Six Lasers Presents Rodimus Prime: The Unseen Medal

Six Lasers Presents Rodimus Prime: The Unseen Medal
The Swordfish - Space Arena

The 'Space Arena' is not actually its own room, but the area /beneath/ the Swordfish, outside the skin of the stark, stonelike vessel itself. The 'wings' of the vessel curve to either side, with the ship itself above, and on each 'wing' are tiered balconies protected by clear view-matels, where those who are not space-capable can observe the zero-g battles and races in comfort. Low level tractor-beam generators in the ship and the wings pull any combatants using the 'arena' along with the ship, while at the same time leaving the feel of a gravity-free battlefield. The 'wings' are farther apart than the width of some continent, and yet the whole 'battlefield' is dwarfed by the vastness of space that surrounds three sides.

Note: This is a Space-Flight room, but the ability is not required.

Contents:
Fortress Maximus Grimlock Rodimus Prime Perceptor Stewie Griffin

Today brings a conclusion to the Gladiatorial Event in the Super Heavyweight Division. The crowd has already gathered, with every seat in the Swordfish taken up. Many are Cybertronians, but there are a number of aliens as well, eating all manner of food and drink, all of it unhealthy. Suddenly, a band begins to trumpet and a floating platform descends to the middle. Aboard the grey open canopy craft is the Autobot Scientist Perceptor, who sits to the right. There is an odd purple tentacle creature operating the controls. It brings the craft to a halt, and a short caped figure stands up to the centre podium. His purple cape is so long that it drags behind him. He wears a gold crown encrusted with rubies, although it does clash with his red overalls and yellow shirt. "People of Six Lasers, today I have brought you a marvellous contest between the Bearer of the Matrix, the Hero of the Cybertronian Wars, Rodimus Prime!" And he gestures towards the fiery Autobot. "And pitted against him is none other than the tyrannical mecha-dinosaur, leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock!" The crowd cheers for each name, and he holds hand up covering the microphone as he whispers, "Yes, yes, cheer for them peasants, never mind crippling taxes, complete lack of freedom, and roaming blackouts. Bringing his hand away, "Rodimus, are you ready?" He'll then ask the same of Grimlock, and when they're both able, he'll simply add, "All right then, let's do this!"

"Hnn. Finally, me Grimlock get fight somebody who no am big stupidface!"

The Dinobot is downright jovial, tromping out onto the hull of the Swordfish- and taking a moment to go 'huh' as he gets used to the zero G environment- his antigravs kick in, and he drifts through the aether for a few moments, waiting. "Him Forked Mongolia am big whiner, and him Galvy-tron am...well, him Galvytron." he shrugs a little, and brings out his energo sword, taking a few experimental swipes of the blade!

Rodimus Prime stands on one of the 'balconies' overlooking the arena. He taps his jetpack - not the most effective choices for a space battle, but beyond being adapted for space, there aren't many. Then he leaps through the air-retaining forcefield and starts to drift in the lack of artificial gravity. "Glad to hear I don't qualify as a 'big stupidface,'" he says cheerfully. In his right hand is the handle for his small energy sword (the one Hot Rod is seen wielding against the training drone in the movie), and in the right is a red shield with a yellow flame pattern (seen using in the same scene). He frowns faintly as he's referred to as the 'Matrix Bearer,' but then shrugs and turns to await his opponent's first move.

Grimlock cruises up in front of Rodimus- hnnm-ing as he looks Rodimus over. "You sword am broken." he notes, 'helpfully.' "It no have pointy end!" He shakes his head- and after an annoyed glance over at the commentator, shrugs it off. "Hnn. Too late now. Is fight time!"

And with that, Grimlock acts with surprising speed- the zero G doesn't seem to bother him too much as he attempts to grab hold of Rodimus with his free hand...grab hold, and SQUEEZE. When a punch can send you reeling back as well as your opponent, wrestling moves are pretty useful!

Rodimus Prime's 'collar' is grabbed and squeezed with a crinkling of metal. Rodimus grimaces, but doesn't even attempt to pull away - the move keeps him right where he needs to be, after all. "Hmm, you're right, Grimlock. Guess I'd better get that fixed," he says as he swings the handle towards Grimlock, activating the actual sword at the last moment in a suprise swipe!

Sitting back in his craft, the Emperor directs, "Move us to a higher altitude, and for god's sake, can you put on some music." The tentacle creature nods, "Aye, sir." And the fight music from Star Trek: The Original Series begins to play. He says gleefully, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da! Though, such a shame what happened to Bill Shatner, eh Percy?" The Autobot turns to the Judge and says, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean?" Rolling his eyes, the Emperor says, "I knew I should have invited Hook to co-judge this thing."


