"Double Jeopardy"

[New Moon]

Frilla took cover for a moment and moved aorund to climb the nearest tree, getting to one the higher branches that could support ehr weight, before she brought her blaster back up to aim. She wasn't built for combat and this was the best she could do. With Glowstick here she hoped they had abetter chance. "Eat acid Maximals!" She called and began to fire the acid pellets towards Skyfire, hoping to at least cause her some pain and dsitract her from firing any more.

[Venatrix]

As the Predacon seemed to attempt to kick her, she already had a counter waiting for his move in her mind.
However, instead of kicking her, he jumped over her.
He could make another move on her, so she turned swiftly and prepared for for a new attack from the Pred.
All is good and well, she thought, as long as he's focusing on her, the pod was able to finish the job.
But then the Pred did something unexpected....

"If the Predacons can't have this pod then neither can you." He growled.

He almost caught her completely of guard, as he turned around.
Was he actually going for an attempt to destroy the pod?!
Valkyrie couldn't lose a helpless Maximal on her watch, so she needed to act now.
"No...." was what she whispered as she leaped at him, grabbing Sonar's forehead, and moved her lower body post her upper body, slamming her knees into his back hard.
She then placed her hand on the ground and kicked her legs straight, while she pulled her opponent's head towards the ground, causing him to tip over herself.
Then she let go of his forehead as she heard him firing, right before her systems shut down again.
Her arm collapsed under her own weight, as her previous move made sonar fall away from her, leaving herself between the pod and the Predacon.
Then her systems rebooted, but a bit faulty as error signs filled her vision.
The Predacon's attack was some kind of sonic wave that would've damaged the pod considerately, but she made him miss.
The close proximity of her to the sonic attack was not enough.
Sound moves to where ever air was, so it reached her body, and damaged some of her instruments.
The Predacon made it so that she lost some effectiveness of her control of her own body.
She tried to stand up, but fell back on to her knees.
Valkyrie knew she couldn't do anything right now for the pod, or for herself in this situation, and needed a manual reboot, and quick.
So she did, and shut down just to collapse again, leaving the road to the pod clear for the Predacon to claim it.

[Night-Hunter]

Damn she is quick. Sonar thought shaking his head.
His sonic blast did more damage to her then the pod, not that it mattered he had done what he meant to do.
He smiled when she collapsed, leaving the pod for him to take.
"Until next time, my dear." He said before grabbing the pod in his clawed feet and took the air.
"Glowstick, Steelclaw. Any Predicon who gets this message. I have the second pod! I think it would be wise to retreat." He said before taking off, the pod in hand.

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick moved slightly as Skyfire moved out of the way of his attack, one of her shots striking across his shoulder. He then noticed the events with Sonar. Had he hit that pod, the damage would of caused alot of problems. However at the moment it seemed to be in their hands. Roger that. he then said, swinging his arm down as it extended grabbing onto Frilla, he then discharged a black ink like smoke from his siphon Beast mode! he then shouted floating backwards into the smokescreen transforming in midair, his tentacles moved Frilla on top of his Mantle as he flew towards Sonar. Glowstick's limbs extending to pick up the back end of the Stasis pod to reduce the weight and increase Sonar's flight speed for escape, the thick black smoke still lingering among the treetops.

[Blazemane]

Steelclaw finally got behind his intended hill, and began scaling it, grunting from the exertion. Once he reached the top of the hill, he noticed some red liquid on the sand behind him. Apparently Ocariner's shot was making him bleed some of the synthetic blood stored in the limb he had punctured. Ah well, it really wouldn't matter too much. Reaching near the top, he chanced his first look at the battlefield from his location and noticed, much to his surprise, that the killer whale was gliding towards him in beast mode, and way too closely for comfort.

Hastily putting the sniper rifle onto his back, Steelclaw stood up to his full height while withdrawing his guass rifle, and pumped it again since he'd neglected to do so after his second shot with it. Then he took aim at one of the main thrusters on Ocariner's new device and fired. He would likely (though he did not know for certain how durable the thruster was) manage to send the whale careening into the sand. But after that, it'd be a race in battle mode, and Ocariner was almost certain to overtake him.

