transforms, using the momentum to push himself to the side and avoid the kick. The blue spacecraft then wheels round, directly for Photon's back in an attempt to break his robo-spine! Blueshift leaps into the air, flipping into the form of a small spacecraft

Combat: Blue Spaceship misses Photon with his Full-Body Strike attack!

Harrow frowns as Dreadwind completely fails to get angry or even excited. "Oh, screw you!" she shouts at him, waving a dismissive hand as she pitches towards Photon. "Blueshift, I'm borrowing your opponent, thanks!" Artifice's information is nothing to be passed up - all of Photon's weaknesses are laid out for her on her HUD, now to just /hit/ them. She waits for the silly blue spaceship to totter off after his spectacular miss, and darts to sever Photon's robo-spine herself.

Combat: Harrow strikes Photon with her Slice (Smash) attack!

Galvatron scowls back at Scourge. "Who else is there? If they aren't here, Scourge, then I doubt they care enough about the job to show up. That's the thing--I want to put someone in the job that actually wants it, and is willing to strangle his own comrades to get the job. If the winner doesn't perform? Well, I can always dismiss him and try again." He slurps at the white cube he took from Fusillade, utterly oblivious to any discomfort on her part. "Hm, no, Fusillade, I prefer my drinks as they are, with no fancy additives." He watches the fight for a moment, distractedly. "Hm. Frankly I was wondering if you were going to be down there yourself, Fusillade. Do you think you're better suited for the military division? Oh, and the "gold guy?" That is..." He searches his memory banks. "...Photon, yes."

Dreadwind sighs, heavily and eventually straightens up his pose, "Such a waste of energy and effort, even if i die here i won't. I'll just get to feel what it might be like before the end and even then it'll just be a pale reflection of the true suffering involved." Dreadwind sees what is going on knowing full well on the effectiveness of teamwork, he's been forced into it often enough and since he is alone why should others be allowed friends, raising a single weapon he aims at his target not that he will hit at this range sending a bolt of energy skywards.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his Thermal Melters attack! [Pulled -2]

Artifice can't hang back all fight. He wants to impress. Galvatron is in attendence, not to mention more than one femme whose attentions he would quite like to earn - though he holds out little hope of that even if he DOES manage to do well today. He turns in the air to face Dreadwind and aims the lightning cannon on his right arm. "All right," he says to himself, "got to make this shot count - Aaaahgk!" So much for an impressive showing! Dreadwind beats him to the punch and hits him with the thermal melters again. Art spins, taking the hit in the wing, and tries to redeem himself on the recovery. "Chew electric death," he quips. Ahh wit.

Combat: Artifice misses Dreadwind with his Lightning Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

Photon is struck right in the middle of his back, directly on a weak points between two plates of armor. "Arrgg" he grunts as he falls towards the ground. He nearly crashes but somehow he manage to regain control of his flight and his optics quickly find the one who dared to backstab him. His optics turn bright red as he raises his arms and fires back at Harrow, "Die...die...DIE!"

Combat: Photon strikes Harrow with his Laser Cannon attack!

Blueshift flies past Photon like a complete loser, transforming and shaking a fist in the air at Harrow. He then shakes his fist again as he sees Harrow's attack actually hits Photon! "FINE!" he shouts. "I'll take YOURS then!" He unclips his gun and aims it at Artifice. "Maybe I was CURSED by a WITCH in the past or something!" The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift

Combat: Blueshift misses Artifice with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Finally snapping her chest compartment shut, Fusillade flicks her wrist and pours off a small cube for herself, optics flaring bright as she takes a quick sip. She admits with a sneer, "Avalanche's attempts to muscle his way into positions of rank by force soured me on the concept, my liege. I apologize. Military Operations is better suited for my function, but... I can be flexible. If I am disappointed with whom I see standing here, I still may participate yet. Not to win for myself, but to ensure elimination of undesireables." She purses hematite lips in wry amusement, tensing briefly should she need to leap clear of any cannonings or slugs from the Emperor. "I could do either. I know a good candidate for the executive position of Aerospace anyway," she exhales over the edge of the energon container.

Scourge swings his optics towards Fusillade, and after a moment's thought nods. "Hello, Fusillade. A drink would be welcome, yes, though I was certain you would have been involved in this competition, rather than serving as bartender." After he speaks, he turns back to the fight just in time to see Blueshift yet again display his incredible lack of accuracy. And he had thought Blueshift would be the victor here, at the beginning. That had changed, however, and now he was watching Photon a bit more closely. Perhaps, despite the dancing, there was potential there for something more. Listening to Galvatron's words, he nods. Very true, those who had shown up were ambitious, but he was speaking more strictly from a skills perspective here. "Ambition is most certainly in abundance, yes. But skill seems to be distinctly lacking, though that does leave room for improvement."

"Aaaieee!" Harrow yelps as laserfire cuts a nice clean hole in her wing, "RRRGH! You'll pay for that, goldie!" She twirls her blade and makes to stab Photon in the neck, electricity sparking from the tip of the weapon.

Combat: Harrow strikes Photon with her Vibro-Scalpel attack! [Pulled -2]

Dreadwind starts to rise slowly from the ground following up his depressingly accurate fire, perhaps it is the sudden appearance of movement from him that throws Artifice's aim. Dreadwind doesn't care, he's finally decided on some sort of committed action at least for the moment, flying in classic both arms forwards position his wrist weapons blaze into life, "There is nothing but pain and suffering here Artifice, far better for you to lie down and accept the inevitable, like so many others have and so many more will, friends and enemies alike."

Combat: Dreadwind misses Artifice with his Dual Wrist Blasters (Laser) attack!

"My tending will last as long as my personal stash," Fusillade purrs out to Scourge as she pops out a disposable cube and fills it with the near last of the high grade and adds two shots of jetfuel to it -ishful thinking that it would make the Unicronian more plane-like, perhaps. "My whims just generally coincide with what's best for the Empire." She smiles thinly to Scourge, although the smouldering glint in her optics suggests that his dig did manage to get under her spacetile.

Galvatron seems to be in a fairly good mood today, so he doesn't randomly blast Fusillade just yet. "No... randomly eliminating contestants won't be necessary yet. Fight's starting to pick up a bit." He frowns at Fusillade's tale. "Don't worry about Avalanche. He has shown nothing but contempt for my lieutenants. I doubt he will get far before eventually he angers the wrong person--and dies for it!" He slurps his cube. "Who is this candidate for the XO position?" Galvatron watches the fight as more slices and shots connect. "Hm. Not so fast, Scourge. I think perhaps they were just off to a bad start. I'm seeing a little more carnage, here, hahaha!" He pauses. "Hm. I'm... not sure how I'd react if Dreadwind won, however."

"Don't count on that," Artifice replies. He cuts his boosters and drops to avoid Dreadwind's blaster fire, landing in a dramatic crouch; he's feeling confident now, and he's aware of how that tends to cloud his judgement. He tells himself to remain cool and calm as he aims to fire again - from his sun ray this time.

Combat: Artifice misses Dreadwind with his Flash Tanning! attack! [Pulled -2]

Photon calms down as his lasers strike Harrow but it is soon wiped from his face when her blades slice into the forearm he raised to protect himself. "Get out of my way or face the consequences!" He pushes her blades away with his left arm and he quickly follows with a good ol right hand.

Combat: Photon strikes Harrow with his John Wayne's punch. (Punch) attack!

Blueshift's face falls. Perhaps it almost falls off, since he is rather upset. He scowls at Harrow, before aiming his pistol at Photon again. "Seriously, what is this, magic?" He shoots a few bolts at Photon in an attempt to prove that he can at least hit /something/.