 * Kttng!* Grimlock sees the swing of the blade at the last moment- well, the second to last, as Grimlock's uses the last moment to put his own sword in the way, slapping the not-a-lightsaber to the side in a parry! "Hn! Good trick!" Grimlock says-

And then, with his sword at the side, Grimlock pulls down with his hand- and moves up with his knee, aiming to smack Rodimus right in the midsection! "But me Grimlock saw it coming!"

Rodimus Prime, still held in place by Grimlock, swings his shield down, letting it intercept Grimlock's kick. "I'll have to watch out for that, then!" he says, suddenly slamming the shield back up, bringing the edge towards Grimlock's chin. He's at a definite disadvantage here, what with not being adapted to space, and it's slowing his movements - though he's working now to compensate.

Returning his attention to the match, which he had to this point been ignoring, the Emperor pumps a fist when Rodimus gives the Dinobot some chin music, “Way to go Rodimus, way to go, you go Matrix Bearer!” Then he turns to Perceptor, “Do you think after the fight you could put in a good word for me with Rodimus?” Perceptor, taken aback by the question, stammers at first, “Ahem, er, perhaps. I’ll see what I can. . . do?” He’d clearly prefer to simply judge this barbaric affair. Right now he wishes Hook had been invited to judge this competition as well.


 * Klang!*

Grimlock takes the shield bash full on- and it's enough to shake him loose from his grip! He tumbles end over end in space for a few moments- but then he swings back around- he circles around Rodimus, and then swings upwards, stabbing forward with his sword- dipping down suddenly in an attempt to slip the blade beneath Rodimus' shield!

Yeah, Rodimus is definitely getting his bearings despite the lack of gravity. When he's initially released by Grimlock he floats backwards, tumbling a moment before using hit jetpack to right himself to face the circling Grimlock. The shield-arm swipes forward again, deflecting the sword strike and pushing Rodimus himself back a little. Using his jetpack to compensate, he darts towards Grimlock, thrusting with the not-a-lightsaber!

Unnerved by his co-Judge’s affinity for Rodimus, Perceptor wonders if he’ll be able to come to an agreement should a major judicial ruling be required. He hopes that it will not come to that, but Perceptor begins formulating a response just in case the situation is called for.

"Arg!"

And Rodimus' sword sinks right into Grimlock! He grunts- and then moves to grab ahold of Rodimus' sword- hand, yanking the energy weapon out of him...only to pull Rodimus closer- right in towards Grimlock's forehead! Every part of this dinobot -is- a weapon, after all!

Rodimus Prime's sword is yanked from his hand while Rodimus himself is yanked towards Grimlock's forehead. The Chosen One is headbutted rather painfully by the Dinobot, a move that leaves a noticable dent in his helm. "Nnnngh!" he grunts. A quick glance confirms that the energy sword is now floating off, spinning end over end, and very much out of reach, so Rodimus just tries to take advantage of the proximity to Grimlock by bringing his right knee up to the Dinobot's midsection!

“Come on Rodimus, teach that Dumb Dino who’s boss!” yells the young Emperor as he forms a funnel with his hands. “You can do it!” He then turns, moving over to his chauffer, who inputs some commands into the computer terminal, though there is no immediate obvious effect.

A few minutes later, one of the viewing stands is replaced by a number of cheerleaders wearing a Hot Rod-inspired uniform, and they begin chanting for Hot Rod and against Grimlock. At this point, Perceptor seems to have had enough, and confers with his fellow judge. They whisper between themselves, and Emperor Stewie looks a little dejected, “Send them away. . .”

"OOF!" Grimlock grunts- and then he looks over at the cheerleaders and the Emperor...and points. "You shut up or me Grimlock get you later!" Of course, what condition he'll be in after a tussle with Rodimus is up for debate!

Still, Grimlock soon transforms! He tumbles end over end for a few moments, kicking his feet- no antigravs in this mode!...But then, Grimlock turns away from Rodimus...and starts spitting fire? Well, this is a gladitorial bout...but then again, Grimlock's pointing his fire breath AWAY from his commander, instead using it as makeshift propulsion as he speeds back-first towards Rodimus!

Emperor Stewie says in a mocking tone from the safety of his craft, “Oh, I’m sooo scared of the great big dino!” Then, as he sees Grimlock assume the form of a Great Big Dino, he cowers, hiding behind one of Perceptor’s arms, “You won’t let him hurt me, will you Perceptor?” He peeks out, but then cowers behind Perceptor again, as he can feel the flames from here, “He’s scary!” Perceptor stands, and Stewie looks over at his departing protector. He presses a button and lights flash, and a siren sounds, “Grimlock, that was an illegal manoeuvre. I am afraid that you are disqualified. . .” though the crowd seems to object to that, he clears his vocal processor, “As it was ultimately unsuccessful, Rodimus Prime, if you were willing to show leniency, so am I.”