He had to face the facts- he was coming to a confrontation he was not adequate to match. He pumped his rifle again and the spent cartridge jumped to the ground. He'd still be ready.

[New Moon]

((Sorry Preds but not this time. )

Frilla hung on putting eh rblaster at her side as Glowstick picked herup, setting eh ron his mantle. But something seemed off as she thought she heard soemhting, the pod's systems giving a result.

Just before the Predaocns had picked the pod up the scanning for a compatiable life form had activted, but there had been a slight glitch in the system caused by the crash. Though it stillhad allowed for a scanning. "Life form found, activation sequence completed." Came the systems computer, which made Frilla compeltely tense. "Oh no..." Was all she said before the top of the pod was suddenly kicked open making the frileld lizard femme hiss. Movement came from within, the protoform replaced by a black wolf-husky mix, or what appeared to be one only for long glossy wings to spread and causing the pod move a bit as it stepped onto the side and took flight.

At first the new arrival had a bit fo a problem before managing to gain some control circling around in the sky, before seeing the three. "Seems I'm in time for the party, to bad I forgot my invitation. Feralnight, maximize!" With a howl her form shifted, chanign to her robot form. Her upper torso and upper back were from the upper parts of her wolf-husky form, the back spliting from it to make her abdomen and leaving her mid-section showing a dark grey plating , two thin silver strips of armor looking like ribs along he sides. Her front paws bent back just behind her arms that came from the underbelly and the back legs, whihc were ones of the raven half, made up her robot ones, the wings folded back on ehr back and tail folding into eh rbac. The wolf head split to make up eh rhsoudelrs and her helm had tht same wolf shape, her optics a dark amber, and having a slightly wolfish appearance to it.

Frilla watched and sighed, "This is going to hurt..." With a new Maximal emerging from the pod it meant back up as well. With the Predacons already in the state they were in, Glowstick and Sonar both transformed and carrying the pod, her soon having to transform to beast mode since the energon levels wold soon hit her systems.

Feralngiht the aimed her shoudler mounted cannon, givign a small smirk, "Austa lavista Predacons." She said before firing three shots from the cannon.

[Alak]

A loud shot was heard not too far ahead and Orcariner knew that it was the Predacon weapons master aiming for him. Myriad ideas surged through his processor and he tried his best not to panic in this situation. However, that tremendous sound from that weapon was enough to launch the killer whale towards his first instinct.

"Do a barrel roll!" he yelled to himself.

Sadly, the gravity lifts were built to be used for linear travel rather than evasion. The twisting of the whale's body was enough to avoid the projectile, but the impact itself was still incredibly close to his body. The shockwave of the blast sent the whale somersaulting head over flippers across the air and battlefield. Everything was a blur and the feeling of spiraling through the air was nauseating. Yet, it was somehow epic at the same time.

((OOC: Ok, I don't know the exact effects of a gauss rifle. This post was written after watching videos of military tests and experiences from video games. The following picture is how I envision this particular scene.




If it's wrong, then let me know... and yes... I removed the Icebreaker's kibble except for the cannon lol))

[Blazemane]

((OOC: You are the flipping man.

Anyways, a guass rifle uses a series of magnetic attractions to continually add more momentum to a projectile until it is finally fired. This can put a massive amount of force behind the ammunition, but any resulting explosion relies on the properties of the actual bullet being fired (is it, for example, incendiary?), and how it effects the properties of the object which the bullet comes in contact with (is this bullet hitting a stash of raw energon? Cooooool).

Steelclaw is using incendiary rounds, but if he didn't hit Ocariner, then the explosion in the surrounding sand would be rather pitiful looking. I think the explosion you're thinking of in that picture (though I am loathe to admit it because that is just awesome) would require something intended to be highly explosive, like a rocket or a bomb.

But I could be thinking about this the wrong way, or just be plain wrong.))

[starshadow]

((EPIC!!!))

Starshadow found Steelclaw and walked towards him, looking at Orcariner "rolling away" in a funny way.

"Hit the road, whale! Or take a vacation!" she aimed her crosshair at the whale and pulled the trigger of her gun, laughing and walked to the pod, pushing it to where the Leviathan was last located.