Combat: Blueshift misses Photon with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Scourge notes the increase in the competitors' accuracy, and nods to Galvatron respectfully. "Indeed, it does seem that way." Taking the disposable cube from Fusillade, he noted the glint and smirked as he turned his attentions back to the fighting. "If Dreadwind won, it might spur him to aspire to greater heights."

"Boomslang has too much spare time on his servos," Fusillade tattles. "In addition to giving Harrow a thirst for energon and training her to better fight in close quarters..." She gestures below to the surprising display by the blue medic.

Harrow scowls when she's more or less barred from seeing those lovely neck cords snap and leak. "Yeah yeah, what consequ-" -KAPAFF- A helm guard gets bent against her chin and she flips backwards midair. "Owww... what magic!? No magic! You just suck, sir!" Trading out her scalpel for a firearm, she points the barrel at Photon's shiny Seeker head.

Combat: Harrow misses Photon with her Ice Pistol attack!

"He has also been pitting human savages against each other and their own governments. He toys with them, and they happily kill innocents of their own species with chemical weapons." She takes another swig. "He mentioned it briefly last time our patrols crossed paths. Which for HIM is saying a lot, considering how he skulks about the shadows."

Dreadwind sighs as Artifice refuses to listen just like everyone else, a beam of annoyingly bright light barely misses him but even that cheery glow doesn't disrupt his terrible gloom, "I count on nothing, it will happen, sooner or later it always does, allies, enemies they all fall, only the unfortunate are forced to continue onwards suffering all the more for it." Following suit Dreadwind cuts his engines but instead of trying to land he plummets feet first towards Artifice.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his Not-Flying Drop Kick (Kick) attack!

Galvatron huffs. "Nothing could do that, Dreadwind's depression is like a supermassive black hole--nothing can escape it. Eventually, even his Powermaster partner will succumb and he'll be just like Dreadwind himself." Galvatron's face goes blank. "Damn, *I* sounded almost like Dreadwind for a moment, there!" He decides to do something happy and uplifting after the fight--maybe a simulation of executing Autobot prisoners? Galvatron's head turns slowly towards Fusillade. "Hm, yes, Boomslang really should be *here,* and yet somehow I forgot all about him until now." He listens to Fusillade, then looks down at Harrow. "Hm, I see. She has gotten in a few good stabs with that scalpel. And you say he pits humans against each other? I approve, but I must wonder why he does not report on such deeds. Does he think I actually care for the flesh creatures?"

Artifice swears again, through clenched dentals plates, as he fires off another miss. "Your logic is a bit flawed," he taunts, "but that's probably just more fuel for your mopey little fire, isn't it?" He crouches, kicking on his bosters for a charge attack. This is not to be, however, as he is dropkicked right out of the air and sent bouncing to the ground as if he were made of rubber. He's got to be more careful! He boosts away from Dreadwind as soon as he's able to get to his feet, focusing more on evasion than attack as he analyzes the Nebulan.

Combat: Artifice sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Artifice analyzes Dreadwind for weaknesses.

Photon is fast and that's fortunate for him. He barely has enough time to lower his head when Harrow fires at him and the ice blast passes right above it. He quickly jumps aways from Harrow and dodges Blueshift's attack by sheer luck. This however draw his attention back on Blueshift, "What? You're still alive? Let me fix that." he says while firing his arm mounted cannon.

Combat: Photon strikes Blueshift with his Laser Cannon attack!

"Hush Harrow!" shouts back Blueshift as he then mutters 'PEW PEW, PEW PEW ARGH' under his breath. Then he gets an idea. "Maybe I can shoot Dreadwind, he is so depressed I bet he won't even move out of the way!" But then Photon goes at him and hurts him dammit! Captain Blue staggers back, but takes out his gun and shoots the Decepticon at point blank range!

Combat: Blueshift misses Photon with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

"Perhaps it is more fun for him in a a perverse way. These reatures the Autobots care so much for are in fact awful and horrible. Although Fakkadi is a favorite of mine," she grins viciously. "As for not reporting, who can say?" she shrugs diffidently. "Perhaps the lack of a direct superior that demands regular updates..." She shifts weight on her heels, leaning forward a bit on the railing to more closely examine Artifice's maneuvers, nodding to satisfaction with herself at his move to cover himself as he prepares a shot. "Let's see if this guy's follow-through will match his preparation. He says that he /wants/ to do paperwork, that's something, ha!"

Fusillade is parked in the stands, boozing it up with the Unicronians.

Harrow lingers in the air as Photon switches targets. She vents a sigh. "Blueshift sir, you haven't landed a single hit yet!" she notes. "How exactly did you come to be commander in the first place?" He gaze drifts to Galvatron, but doesn't linger there long. She didn't want to be the commander anyhow, simply joining in to take part in some carnage. Wouldn't it be hilarious if Artifice won! Harrow decides to help.

Combat: Harrow quickly patches up some of Artifice's minor injuries.

Laserbeak is in the stands, recording the combat data for Soundwave.

Dreadwind sighs again and shakes his head, "Logic has nothing to do with it, the terrible truth of existence is that we are all made to suffer, the lucky ones are those whose suffering ends quickly. The survivors are the ones cursed to feel even greater pain." Landing heavily he boosts himself back up again trying to knock Artifice's head off with a single blow to end it quickly and to save him more effort.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his Punch attack!

Scourge continued to watch in silence for some time, then glanced briefly at at Fusillade. "He /wants/ to do paperwork? Odd. Perhaps, by some fluke, he will triumph and get his wish." Watching Harrow do some quick patchwork on Artifice, he chuckles. A bit of teamwork in a free-for-all? Why is Harrow here, if not to win? Most likely only patching the wounds so she will have the pleasure of destroying Artifice herself.

Astrotrain descends from above, jubilant about being back in the land of Decepticons who actually fly again! Well it's not all good really, because it means more crowding in the sky all over again. "Move it or lose it, loser!" A nameless seeker who was coming down to find a spot for himself is roughly kicked in the side of the head, crumpling in amongst the stands as the triplechanger sets down not all that far off from where Fusillade and company are sitting. "Who's winning?" He pipes up, then adds. "...PLEASE don't tell me it's Blueshift."

"EYYYYYY you made it!!!" Fusillade exclaims, throwing arms wide in Astrotrain's direction. "There's... been a lot of missing, actually," she admits, unsure how to answer the question about who was winning. "And YEAH," Fusillade admits quizzically to Scourge's query.

"Thanks," Artifice says as Harrow patches his injuries. He's having a bit of trouble aspirating. He drops his voice to a whisper. "The blue guy is striking out big - looks like a good time to feed Goldie to Dreadwind here and team up to drop him. Think about it." As Dreadwind approaches, he stands, his strategy prepared. "Maybe you should just lay down then," he says, "if you think dying soonest is lucky. That can be arranged." He takes a gamble and lets Dreadwind hit him; even as he rocks with the force of the blow, he puts the muzzle of his lightning cannon into Dreadwind's chest. "Here's a little taste."

Combat: Artifice sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Artifice strikes Dreadwind with his Lightning Cannon attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Dreadwind's Agility. (Crippled)

Photon flies in circle around Blueshift just to keep him off balance and as soon as his opponent fires at him, he rises in the air and the shot goes wide and hits the ground. "Really...you are no commander material. Once I am promoted I will find a suitable postition for you...like janitor." Then without giving any warning, he charges towards Blueshift aiming his extended arm at his throat.

Combat: Photon strikes Blueshift with his Clothesline (Kick) attack!

Blueshift stares down the barrel of his gun for a while as he shakes it. "Huh... it must need new batteries..." he mumbles. Then he aims for the strategy he knows can't fail - he points his gun at Dreadwind, shouts "DREADWIND, IF THIS HITS YOU, YOU WILL DIE!" and opens fire!

