NCC Arena

A huge enclosed oval structure, the Arena is now nothing more than a deathtrap. What were once tiered rows of seats are now seamless walls that slope sharply downwards into a deep gloom. The arena floor, once a flat expanse of dull metal has sunk further into the ground and reconfigured itself, dark shadows hiding the massed array of spikes and treacherous pits that the surface has become. The Imperial box has become a virtual bunker, thick armor plates hiding the opulence inside. Small gleams of light in the shadows hint at hidden weaponry now exposed, and overall, the arena complex is now an extremely dangerous place to linger - especially if you happen to be opposed to the Decepticon Empire.

Contents:

Geist

Hall of Heroes

Holo Arena

Obvious exits:

North <N> leads to NCC Dungeon.

South <S> leads to NCC Residential Plaza.

West <W> leads to NCC Central Hub.

Chimera has arrived.

Fleet slips in followed, likely, by Chimera, looking around intently for someone. Little need to guess who it is. Once more his general level of anxiousness has gone up, no doubt spurred by his dread of what it's going to be like having to deal with both Chimera and Geist at once. This bodes.

And what will Fleet do with the bodies? Chimera is following, surprisingly neutral today. No temper flare thus far. No one's managed to piss her off today. There's almost a faint hint of a smile on her face.

Geist is standing at the entrance to the holo arena, decloaked. Hes typing commands into the arenas computers as the two pupils show up. Detecting the approaching pair, the sweep says over his shoulder, "Im setting up a more advanced program. Fleet, your training thus far will help, but be prepared for anything. Chimera, welcome to your baptism by fire." Entering the last few commands, the holo arena begins firing up and the sweep turns to face his charges. Looking hard at Chi, the sweep says, "Im sure your going to enjoy this as much as I am." Motioning to the door, the sweep says, "Shall we?"

Fleet almost allows himself a slight smile. My, but the Sweep is being so polite... the smile fades before it's fully formed, however, and he ducks into the arena.

Chimera gives Geist a crooked little smirk. "I'm quite certain." she answers, and heads towards the door. Ya know. She's almost casual. Baptism by fire. She LIKES fire.

The arena begins to shimmer and the familiar surrounding blurr to be replaced with ... nothingness. Yup, nothing at all. Empty air. No ground to speak of. There are a few smallish "islands" floating around that could be used for a footing if need be, but they are small and only marginally stable. Drifting away from his pupils, the sweep speaks, "This is your domain. One on one air combat. I will observe and record everything. Anything goes, last one standing wins." The sweep lands on one of the islands and gives a strong push with his legs sending the island drifting through the abyss. "BEGIN!"

Well, /this/ is familiar! Didn't Fleet just go through this a couple of days ago? Chimera's faster and has better aim then he does. The pastel Seeker deals rather well with the sudden lack of groundings, however, sky-built that he is, so after holding back a sigh he kicks away from Chimera, the move looking almost lazy despite the suddenness with which he spins and attacks with his right shoulder-rifle.

Fleet succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

Nothingness. Beautiful. Not like Chimera hasn't been in an abyss before, in the back of someone's mind-- but still. It was nothingness. Although Geist doesn't really know about the tendancy to remain groundbound, this'll probably break her of that habit. It did disorientate her enough so that Fleet's first shot hit. And brings her back to 'reality'. She grins predatorally at Fleet as he keeps spinning away. "Better and better." She brings her own rifle to bear on her attacker. Familiar? Uh... yeah.

Chimera succeeds in grasping Fleet, throwing him off-balance.

Geist lands on another island and crouches there, watching.

The shot catches Fleet in his left shoulder-intake, putting a nice little hole right through it and knocking Fleet backwards. He uses the momentum to flip himself all the way over and begins 'diving' relative to his plane, although he also spins as he dives so that his back doesn't stay towards the other. He looks 'up' at the green seeker (because his player is NOT the type to use an annoying term like 'seekerette') and fires at her as he continues to dive, ducking around one of the floating islands.

Chimera evades your grasp attack.

Planar movement is confusing. Which is why Chimera chose that particular moment to cut jets and land briefly on an 'island', and shift her weight enough so that it tilts ... and catches the shot.

