2035 Olympics - Light Glad - Blades vs Vendetta

Rome, Italy(#5RntN) - Europe

Onetime capital of the Roman Empire, Rome still has vestiges of its former glory in such structures as the ruins of the Colosseum and the present-day Vatican. The weather here is typically beautiful, making it a lovely place to stay for a week or so on vacation.

Blades has arrived. Blades transforms into his Bell UH-1V Iroquois  mode.

With classic tone combination the black Dassault Rafale unfolds into the Decepticon seeker known as Vendetta.

Bumblebee has arrived.

Bumblebee transforms into his ROBOT MODE!

Vendetta lands in the Coliseum...THE Coliseum. He stretches a bit working out a few kinks and re-thinking about his lessons with the swordmaster. The French seeker smiles and is ready to face the protectobot.

Defcon arrives from Zurich, Switzerland to the northwest. Defcon has arrived.

Bell UH-1V Iroquois  feels sort of weird about this, mostly becaus Hot Spot will be really diappointed in him if he breaks anything important. He paces around and shouts to anyone who might listen, "Hey, can we get some... metal... tarps? I guess? Something to protect the area? Energon stains rock something fierce... I would know." He rubs the back of his head and looks around shiftily. Bell UH-1V Iroquois  transforms into his Blades mode.

Vendetta eyes the slightly smaller mech. Probably small, vicious bastard. No matter. The seeker approaches Blades "Bonjour Blades. Seems we are performing zhe opening bout for the Olympics. Good luck." He extends his hand.

Crowds of people of all shapes, sizes, and planetary origin have been piling into the Taco Bell Colosseum, purchased and renovated by Yum Inc, a division of Bybrid Universal, when the country's economy collasped as a result of the Longest Night. A Kwarch father sniffs the tacos handed to him suspiciously before gving them to his children, who absorb them through their necks.

In the middle of the field, the Autobot known as Bumblebee is getting the rules reviewed for the 11th time by Olympic officials. On the sidelines, Bionic Axl Rose and Liam Neeson Jr are at the commentary table.

"This fight won't last forever, Liam. Even cold November Rain doesn't!" Shrieks Axl, which Liam agrees with. "I'm quite taken with this match up. Blades vs. Vendetta, classic blood rivalry from war torn Cybertron. Only one of these mechs will have a certain set of skills to win the match. And look at that! The Decepticon, with an uncanny mastery of French AND good sportsmanship!" Blades is indeed shorter than Vendetta and a vicious bastard. The Seeker is perceptive! Or he read Blades's tech spec bio in the toy section of a Wal-*mart, likely while looking for his own toy. Alas, Vendetta has always been shortpacked. Blasted Hasbro.

Blades smirks and takes Vendetta's hand to shake. The fuel-thirsty Protectobot, however, has a bunch of glass shard in his hand, which will be kind of annoying and probably get jammed in joints.

That jerk.

"This may be the opening bout, but I'm not going to leave enough of you left for a matinee."

Crusade has arrived.

Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Unsportsmanly Glass Shards (Punch) attack! Combat: You took 6 damage.

Vendetta smiles as he feels the dirty trick "I am sure we vill both enjoy this...Maybe a bit too much." The Protectobot manages to pull off EXACTLY what Vendetta was going for. Fair is fair. The Seeker backhands Blades in a classic fashion. "Zhe gauntlet has been thrown petit avorton." Combat: Vendetta sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Vendetta misses Blades with his French Backhand! (Punch) attack!

"Wait, what? We're starting! I understand the rules, ok? Let me go do my...Sir? It's starting!" Bumblebee finally wrenches away from the official, and hurries to the match, having just missed that fist full of broken glass.

The official walks away from the stadium and transforms into a police motorcycle because he is Groove wearing a fake beard. Blades uses his shortness combined with his reflexes to duck under that backhand. He suspects that it would have hurt more than his pride. While crouching, he sweeps out a leg in a low kick, trying to take Vendetta down to the ground. Blades snaps, "You think you're fancy just because you downloaded how to speak French! I bet you've never used thermal depolymerization to distill bleu cheese into energon, though!"

Autobot cultural fairs are a special kind of awful.

Combat: Blades misses Vendetta with his (Kick) attack! Combat: Vendetta sets his defense level to Guarded.

Vendetta leaps above the kick and extends in his own leg in a stylish Savate jump kick. "You think I just downloaded some French software? Mais qu'es-ce qui dit ce mec? I am like zhis since the core transplant and rebuild. I zon't expect a back-alley brawler like you to understand." Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Savate Jump Kick! (Kick) attack!

