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| - Sunday, September 04, 2011, 9:44 AM (Drill Hall, Polyhex) Nova Black marches into the drill hall and activates one of the holo projectors. As soon as the illusory enemies appear, she's firing, twisting to avoid their projected laser fire and returning her own. It's nothing like a real fight, but it feels good to discharge some of her pent-up energy. Her systems hum with a convincing facsimile of battle rage and she gives in to it, her engines roaring with excitement as several of the projected enemies flare and flicker out. Sometime during that fight, another had shown up. Echo, holding a deactivated energy sword in one hand, staring at her now. He blinks a few times and moves further into view now, to observe better as she whirled and roared, quite fixated on the Seeker Femme. Nova Black catches a glimpse of the other Seeker. She notices he's carrying a weapon, but is too focused on her practice to see much more. She takes out a couple more of the projected enemy images before calling out to the computer to pause the simulation. Once the projections freeze, she turns to face him. "Interesting blade you have there. Is that your own weapon, or something you found?" Echo glances to the weapon, and then back up before he snaps out of it "Its from the armory, but I was considering getting one of my own. " he lifts it, in the proper posture and set to use the blade as he activates it "I was coming to get a feel for it today. But I got uh... distracted." he admits sheepishly. A small grin curves one corner of Nova's dark mouth. "Watchin' me?" Echo shifts nervously, then nods. "Y... yes." he smirks "You're nice to watch, and incredibly deadly." Nova Black chuckles. "Thanks. I've killed a few Autobots in my time." Her optics flare. "But not nearly enough." Then, calming, she twitches her wings. "But if you want to practice with that sword, I can spar with you, if you like." "I'd be honored if you did. Just go easy. I nearly killed three people yesterday." he jokes with a chuckle, moving out onto the floor "Well, its not like the world will end tomorrow, thus we there'll be other chances. I do hope so though - I have yet to make one confirmed kill. I don't count bombing runs." Nova Black raises an optic ridge as she steps into the sparring ring. "Nearly killed three people yesterday? What is this now?" She transforms her hands into her daggers; fighting blade-to-blade is probably best. "All right," she says, dropping into a fighting stance. "Let's see what you can do." Echo nods sheepishly "Yes. The sword got away from me." he coughs and crouches across from her, eyeing the blades before he considers, and then leaps forwards, in a simple thrust straight towards her center with the tip of the energized blade, following with a battle cry shouted full-on. Nova Black brings up both of her daggers to parry the larger blade and turn Echo's thrust aside; that sword is bigger than her blade. That done, she pulls one of them back and counterattacks toward the side he's left most unprotected. Echo errfs and twists away, but the blade 'zaps' him as he does so. A grimace came over his faceplate as he twists past her, whirling immediately to keep his back from facing her entirely "Almost got you!" he notes, before coming in again, this time two handedly swinging towards the outer side of her arm. Nova Black grunts. "Heh, so you did," she answers, hastily spinning out of his reach. A heavy blade like that isn't something she wants slicing through her arm, especially not when it's wielded two-handed. Still, if he's got both hands on the hilt of his sword, he doesn't have another arm to guard with. She jabs quickly toward his head as a feint, then aims another blow toward his midsection, hoping to catch him unawares as he defends from the first one. Echo yelps as the blade slides through the side of his midsection, his optics sparking as he twists away from both "Two versus one... but you have to get past the blade" he puffs, starting to figure things out as he crouches, now going on the defense as he circles carefully, watching her as he tries to plot in his mind. Nova Black backs up, snarling. She doesn't like being so far away. He's right that her having two daggers instead of one sword is an advantage for her. But her weapons are daggers, shorter and lighter than the blade he wields. They're designed for close combat -- essentially, for anything she hasn't been able to fry from the air and has to land to meet. That means she has to get to him. She watches as he circles, watching and waiting for a moment of hesitation, and then attacks, rushing toward him with a fierce battle cry. Echo continues to back up quickly, and as she charges, he jerks back in surprise... the blade coming up between them, aiming right for her as he countercharges, pushing forwards to meet her halfway, flinching as the blades come close, one even sinking into his shoulder as they meet. Nova Black's dagger sinks into Echo's shoulder, but unfortunately for her that means she can't quite get out of the way of his counterstrike. Pulling her blade free, she pivots, twisting her body so that his strike also connects with her shoulder and misses anything more vital. Grunting in pain, she steps to the side and forward, rather than backing up again, and aims for the cabling in his side, hoping to connect before he has a chance to spin around and face her. Echo hisses in pain as well as he twists, then yelps as her blade strikes true. The novice jerks to try and move away again, swinging the blade somewhat erratically before fully freed of his opponent. HE puffs as he staggers, a hand to his shoulder "Hold! Ugh... I am very not erady for this." he remarks tightly Nova Black stands back. "You done, then? That's fine with me." Her own shoulder sparks a bit, and pain flares through her sensornet. Her mouthplates set in a grim line. "But I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the vermin won't be the type to let you relax. Hopefully you've learned something today." Echo nods at that, puffing a few times "Yes. Move faster, and keep you out of arms' reach." he quips to her "Thank you for the lesson though. Ow..." Nova Black gives him a small grin. "Happens." Echo nods "I'd appreciate any more lessons at other times as well. Despite what Knifepoint says, I'm not a youngling or suck up," he scowls. Nova Black smiles. "I'd be glad to give 'em. That was fun. Heh, and I wouldn't worry too much about Knifepoint. He talks that way to everyone." Echo shrugs "More me than others. I dont get why not giving mouth back is 'sucking up'/ but whatever." he swings the blade a few more times "Can any of your moves be used with a sword?" Nova Black nods. "Some, yes. Just keep in mind that my blades are smaller and lighter. And that I have two, so I'm often trying to distract my opponent with one and come in with the other. But you can still use the basic idea of a lot of them." Echo nods as he listens to this "I noticed that. And you only need one hand for the blade. A sword can be used with either." Nova Black nods. "Yeah, and you can switch hands if you need to." Echo hmms at this and moves the blade to his other hand. He swirls it a few times, the motions actually smoother and more graceful. Nova Black chuckles. "Looks like you're better with that one. Or learning quickly. Or both." Echo nods "Yeah. It's the left hand though," he states. "That's not normal is it?" Nova Black smirks. "I'd say whether it is or it isn't doesn't really matter. You ever notice that Lord Megatron has a cannon mounted on his right arm? Somehow I don't think blasting the slag out of machines who torque him off requires fine motor control. So which hand you think he uses for everything else?" Echo hrms a little, rubbing his chin "I never thought of that." he holds his blade in that hand again "I wonder what causes it. I mean, it would make sense to make seekers standardized, so why this difference?" Nova Black shakes her head. "That one I don't know the answer to. Maybe some bit of code got rewritten somehow. Or maybe it's something in your spark and not your code." "Whichever it is, I'll make sure I use it to the advantage of the Decepticons!" Echo decides. Nova Black's optics flare. "That's the spirit. And hey, learning that today will make you fight better, if you've been trying to use your right because you thought you were supposed to."
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