[NaitoKage]

(Er.. a bit. Incendiary ammo is kinda similar to tank ammo. You fire the shot, it busts through the armor, and the small explosion it does burns electronics/kills occupants. This varies for weapon and so on.. Kinda similar to Depleted Uranium ammo.. which was the only thing from the TFbay movies that made sense. Gauss rifles on the other hand are basically as Blaze explained. Though the amount of power required for such a thing made with current technology is either weak, or has to be so massive and power requiring that it needs to be mounted to a tank or preferably a Navy battleship's nuclear reactor. In real life, Gauss rifles would be "Coil guns" which the strongest I've seen can punch through sodacans.. but on the other hand the thing is so massive due to high power capacitors that it's more a science experiment then a proper gun. But Transformers technology easily should compensate all of that.

Nicely done picture, and yes Icebreaker does look a bit like Break from BW Neo. I'll post something up tomorrow if you want. You know, the scale for the desert fight is kind of crazy. Steelclaw is 5ft 10, StarShadow is 6ft 1, Icebreaker is 9 ft 6, and Orcariner on the other hand.. is about to scale with this thing. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _skull.jpg I'm starting to think that's Optimal Optimus sized. *L* And yet for a whale, he's kinda small. )



Glowstick watched as the pod opened with the bird dog creature coming out, the instant it finished transforming his siphon shifted to the right and let out a jet causing the pod to swing sideways hard as the shots were fired in an attempt to avoid them, he twisted the pod forcing Sonar to release it, one of his feeder tentacles then swung up knocking the new Maximal off the stasis pod towards the ground. Should you really waste your time with us while the person who risked their life for you is dieing over there before you could ever meet them? he then stated laughing, his siphon blowing another jet of smoke towards Feralnight as the group continued their escape. It was a lie, but the maximals were often gullible enough for such sentiment.

Glowstick moved the empty stasis pod under his body holding it by the edges with one of his feeder tentacles wrapped bellow and around it, he then lifted Frilla setting her down on the stasis pod, which currently was almost like a gondola to a airship. That should be enough space to transform. Well so much for that plan.. seems Valkyrie's abilities are not to be underestimated when it comes to machines,she programmed it much faster then I thought.. Alright. Forget the maximals for now. I have what I need for the transport's repairs.Sonar, if you want you can head towards the Deltapoint with Steelclaw and StarShadow. I'll be there as soon as I can so we can get out of here.

Glowstick then started to alter course, floating bellow the tree line heading back where he left the transport. He activated his radio system sending a message to Steelclaw Hey, Operation was a bust. By the time I got there Valkyrie programmed the pod, it transformed into a Maximal while we were holding it.. But I got more then enough to fix the transport. I should be able to get it to your area soon, whats your status?

[SkyxDB]

While Skyfire was dodging shots, unfortunately one of Frilla's acid pellet managed to hit her in the leg, causing her to stop hiss in pain, and wondering what the heck just hit her. The she noticed that a small hole was burning into her leg. 'Oh, that can't be good she thought.

[NaitoKage]

(Er.. Sky, you couldn't of seen Ocariner. the Marine unit is very far away from the Skyfire and Valkyrie.. plus the smokescreen Glowstick left everywhere on the escape. Understandable on the confusion though.

And viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3147 there Icebreaker's image is up there, and a more accurate Glowstick in all his creepiness. )

[Alak]

Orcariner felt something strike him in the back and he grunted. The landing alone had thrown him into a loop of confusion and his interface was still fading in and out erratically as if he had been struck by an EMP grenade. The killer whale moaned and tried to reassess his location and the damage done to his body. Everything felt rather numb, so he did the only thing that made sense.

"Orcariner," he commanded, "Maximize."

The killer whale transformed and the flopped back on the ground due to the shifting plates and parts pushing his body around. He shook his heads and winced once more, and the images from his radar, energon levels, and such were returning to normal. Surprisingly, he was thrown pretty far and Icebreaker and Starshadow were in range. Steelclaw had not moved positions but judging by the sound and effect of the weapon, Orcariner would have guessed that the Predacon was busy reloading it. The damage was not as extensive as it felt, being mainly superficial, and Starshadow's attack struck a heavily armored part of his body. Then again, nearly everything was armored on his body. Pushing himself up to his knees, Orcariner caught sight of Starshadow trying to push the pod away from the battlefield. Fortunately, the pod had no hover unit and Starshadow was pretty small herself. His knee was still uneasy from Steelclaw's earlier attack, but he had to risk it.

