This Bear ain't Going Over no Mountain, All Welcome

[Mayhem]

Lumbering along, the massive white bear ploughed through the underbrush. Maydae had long given up on stealth. Naturally clumsy in robot mode was bad enough. Now she had a big white beacon of a beast mode. Thankfully she had not been programmed for anything requiring discretion.

After a recent bout of lab explosions, she had wisely taken her leave from the ship. The lab was filled with ice pillars and small icebergs. Until they melted and tempers had cooled, the wisest route was to steer clear of her shipmates. The exploring trip left something to be desired though. The planet was hot and boring.

Maydae clawed her way over a rotting log. It groaned and cracked beneath her weight. Once on top, she flopped down and huffed her frustration.

“Stupid beast mode,” she grumbled beneath her breath.

[Charger426]

Duty and Honor. That’s all Sabreblade ever wanted and needed in life. And maybe a little recognition now and again for all the skills and abilities he possessed. That’s all, A simple life really. Follow orders, complete the mission, move on to the next.

But the Zeta Mission (actually he wouldn’t classify it as a mission, more of a camping trip gone wrong) was something altogether different, messy even. Sure he has been reassigned many times over to different Close Quarters Combat Squads before. Not his fault his teammates couldn’t handle him upstaging them.

Here on this planet, there was no place to go, many different personalities to contend with on a daily basis, and not enough war to drown it all out. Down time was his down fall, whether it be embarrassing himself in front of the commander or fumbling his way through a relationship he had no idea how to handle.

So he did the next best thing. He volunteered for every way out there, busy work patrol or assignment he could find. The more he patrolled the less he would have to interact with anyone. Which meant the less opportunity to embarrass himself and shatter his battered facade of arrogance and pride.

Today he was patrolling a dense area of forest located between the Maximal and Predacon territory. Slowly and smoothly he made his way in silence through the underbrush, the padded paws of his Sabretooth tiger alt mode muffling his steps. He breathed in the scents of the forest, an act that at one point used to overwhelm his cybernetic senses. He was gradually but surely learning to cope with them.

His sensitive ears picked up a sound like a branch being snapped off. He strained his neck up with his nose up trying to catch a whiff of whatever made the noise. No luck, he was upwind of whatever it was. Not good. Whatever it was could potentially pick up his scent. He had to act fast and not give the creature (or Predacon) a chance to act. He began to bound in the direction of the sound, crashing through the foliage.

[Mayhem]

Lounging and doing purely nothing but peacefully pondering over ideas for new inventions for a few cycles seemed the epitome of perfection. Honestly, any time spend out of the confines of the ship and out of reach of the idiotic commander. In her opinion, almost the entire crew were fit for recycling. There were the few odd exceptions but they were far and few between.

Considering she herself had been shipped out to the far reaches of space so quickly after she came online only proved that she had come close to being melted for parts. A failed experiment. That’s what she was. It left her disgruntled not only towards other Preds but at the Maximals as well. Damn them all and their flawless, fast, powerful, large forms. Now the small Predicon had a huge, white, cuddly beast form when all around her were ferocious, graceful, intimidating beast forms. All she got from her accidental beast form were extra fingers and heightened scent detection.

The young Predicon’s nose twitch as she lounged on the fallen giant. Something else was in the jungle that did not belong. Annoyed, she lifted her head and scanned the area. Though she failed to get a visual, she could smell someone out there; someone she did not know.

Maximal. Her nose wrinkled in a soundless snarl.

The crashing brought her lumbering up. Her height would have been an advantage if she knew where the damn bot was and if she had greater fire power. Chances were, whoever it was had the better fire power. On the log, she was a sitting target. Backing up and digging her claws in, Maydae slid back to the ground, putting the massive fallen tree between them.

There she crouched down and waited. Just let him poke his head over the log and she’d swipe it off. Maydae remained in beast mode since sadly was her most powerful form. Fortunately, a disgruntled polar bear was nothing to laugh at.

[Charger426]

Sabreblade thrust himself through the thick foliage, charging in the direction he felt he had heard the noise from moments ago. He ignored the sting of the branches and underbrush that whipped against his hide. Time was not on his side. He had to act quickly if he had any hope of overtaking the source of the sound.

He was relying on “shock tactics”, a strategy where an aggressor utilizes violence and speed to catch an opponent off guard to disorientate and intimidate. This usually works well in close quarters combat. Out here in the forest, there are too many variables, too much ground to cover. It was a gamble that Sabreblade felt compelled to take a chance on.

