The Kato School of Dodging

AC Training  Chamber This stark,  spacious  chamber  is  well  reinforced  and  shielded  to  stand  up  to  the  strain  of  many  practice  bouts. A gleaming  training  drone  stands  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  ready  for  work. The walls  are  sheathed  in  reflective  alloys,  allowing  the  combatants  to  observe  their  motions  and  progress.

Contents: Roadbuster Kup Training Drone  -  AC Obvious  exits: Shaft Upward  [U]  leads  to  Autobot  City  -  Repair  Bay.

Kup is  in  a  foul,  foul  mood. First, Motormaster  kidnapped  Chromedome,  right  under  his  nose! Then, Chromedome,  for  some  insane  reason,  decided  to  reprogram  Menasor. If that  wasn't  bad  enough,  Menasor  then  tried  to  blow  up  the  Earth  with  really  bad  weather  and...  escaped...  and  is  a  super-genius  on  the  loose. Frak. Kup just  had  a  fight  yesterday,  but  it's  been  too  long  since  he's  gotten  his  hands  dirty,  so  he  stomps  into  the  training  room  with  an  eye  toward  tearing  the  training  drone  a  new  one  and  then  some.

Blurr has  been  out  of  sight  and  mind  for  awhile  now,  too  timid  since  his  depowering  to  really  deal  with  risking  himself  in  battle. This isn't  (quite)  the  same  as  saying  he's  been  wallowing  in  his  misery,  though. He sees  himself  as  useless  now,  but  doesn't  intend  to  stay  that  way,  and  so  he's  been  spending  a  lot  of  time  in  the  training  rooms,  practicing  against  the  drone. He's already  inside,  firing  at  it,  when  Kup  arrives. He looks  towards  the  door  as  it  opens  and  says,  speaking  at  normal  Transformer  speed,  "Oh,  hi,  Ku-aaaack!" It just  goes  to  show  how  much  he's  slowed  down,  that  he  doesn't  even  get  those  three  words  out  before  the  drone  blasts  him.

Combat: Blurr  misses  Training  Drone  -  AC  with  his  Disruptor  attack! Combat: Training  Drone  -  AC  strikes  Blurr  with  its  Kick  attack!

Roadbuster sighs. Poor Blurr. Roadbuster should've  known  better  that  one  training  session  wan't  gonig  to  cure  Blurr's  problems  over  night. Still, at  least  the  blue  guy  has  the  gumption  to  keep  trying. "How are  you  feeling,  Blurr?  Been  practicing  like  I  showed  you?"

Kup actually  winces  when  Blurr  greets  him  and  is  promptly  booted. He snaps,  "Don't  you  remember  how  to  dodge,  kid?" Then Kup  remembers. Oh, right,  the  poor  lad's  lost  what...  what  makes  Blurr  /blur/. He looks  over  at  Roadbuster  and  laughs,  "What,  you  teachin'  'im  about  bullet  time?" Ha ha  ha.

Blurr cringes  as  Kup  demands  to  know  if  he  remembers  how  to  dodge. "Uhm. No,"  he  says  quietly. "B-b-but I've  been  trying  to  relearn.  Except  that  Roadbuster  says  I  should  focus  on  just  learning  to  shoot  first  and  then  practicing  dodging  later.  So  I  did,  but...  I'm  still  working  on  it." He picks  himself  up  off  the  ground  and  checks  his  laser,  frowning  at  it. "I want  to  remember  because  getting  hit,  well,  hurts!"

"Getting hurt  is  one  of  the  best  teachers.  If  you  can  survive  through  it." Roadbuster replies. "I was  showing  him  how  to  fight  when  he's  /not/  like  greased  lightning,  starting  with  shooting." The drab  Wrecker  adds  quietly. He staysa  bac  from  the  other  Autobots,  nto  wanting  to  interfere  with  whatever  Kup  may  have  to  say. "Blurr's already  heard  my  advice,  let's  see  what  you've  got  to  teach  him,  old  man."

Roadbuster has  disconnected.