Making a sound like a purr, or a snarl... or some wierd combination, she takes off again, using one of those lovely non-built in weapons to give Fleet something to think about while she finds a better vantage point to snipe him from. Seekerette... sounds like she should be pink. And Chimera HATES pink.

You evade Chimera's grasp attack.

Geist watches intently. Looking at the remote holo control, the sweep types in a command and returns his attention to the combat with a wry grin. Hes just waiting for Chi to land on his "new" islands. All of which are non-solid holos now... save for the one hes on of course.

Fleet succeeds in ducking behind the island he had been heading for, and thus she shoots it instead of him before the thing goes non-solid instead. He only hides for a moment, considering popping out from behind and sniping at her from cover (sharp shooting being as kill he shares with Chimera, although he's as yet unaware of this) but instead he stays hidden for this round, trying to get an idea on how far she is based by listening for the rumble of her engines and completely ignorant of the fact that his cover has gone insubstantial. <no attack>

Rumblerumble. Planar movement. If I were in a giant game of asteroids, trying to get to the ship in the middle of the screen with my alien space craft... where would I be?

Edging around, of course, trying to get /behind/ the place where she last saw him. Of course, she doesn't know that the 'islands' are insubstantial. They are good for one thing though. Visual cover. Which is what she needs until she gets... oh heck. why not pop around an island and start firing wildly at Fleet. Literally. Turn up the heat. Even if it just hits an island, it might spook him into coming out of cover....

Chimera succeeds in grasping Fleet, throwing him off-balance.

Fleet takes a shot in the cockpit, knocking him back and... into the island? Oh, well this is interesting. There's a brief moment of panic as the mild claustrophobia that taints quite a few Seekers tries to take hold but he shakes it off, springing back out from 'inside' the island and attempting a clothesline-punch as he passes the other. Current score: Chimera-2, Fleet-1.

Chimera evades your grasp attack.

Geist takes this moment, when Chi's back is to him to spring another surprise... namely him rocking his still solid island back and kicking it directly at her back.

Geist succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

Chimera didn't actually realize that the only solid island is Geist's. At least, not until, after ducking Fleet's punch, his solid mass hits her back, sending her through a couple of holographic islands before she can even think of doing something to stop it. Thank goodness she's not inside the island for long enough to panic. Panicking Chimera=/=Good. As it is, she's going to be taking a moment to recover, and make sure she has a way of... killing everyone in sight. <no attack>

Because Fleet had been flying towards past Chimera when Geist sent the island her way he was able to see it coming and dodge-roll away from it, instinctively avoiding the solid looking thing, which is lucky since it actually is solid, as he can see when it pushes Chimera away. Well... that one's solid, at least. Fleet flies after Chimera somewhat, although he still is sure to keep his distance, and fires after her once more, this time setting his lasers on a slightly higher setting.

Chimera evades your grasp attack.

Ahh. Shake oneself. brush away the holographic dirt, and glare towards the direction where Geist is hanging around.

Of course, Chimera does shake herself, and start moving again... and pushes the solid mass that Geist smacked her with right back towards Fleet. Probably why those lasers didn't hit her. She's lost a gun though. That sucks.

You evade Chimera's grasp attack.

Fleet vaults over and around the island, avoiding it for the second time, and dives straight for Chimera, his boot jets roaring as he moves at top speed for robot form. Before he reaches her, however, he cuts them off, brings his knees to his chest and tumbles, very swiftly changing facings before stretching his legs out again and tying to use the momentum for a fairly heavy kick.

Fleet succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

Okay. That's Other Guys 3: Chimera 2. And she's smacked fairly heavily with the sound of something cracking. There's a soft giggle, and a fist launched for Fleet's pretty seeker face.

Chimera succeeds in grasping Fleet, throwing him off-balance.

Geist again types in a few commands. As quickly as the holo generators can change, the setting goes from an airborne abyss to a completley enclosed cave. Barely enough room to jump, much less fly. Another things that changes noticibly, the gravity is roughly twice that of earth.

Fleet's head snaps back as Chimera's fist connect and then he's slammed into... a wall? Where'd that... oh, slot! He shakes his head to clear it and looks around, taking in his rather cramped surroundings. Damn, damn, damn... this isn't good. Moving noticably slower than usual, Fleet just lunges at Chimera, trying to toss her back into a cave wall just as he himself had been.

