"OC Episode #4"

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick nodded Alright, just two arms then. However we can't fight inside the ship. It's disadvantageous to both of us. He then moved past her and sat in the pilot seat, taking the Leviathan off autopilot, then softly landed the Leviathan on a small island which appeared to be mostly barren. He then got up heading into the hanger walking outside.

His back limbs spread looking like a pair of wings as he floated above the ground, his right tentacle then reached drawing his Raver blade, then held it in a strange casual stance pointed towards the ground. Alright, lets do this.. guess I wont be able to hold back.. Raver blade.. Light my darkest hour..

As he spoke, his sword suddenly flashed for a moment with a female computerized voice speaking up Password Acknowledged! Good luck!, the sword then returned to it's normal clear look while the center sensor on the sides glowed blue with accent lighting along it.

[starshadow]

Starshadow walked out of the hanger and stretched herself.

"You'll regret this.." her blades slid out from both hands. The catbot circled around him, looking at him with eyes of a predator. Her fangs and claws were ready to take him out.

When a breeze blew, she charged towards him.

[Venatrix]

Venatrix stopped, and transformed into her robot mode, with both her blades drawn.
Without wasting any time, she immediately slipped into a battle stance, having one blade in front of her, and one behind her.
The last time she faced Dinobot, she attempted to ambush him, with the same result as always. He defeated her swiftly, and with little effort.
She waited for the one she sees as her mentor to draw his weapons of choice out and slip into his preferred battle stance before she would attack him.

Venatrix was a warrior now.
Maybe not as skilled as the one she's facing now, but when they would be done, she'll make sure he would praise her progress.
But for now, it was time to have all idle thought to be stored and closed off, and focus on the coming battle.
"I've been patiently waiting for this moment for a while now. So lets dance..." She said with a smile on her face.

------------------

Valkyrie didn't see Waspinator's shot coming, and took it in the chest.
She was knocked back by the blast, but never loosened her grip on the Predacon's back.
So now they both fell down.
But the Maximal bird had no intension to stop the fight at that moment, and decided to transform to her battle mode, and finish the fight in the sky, as they both fell down.

First she grabbed hold on both his wings with her hands, attempting to prevent her prey from flying out of what's to come.
She quickly folded her wings onto her back, and used her own weight to turn them both face down towards the ground they where gaining fast.
That's when she noticed the hole in the ground, and remembered the energon geysers Whitegrazer mentioned earlier, and aimed for it.
She calculated the time she needed to hold on to the Predacon, before where close enough for her to let go of him, transform back to beastmode and fly clear of the energy wave from the geyser.

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick stood as she charged at him, strangely for the first time... No music was playing. Just the sound of static, static from comlinks, even sound of static coming from the sword as a plasma speaker effect. It was the one noise Glowstick hated in all of existence. The beak on his chest then made a strange horrific screech as his body suddenly projected upwardly from a thrust of air, his right tentacle swinging and extending as it slashed down towards Starshadow, the blade lighting up with a trail of randomly spraying electric like bolts being drawn towards her and the ground as it moved. His body twisting and retracting his arm which moved like a whip or chain in the air, then stopped above the ground behind and to the right of her.

Too late for regrets..

[starshadow]

One of Starshadow's knees drop on the sand. This is bad.. she thought.
"Do you know cats have nine lives?" there was a large wound on her chest stinging her.

With a snarl she ran up to him and pushed her blades in Glowstick's lower back. "Love the pain while it gets bigger..." she licked the side of his face and laughed.

[NaitoKage]

Some fluid coughed from Glowstick's chest beak from the hit, his head then tilted as he looked towards her, his arm then turned the direction of his sword, the tip pointing towards her Ug.. well it's going to get bigger.. the tip of the blade then suddenly extended slamming into the upper side of her chest, a surge of plasma energy expelling violently from it melting and disrupting her circuits as it sprays.