Combat: Blueshift misses Dreadwind with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

"Photon's awfully hard to hit though," Fusillade scowls, thinking about her own likelihood of success against such a nimble opponent.

Galvatron nods, slurping at his cube. "What the Autobots fail to understand about their pets is that from the moment of their conception, humans are pre-programmed to be miserable, greedy wretches that feed on the bottom of their environment. Oh, you can "train" them into other forms of behavior, but their basic HUMAN nature will always remain." Galvatron then chuckles at Scourge. "Well, it's not against the rules, because there aren't any, really! It would be funny if Artifice turned on her and--" He makes a face as Artifice goes after Dreadwind instead. "Ennnh."

Galvatron glances over at Astrotrain as he enters the stands. "No, he has not been winning, Astrotrain. Indeed, I'm a bit surprised. Combat is one of the few things Blueshift does well, and yet thus far he has achieved very little."

Harrow busts out laughing. "Janitor! Haha! Hnn. Huh? Oh right." Dreadwind it is! She stifles another laugh as Blueshift's attack fails to connect yet again, then follows Artifice's lighting with her own blast of ice, aimed for the dour mech's face.

Combat: Harrow's Ice Pistol attack on Dreadwind goes wild! Combat: Harrow strikes Artifice with her Ice Pistol attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Artifice's Agility. (Crippled)

Scourge turns to Astrotrain on his arrival, and agrees with Galvatron. "I have been surprised by Blueshift's complete lack of accuracy. He has been missing so consistently that I am surprised he has not given up by this point." He wondered idly if anyone involved would have backed out from cowardice if he himself had thought to enter into this fray, and chuckled. He probably would have been ordered to withdraw immediately, had he made the attempt, though it would have been rather amusing to watch the others falling over themselves to merely /give/ Scourge the position, rather than trying to best him. Ahh, the arrogance, seen, if not heard in this case, in the smirk that crossed over his features.

"Treachery! YEEEEEEEEEAH!!!!!' Fusillade screetches out enthusiastically from the stands.

"Ya know," Astrotrain muses at that, jerking a thumb behind him. As if the past years he just came out of were right there...behind him. "I got to see a Prime actually try to step on a human while he was in the middle of a temper tantrum and shootin his own guys, it was kinda surreal, and hilarious at the same time. How the frag did they ever survive with leaders like that?" He then trails off, and narrows his optics as he looks at Fusillade who is showing all the symptoms of being intoxicated. And he's not intoxicated yet. What the heck is -wrong- with him? Is he slipping? Losing his touch. "...oi! You gettin a head start!?"

Laserbeak winces visibily as much as his avian's features can physically express through its facial actuator's limitations when he sees Blueshift gets clothlined by the slightly larger Photon. All of these vicious acts of violence for the sake of rank only serves to reaffirm the cassetticon's belief that it's ultimately futile, both physically and socially, to try to get in on a piece of the action. Ouch. Someone else just lost some pieces of protective plating there. The recorded holographic data will be an entertaining data for Soundwave to review indeed. Laserbeak squawks threatening at the random gumby seeker who stumbles too close to him after being kicked by Astrotrain.

Dreadwind strikes his chosen foe again and is somewhat dismayed, "If only i could lie down, but there is always someone telling me i have to fight for some inane reason or another they just refuse to see the truth of it all. Existence just won't allow me to go just yet, it's as if it savours my suffering the most." He looks over at Blueshift as his name is called out just as the weapon is aimed at his chest he doesn't move, he knows he can't avoid what is always going to be so he accepts it. The first blast however thrusts him backwards and away from the danger of the second though a sizeable chunk of his chest section is vaporised. "Great as if i wasn't suffering enough as it is." Dreadwind falls groundwards apparently not bothering to even save himself as Harrow decides to turn traitor and attack her ally.

Combat: Dreadwind takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

The universe is a strange place. Artifice has always been amazed by the myriad ways in which it could surprise even those who worked their whole lives trying to understand it. Now he has the pleasure of witnessing the universe's amazing power to befuddle up close and person - Harrow's blast clearly meant for Dreadwind, somehow hits him full force. Maybe it was a misfire and he is hit by the blowback. Maybe her aim just REALLY sucks. Whatever the case, he finds himself flash frozen and, now, even more badly damaged than he was before Harrow's field repair! He stands stock still, encased in ice, and tries to give Harrow a withering look.

Combat: Artifice takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Photon can only laught at Blueshift's lack of accuracy. Apparently his targeting processor didn't enjoy it trip into the past. He glances towards the other side of the stadium and grins at Harrow strikes Artifice, "Good. I wish I could watch that fight it looks...promising." But Blueshift has a job to complete before he can enjoy a well deserved rest. "You seem to be in the dark Blue...let me turn the lights on!" he says as he fires at Blueshift's face.

Combat: Photon misses Blueshift with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

Galvatron nods as he watches the fight. "Blueshift is persistent, if nothing else, Scourge. I imagine he'll stay in the fight until he passes out from energon depletion." He laughs uproariously as Harrow accidentally blasts Artifice. "Oh... did you see that? She fixed him, then she damaged him all over again! And Dreadwind didn't even have to do anything! Galvatron rubs his chin as Astrotrain retells his time-travelling tales. "He threatened a human? Sentinel Prime did, you say? That's *very* interesting. I, of course, had heard stories about him, but I didn't think he would go that far." Galvatron considers something. "...Astrotrain, did something happen in the past that would make Sentinel behave that way?" There's just a wee bit of menace behind that question.

"Whatchoo laughin' at?" Fusillade asks Scourge of his chuckling. "And yeah, MAYBE! Better CATCH UP!" she sasses Astrotrain.

Blueshift pulls a face as he misses once more, but luckily Photon misses him! He picks his fallen sword from the ground, and hefting it, hurls it in the direction of Artifice's head. "From the Pit's dark heart I stab at thee!" he calls out for no real reason.

Combat: Blueshift strikes Artifice with his Piercing Strike attack!

"Oops! Sorry!" Harrow doesn't sound terribly apologetic, but she is rather miffed about missing her intended target. Damn pistol. As Dreadwind falls down anyway, she climbs up and stands on what was left of his chest. "I killed him!" she claims, jamming a heel into his side. "Who's next! What ho! Blueshift sir, you landed a hit!" she helpfully points out, and promptly fires on him.

Combat: Harrow strikes Blueshift with her Disruptor attack!

Scourge freezes, a brief instant of shock at Blueshift's sudden ability to connect an attack, then smirks at Fusillade. "I laugh at many things. Some here, some elsewhere." He had forseen Harrow's treachery, despite that it was unintentional, the attack having been aimed elsewhere, and got a chuckle from it. That looked painful, especially after the patch job that had only just been done. "Indeed, Lord Galvatron, and it would appear his persistence paid off, though I doubt he'll last much longer."

Dreadwind impacts with the floor and lies there, it doesn't change his dull stare at those he is fighting, he doesn't even take joy in the apparent backstabbing, for there is none to be had. He raises a single arm and his weapon opens fire on the ice block, maybe Dreadwind is trying to free Artifice or just see if he's truely dead. "See existence just won't allow me peace." He bemoans to the ice cube.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his Thermal Melters attack! [Pulled -2]

"That's the best part! He was already that way when I got there!" Astrotrain responds, hands to either side, though he does pause, as if remembering something, and shifting his feet a bit at Galvatron's latter question. "Well okay he was kinda more of just a boozehound and I kinda made fun of him for that and how he was likely gonna amount to nothin. But that's cause he was already all uppity at Ultra Magnus and their crew cause they showed up and weren't tellin him nothin. I tell ya, Boss. That freak was unstable. I mean unhinged, ya know? Two bolts shy of a full overhaul if ya know what I mean. By the end some of his own troops from his own time were chewin at him, somethin to do with the way he treatin the other time travellin bots or somesuch...eh." He shrugs his shoulders. "Hangin around with Shockwave and Straxus was like a fresh breath of sanity, Boss. It's hard to explain." In the meantime, there's still some catching up on drinking to be done, as Fusillade put it, and the triplechanger promptly liberates a fizzing, potent looking drink from a nearby serv droid. "...ah it's almost like being back at the great arena again. Almost..."