Kup looks  Blurr  over  and  frowns. All the  spirit's  just  gone  out  of  Blurr. Sure, he  doesn't  talk  so  annoying  anymore,  but  he's  just  a  shell  of  himself. Something's got  to  be  done,  and  he's  glad  Roadbuster  at  least  made  a  start  at  it. He says  slowly,  "Well,  son,  it  really  depends  on  whether  you  see  yourself  as  more  defensive  or  aggressive.  Me?  I'm  all  aggressive.  Don't  care  about  dodging,  so  long  as  I  get  my  fists  into  those  slagsuckers,  but  that  might  not  suit  you  so  well,  considerin'."

"Yeah, definitely  more  defensive,"  Blurr  admits. "I mean,  I  always  was,  and  I..  k-know  that  I'm  not  much  use  as  a  messenger  anymore  so  I  need  to  learn  to  fight,  but  I'm  still  not  that  sturdy  or  strong  and  my  firepower  isn't  that  high,  so  lasting  longer  so  I  can  hit  more  would  be  better." He aims  his  gun  towards  the  drone,  sighting  down  the  pistol  -  this  is  a  new  thing  for  him,  actually  -  and  firing.

Combat: Blurr  sets  his  defense  level  to  Aggressive. Combat: Blurr  strikes  Training  Drone  -  AC  with  his  Disruptor  attack! Combat: Training  Drone  -  AC  strikes  Blurr  with  its  Electro-Sword  attack!

Kup nods  at  Blurr's  reply,  and  he  sighs,  "Whelp.  If  you  can't  rely  on  your  reflexes  any  more,  what  you  /can/  rely  on  is  cover.  Even  in  a  blank  white  room,  you  can  find  cover,  even  if  it's  only  gtting  behind  your  opponent,  so's  he  can't  see  you.  Lemme  call  up  a  few  simulations,  and  you  tell  me  how  you  could  make  use  of  cover  in  'em." First... the  plains  of  Kansas?

Blurr looks  around,  eyes  wide  and  blinking. "But but  but  these  are  plains!  There  are  no  cover!" he protests,  gesturing  around.

Kup shakes  his  head  and  smirks,  rolling  down  into  a  ditch  and  popping  up  to  take  a  shot  at  Blurr,  talking  as  he  goes,  "Says  you,  kid.  Even  if  you  don't  wanna  lay  low  and  be  a  snake  in  the  tall  grass,  there's  ditches,  rock  outcroppings,  fences,  even  a  few  trees!  Open  your  optics  and  look  again."

Combat: Kup  misses  Blurr  with  his  Pay  Attention! (Pistol) attack!

"AAARGH!" Blurr shouts  in  an  instinctual  panic,  but  he  immediately  throws  himself  down  behind  a  small  rock  outcropping,  anyway. "Hey, you  could  have  warned  me,  you  know!" he exclaims,  irritated,  as  he  returns  fire  from  behidn  it.

Combat: Blurr  sets  his  defense  level  to  Guarded. Combat: Blurr  strikes  Kup  with  his  Electro-Laser  attack! Combat: Kup  has  been  temporarily  incapacitated.

Kup is  frozen,  since  Blurr  took  his  advice  and  went  and  hid  behind  a  small  rock  outcropping. Wow. His advice  doesn't  usually  work  /that/  well!

Blurr's optics  flicker,  startled  to  have  hit  Kup. "I hit?" he asks  out  loud,  confused. "I hit!" he repeats,  now  pleased. He aims  his  weapon  and  fires  again. "All right!" he adds  cheerfully.

Combat: Blurr  strikes  Kup  with  his  Disruptor  attack!

The second  shot  really  does  more  to  shock  Kup  back  into  action  than  it  actually  hurts. Kup warns,  "Now  don't  get  cocky,  kid.  Next  simulation." Now they're  floating  in  spaaaaace,  next  to  some  mysteriously  large  black  squares,  against  a  burning  bright  sun. Kup touches  down  on  a  square  and  explains,  "When  there's  a  real  bright  object  shining,  y'ken  sometimes  hide  against  it  and  won't  be  seen,  'cos  people  don't  look  there." The old  fighter  pilot  trick  of  hiding  in  the  sun.

