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| - Mon Aug 20 2033 The Greek capital of Athens is a modern Metropolis, a center of tourism, winemaking, shipping, and marble mining along with its fair share of smog. Luxury hotels, colorful shop windows displaying everything from sculptures to textiles and food, museums with vast treasure troves of ancient artifacts, and cafes serving baklava and strong Greek coffee line its busy streets. Still, it is best known for its ancient temples and buildings. The crowning glory of this ancient city is the worn, white marble Parthenon on the Acropolis, still standing after 2500 years. Nearby is the complex, richly-embellished temple to both Athena and Poseidon - the Erechtheum, supported on the south by exquisitely-carved caryatids. Barkida Northeast leads to Istanbul, Turkey. Northwest leads to Sarajevo, Bosnia/Herzegovina. South leads to Mediterranean. Fly Redshift has arrived. "What do you mean i'm late?" "I most certainly did not!" "I'm not pink, I'm RED! Do I look pink to you?" "Fine, but I want DOUBLE the normal judge rate!" Redshift grumbles into a comm, and stomps into the middle of a giant lesbian arena, furtively wrestling a toga around his scrawnly marathoner's frame. The symbolism of the location is lost on Blades, who eshews culture in favour of keeping things brutally simple. He's looking forward to tangling with Barkida again. Maybe he'll be able to recoup his lost face. Maybe he'll just get to hurt someone. Either way, Blades cannot complain. He regards the Decepticon judge with skepticism and disdain, quipping, "This is gladiatorial, not the fire-eating contest. Sure you can judge?" Barkida stands stoically with her round shield planted in the dust before her, togate in red and white with cloth-of-gold trim, the livery of her order. "Salutations, machine man. We cross swords again." She hefts the shield onto her arm, sliding her hand into the grip, and draws her hyperductile sword from its sheath on her opposite hip, and her bare feet shift on the sandy arena floor as she balances herself for battle. "I know you stand on no ceremony. Come on, then." Redshift waves one hand dismissively at the Protectobot while the other hand wrestles with a laurel wreath. "Blah blah Olympic fight rules blah etc. Don't kill each other and don't kill me. The Nepsa Olympic Comittee is not responsible for loss of limbs or ocular organs, nor for losing one's person down a suspiciously-placed well." Redshift blathers half-heartedly, and he back towards the arena's edge in case things start to get out hand. "Low. I want to see nothing but tail," Blades drawls, when asked about the coin toss. While nowhere near as smart as the rest of the Protectobots, Blades is no fool, and he knows how the last fight went: she creamed him, and he was barely able to lay a hand on her. he had to rely on Smart Rockets, and he cannot use those now. So he decides to play it more cautiously, trying to get inside her guard and out quickly. The left hook he tries to deliver in between may not land, but hopefully, her mystery sword won't land, either. Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Blades misses Barkida with his (Punch) attack! Combat: Gained 1 energon. Barkida raises her shield as Blades advances, deflects his strike with it with a ringing clang, then drives it forward with a shove of her left arm and a tensing in her legs, trying to push him back while guarding her body. Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Guarded. Combat: Barkida misses Blades with her Shield Push attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 1 MELEE attack. Blades relies more on avoiding attacks than blocks, because he doesn't have a shield (or a forcefield, unlike some people), and in a knife fight, even a block can lead to a pretty nasty wound. So he half turns and steps to the side, trying to flank her and then go under her shield with a low kick to one knee. Combat: Blades misses Barkida with his (Kick) attack! Combat: Drained 2 energon. Barkida drops her shield to block Blades' kick, thrusting towards his chest over the rim of the shield with her other hand, the black blade shining in her fist in the shape of a falcata. Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Barkida misses Blades with her Counter Thrust attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 3 MELEE attack. Blades shies back, looping around almost behind her, gritting his dental plates together as he does. Matrix, but it burns him to play so coy. The Protectobot tries for a quick love-tap to the back of one of her hips with one of his rotor blades, hoping to unbalance her. Combat: Blades strikes Barkida with his Rotor Blade attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Drained 5 energon. Barkida spins back towards Blades, glancing only momentarily at the spot where he slashed his blade across her hip- it cut through her clothes, but the cut under that is very shallow and the blood oozes slowly; her heavy-planet biology is extraordinarily dense, and cutting her is like delivering a sword stroke to a tree. She resettles her shield in front of her, her sword lengthening into a spear at a mental suggestion, with which she jabs at Blades with a high, downward thrust. Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Guarded. Combat: Barkida strikes Blades with her Defensive Dory attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 2 MELEE attack. Combat: You took 10 damage. A smarter but still somewhat disturbed Autobot would wonder if blood amber could be made out of Barkida's tree-sap-like blood, but not Blades. Blades is mostly just cussing lightly about how that spear jabbed in him really hurts. "Clinker smelt!" He jumps over the well and settles on the other side. Then Blades tries to hit her with a brick. Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Blades misses Barkida with his A Brick (Punch) attack! Combat: Gained 1 energon. Barkida raises her shield to head height, ducking to let the brick clang against it and slide off as she advances after Blades with the haft of her spear couched along her arm in an underhand grip. "Now we are even," Barkida says wryly, thrusting low towards Blades' bulky shins from beneath the shield. Combat: Barkida misses Blades with her Doric Discomfort attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 1 MELEE attack. "Even? Maybe so," Blades replies indifferently, "I'd say this is all pretty odd." He vaults back over the well again and over the spear. "So are you, like, a Spearmaster or something?" Blades is thinking about Targetmasters with their transforming guns, but something may get lost in translation. He goes for a quick slash. Combat: Blades misses Barkida with his Unfortunate Implications attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Drained 2 energon. "I have mastered each of the thirty-six accepted tools of war," Barkida replies after blocking the stroke, the Cybertronian term of art lost on her. She whips her right arm back, and as she does so her spear shortens and reforms into a thick curved sword like a kukri, which she winds back over her shoulder and brings hacking down in a sweeping curve! Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Neutral. Combat: Barkida misses Blades with her Kopis Arc attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 3 MELEE attack. Blades admits, "I'm kinda fond of the /unacceptable/ tools of war, myself," rubbing the back of his helmet. "Like, oh, bags of glass shards," which he has for perfectly legitimate reasons! Blades tries to boot the bag of glass shards at Barkida as if it was a soccer ball. Combat: Blades misses Barkida with his Bag of Glass Shards (Kick) attack! Combat: Drained 2 energon. Barkida is quick-witted enough not to try to kick that thing back at Blades in bare feet! Yes, her feet are solidly calloused on the sole, but broken glass still stings. She thoughtfully springs over the bag, lunging towards Blades with another downward chop from her sword, a right-to-left diagonal this time as she twists in her landing. Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Barkida strikes Blades with her Springing Slash attack! Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 4 MELEE attack. Combat: You took 17 damage. Combat: Barkida's attack has damaged your Agility! Blades somehow manages to be hamstrung by the awesomeness of that attack. No, Blades is not sure how that works, either. He just knows he's limping really badly now. Either way, his fuel rises, and he feels the anger that drives him. Blades lashes out without grace or finesse, seeing red. Combat: Blades sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Blades strikes Barkida with his Rotor Blade attack! Combat: Drained 11 energon. "Ah!" exclaims Barkida, withdrawing a moment as Blades delivers a cut that marks a red slash across her right shoulder and flank, and would've cleaved a human in half. "That is your true weapon. Tricks are a distraction. Love your loyal blade and it will serve you." She comes charging back with her black sword singing as it hacks down in a pair of crossing overhand strokes as she advances. Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Barkida strikes Blades with her Cleaving Cross attack! Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 4 MELEE attack. Combat: You took 13 damage. Combat: Barkida's attack has damaged your Strength! Combat: Barkida's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Blades. Combat: Blades has been temporarily incapacitated. Blades does love his blades! But he neglects them so, being all air support like he is. He does also enjoy low-down dirty tricks, but... Such a trick has just got him. His primary motor cable was severed by her blow. Blades can't move. Barkida presses Blades hard, trying to drive him back to the edge of the well (maybe this arena was built around the ruins of an ancient town square). When he freezes up momentarily she snaps her sword back, flicking fluids off of it, raises her shield and steps in, leaning back to coil and thrust out one powerful leg in a straight kick to Blades' midsection! Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Protected. Combat: Barkida strikes Blades with her Is This Madness?! (Kick) attack! Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Kick": A Level 2 MELEE attack. Combat: You took 13 damage. Combat: Barkida's attack has damaged your Agility! Redshift has disconnected. Blades, predictably, falls down the well. Somewhat unpredictably, however, he turns into a /helicopter/ and rises out of the well, battered but not yet beaten. His secondary motor cable is compensating, but he can't get as much power out, and he's still kind of crippled. The Huey tries to hook a landing skid under one of her shoulders to drag her off into the air! Blades transforms into his Bell UH-1 Iroquois mode. Combat: Bell UH-1 Iroquois strikes Barkida with his Landing Skids (Kick) attack! Combat: Drained 2 energon. Barkida gets crashed into by a helicopter! She honestly was not expecting that. She always forgets the machine men can change shape. Dangling from the landing skid by her shield arm (her shield rolling around on the ground below), Barkida just does her best to hang on for several seconds while she catches her breath, before performing a one-arm pull-up to reach up with her other hand in an attempt to shove her now straight sword into the helo's side to bring it down! Combat: Barkida sets her defense level to Fearless. Combat: Barkida strikes Bell UH-1 Iroquois with her Blackhawk Down! attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Barkida (Barkida) used "Durandal": A Level 2 MELEE attack. Combat: You took 12 damage. Combat: You are very aware that your life is in danger! Combat: Barkida's attack has damaged your Agility! Combat: Barkida's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Bell UH-1 Iroquois . Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Bell UH-1 Iroquois 's Agility. (Crippled) Combat: Bell UH-1 Iroquois falls to the ground, unconscious. Bell UH-1 Iroquois is now a crashing helicopter, as Barkida manages to offline his tail rotor, removing his ability to control his flight! Also a helicopter badly leaking out. There are some small fires when he crashes, and the Protectobot is still. He's out for the count. At least he doesn't need to explain to Hot Spot getting stuck down a well. Barkida jumps free from the helicopter before it crashes, landing lightly at a run and skidding a little on the sand as she comes to a stop and looks around behind her. She goes back to pick up her shield and holds it up to the audience! Are they not entertained?! Yes, yes they are. =============================== 2033 Olympics ================================ Message: 37/23 Posted Author LW Glad: Barkida vs Blades Mon Aug 20 Blades ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barkida won. And then probably had a tasty gyro, but I can't say for sure. ==============================================================================
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