Blades misses his own kick and gets taken down by Vendetta's own better, more stylish kick. "So... the Decepticons specifically rebuilt you to be French? ...WHY!?" This is pretty baffling to Blades. "Were they trying to replicate Junkion technology? I... don't get it. And... you decided we'd fight in Rome? You know that's in Italy, right?"

So many questions.

But it's time for a Taco Bell ad, complete with cyborg chihuahua.

When the program returns, Blades is pushing himself back up. He grabs ones of the blades off his back and lunges at Vendetta with it. Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Neutral.

"Sounds like our combatants are really trash talking out there," Axl Rose says, watching on a monitor. "As long as they keep in clean, I'm fine with it! Kids people judge how you sound! Only use clean words like 'dang' and 'linens.'

Liam Neeson Jr. pipes in. "You know, I spent a great deal of time on Cybertron studying for a role, and was actually rescued by Blades from a Decepticon prison camp, and I've got to say, a lot of things about their culture makes no sense to me. Like, was the groovy one named Jazz just a coincidence? And is a coincidence that powerful evidence of one true God?"

Both commentators quietly reflect.

Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Rotor Blade attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: You took 10 damage.

Vendetta gets pierced through the wing by Blades and winces a bit. He pulls back so the blade slides out and with a great flourish draws his electro-rapier. It's a metal rapier but you can see the blade buzzing with blue electricity. Vendetta smiles a little bit "Yes a fellow connaisseur of zhe Blade. J'adore ca!" He approaches Blades by feinting left and right to keep the bot off balance and lunges towards the shoulder...BUT WAIT! Once the move is committed, the angle and the blade jams towards the knee joint. Combat: Vendetta misses Blades with his Electro-Rapier attack! [Pulled -1]

Bumblebee frowns. "Hey guys, be a little more careful. Remember, these fights are just for fun, you know? " Mainly he just doesn't want Blades getting stabbed.

Blades brings up his own blade to parry, moving Vendetta's blade to the outside. He's probably going to disappoint Bumblebee, because Blades enjoys being stabbed ALMOST as much as he enjoys stabbing other people. "Electrified, huh? I bet that sucks energon down like a vacuum. I'm a bit more old-fashioned, myself." He tries to slide his blade down along Vendetta's to hit Vendetta maybe in the hand. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Rotor Blade attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: You took 8 damage.

Vendetta winces as he takes a shot to the arm but lucky the 'guarde' on the sword protects the actual hand. "Yes it is electrified and quite effective. You will be able to see first hand." A flick of the wrist ejects his parrying dagger in his left hand and now the french swordsman goes for a dual weapon style. Trying to open up Blade's guard with the dagger to stab with the sword. Combat: Vendetta sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Electro-Rapier attack!

"Seeing is believing, but *feeling* just psyches me up," Blades says, grinning, despite the fact that yes, Vendetta just solidly landed a torso hit on Blades, and yes, Blades is now leaking a trickle of energon from the wound. "Electricity sort of tickles, you know? Tickles are *funny*. But this won't make you laugh." He has to step back, first, and then he quickly half-circles before trying to nick Vendetta's side and up into his shoulder. Blades would have totally gone off the strip, if there was a strip, but this isn't actually fencing! Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Tickle Tickle... STAB attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: You took 10 damage. Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Strength!

Bumblebee makes a face. "Man...," Bee mumbles under his breath, "I don't think I realized that Blades was quite so...off."

Vendetta gets a deep nasty cut which caused some internal damage. "Quite unorthodox fighting style you have there. Time for me to turn it up a notch." Vendetta takes wider stance activates his anti-gravs and leaps, spins (eat that John Woo) and dives sword towards the chest and dagger towards the shoulder. One of them should hit. Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Twisting-Diving Stab! attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Secondary Damage!

Anti-gravs are sort of handy. There are times where Blades wishes that he had them. They do make his enemies more *fun* to fight, however. The rapier does land, and Blades feels... woozy, light-headed, as electricity crackles over him. He is sluggish to recover, first stumbling backwards in a haze. Trying to get himself back together, Blades shouts, "Punch!" as he attempts to deck Vendetta. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his (Punch) attack! Combat: You took 3 damage. Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Strength!