Artifice is in no position to dodge at the moment, being sealed in a block of ice thanks to his erstwhile comrade. He is easily impaled through the head by Blueshift's sword. Sadly, there's no dramatic shattering; the ice is dissipating as the blade penetrate's Arti's cranium, so he simply falls over, sprawling and badly hurt. He starts to try and crawl away, systems shuttting down, having reached the limits of both his courage and his endurace. "N-now you...you hit s-something." He is reaching up to pull the sword from his head when Dreadwind's blasted thermal melters rock him to the core. He is sent flying against the wall, lacking the strength even to scream. He aims his lightning cannon in anger. "If I'm...going down..." He can't finish this threat. He simply fires at Dreadwind and prays.

Combat: Artifice misses Dreadwind with his Lightning Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

Photon curses as he misses Blueshift even though it is not unexpected when fighting such a fast opponent. For a moment he ponders to follow up with a more powerful attack but his attention his drawn towards Dreadwind who seems to be doing very well against 2, and now 3 opponents...perhaps he is doing TOO well. The golden seeker flies over the powermaster and blast him from above.

Combat: Photon misses Dreadwind with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -2]

Fusillade narrows optics warily at Scourge's smugness, but Astrotrain's presence and strange tales are delightfully distracting. "Yeah, how were the state games in person?" She frowns a bit as Artifice starts floundering about. "GET UP AND AND DIE WITH SOME DIGNITY! Ya got some fight in ya still!"

"ARGH" shouts Blueshift as his celebration is cut short by being shot in the face by Harrow. "You BITCH!" he helpfully quips back to her. "I will murder you forever for that, pew pew pew!" He takes out his gun and aims it at Harrow, it doesn't actually go 'pew pew' but zzzzzap!

Combat: Blueshift strikes Harrow with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Galvatron snickers. "I thought so--you couldn't resist provoking him, could you, Astrotrain? Can't have been very hard--but I imagine that the sudden arrival of Autobots that weren't a part of his little personal circle must have been disconcerting to him. And all of the changes that took place--ha! It must have driven him crazy!" But as Astrotrain goes on about how wonderful Straxus and Shockwave were, Galvatron glares at the triple-changer. "Don't get too nostalgic, Astrotrain. Straxus wasn't half the legend people say he was. What sort of Decepticon leader allows entire subfactions to break away and run their own cities, independent from him, anyway? A weakling! That's who!"

Harrow /might've/ been intimidated if Blueshift didn't tack on a 'pew pew pew' to his threat. Nonetheless, her speed is SAPPED, and she hops from her perch atop Dreadwind to gain some air. "BRING IT, FEMME-WINGS!" she shouts, and dives to smack him upside the helm with her pistol.

Combat: Harrow misses Blueshift with her Pistol Whip (Pistol) attack!

Dreadwind in a surprising turn of movement rolls agilely to his feet, dodging both Artifice's return fire and the Photon's, perhaps there is something to all his bemoaning of not being allowed to die just yet, because surely he's not trying to win this thing. "I told you but you wouldn't listen Artifice, you could have been a friend but as always i am alone, death is the only one who walks beside me." Dreadwind raises an arm in Artifice's direction and then looks up at Photon as he fires, "Will you be my friend?"

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Artifice with his single wrist blaster (Disruptor) attack! Combat: Artifice falls to the ground, unconscious.

"Yikes! Easy Boss! Straxus was just a breath of sanity compared to Sentinel Prime, that's all! I heard the Autobots had themselves a pretty rough time, whereas for me it was alot...quieter overall." Astrotrain responds, waving his hands in a placating motion as he finds a spot to sit down. "Frankly the guy had so many agendas it ain't no wonder he had the 'deceiver' title. Took me awhile but I started to remember why I wasn't too fussy about being around him when I was younger. Not that I ever really met him face to face back then." He pauses, noting the irony of having more than made up for that in his 'old age'. "...huh, you spend your life hearin about a legend and then you meet the mech in person and you're all like, 'So where's the sparkles and dramatic music?'"

Fusillade's words aren't exactly inspiring, but they do shame Aritifice into trying to stand. It isn't easy; is it inconceivable that the foreign object sticking out of his head might be impeding communication between his processor and his servomuscular systems? Against all odds, he does manage to push himself to his feet, though he certainly doesn't look very graceful doing it. He swivels his newly-crowned cranium, moving mechanically, one optic lens busted. The bulb beneath it burns red. "Yes," he says to Fusillade, "with dignity." He raises his arm to fire, not even sure who he's aiming at or which cannon he's planning on firing. None of that matters, however, when Dreadwind fires his wrist blaster, punching a hole through Arti's chest. Art drops like a sack of hammers, smoking, jerking, and sparking...with dignity.

Fusillade raises a hand to the back of her helmet, and looks anywhere but the battlefield. "Oops. Well hopefully he'll recall enough when he comes back to, and will be a better warrior for it." She cants her head at the garbled speech, and d'awws. "Well that was sweet."

Photon doesn't have much time to ponder his failure to hit the powermaster because Dreadwind quickly dispatches Artifice once he dodged Photon's attack. This changes the odds of this fight, especially for Harrow. But now that everyone is concentrated on the powermaster, Photon ceases the opportunity to backstab Blueshift with a powerful laser blast. "What was it that you said Blueshift? Oh yeah : Behind you!"

Combat: Photon misses Blueshift with his Laser Cannon attack!

"Also remember all those evil Avatar clones Straxus keeps sending after you from beyond the grave to murder you and upsurp your power!" calls Blueshift. "I didn't forget, but Astrotrain was all cosying up to Straxus!" As Photon shouts at him, Blueshift turns, using his pistol to pat the laser bolt back at Photon, firing along the beam as he does so. "Thanks!"

Combat: Blueshift strikes Photon with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Scourge, idly listening to Astrotrain's reminiscences of his recent trip back in time, he chuckles when Artifice finally falls, at Dreadwind's hands. Perhaps there was something lurking beneath all the depression and moaning? Maybe it was just luck that Dreadwind was putting on such a showing? And then, more treachery, this time Photon turning his attention towards Blueshift again.....And missing! They had each tried the same tactic, warning their target beforehand. Such ineptitude.

Harrow frowns when Artifice falls... with dignity. Ah well. Seeing as she's not anyone's current target, she eeeedges away and tries to patch up some laser wounds.

Combat: Harrow quickly patches up some of her minor injuries.

Galvatron narrows his optics at Astrotrain, especially when Blueshift tries to undermine him! "Oh, really, Blueshift? Yes, thank you for reminding me about Avatar. Well. So you say you weren't very impressed by him, eh, Astrotrain? And yet, Blueshift says that you were trying to get into his good graces." He grouches. "I don't see why. Straxus's mind-games... his absurd riddles... bah!"

Dreadwind watches as Photon just ignores his question and instead decides to shoot one of the other combatants, he sighs heavily, "No one ever does, i'm so alone, am i not even allowed a single friend?" Since Photon decided to snub him why shouldn't he be the next target to feel the gloomy miserable wrath. Flying skywards Dreadwind lashes out with a powerful straight armed punch.