Blurr looks  confused  and  tilts  his  head. "But I'm  not  a  flier!" he objects,  looking  up  at  the  sun  as  he  touches  down  on  the  square. "How can  I  hide  against  the  sun  if  I  can't  stay  in  the  air?"

Kup covers  his  face  with  a  hand  and  groans,  "Y'ain't  ever  heard  of  backlighting?" Kup kicks  off  the  square,  floating  'up'  into  a  square-less  patch,  such  that  the  sun  is  at  his  back. Staring at  him  becomes  very,  very  hard,  unless  one  enjoys  burning  out  one's  optical  sensors.

Blurr tries  to  look  directly  at  Kup,  and  finds  that  it  is,  indeed,  hard  to  keep  doing  so. He squints  and  turns  his  head  away  after  a  moment. "Okay okay  so  even  if  I'm  not  flying  or  floating  or  whatever  I  can  just  make  sure  the  sun  is  at  my  back?"

Kup cautions,  "It's  not  a  panacea,  and  if  you  overuse  it,  folks  will  get  wise,  but  it's  a  trick  you  can  pull  out  every  now  and  then.  Next  simulation." Great, now  they're  underwater,  in  a  kelp  forest. Colourful fish  swim  about.

Blurr is  immediately  distracted  by  the  colorful  fish. He tilts  his  head  and  tries  to  follow  them. "Wow! But  we  don't  do  much  fighting  in  water,  Kup!"

While Blurr  is  distracted,  Kup  tries  to  nail  him  with  another  shot,  snapping,  "Look  alive,  lad,  or  you  won't  for  long!  You  have  to  be  prepared  for  anything.  We  keep  dumping  Trypticon  in  the  water  -  what  if  you  were  inside  Trypticon,  a  sabotage  job,  stealing  his  transformation  cog,  and  had  to  fight  your  way  outta  him  as  he  flooded  and  then  fight  s'more  out  in  the  ocean?"

Combat: Kup  sets  his  defense  level  to  Aggressive. Combat: Kup  misses  Blurr  with  his  Disruptor  attack!

Blurr is  surrounded  and  partially  obscured  by  fish  (though  no  fault  of  his  own)  and  is  thus  a  harder  to  hit  target. Unfortunately, as  Kup  fires,  the  fish  scatter,  removing  Blurr's  cover,  and  his  optics  go  wide. "Hey!" he exclaims,  and  throws  himself  down  -  among  the  kelp. "Maybe, but  it's  not  like  I'm  used  to  other  Autobots  suddenly  attacking  me!" he answers,  firing  back.

Combat: Blurr  strikes  Kup  with  his  Disruptor  attack!

Kup is  apparently  being  the  Kato  to  Blurr's  Clouseau  today. As Blurr  nails  him  in  the  upper  arm,  he  points  out,  "So  what  you're  sayin',  kid,  is  that  a  Decepticon  just  needs  to  put  on  an  Autobot  symbol,  and  you'd  never  see  him  coming  -  y'know,  that's  cover,  too,  in  a  way."

"Of course  I'd  see  him  coming!" Blurr protests. "It's the  ones  with  cloaks  that  I  don't  see  coming!  I  just...  well,  I  wouldn't  expect  /you/  to  be  a  Decepticon,  Kup!" Then he  looks  around  at  the  kelp. "It is?  Oh,  it  is!"

Kup covers  his  face  with  his  hands. Oh, Blurr. Dropping one  hand,  he  laughs  and  admits,  "Yeah,  Blurr.  The  kelp  is  cover.  Glad  ya  noticed." So not  what  Kup  meant,  but  he'll  take  that  he  can  get. Baby steps. Normally, he'd  protest  that  a  Decepticon  Kup  is  impossible,  but...  those  Dominator  Discs. Kup grimaces,  just  thinking  about  them.

Blurr watches  Kup's  reaction,  looking  a  little  confused  and  frowning. What'd he  say  wrong? But then  Kup's...  not  doing  anything,  and  seems  a  little  distracted. Blurr's expression  turns  sneaky  (for  Blurr),  and  he  pushes  himself  up  and  launches  himself  at  Kup. "Shouldn't get  distracted,  Kup!"