Rodimus Prime is thrown off by the... Hot Rod cheerleaders? He's aware that people sometimes cosplay him (which is odd in and of itself), but it's still disorienting to see one of the announcers be so... blatantly biased. And disquieting.

Luckily, he turns his attention back to the battle just in time to jet out of the way as magic-space-flame-propelled Dinobutt heads his way. "Huh? Yeah, I'm cool with continuing. Besides..." and here Rodimus grins wickedly as his right hand, empty because Grimlock had tossed aside his sword, retracts and is replaced by a spinning blade, "I'd been waiting for him to get in that mode!"

And he attempts to run the blade along Grimlock's side as the Dinobot jets past.

"ARgh!"

And Grimlock gets a side full of blading! He grunts, watching a few pieces of armor drift off into space..."Hn. FINE!" he says- and transforms back to his more mobile mode! Grimlock takes off towards Rodimus again- and then goes for an all out assault, bearing down on Rodimus in a flurry of punches- following each one with a burst of his antigravs as he moves to smack Rodimus across the sky!

If Rodimus Prime thought the Hot Rod Cheerleaders was disorienting, when Stewie emerges from behind the protection of Perceptor, he is wearing a Hot Rod Cheerleader uniform. Though he’s kept his crown and his purple cape, since he thinks they go great with everything. He’s an Emperor, damnit! “Very well then, continue” is all Perceptor says as Rodimus re-engages Grimlock after the snafu.

It would be wrong to say that Rodimus came out of the flurry of assaults unscratched, but he's able to twist and tilt, sometimes using his shield or the pipes on his right arm to deflect the blows, sometimes pushing off of Grimlock's moving arms to avoid the full brunt of the attack, or grabbing another arm to slide beneath it. When the attack slows, there are some new scratches and dents, but they're entirely superficial. Once that's done, Rodimus attempts to grasp Grimlock's forearm with his free hand (now that he's retracted his blade). With the other arm, he swings the shield in a large-sized back-hand across Grimlock's masked face.

"RGGHR!"

Grimlock's frustration builds- and thus does his anger! He shakes his head to clear it after that smack of the shield- there's a crack visible in his optic visor- but he keeps fighting, nonetheless! With a *schinnng!* he draws his sword out- and, swinging it downward, attempts to hack right THROUGH Rodimus' shield...and perhaps into the hand beneath!

Rodimus Prime's shield is sliced in half! But Rodimus himself is untouched. He jets back, balancing himself a bit more clumsily than usual on his second rate jetpack and frowns as the two shield parts drift off in space. Then he shrugs. "Guess I'll just have to do this with my fists," he declares as he charges forward with his jetpack... only to twist at the last moment and send a kick towards Grimlock's mid-section instead!

"Grnf!"

Grimlock takes the kick, and reels backwards...in fact, he jets back a bit further, out of Rodimus' reach! Whether this is tactics or physics is up for debate. Still, the dinocommander remains a little ways back, venting steam (literally, actually). "Hnnn. You betterer fighter than him Galvy-tron. Good!" he says, forced to admiration.

"Up until he transforms, anyway," Rodimus admits cheerfully, speaking of the manner with which Galvatron had removed him from the running for Gold in the Full-Combat bracket. The young Prime presses the attack even as Grimlock backs away, moving directly towards the Dinobot with his jet pack. It's a horribly telegraphed move, but under the circumstances it's the best Rodimus can manage.

Grimlock hmms, and neatly slides away from the telegraphed move! "Hn! Then maybe you just need get big gun too! Keep it in you trail- oh." Grimlock shrugs- and then swings forward again- he's slower, battered and roughed up as he is- but that doesn't mean he can't keep trying!

The punch connects with Rodimus's chin with a >CLANG<, sending the young Prime flying backwards. He activates his jetpack and shakes it off quickly. "Well, I suppose there's always the giant Pepsi bottle, too," he admits. This time, rather than a direct charge, he zig-zags in as best as he can, before, at the last moment, diving /under/ Grimlock. He attempts to grab the Dinobot's feet. Should he grab hold, he'll swing Grimlock around and release him, attempting to send him sailing up towards the underside of the ship!