Combat: Dreadwind misses Photon with his Punch attack!

Photon is slowed down by Blueshift's attack. Flying is now way to hard for him and therefore he decides to land on the ground of the stadium. "Hum... you are getting even more annoying as you usually are..." Suddenly, he catches a movement from the corner of his optics and he quickly dives forwards and then back on his feet...He barely managed to avoid Dreadwind's punch, "Now you wake up... Are you not busy with someone else?" he asks while firing once again at the powermaster.

Combat: Photon strikes Dreadwind with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

"Well Boss...look at it this way." Astrotrain actually seems to shrug off Blueshift's accusations from the arena. Has his time changed him? Has he matured? He stands up slowly, dignified, brushing himself off. "I'm suddenly back in time, back during Cybertron's golden years, it's the same war but also a different one." As he speaks, Astrotrain casually finishes the last of his drink, emptying the metal container completely. "So after talkin to Shockwave, I had to figure out what I was gonna do next. And while things were certainly split up back then, unfortunately like it or leave it, Straxus was still the Decepticon with the most influence. So what I had to do..." And with that, he draws his arm back, and HURLS the empty metal container into the arena, aimed right for you-know-who! "...was come clean and at least cement my position so I wasn't no Outlawed freak. Just in case I couldn't get back at al, ya know? I didn't like it, and I'm pretty sure Straxus -knew- I didn't like it, but I guess I was just actin like a good Decepticon should, in his view."

Combat: Astrotrain strikes Blueshift with his Empty Drink Container to the Head! (Grab) attack!

"Yess, now you will feel my pow-ARGH!" shouts Blueshift as he gets Astrotrain's drink thrown at his head. "Astrotrain, when this is over, you will die!" he cries, before transforming, to rocket forwards towards Photon. "I'm gonna get you if it is the last thing I do!" he cries Blueshift leaps into the air, flipping into the form of a small spacecraft

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Photon with his Full-Body Strike attack!

Harrow looks left, then right, then rolls her shoulders. No need to stay in the fray any longer, as she'd been entertained long enough, and she certainly didn't want to win by default if the remaining mechs finished each other off. "I forfeit!" she announces, and moves towards the stands. She's sure to laugh when Blueshift gets justly decked.

"HHa ha that's awesome!" Fusillade laughs nastily at Astrotrain's littering. As Harrow shimmies off the field, though, her genial mood melts away. She fixes her saffron optics on the medic, and glares balefully.

Harrow shrinks away from Fusillade!

Dreadwind misses and cheers up ever so slightly, "Awake, asleep, it doesn't matter, as always i am forced to go onwards on my lonely path to final destruction, a fate some far distance off." Dreadwind of course doesn't dodge so Photon strikes him easily the laser fire biting deep into his side, he looks at it momentarily. "The suffering never ends." With Photon already blatantly ignoring his mechaolive branch of friendship that just leaves the blueship Dreadwind aims at Photon and fires.

Combat: Dreadwind misses Photon with his Single Wrist Blaster (Disruptor) attack!

This times, Photon wasn't able to dodge Blueshift full powered ram and he's knocked into the wall of the stadium. It breaks under the impact and he is nearly buried under the rumbles. It takes some time to the seeker to extract himself from there, "Ok.. you asked for it. Now you DIE!" he screams while taking off, all gun blazing towards the blue spacecraft....just in time to avoid the incoming blast from Dreadwind.

Combat: Photon sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Photon misses Blue Spaceship with his Laser Cannon attack!

Scourge watches Astrotrain's empty drink tink off of Blueshift's head and then Harrow's withdrawal from the competition. Aparently, the medic had only been there for amusement? Or perhaps cowardice had driven Harrow off the field. Regardless, that left only three, and he was, at the moment, rather hard-pressed to guess at who would prevail.

Galvatron hmmms, his mouth forming a thin line. "I suppose that makes sense, Astrotrain. You at least had the sense to return to your own time. But I don't want to hear you singing the praises of that self-righteous buffoon Straxus any longer! He had all the power in the world and he squandered it!" He ends his tirade when Harrow returns to the stands. "What? You're quitting!? That's pathetic! You get ba--" Galvatron then has a vision. Nurse Air Commander Harrow? Making a face, Galvatron says, "--never mind!"

"I missed the bit where I was dying!" calls back Blueshift as he dives back towards Photon, dipping his wings this time to reveal the deadly poison blades, diving away at the last minute to try to slash his opponent. "It's a shame Harrow ducked out, I thought she would /school/ you easily!"

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Photon with his Wing Slice attack! [Pulled -2]

As Galvatron starts in, Fusillade relents. Grumbling to herself, she begins to stomp back to the energon stand for a refill.

Harrow looks quite ready to /bolt/ back into the fray at Galvatron's orders, but he changes his mind for some reason, so she just lingers near the stands. "I schooled Dreadwind at least!"

Dreadwind sighs lightly, another miss, things are starting to look up for him, the suffering to come will be all the less for his failure here. There'll still be suffering just that the more excruciating stuff will be put off for a bit, if he's lucky, which he isn't. Dreadwind looks up as an aerial battle breaks out between the two skilled fliers, then he looks at the recently giving up Harrow, perhaps now someone more open to his way of thinking.

Combat: Dreadwind takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Harrow blows kisses at Dreadwind to mock him.

Photon is sliced by the spacecraft's wing...oil and energon start to flow from the wound. The golden seeker falls to the ground, trying to hold his fluids with his hands, "You annoying piece of slag..." Gathering his strength, he leaps into the air and transforms into his pyramid jet mode. After circling around the stadium he comes back right towards Blueshift and fires his heat guns at him. Photon leaps fowards and shifts into a golden pyramid jet.

Combat: Pyramid Jet  strikes Blue Spaceship with his Heat Guns attack!

Blueshift is totally put off by Harrow blowing kisses to Dreadwind, /honestly/ as he is hit by Photon's lasers. He transforms, hovering in midair to aim his pistol at Photon's tail and fires away. "You've not even begun to see annoying yet!" He hisses The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift

Combat: Blueshift strikes Pyramid Jet  with his Speed Stealing Gun attack!

Artifice blows kisses to the ground as he lies unconscious.

"No worries about that, Boss!" Astrotrain states happily, both because Galvatron seems to agree with the triplechanger's decided course of action, and the fact that he made contact on Blueshift with his thrown projectile. "It was an edumacational kinda trip and all but it's better to be back here anyway. It's a little disconcertin being surrounded by Decepticons that can't fly unless they got a plane mode or somethin."

Dreadwind barely notices the slight mocking from Harrow, blown kisses are hardly effective to one used to being punched and kicked for just existing and making his views known. Dreadwind turns his attention to the continuing battle overhead, he sees no reason to bother the pair, they'll force him into action soon enough and neither is likely to want to be his friend.

Combat: Dreadwind takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Pyramid Jet  is taking heavy damage here and he can barely keep flying. It looks like he won't be getting this promotion after all but if he's going down, he firmly intend to bring Blueshift with him...for the greater good of the empire! He turns and flies right towards Blueshift, the speed stealing effect slows him down but doesn't stop him. With a last effort, he launches himself into his opponent.

Combat: Pyramid Jet  strikes Blueshift with his Ram attack!

Blueshift realises at this moment that transforming back to robot mode was pretty dumb as he gets a Photon in his gut. He staggers backwards, leaping to the air as he transforms and wheels around, lasers opening fire at Photon's wings. "Nnnnn that was foolish Photon, I rule the air, me and no-one else! Apart from GALVATRON of course!" Blueshift leaps into the air, flipping into the form of a small spacecraft

Combat: Blue Spaceship misses Pyramid Jet  with his Pewpewpew (Laser) attack!