Vendetta gets clocked in the jaw by the Protectobot. Damage readings are getting annoying. Hope he can keep this uplong enough. Vendetta goes for an over-elaborate maneuver with his sword/dagger he spins into Blades extending his leg. "Spinning Savate Kick!" Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Spinning Savate Kick! (Kick) attack!

"Both fighters are showing signs of slowing down, Liam," Axl analyzes. "They're both moving a little less, and have started shouting the names of their attacks out loud." Liam hrms. "My dad was in a movie about wolves once."

Blades's head is ringing. His optics are clouded. He feels like someone has poured hot lead down into his boots. He grabs the other blade off his back, and he rushes Vendetta, roaring, "I'm going to make you into a Headmaster the hard way!" Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Rotor Blade attack! Combat: You took 9 damage. Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Agility!

Vendetta is surprised by the rage and abandon with which the Protectobot is throwing himself at him. "DEGEU!!! Zon't be vulgar. I would never pair up with a filthy organic in my head. With all bodily function problems and aging and all." The Decepticon tries to level the playing field and goes for the shoulder joint. Maybe scrap some accuracy along the way. Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Electro-Rapier attack! [Pulled -2]

Axl winces. "His accuracy was definitely impaired there, Liam."

Blades's shoulder now twists at an alarming angle, the connected hand drops the blade it was holding. He is feeling amazingly zoned out for someone who is in the middle of doing something he adores. He slurrs, "I bet we could find some French... Nebulans..." which doesn't even make sense, but Blades has lost a lot of energon, "...jam 'em in your head. It'd take two for you, y'see."

He tries to kick his dropped blade at Vendetta. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Kicking A Sword At You (Kick) attack! Combat: Critical Hit! Combat: You took 14 damage. Combat: You are very aware that your life is in danger! Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Firepower!

The kicked blade finds it's mark at a very crucial area cutting a fuel line...This is not good...Not good at all. Vendetta switches tactics and goes for French boxing, leaping close with a quick right jab. Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Punch attack!

Blades sure is jabbed, and that jab manages to hit him right in his damaged shoulder, knocking that arm entirely off. The Protectobot looks woozily down at his own severed arm, now twitching on the arena floor. With his remaining shoulder, he shrugs, picks up the arm, and rushes Vendetta, shouting, "Severed arm!" as he attempts to beat Vendetta with his own arm. Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his Severed Arm! attack! Combat: You took 13 damage. Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Strength!

Liam can't believe what he's seeing. "I really believe that victory is an arm's length away!"

Vendetta is astonished at the Protectobot resorting to a sevred member and gets clocked solidly across the face which sends the seeker skidding in the sang. "Merde..." He looks at the Protectobot. "You should be down by now punk." Time slows...The grip on the rapier tightens...the electrical arc buzzes along the length. The Decepticons diverts power to his anti-gravs to close the distance and with alot of showmanship tries to carve a giant 'V' across Blades chest with a double slash! "VENGEFUL SLASH!" Combat: Vendetta sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Vendetta strikes Blades with his Electro-Rapier attack! Combat: Secondary Damage!

"I don't go down on Decepticons," Blades says defiantly. His dubious moral scruples, however, don't help him dodge, and now he has a big stupid V on his chest. He can feel some of his electrical subsystems short out. Oh, no, his photon pistol! ...not that he was going to use it, anyway.

Blades does have his other arm left, though. He drops his severed arm and goes in for an uppercut. "Clocking French Decepticon in head!" Combat: Blades strikes Vendetta with his (Punch) attack! Combat: You took 3 damage. Combat: Blades's attack has damaged your Strength! Combat: Vendetta falls to the ground, unconscious.

Bumblebee blinks. "Wow. ERm... Blades wins!" He points at Blades to the roar of the crowd.

Axl just can't believe it. "What an ending! Vendetta felled by his own hand! Literally by his own hand! What a fight! Kids eat your Hybrid Universal grown vegetables!"

Vendetta takes a few seconds to reboot his systems. There is no word for the shame he is feeling right now. He walks away and heads for the medical tent. Who knows maybe they will face one another again in full-weapon bracket.

While Vendetta is rebooting, Blades looks left. He looks right. He nonchalantly walks over to Vendetta, grabs his dagger, and hauls Vendetta up into a sitting position. Then he goes after the back of Vendetta's head - is Blades really going to stab an unconscious opponent in the back of the head with his own dagger!? - and delicately writes in, "Blades was here," on the back of Vendetta's head.

Then Blades gets the heck away from Vendetta before he comes to. He gives the Seeker a thumb up (only one) and a grin. "Great fight! A+, would stab you again."