Fleet succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

Ok. Fleet just got a chance. Aside from the fact that Chimera's already got that simulated damage going, the surroundings have just changed to . . . a cave. A heavy cave. Why do people insist on throwing nightmares at her? WHY? Fleet gets the jump on her as she's landed in the middle of a cave. A low cave. There's a sudden intense look as ice blue optics start to glow dangerously. Skin crawling. Cave wall impacting the wing, and....

A low growling sound. And she's.... transforming, Plasma generators coming online. Powering up. Yeah the cave's probably too low, but she's ignoring any wingscrapes... Plasma fires...

At the wall.

Chimera jumps up, and folds into a pyramid jet.

Fleet's optics widen as she transforms, and he dives clumsily away from the green pyramid jet when he hears the plasma power up. He just watches, confused, as she fires at the wall, trying to take what cover he can from the blast but... it's tight. As the plasma fire lights up the cave he looks around wildly. All right, how to stop this... Fleet begins to work to formulate some sort of plan, although he's hardly at his best in these environs, either. She's not paying attention to him, but on the other hand she's pouring out so much energy that she's dangerous to approach... which means... she'll burn out her energon that much faster. Fleet just crouches and waits for the other to tire herself out.

That shouldn't take horribly long. Especially since she's not intending on stopping with the plasma fire until there's a sizable hole, or she passes out. Either one would be good. Chimera isn't exactly rational at the moment. Damn you. She needs air.

Geist watches silently as his pupil wigs out and begins shooting at the wall. The cave begins to rumble as Chi takes more and more material out of it. Small rocks begin to fall from the ceiling as a cavein threatens.

Well, there goes /Fleet's/ plan! The pastel seeker picks up a large chunk of loosened rubble and creeps up on Chimera, approaching from a direction where the other's own body shields him from the worst of the plasma. He's probably going to go down for this, but perhaps he can take her with him... when he gets close enough he slams the large rock down as hard as he can just above the muzzle of the weapon, trying to cut off her ability to fire. Maybe it'll cause feedback or backlash or... something.

Fleet succeeds in grasping Green Pyramid Jet, throwing her off-balance.

Green Pyramid Jet shrieks. Yeah. Feedback. OW... Plasma feedback isn't fun. It does, however, get her to stop firing at the freakin' wall. And transform.. so she's staring at Fleet with an entirely . . . unbalanced look. "Have to get out of the cave..." Babble? Don't mind if I do.

The pyramid jet unfolds into a female robot.

Time to topple the tower of babble, then! Fleet doesn't care much for the environs, either, but he still has enough presence of mind to know that the best way to get out of the cave is to end this, so this is what he's trying to do. He's more or less on the ground, anyway, having flung himself back when Chimera transformed, and from his position now kicks out with his feet, trying to knock her legs out from beneath her and let the increased gravity do the rest.

Fleet succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

Chimera goes down, reflexes slowed, energy low.... This isn't going to end nicely, is it? It'll end eventually, after she rolls and kicks at Fleet with the same odd look on her face. "Have to get out..." Probably because he's between her and whatever she did to the wall.

Chimera succeeds in grasping Fleet, throwing him off-balance.

And just as fun as the cave was, the terrain suddenly changes to ... freefall. Thats right kiddos, your 30,000 feet in the air and your jets/anti-gravs have been disabled.

Fleet falls? Because he doesn't have much choice in the matter apparently. Sky is where he belongs, but there's a brief moment of horror as he realizes that he can't command it like he normally does. Still, he has his skills, and he has his mind, and once he regains control he pulls an acrobatic airtwist and... dives? Yes. As he dives he transforms. He may not have working thrusters anymore, but he still has wings, and now he's trying to use the flaps on them, plus the speed of the dive itself, to give himself enough lift to cushion his landing.

Moment of panic. Moment of freedom.... Chimera is not an experienced enough flier to pull off the manover off. Which means she's falling like a rock. And aiming for Fleet's back-- er... the top of his JetMode. Jet Judo anyone? With spike heels?

You evade Chimera's grasp attack.

Geist shuts off the arena. Everyone is on the ground safely. Fleet flat on the ground and Chi on her feet.