Combat: Blurr  misses  Kup  with  his  Distraction! (Punch) attack!

Kup darts  behind  a  flashing  school  of  fish,  smirking. "I didn't." Then, he  kicks  up  some  sand  from  the  seabed,  clouding  the  water. "C'mon, find  me."

Combat: Kup  sets  his  defense  level  to  Protected.

"Hey!" Blurr exclaims,  covering  his  eyes  with  his  arm. Then he  shakes  his  head,  realizing  that  /that/  won't  help  at  all! He looks  into  the  cloud  and  squints,  looking  for  a  shape  more  solid  than  the  rest. That, maybe? All this  focus  is  leaving  him  a  bit  more  vulnerable,  though.

Combat: Blurr  sets  his  defense  level  to  Fearless. Combat: Blurr  strikes  Kup  with  his  Disruptor  attack!

Kup does  get  nailed  again,  but  as  Blurr  focuses  on  him,  Kup  bounds  forward,  reaches  out,  and  tries  to  grab  Blurr  in  a  lock. "That's the  other  thing  about  cover.  If  an  enemy  gets  too  frustrated  tryin'a  find  you,  it  can  make  him  /stupid/."

Combat: Kup  strikes  Blurr  with  his  Grab  attack!

Blurr's grabbed  in  a  headlock! He flails,  then  tries  to  squirm  out  of  Kup's  hold. "Hey! Leggo  leggo  leggo!"

Kup advises  calmly,  "Stop  flailing.  That's  pretty  useless.  Tuck  your  chin  in  against  your  neck,  so  I  can't  choke  the  fuel  lines  to  your  noggin,  and  grab  my  arms  and  try  and  drag  them  down  a  bit  to  give  you  a  bit  of  room.  While  you're  doin'  that,  stomp  on  my  foot  or  kick  in  my  knee  to  try  to  startle  me  and  get  me  to  let  go."

Blurr, his  head  still  stuck,  nods. He tucks  his  chin  against  his  neck  and  grabs  Kup's  arms,  then  attempts  to  stomp  on  the  veteran's  foot,  because  as  strong  as  Kup  is,  without  a  distraction,  he  isn't  going  to  get  out  of  there.

Combat: Blurr  misses  Kup  with  his  Stomp  to  the  Foot  (Kick)  attack!

Kup, having  just  suggested  that  plan,  moves  his  foot  out  of  the  way. He notes,  "If  you  had  the  momentum,  you  could  also  try  flipping  me  over  your  head,  but  you're  a  bit  weak  for  that,  eh?" However, Blurr's  stomp  stick  kicks  up  some  sand,  so  Kup  lets  Blurr  go. "A bit  more  sand  like  that,  and  I'd've  had  trouble  seeing.  Might've  worked."

Blurr stumbles  back  as  Kup  releases  his  head  and  shakes  himself  off. "Why?" he asks. "I mean,  you  were  already  holding  me  and  you  wouldn't  need  to  see  me  to  hold  me,  would  you?" Though Blurr  speaks  at  normal  speeds,  and  he  now  includes  pauses  where  one  would  expect  (except  they  were  always  there,  too  fast  to  be  noticed),  his  speech  patterns  tend  a  bit  towards  the  repetative,  meaning  it  occasionally  takes  him  longer  to  say  something  than  it  would  otherwise.

Kup agrees  ambiably  enough,  "S'right.  I  /don't/  need  to  see  you  to  hold  you,  but  I  have  experience.  If  you're  lucky,  startling  an  opponent  enough  can  make  him  let  you  go,  even  if  you  don't  hurt  him.  Next  simulation." They're in  a  bar  now,  with  lots  of  table,  chairs,  stools,  a  counter,  and  plenty  of  bottles.

Blurr looks  around,  frowning. "Probably not  a  bad  idea,  I  mean,  we  seem  to  be  having  fights  in  these  a  lot  and...  hey!" he shouts,  then  dives  behind  the  bar,  because  by  this  point  he's  totally  expecting  Kup  to  attack  him  while  he's  distracted  by  the  surroundings.