Galvatron eyes Astrotrain a bit longer, but appears to be satisfied with his response for now. For the moment, he just kicks his feet up onto a simulated family of five, leans back, and sips his drink as he watches the fight play out.

The battle appears to be taking its toll on Photon if the apparent damage is anything to go by, Dreadwind is about to give up just like Harrow did. Then a tiny annoying voice of Hi-Test starts urging him on telling him it'll work out for the best and to trust him, sighing resignedly he raises his rifles and opens fire, apparently not really trying.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Pyramid Jet  with his Thermal Melters Area attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Dreadwind misses Blue Spaceship with his Thermal Melters Area attack! [Pulled -2]

Astrotrain blinks as he spots Blueshift and Photon laying into each other...and a certain powermaster on the sidelines. "...oh great. Chuckles is gonna be the next guy at the top? THIS is gonna be a cheery time fer Aerospace." Summing up his whole thoughts, he grabs yet another drink off a passing tray and downs it all in one gulp.

Scourge watches the aerial action and chuckles at Blueshift's claim of ruling the air, then missing Photon. Then Dreadwind gets back into the fray, sort of, once again forcing Scourge to wonder just what was going on in that head of his.

Pyramid Jet  manages to avoid the incoming attack of Blueshift by...crashing into the ground. The impact damages him even more than he was and he seriously ponders to forfeit... but his ego is too big to allow him to do that. Slowly, he transforms back into his robot mode, "You rule the air? Well right now you're on the ground!" He's about to fire when he gets struck from behind by Dreadwind... no time to deal with him now, he can find the energy to turn around to face him. Gathering his strength once again, he raises his arm and fires his laser cannon at Blueshift. The Pyramid jet unfold into Photon's robot mode.

Combat: Photon misses Blue Spaceship with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

Blueshift manages to wheel in the sky as Dreadwind fires on him. But the Powermaster isn't his immediate concern - it is Photon, who was really mean to him! So the blue spaceship rockets down, and a fist unfurls from the side. "AIR PUNCH!" he calls out as the spaceship-with-fist wheels round for a round-house punch!

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Photon with his Punch attack!

Dreadwind sighs to himself half the attack struck home, that's not going to be good, though surprisingly or perhaps fatefully Photon decides to ignore him, like so many others. He fails to see the advantage in being overlooked and disregarded he only sees it as yet another snub to add to his long list. Maybe saving Photon will encourage him to be a friend, but probably not either way Dreadwind raises his arm and points at Blueshift.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Blue Spaceship with his single wrist blaster (Disruptor) attack!

Photon watches as Blueshift flies towards him...and that's all he can do. He is totally unable to find the strength to duck out of the way and therefore he's nailed back the punch and falls back on the ground. "I...you...all...got?" he mutters. This is likely to be is last shot but hopefully it will hurt Blueshift...because this is all that matter to Photon at the moment as the rage burns within his lasercore.

Combat: Photon misses Blue Spaceship with his Laser Cannon attack!

"Oh you little!" cries Blueshift as Dreadwind hits him! The spaceship flies higher into the air, a back-mounted laser shooting at Photon as he thinks about what to do with Dreadwind. "But Dreadwind, if you kill me, who will be left to kill you? You will live and we will all be dead!"

Combat: Blue Spaceship misses Photon with his Disruptor attack!

Dreadwind nods at Blueshift's statement, "I know, it is my curse to carry on, to suffer till the end of time itself, alone, whilst others around me fall and die finding their momentary surcease from pain. Perhaps when all are dead at last it will be my time then death will finally claim me." As Dreadwind considers his options he continues to fight.

Combat: Dreadwind strikes Blue Spaceship with his Thermal Melters attack! [Pulled -2]

Somehow Blueshift misses the nearly dead seeker who's laying on the ground of the stadium. This is far from the display of skills that the golden seeker imagined to impress Galvatron but there is not much he can do about it now. He rollover on the ground and starts to crawl towards the other two Decepticons. He really wants to shoot Blueshift right in the face but Dreadwind also deserves some payback for his actions against him. Pulling a little pistol from a subspace pocket, he aims it at the powermaster, "Grrrrr" is the only sound that he produces as he fires it.

Combat: Photon misses Dreadwind with his Pistol attack!

"Argh, thermal melters!" curses Blueshift as he is hit off course from killing Photon by Dreadwind. "I can't believe we've not confescated those off you yet, you could do yourself a mischief!" As Photon tries to rise to kill Dreadwind, Blueshift sees his opportunity, diving down to try to slam into the seeker and knock him out for good

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Photon with his Full-Body Strike attack! [Pulled -5] Combat: Photon falls to the ground, unconscious.

Galvatron yells, "WHO CARES WHO KILLS WHO!? Just get one with the killing and finish each other off!" Photon goes down, and Galvatron laughs maniacally--that is, until he realizes who's left. Blueshift and Dreadwind. Yeah. Galvatron looks decidedly nonplussed at that.

Photon attempts to rise to his feet...it is a wonder he is still functional after the beating he took during this trial. He gets to his knees only to be rammed by Blueshift and this times, all his systems shutdown to preserve his lasercore. The light flickers into his optics and then they turn dark...Photon is finished!

Dreadwind is dismayed as he strike Blueshift then Photon fires on him, "So you spurn my friendship just like the others, maybe one day... but it will never come, i just know it." He starts walking over to deal with the one who rejected him but then Blueshift crushes what life remained out of Photon, changing his attack somewhat he half heartedly tries to punch Blueshift.

Combat: Dreadwind misses Blue Spaceship with his Punch attack!

The blue spaceship flies away from Dreadwind's punch. "Dreadwind!" it calls down. "Check Photon is really dead, you might want to step on his head a bit in case he makes a move!" He then dives down, attempting to slam into Dreadwind from behind. In a totally non-gay way.

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Dreadwind with his Full-Body Strike attack! [Pulled -4]

Scourge watches Photon fall and turns his attention to the remaining two. Perhaps, with the less-than-pleased look on Galvatron's face, he'll order the winner terminated. That would certainly make Scourge's day complete, but then, it would completely negate the purpose of this fight. So, that's out, and soon, one of the remaining combatants would fall, and a new Air Commander would be named.

Dreadwind watches Blueshift and doesn't go to check on Photon after all if he still functions he'll just shoot him in the face for checking, "So now we are the only ones left, pain coursing through our systems and yet the fight goes on, the victor gaining nothing more than hatred from others." Then Blueshift heads towards him again ramming into him and sending him flying further crumpling his already damaged body, sending a small shower of sparks as he crashes, rolls and finally transforms. "It didn't have to be like this", quickly attaining a lock a missile is released, which will likely miss and end up hitting Galvatron. Dreadwind leans forwards allowing his body to fall towards the horizontal as his chest flips upwards concealing his head, while his legs pivot and his arms join to form the lower fuselage, to reveal a deadly F-16 Falcon.

Combat: F16 Falcon  strikes Blue Spaceship with his Missile attack!

The words with which Blueshift swears are not for the ears of the delicate, as Dreadwind's missile messes him up good. Real good D: He putters about a bit, lasers firing desperately at Dreadwind. "Nooo I will kill you!" he cries.

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes F16 Falcon  with his Laser attack!

"DREADWIND!!!" Galvatron yells. "Try harder, damn you! Kill Blueshift! Anyone but him!" He rises out of his seat as Dreadwind connects with a missile. "YES! Like that, but do it again!" But Blueshift isn't out of the fight yet, and Galvatron watches in horror as he blasts Dreadwind! "NOOOOO!"