[starshadow]

Starshadow screamed in pain when the sword's energy burned and melting her circuits, even her tail was spiking out.

Her tail darted towards his stomach and knock him away from her, at the same time, giving him multiple cuts.

"I..have..five..lives..left.." Starshadow panted heavily and tried to stand up. "COME ON SQUIDFACE, IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!"

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick got up slowly looking towards Starshadow, his stomach and back sparking. His sword retracted into it's closed position as he then turned towards her, stabbing the sword into the ground. Your kidding right? I have plenty of trump cards left.. but you.. you have nothing.. His feeder tentacles in unison suddenly projected towards her at high speed slamming into her stomach, then his laser cannons on the ends fired point blank adding to the impact to send her flying backwards a great distance.

His arms retracted their length to normal as he then wrapped one around his sword lifting it out of the ground, looking towards her in the distance.

[starshadow]

Starshadow's body landed on a large boulder and almost started a journey to Lala land. Her body was too damaged to move. "Didn't see lasers coming..my mistake..down by three lives.." she sighed and leaned her back on the boulder. She wasn't going to give up her freedom that easily even if it cost her life.

"Heh..kiss this." she charged up a beam from her mouth and fired a stream of plasma energy towards Glowstick.

[NaitoKage]

As the plasma beam came towards Glowstick, he simply raised his sword, a sudden blue flash came from the weapon countering her plasma stream, his left arm's tentacle aiming towards her chest it then fired a quick shot. I'm better with lasers then I am with swords.. I could of dissected you to pieces on your initial charge.. he then started to move towards her, random bolts of plasma spraying from the sword as he came closer, a few even striking against his body leaving burn marks Give up or I'm just going to make this worse!

[starshadow]

Starshadow shrieked in pain after being shot again with some mech fluid dripping down from her mouth. "I think I'll save my last life living in the wilds.." she spat her mech fluid on Glowstick's face in defiance and chuckled slowly turning into laughter.

[Wintersong]

(OOc:Just a suggestion here for Optimus's team but should it be a good idea to have the remaining four close to or coming to the Axalon by now? OOP seems to be busy lately and getting to the base might help take a load off there for this episode.Dinobot will be busy with Venetrix for a little bit and barely has a scratch on him or at all. Just thought to point this out since we left that part about four pages back.)

[Blazemane]

Dinobot drew his sword, but left his shield stored away. It seemed better suited for keeping attackers and their assaults at bay, and if he was truly going to give Venatrix a fight, he would have to engage her.

Without another word, he took a step forward and swung his sword at the side of her which was opposite of the hand with which she held her front sword. This would force her to parry across her body with the front sword- and thus make the back sword useless for a moment- or to react very quickly and block with the back sword instead.

Of course for her, that would not be impossible.

* * *

Cheetor gasped when Blackarachnia pointed the cybervenom at him, and he suddenly found his senses and reflexes returning. He moved off to the side just as she pulled the trigger, and the dart buried itself into the ground.

Moving at lighting speed, he shot up on his feet and connected a fist with the Predacon's faceplate.

"This hitting stuff hurts, doesn't it?" he taunted Blackarachnia. A second later, he was shaking his hand, trying to let the newfound pain from his own attack wear off. "Yeah."

* * *

Steelclaw started walking off with the rest of the group when- out of all the random times- inspiration hit him. He would get close quarters lessons from someone. He'd start as soon as he could. In fact... Venatrix was at the battle, wasn't she? He would only have to look around a second, and he'd be able to see her.

...Confound it all, she'd disappeared somewhere.

Running up to Megatron's side, he addressed his leader.

"Sir, Venatrix seems to have gone missing yet again. Should I search for her or do you suggest we leave her be?"

((OOC: Cheetor has power played to achieve a (potentially) similar-to-in-show effect with a new method.))

[una]

Cheetor gasped when Blackarachnia pointed the cybervenom at him, and he suddenly found his senses and reflexes returning. He moved off to the side just as she pulled the trigger, and the dart buried itself into the ground.