 * KEERASH!*

Grimlock smashes into the underside of the spaceship, and growls! He forces himself up to his feet- and then, pushing off- he just LAUNCHES himself right back into the fray! With the dents and cracks hin his armor, Grimlock's not liable to last much longer- but he still puts it all into one last reckless dive, hoping to tackle Rodimus something good and *SQUEEEZE* him in a rough bear-hug! Well, Dino hug. Less fuzzy. More hurty.

Rodimus Prime gets hugs from Grimlock! And finds himself thankful that the rest of his command staff doesn't show him this level of affection! He grits his teeth as his mid-section is crushed, cracks forming on his hood where it's bunched together, spiked digging into his back and tearing at the circuitry beneath. A pained 'nnngh!' escapes before he swings his arms up and tries to bring them, bottom-pipe first, into Grimlock's shoulders in an attempt to make the Dinobot let go!

"Ow!"

And Grimlock's hold is broken! He reels back- but then just for a moment, as he swings one wild hand at Rodimus's side again, aiming for right where he punched before! "Hn! Me Grimlock make you EARN gold! Haw." he sputters off into a cough. Jeez, keep this up, and he'll sound like Kup!

Perceptor quietly sits on the judicial craft, watching the fight. It seems that the little Emperor has dosed off, with a head using Perceptor’s right forearm as a pillow, although how he can sleep like that will no doubt baffle Perceptor for some time. He’s not exactly cushioned. The scientist offers up a few comments such as, “Good show” and “nicely done,” showing no favouritism to either, unlike the Hot Rod Cheerleader-clad Emperor Stewie. Suddenly, Stewie stirs, waking up, and looks out, “My god, are they both still fighting? I thought it’d be over by now. At least I got in a power nap. Now, if only I could do something about my huggies riding up.”

The punch connects in the broken section of Rodimus's collar, causing a brief cry of pain. What's worse, however, is that as Rodimus is knocked backwards and his jetpack tries to compensate, it blows one of its feedlines, slowing it down. Still, as he recovers, he grins at Grimlock. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Grimlock." He makes a grab for one of Grimlock's arms, trying to use it for leverage, while the other arm swings pipe-side first towards the side of Grimlock's head!

Grimlock is defeated! Gamblers across the galaxy throw their long-shot betting tickets down in frustration. Such a pity!

Rodimus Prime looks almost... relieved as Grimlock is knocked unconscious. He doesn't even let go of Grimlock's hand. He nods his head and smiles faintly. "Good battle, Grimlock. Good fight." With his free hand, he feels the dented area of his hood and winces. "Real good fight." Then, activating his jetpack, he darts towards one of the balconies, ready to carry the Dinobot Commander back to the Olympics Medical tent.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Emperor Stewie jumps up and down on the floating oval-shaped judicial craft, giddy as a schoolgirl that his hero Rodimus Prime has won. Though Grimlock may protest, since the co-Judge is wearing a Rodimus Prime Cheerleader cosplay outfit, but the only major decision that had to be made was made largely by Perceptor, and to Grimlock's benefit, so any protest might fall on deaf audio receptors. The craft flies closer to the battle, so that the judges may inspect the fallen. "Grimlock," Perceptor states clearly, then he checks his readings, "Grimlock has falle" but Stewie interrupts, "Rodimus Prime WINS!" By now he's picked up the gold medal, and a jetpack, and flies off to the departing Autobot Commander, "Wait! Wait, I have to put this medal on you!"

Rodimus Prime reaches the balcony and touches down but then realizes that he's being chased down by 'Emperor Stewie.' His optics flicker in surprise and he turns towards the dimunitive tyrant. "Already? Well, all right."

The Emperor adjusts the controls on his rocket pack, flying up a bit higher, and pins a golden disc, that seems to be a replica of the Voyager Golden Record. It’s magnetic, so it easily attaches to Rodimus’ body, but who knows if it’ll cause problems for him. He then moves over, doing the same to Grimlock, although he attaches the silver Disc to Grimlock’s hip area, not really caring where it goes, and then back to Rodimus, “Hi, name’s Stewie, big fan. Hey, listen, do you maybe later you and I could get a drink?”

Rodimus Prime brushes the golden disc and frowns for just a moment, before he puts his Public Smile back on. "I don't see why not," he answers with a shrug. Then he holds the Dinobot a little higher. "I've got to hit the medical tent for now, though."

Stewie tries not to look deflated, “Oh, uh, yeah, okay, so we’ll meet up later, right. . . right?” He’ll watch the Autobot leader walk out of the arena, and out of his life forever.

"Sure! I'll see you around, uhm, Stewie, right?" Then, still smiling, Rodimus waves as best he can with a Dinobot in his arms, turns, and walks out of the arena.