Combat: Blurr  sets  his  defense  level  to  Protected. The Global  Pose  Tracker  marks  that  Blurr  has  'skipped'  his  action  for  this  round.

Kup beams  at  Blurr  finally  seems  to  be  getting  the  reflex  to  take  cover  beaten  into  him. One hand  on  his  hip,  Kup  points  out,  "Great.  Now  what  are  you  gonna  do  if  I  explode  those  bottles  behind  you,  and  you  get  rained  on  by  glass  shards  and  flammable  liquids,  eh?" He hefts  out  his  musket,  like  he's  planning  just  that.

"Uhm... protect  my  eyes  and  joints?" Blurr asks,  still  tucked  behind  the  bar. "Crouch behind  a  chair?  I  mean,  I'm  not  tough,  but  I  think  I  can  handle  glass  and  flaming  liquids,  although  I  imagine  the  flaming  liquids  will  hurt  some..."

"I just  think  you  need  to  think  about  your  exit  strategy  from  there  a  bit  more,  Blurr,  my  boy,"  Kup  suggests,  putting  the  musket  away. He picks  up  a  chair  and  hefts  it  experimentally. "Don't wanna  get...  pinned  down." He then  cracks  the  chair  over  the  counter  and  down  at  Blurr,  and  given  the  force  of  the  throw,  the  metal  chair  legs  could  well  puncture  through  Blurr  and  skewer  him  to  the  floor.

Combat: Kup  strikes  Blurr  with  his  Chair  Skewer  of  Doom  (Punch)  attack!

Blurr is  skewered  to  the  floor! He yipes  and  starts  to  pull  the  metal  leg  out  of  him,  or  to  try  to  do  so,  and  considers  aloud,  "Maybe  I  should  have  crawled  along  it  towards  the  door?  Ouch,  this  hurts!"

Kup agrees,  "Maybe.  /Always/  have  an  exit  strategy,  even  if  it's  just,  'I  burst  over  the  bar  screaming  incoherently  an'  hope  they  all  too  scared  or  busying  laughing  to  deal  with  me'.  Just  remember,  an  impenetrable  fort  and  a  prison  got  a  lot  in  common.  As  you  soon  as  you  get  into  a  place,  figure  out  how  you're  gonna  get  out.  It'll  become  automatic,  once  you've  practiced  it  a  few  dozen  times."

Kup says  all  that  while  casually  holding  Blurr  pinned  with  a  chair  leg.

"Uh, sure,  Kup,"  answers  Blurr,  still  trying  to  get  out  from  the  chair  leg. "I'll do  that.  Practice  that  instead  of  just  shooting  the  drone." Then he  peers  up  at  Kup. "Could you  let  me  up  now?"

Kup looks  down  at  Blur  and  realises  that  he  still  has  him  pinned. Whoops. That's the  downside  of  developing  combat  reflexes. Kup yanks  the  chair  leg  out  and  offers  Blurr  a  hand  up,  asking,  "Have  I  geven  you  enough  to  think  about  and  work  on,  or  do  you  need  more?" At least  Blurr's  problems  have  taken  Kup's  mind  off  his  own.

Blurr nods  enthusiastically,  then  realizes  the  second  part  of  the  question  and  shakes  his  head  with  the  same  amount  of  furvor. "You've given  me  plenty  to  think  about,  Kup,  so  that's  what  I'll  be  sure  to  do!" Again, the  weirdly  repetative  speech  patterns  remain,  now  spoken  at  a  more  normal  pace.

Kup smirks  at  Blurr's  fervent  denial  of  wanting  more. He reaches  out  to  try  to  lightly  rap  Blurr's  helm  with  his  knuckles,  and  he  reminds,  tone  warning,  "Don't  just  think  about  it,  lad  -  do  it.  Or  I  might  just  check  up  on  how  you're  doing." On that  ominous  note,  the  old  veteran  exits  to  leave  Blurr  to  his  own  devices.

Blurr's helm  is  rapped,  because  Blurr's  not  fast  enough  to  avoid  it  anymore. :(

"I won't  just  think  about  it!  I  mean,  I'll  think  about  it,  just  not  just!" he answers,  straightening  into  a  fairly  stiff,  enthusiastic  salute.