Moving at lighting speed, he shot up on his feet and connected a fist with the Predacon's faceplate.

"This hitting stuff hurts, doesn't it?" he taunted Blackarachnia. A second later, he was shaking his hand, trying to let the newfound pain from his own attack wear off. "Yeah."

((OOC: Coool, Blazemane! =D )

Blackarachnia was shocked at how the kitty cat dodged her cybervenom in such close range but her reaction was stalled as the unexpected punch to her faceplate, knocked her off her feet. She landed with a thud, shaking her head. She got up slowly realizing that Scorponok was there and teh others were beaten severely.

Uh oh, time for me to leave.

She transformed into her beast mode and growled at the kitty cat, "You won this round, kid but I will be back for you!"

She scurried away.

________________________________________

Whitegrazer was in beast mode and galloped towards Cheetor with a smile, "That was a good dodge and punch you gave there, Cheetor."

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Sorry for my lack of posting, Wintersong and company. I haven't been absent, persay, since I've been peeking in every so often and reading posts, but I know I've been slacking on replying, and I apologize. Actually been having fun sitting back and reading the other posts on the other missions. Also, I'm not sure what to do about Phoenix's "infultration." Is she inside or outside the Axalon? I'll have Sentinel capture Nemesis' signature and report the intrusion to Optimus and have the rest of his team defend the Axalon from her while Dinobot dances with Venatrix. It'll give us something to do while the other teams are wrapping things up. Although, most of OP's team are still injured, but they could fight more easily inside the ship without energon intereferance. ))

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" Sentinel sounded off as the Axalon's defense system kicked in after reading Nemesis' signature. All of the external and internal weaponry whirled to life, the ones in Venatrix's vacinity targeting her immediately, giving her only a second to react before they fired upon her.

-----

"If you truly find us that undeserving, I fail to see why you persist in following us," "But," "you continue to tell yourself that. It should console you once your hope of defeating me has been... deferred."

Sometimes Optimus wondered why Dinobot was with the Predacons in the first place. He was admiring the way he spoke to Venatrix.

"What makes you think i plan on defeating you? You know as well as i do why i choose to confront you every time i had a chance. A warrior can only get stronger by facing opponent that are stronger then him-or herself."

Primal glanced over his shoulder at the Predacon when he heard her voice approach closer to his team. She was actually quite near to the raptor now. While it made him a little uneasy, he didn't show it. If she meant to attack all of them, she would have done so by now. Venatrix truly was set on a sparring match with just Dinobot.

"This should prove a suitable battleground," "Are you prepared?"

Stopping upon Dinobot's observation, the Maximal leader examined the immediate area. No other threats were detected. It was a good place for the two to battle, not that Optimus really approved of it, and the Axalon wasn't too much farther from there either.

"I've been patiently waiting for this moment for a while now. So lets dance..."

The gorilla motioned his team to stand back from Dinobot and Venatrix, giving them their space. As their fight began, Optimus spoke up to the frilled lizard. "Frilla, we may have lost that protoform to the Predacons, but it was not your fault. I should've been better prepared," he admitted. "I wasn't expecting Manterror, as well as the other Predacons Megatron decided to bring with him. We were simply outmatched. And I failed to keep you out of harm's way so you could focus on the pod." As leader, it was his responsilibility, therefore the failure was his own to blame.

Tigatron had sat down near Optimus and Frilla, resting his injured shoulder that he had been limping on during the trek back. He disagreed with their leader, though; Primal wasn't giving himself enough credit. "Despite the odds against us, Optimus, you fought rather well. It is not easy battling two Predacons at once, trying to protect a helpless protoform and the Maximal who was trying to keep its programming on its course. You and Frilla did your best. We can only hope that the other pod has been safely secured by our fellow Maximals."