F16 Falcon  doesn't like that he hit it makes him one step closer to being more hated, Hi-Test on the other hand is loving it. A deep gouge is scored down Dreadwind's fuselage by the laser illiciting no more than a low groan, for the damage he's received he hasn't complained all that much. "Are you going to force me to end your suffering? I suppose so you would never consider a friendly draw.. or me as a friend." With that he activates his lasers one of the few things he has left from when he was a seeker.

Combat: F16 Falcon  misses Blue Spaceship with his Laser attack!

With Galvatron's outburst, Scourge got his hopes up that, should Blueshift actually win, his Lord would order him to terminate him. That would certainly be something, though a wounded target was, well, less than satisfying.

"Don't worry Lord Galvatron, I will kill him for you!" cries Blueshift, completely misinterpreting his commander's cries. With not many options at all, Blueshift decides to do something foolhardly, blasting in behind Dreadwind and attempting to crush him in a mid-air ram!

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes F16 Falcon  with his Full-Body Strike attack!

Astrotrain downs three more energon drinks, one after the other, in three quick gulps. The more the fight is going on, the more that he's feeling the urge to drink...FAST. "I think I'm gonna pull a lot of deep space cargo runs after this for a little bit." And he -hates- those deep space cargo runs. Unfortunetly late, or deliberatly? The gripping battle royale is drawing to a close, and at it's climax is the time Redshift has chosen to make his appearance. He struts in, chin high and optics lit brightly, eyes following the action as Blueshift pulls out the classic 'ram into it until its dead' move.

F16 Falcon  hears Galvatron yelling his name and assumes it's just some threat to make him shut up, nothing new there, then Blueshift decides to continue his Ramjet impersonation and crashes into him. Sending him spinning through the air, showering sparks everywhere as parts of him fall to the ground, not the most stable of planes to start with Dreadwind however straightens up, "So it comes down to this, death will momentarily claim one of us, it will be me so that i can truely suffer knowing i shall be reactivated momentarily." That said that his main weapons flare to life.

Combat: F16 Falcon  misses Blue Spaceship with his Missile attack!

Scourge turns to look, somewhat incredulously, at Astrotrain. "You, /volunteering/ for deep space cargo runs? Are you certain those drinks aren't laced with something, Astrotrain?" Turning back to the battle, he rises to his feet, those demonic wings unfurling slightly in anticipation of one of the two falling. The best part of any battle.

KA-CHUNK. KA-CHUNK! That is the noise Blueshift's engines are making as he hobbles along in the air somehow. "Dreadwind, are you an EMO?" he exclaims loudly, rounding on his foe for another mid-air ram, to try to smash the jet in the side. This is the real air-punch, since he doesn't have many other options at this moment!

Combat: Blue Spaceship misses F16 Falcon  with his Full-Body Strike attack! [Pulled -5]

Galvatron grabs the prongs on his head as if he wants to rip them off. "NO, DREADWIND! AIM BETTER damn you, or the ultimate doom you've always feared will come sooner and be more horrible than you could possibly imagine!"

F16 Falcon  is unsurprised that his last missile flies wide of the mark, but is dismayed when Blueshift also fails to finish him off, banking into a tight turn Dreadwind pulls around again and opens fire. Though he hopes to miss after all who wants to have to spend effort telling others to die anyway. "So it is to be slow and drawn out, i might have known."

Combat: F16 Falcon <Dreadwind> strikes Blue Spaceship with his rapid-fire machine guns (Pistol) attack! Combat: Blue Spaceship falls to the ground, unconscious.

Somehow Blueshift's spaceship mode makes a D: face as he crashes into the ground and he dies

Galvatron throws his drink up into the air, and laughs *joyfully.* "YES! Blueshift is NOT going to be the Air Commander! Hahahaha, yes! There is justice in the universe after all!" Then... his arms slowly lower. "Oh, right. Eh. Hm."

Redshift watches, bemused, as one final round of attacks afre exchanged, as Dreadwind opens fire with a hail of bullets. An interesting turn of events, if Galvatron is willing to abide by the rules and make the eternally gloomy Dreadwind the burden of command. He claps his hands, slowly and sardonically, and looks to Galvatron, questioningly. "Shall I destroy Dreadwind for you, Galvatron?"

Scourge watches Dreadwind's machine guns mow down Blueshift with a glint of what could only be described as glee. Watching someone fall like that was only better when it was himself causing the fall. Unfortunately, however, he did not have that satisfaction this time, but there were plenty of opportunities to rip others to pieces. Already standing, he applauds Dreadwind's victory, despite the slow start. Or perhaps Dreadwind had engineered his own start to be slow, to be in a good position to take the victory. "Well played, Dreadwind."

Harrow slow claps. For Blueshift.

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, without enthusiasm, "Congratulations, Air Commander Dreadwind."

Artifice would be surprised if he weren't a heap of parts.

F16 Falcon <Dreadwind> halts his flight and transforms landing heavily, looking over at the fallen Blueshift and his shoulders droop heavily as realisation hits him, even in a simulation death avoids him and yet there he stands just over his shoulder. Then worse is realised, he looks around and finds that all have fallen, he is victorious and worst of all Hi-Test was right. Hi-Test leaps out from behind Dreadwind landing gently and starts celebrating. F-16 Falcon suddenly halts it's forwards momentum and pulls up as it bends in half. The body of the jet twists and unfolds to become legs, while arms extrude themselves from the fuselage sides.

Blueshift resets himself and unsteadily gets to his feet, pointing at Dreadwind. "Cheater!" he shouts. "He's got a little man in his tummy, no-one else has one of those!"

<Decepticon> Space Attack XO Blueshift mumblemumble

Galvatron shakes his head slowly at Redshift. "No. He won the battle royale--he's entitled to the rewards. But mark my words, Dreadwind--don't run the damned aerospace division into the ground! Have Hi-Test run it for you if necessary!"

<Decepticon> Dreadwind says, "Great just what i wanted..."

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "Oh, it's what *everyone* wanted, I'm sure."

<Decepticon> Dreadwind loses his radio to Hi-Test, "We accept this honour graciously Lord Galvatron."

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "That's more like it."

Dreadwind looks at Galvatron it almost looks as if he's asking to be obliterated right there, "Run it into the ground? That would be utterly pointless." Hi-Test is dancing merrily beside the gloomy victor, "Yeah we rule! Told you Dread. Oh yeah Galvatron it'll be run just great, just you wait so many despicably evil things to do and now minions to do the boring bits!"

As the blood sport finally draws to an end, so too does Laserbeak's task of recording the event. The sophisticated holocam on Laserbeak's forehead retracts back into its compartment as the red mechanical condor lifts off from the vantage point he had been at for the majority of the competition. Circling around the competitors once, the cassetticon operative squawks in amusement at the results. Just what exactly has the Decepticon Empire truly earned here tonight?

Redshift turns to Blueshift, his face bearing a dissapointment look. "Blue, Blue, Blue... couldn't even kill ONE lousy powermaster? I do hope you destroyed at least /some/ of the other competitors, right?"

The simulation resets Artifice, who steps toward the door with his shoulders hunched in embarrassment. He tries to leave without being noticed.

Harrow sheepishly salutes Galvatron before taking her leave, again, avoiding poor, poor demoted Blueshift.

Galvatron sneers at Dreadwind, then looks down at Hi-Test. "...yes, of course, Hi-Test. There are many perks to this job, but also many responsibilities--and many consequences for failure! Keep that in mind before you get too excited!"

Scourge steps back out of the way again, silently observing. In time, Dreadwind will prove an effective leader, with Hi-Test's aid, or he will truly foul things up, and be targeted for Galvatron's full wrath, and the process of finding a new Air Commander will begin all over again.