Chimera missed the jet. Oops. Good thing she was going feet first instead of headfirst, or she'd have been in a funny pose when the holo arena got turned off.

Geist walks up to the pair with datapad in hand stroking his beard. He looks at Chimera hard while waiting on Fleet to transform. Saying nothing, the sweep paces around the green seeker.

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) had just tilted to let Chimera fall past him and then he's... sitting on the ground. Ohboy. The seeker transforms and pulls himself to a standing position, muttering, "Well, /that/ was stimulating," as he does.

The yellow Cybertronian jet unfolds, revealing the robotic form of the seeker Fleet.

Chimera just takes a moment to... let her intakes cool things doown a bit. And staring straight ahead. Almost ignoring the sweep.

Geist turns his attention to Fleet first, "You did well. You adapted to unexpected environments quickly and thought quickly on your feet. We still need to work on your marksmanship and evasion, but you already knew that." Turning his attention to Chi, the sweep isnt so kind, "You, on the other hand..." the sweep sighs, "You might as well be an Autobot for all the good your flight systems do you. You prefer to be ground bound so long as it doesnt mean underground. Your adaptation to the changes was slow at best and the cave nearly made you catatonic. Your marksmanship is acceptable for this stage of your training as was your evasion, but you tend to focus on one prey and exclude the rest of the battle. We have a long way to go with you."

Chimera frowns. Folds her arms. "Maybe I am an Autobot." she retorts. She'd walk away, but... meh. There's really nowhere to go right now. "And my marksmanship is just fine."

Fleet says nothing so as to avoid irritating Chimera and rubbing in his apparent 'teacher's pet' status. Instead he stands at attention, looks right ahead at nothing at all, and keeps his mouth shut. He does seem fairly pleased at the complements, but knows that in the end, it won't matter. This is just the start, and things can only get worse from here.

Geist stops behind the green seeker with a dark look on his face. With a quickness born in the dark desires of the dark god, Geist reaches for Chi's neck in an attempt to pull her over his leg and slam her to the ground on her back with him on top and his talons digging into her neck.

Geist succeeds in grasping Chimera, throwing her off-balance.

And Chimera is succesfully slammed to the ground. Maybe the dark god would be interested to know that Chimera doesn't mind being... manhandled. And the talons are just another... nicety...

Chimera's optics flicker briefly, as she looks up at the Geist on her chest. And smiles crookedly. "I'm one of the best shots in the universe. You might want to find out more about me before you throw silly words around." If she were human, this would be the part where she did something extremely bizzare. But she's not human, and therefore just smirks.

Fleet watches Geist and Chimera approach the borders of the untheme park, but says nothing, trying not to draw attention to himself. Chimera may enjoy playing rough, but Flee is just not into that sort of thing. Instead he waits for the sweep to finish his lesson or dismiss him, taking a step or two back from the two first.

Geist grins coldly. His voice is full of malice when he speaks, "I did! That is why I didnt question your shot, only your adaptability and focus!" The sweep digs his talons in further as he gets nose to nose with the seekerette, "I have no idea why Scourge assigned you to me for training and I really dont care. You screw up under me and I will break you in half and smelt your corpse. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" The sweep releases Chi's neck and gets up without waiting on an answer.

Chimera isn't a seekerette, she's green. "You questioned my marksmanship as being merely acceptable. " mmm... talons... "As for the rest... I won't bother to speculate.... but you can try me." Did she ask to be shoved into Geist's training regimin? No. Did she want to? No. Is she going to play nice? Wait. This is nice Chimera. And once she picks herself up, she's ready to go. Even without being dismissed. Probably because the player is about to have a nice case of QWERTYitis, once she pukes.

The teacher's pet takes another step or two away. He's got a good guess as to why Chimera's been assigned as a student to Geist, but once more he says nothing, just waiting for the 'show' to end, and it does. Fleet watches Chimera leave, but for his part, waits to be dismissed, his expression thoughtful.

Geist calls out after the seekerette (snicker), "Report to me after your next duty cycle." There is no or else added as there shouldnt have to be. Turning to Fleet, the sweep says, "You do the same. Dismissed."

Fleet nods. "Yes sir," he answers before scurrying off. One thing to be said for that pastel seeker - he sure can scurry!