Primal gave a nod of thanks to Tigatron. Perhaps he and Frilla had done well after all considering the turn of events they had encountered. Such was the circumstances. The tiger's words did make Optimus ponder about the other Maximal teams. Almost the whole day had gone by now without a single word from either one of them.

"WARNING: Intruder alert! All systems activated," Sentinel's voice suddenly rang through Primal's communication link.

Tigatron cocked his head in curiosity when he heard the ship's defense contacting their leader. It was a clever computer Rhinox and Rattrap had installed.

Of course, the announcement from Sentinel was not something Optimus wanted to hear right now. "Sentinel, identify the intruder," he demanded. His headache and aching back from Megatron's weight stomping on him earlier put a little pressure on his tone of voice.

"Acknowledged," the defense system responded. "Intruder identified. Unit Nemesis."

Well, that's just prime! She must have snuck away from the ending of the battle earlier and headed there immediately after. But why? Perhaps it had something to do with the nano technology she had left behind on Nightmist's body. "Tigatron, stay here with Dinobot. Frilla and Wintersong, come with me back to Base." Tigatron would be better off staying in beast mode since it would help repair his wound and give him rest off of his feet, making sure Venatrix didn't pull any fatal stunts on Dinobot. Optimus couldn't just leave the raptor alone out there. As for the two females and Primal, they would have to hurry back to the Axalon in beast mode to reserve their power in case Sentinel wouldn't be able to fend her off on its own. Turning his back to the battle, the gorilla took off on his knuckles and feet as quickly as he could toward the ship located over the waterfall.

Twitching his ringed tail on the ground wishing he was well enough to help, Tigatron watched their commander take off quickly into yet another confrontation. Perhaps Optimus endured too much. The cat understood leadership and the responsibilities it required, but he thought Optimus performed above and beyond what was expected of him to protect his crew. The downside to that was exhaustion, and continuously putting his life in danger. A Cybertronian's body could only endure so much before systems would begin failing, especially during battle; like fatigue, for example. He could tell the gorilla was growing tired as dusk quickly approached. As much faith as Tigatron had in their leader, he wondered how long this war could possibly go on. Frowning, he turned his green eyes back to Dinobot and Venatrix.

-----

"Might have but then again Rattrap we wouldn't be any better the some of the Predacons."

Rattrap looked at Feralnight and sent her a faint nod, along with a quiet sigh. She was right.

"So just carry her out ad set her on the island?"

Might as well, if we throw her she'll just suffer more damage.

"Yeah. But if you 'happen' to trip and drop her on the way, then don't worry about it," snickered Rattrap. "Preds got their own CR's anyway."

Aw.. you wrapped her like a gift, you shouldn't have..

Watching Glowstick appear as the Leviathan opened, the rodent cringed a little. "Whoa. Talk about yer freaks. Man, those guys just keep gettin' uglier an' uglier," he said to himself. "Well, you know, it's our problem to you. So, uh, enjoy," Rattrap replied to the squid with a smile in his voice. Ugh. He floats too? "What a creepy lookin' Pred. All those slimy, squirmy, wormy tentacles. Yuck!" he said off of the radio. No wonder Wintersong and them had trouble with him in their last mission. Despite his appearance, there was something a little more "civil" about Glowstick than the most of the other Predacons.

"Arigato! (thank you)" "thank you so much! and I'm sorry for giving you the trouble of sedating her."

"What're you so thankful for? She's nothin' but a headache!" Rattrap said back to the Leviathan, unable to understand why they were so grateful to have Starshadow back in their hands. She was nuts! Did anybody really want her on their team? Aye.

"Well least we are leaving mostly unscathed." "Now just hope the others had better lucky then we did."

"Yeah," he agreed with Feralnight, watching the Predacons' transport peacefully take off. "Hopefully we ain't the only ones who failed miserably today." Rattrap fired up the Nomad again and took off in the other direction, steering the small vessel back toward the Axalon. He sat back in the chair, a little more relaxed now that this day was over with.