"Oh of COURSE, I killed all the rest!" sneers Blueshift. "He just got lucky, that's all. And he'll soon get UNLUCKY if you catch my drift." With that, Blueshift tries to poke Redshift in the eyes, because he's mean

Combat: Blue Spaceship strikes Redshift with his eyepoke (Punch) attack! The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift

Galvatron twitches as he pulls out a datapad, making adjustments to Dreadwind's status. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS," he grumbles.

Dreadwind just stands there alone, slowly sinking into deeper depression, even more alone now that he is of command level seperated from the others by rank as well as the standard hatred/fear. Hi-Test finally stops his merry dancing and scratches his head, "Yeah yeah not a problem Galvatron, errr if i could get a list of those responsibilities i'll get right on it. Dreadwind wasn't exactly forthcoming on what they were."

Redshift does not appear convinced! "I'll believe it when I see.. OW!" Redshift's classic retort is cut short as his right optic is obliterated by Blueshift's prodding digit. "You little glitch!" Redshift's arm snaps up in a flash, bearing his rifle. His good eye glares at Blueshift balefully, and he fires a blast from his flamethrower at his blue brother.

Combat: Redshift sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Redshift misses Blueshift with his Flamethrower attack!

Scrapper is too late to actually see any of the show, because he's a working man, and he actually has useful things to do. (Not that fliers don't also. But their useful things usually do not get them muddy.) Still, he seems to see that Harrow was /ordered/ to be here, and perhaps she'll still bere here, if he's lucky. Artifice, too. And Scrapper is indeed lucky, it would seem.

Artifice is stopped at the door as Scrapper enters. "Oh," he says, wondering just how much the Constructicon knows about how he fared in today's excercise. "Scrapper. You missed the festivites. Looks like Sulkypants got promoted, much to his chagrin."

<Decepticon> Geo says, "... Congratulations?"

Blueshift dodges Redshift's flames and takes something out of his side compartment. "I read somewhere I was supposed to do this to HUMILIATE my enemies!" he pouts at Redshift. In his hand is a teabag. He lunges for Redshift, trying to rub the teabag over his face

Combat: Blueshift misses Redshift with his Teabag D: (Kick) attack!

<Decepticon> Dreadwind says, "Yeah, great...."

<Decepticon> Dreadwind loses his radio to Hi-Test, "Indeed it is great Dreadwind, a new era of misery starts today, for our enemies obviously."

Scrapper has only read the report and really has no idea at all how anyone aside from Dreadwind did. (Dreadwind obviously won!) The Powermasters are actually quite powerful (hahaha), based off their schematics. Just... maladaptive in personality, which hampers their effectiveness. It'll be interesting to see how Dreadwind ends up doing! He looks for the (un)lucky boy and greets, "Congratulations! If you need anything, anything at all, just ask... Hook. Hook will be /happy/ to help you." That is a bald-faced lie. Scrapper raises one finger and looks over at Artifice, "Ah, good. You're here." Scrapper pulls out a laser tape measure and starts measuring Artifice.

Redshift leaps back from Blueshift as his twin brandishes a foul brown blobby object. "Eww, don't let that brown thing touch me." He says with disgust. "Why don't you go back to eating paste or something?"

Dreadwind looks at the others gathered and wonders just which will be the first to stab him in the back, settling on it most likely being Hi-Test, after all he's always up to something. "Yeah great Scrapper, now i am more alone than ever seperated further by my rank." Hi-Test jumps up on Dreadwind's shoulder, "Hey we get a nice shiny office don't we? Hey Blueshift, Redshift, cut that out. Isn't one beating a day enough for you Blue?"

Artifice holds his arms out parallel to the ground as Scrapper measures him. He looks over, a bit hurt, thinking that Redshift is referring to him when he mentions a 'brown thing'. "Is this for my rebuild, Scrapper?" He sounds a bit hopeful.

Blueshift scowls at Redshift, and then at Hi-Test. "Shut it squishy! DREADWIND is the guy in charge now, not YOU! You are his MINION!"

Scrapper does admit, "Yes, yes, you get an office." He pauses. "But it is Dreadwind-sized, not Hi-Test sized, I am afraid. Maybe you can set up your own little desk on Dreadwind's shelf." Scrapper continues to measure Artifice, and he replies, "Weeeell, it would be, but Astrotrain's back."

Hi-Test leans in to Dreadwind's head and appears to be whispering but isn't, "Yeah well Dreadwind has made me his officiator i get to give out orders in his name so he doesn't have to be bothered with minutia."

Artifice sags a bit. "Ah, that's right, well...I'm still game. As long as you aren't measuring me to see if I'l fit into the barrel of a cannon or something."

Blueshift just stares at Hi-Test. "How can he, you don't even have WINGS, you can't be in Aerospace. You can live in the Terrorcon compound"

Redshift's eyes fall upon the diminuitive Hi-Test, although he is hesitant to mouth off to the pair of newly-appointed commanders. He scoffs lightly at the Nebulan's proclaimation, but keeps his mouth shut.

Scrapper offers, "I could build you a tiny set of wings?" He looks at Hi-Test thoughtfully.

Hi-Test shrugs at Blueshift, "Office personel don't need to fly i guess, besides it's his rules now, you know unless Galvatron doesn't like them, then he'll change them again." Dreadwind sighs as Hi-Test easily slips into his new role of air commander on his behalf and starts on trying to figure out on how to seal himself in his undoubtedly well shielded new offices. Hi-Test looks to Scrapper, "Hmm nice idea, but i've got a great pair of wings right here."

Artifice looks around for Harrow...the only person who seemed to be on his side tonight. Oh wait...she was the one who FROZE him so Blueshift could impale his head. Maybe he doesn't want her help after all. "Can you tell me what you have in mind, Scrapper?"

Scrapper looks rather blue that he doesn't get to build tiny wings for Hi-Test. Scrapper is very fond of putting wings on things that logically should not possess wings. He answers, "Well, I wanted to have Harrow go over the plans, anyway, you know, as a learning experience, and then do a cardboard mock-up of the changes on you. Is she about?" There is quite a crowd here, and it's hard to tell if one Seeker is among many.

Laserbeak flies out of the simulator room as well with the data he had collected tonight. No doubt Soundwave will be waiting to go through every minute bits of detail with surgical precision.

"A cardboard mock-up," Artifice says, "Yes, that's a good idea. I'm looking forward to being a bit more useful...especially after today. Though, in my own favor I guess, I did last longer than I expected. The mentor training is paying off."

Scrapper snorts and corrects, "It's a cheap and easy idea that'll give me a basic concept of how well she can follow plans. It'd be a shame to get no use out of them, after I went to the trouble of drafting them up." He crosses his arms and glares at nothing in specific.

Harrow finally steps forward and speaks up, "Scrapper, sir." She salutes, and peers at Artifice. "Upgrading Artifice is the topic of discussion yet again?"

After the great rush of well wishers, well Scrapper said well done, kind of, Dreadwind finally manages to pull himself away from the throng and stomps off presumably to go find his new office or more likely to find somewhere quiet to mope at his terrible good fortune.

================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/162                    Posted        Author New Air Commander                 Sun Jan 03    Galvatron --   Galvatron appears on-screen with a dour expression. "Dreadwind is the new Air Commander of the Decepticons. If you have a problem with that..." He leans forward, his face twisting up in berserk rage as he screams, "THEN MAYBE *YOU* SHOULD HAVE BEAT HIM FOR THE JOB, YOU WORTHLESS SLACKER!!! NYAAAHHHH!" Galvatron raises his cannon at the camera, and then--
 * static*

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