"Let's go, cyber-kitten," he taunted under his breath.

Orcariner lunged forward and continued to sprint towards the Predacon. The first few steps were solid and despite speed being an alarming weakness on land, he had managed to keep up fairly quickly. Halfway, however, his knee buckled and the Maximal was forced to jump forward with his right leg. Grabbing Starshadow from behind with both of his hands, Orcariner fell face first into the sand. He knew Steelclaw still had a visual on all three of the fighters down below so he had to do something drastic to remove this femme as a priority threat.

"Sorry about this," he said, looking up.

Grabbing her upper torso with one hand, Orcariner slammed his fist down onto her right foot as hard as he could.

[Blazemane]

Hey, Operation was a bust. By the time I got there Valkyrie programmed the pod, it transformed into a Maximal while we were holding it.. But I got more then enough to fix the transport. I should be able to get it to your area soon, whats your status?

"We're alive, but things are getting out of hand over here. Oh, slag..."

Steelclaw realized the danger Starshadow had put herself in as soon as she went for the pod. That Maximal was going to get back up without a question, and she was going to be right by him.

"Star! Get out of there!" he warned quickly. But Ocariner got back on his feet and caught up to Starshadow. She wasn't going to to endure much of that.

"Hey, buddy!" Steelclaw shouted to Ocariner, pumping his rifle again.

"I could be wrong," he said with mock earnestness, "but I don't believe she's the one who put you in the sand." He lined up a shot for the Maximal's head and fired. "And after all, if you're going to pick on somebody who isn't your size, you may as well go for the smallest guy, right?" He pumped again, then fired for Ocariner's chest. "I'm over here." he admonished finally.

[Night-Hunter]

"Life form found, activation sequence completed."

Slag! I should have damaged it more, blasted bird. Sonar thought growling.

"Seems I'm in time for the party, to bad I forgot my invitation. Feralnight, maximize!"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Sonar snarled.

"This is going to hurt..."

Sonar growled and went to attack the new maximal.

"Austa lavista Predacons."

Sonar was to intent on killing the maximal that he couldn't react in time when she fired her weapons at them. He took a blast to the chest but it wasn't to lathal, just enough to knock him back.
That thing is going pay! He thought with a snarl.
"Beast mode!" He commanded.
After going into his beast mode he heard Glowstick talking.

Should you really waste your time with us while the person who risked their life for you is dieing over there before you could ever meet them?

Sonar rolled his eyes.

That should be enough space to transform. Well so much for that plan.. seems Valkyrie's abilities are not to be underestimated when it comes to machines,she programmed it much faster then I thought.. Alright. Forget the maximals for now. I have what I need for the transport's repairs.Sonar, if you want you can head towards the Deltapoint with Steelclaw and StarShadow. I'll be there as soon as I can so we can get out of here.

Sonar nodded then headed to where Steelclaw and the blasted cat were located.
He only caught half of what the fish said before an updraft carried him off.

... I should be able to get it to your area soon, whats your status?

IT didn't take long for Sonar to make it to there location and he could alright tell that the stupid cat was in trouble.

"Star! Get out of there!" "Hey, buddy!"

What is that bear doing? Sonar thought as he circled aboved them looking for a good spot to ambush the larger Maximal.

"I could be wrong," "but I don't believe she's the one who put you in the sand." He lined up a shot for the Maximal's head and fired. "And after all, if you're going to pick on somebody who isn't your size, you may as well go for the smallest guy, right?" "I'm over here."

Good gods they both of have a death wish. Sonar thought shaking his head.
Growling he transformed into his robot form cut off his thrusters and free falled toward the large maximal. If he hit the maximal with enough force in the head it would force him into stasis lock.
He brought his hands together and swiftly brought them down on the larger maximal's head.