As soon as he cleared the forest, he was taken aback by what he saw. A stark white creature against the lush green of the surrounding plant life nearly twice his size. It was too late to turn back now. He had committed to his course of action and his training and discipline prevented him from turning back or hesitating. With no time to loose transforming and utilizing his weapons, he opted to leap upon his “prey”. Using his momentum and speed he pushed off the ground with his powerful hind legs and leapt into the air, claws extended and jaws open wide apart fully exposing his elongated canine “sabers”.

[Mayhem]

True to her bad luck, Maydae had come down on the wrong side of the fallen tree. Her hopes of decapitating the attacker as it came over the tree were dashed. Being pinned up against the tree bristled her fur. She stood and opened her jaws to show she meant business. Maybe he would back off.

Or not.

Blast! On top of it all, it just had to be a cat; a cat with teeth. Cats were damn fast. Though she was larger and more powerful in beast form, one hit with those sabers and she would need massive repairs. To badly damage her beast form in such a way would expose her circuitry to the electron fields. Unfortunately, the only alternative was to transform, take what damage came, but still be able to convert to beast mode after.

Out of options, she reluctantly transformed into her much smaller form, jabbed a hand into a pouch, and withdrew what looked like milky marbles. Maydae pitched them violently at the ground between them and darted south along the fallen tree. Upon impact, the marbles exploded into pillars of solid ice. Not all the marbles exploded straight away. Some were delayed while others did nothing. The unevenness of the forest floor made the pillars sway like ominous trees.

[Charger426]

During mid leap, Sabreblade finally caught a whiff of his opponent's scent, a mixture of female animal musk and machinery. One word quickly came to mind, Predacon. But things were not going as planned, for just as quickly as he leaped his prey quickly transformed and threw something to the ground.

Large ice formations immediately formed before him. He was helpless to evade the obstacles before him. He slammed into the pillars of ice with a loud thud. The force of his weight and momentum sent cracks through the ice. His vision blacked out as his consciousness off lined. His body spun around as he came crashing to the ground, coming to rest in the soft ferns of the forest floor.

His systems rebooted immediately, but for him it may as well been a lifetime. He was at a total disadvantage. His internal heads up display lit up like a starburst as pain and damage sensors fed a stream of information to his cpu. The toll the impact had on his substructure wasn’t anything serious, but it did leave him at the mercy of the…Polar bear!?

Of all the things he should be thinking about such as evasive maneuvers and counter strikes, all he could focus on was the unlikely hood of encountering a creature suited for extreme colds out here in the lush green jungle. Not what he would call the optimum alt mode for a Predacon patrol. For Primus sake, she stood out like a…well, like a polar bear in a forest.

[Mayhem]

Maydae snickered appreciatively at Maximal thud. It was just luck that she had managed to throw down the ice in time and that it managed to block his attack. Luck though it was, it was still amusing. Served him right anyways; stupid maximal rushing up at her for no good reason. The ice blocked her view but she heard something heavy land behind the ice. Ha!

It made her day to be able to defend herself and walk away without so much as a chip in her paint job. Maydae stopped out of curiosity and tried to see him through the gaps in the ice. While she had the advantage, she raised her small arm blasters and began to coat the forest floor until it looked like a skating rink to ensure she was not easily followed. Something interrupted her work and she looked up.

With a short gasp, she took off running. The cracking sound that had interrupted her were the ice pillars cracking and tumbling down like chaotic dominoes. Maydae had never been built for speed but she pushed her small frame to its limits. The ice overtook her seconds later.

Beneath the ice shards, she grumbled. So much for ice being her friend. At least the temperature finally suited her. Unfortunately, staying there would be to make herself a target. With some work, she managed to climb through the bottom of one side of the pile, only to get the extra fur that draped from her back caught. Aside from its occasional use as a turtle like shield, the cape was utterly useless. Cursing under her breath, Maydae strained to pull free, all the while keeping one blaster at the ready.

[Charger426]

Sabreblade struggled to get back on his feet. the ground bellow him was a slick sheet of ice. Ice? What the frag was ice doing here? He extended his claws as far as he could hoping they would dig into the hard ice and afford him some traction. He a managed to get to feet, although rather unsteadily. He winced in pain as his weight shifted to his left rear leg. Something must of popped out of place during impact.

This was all very bad. Not an ideal situation to be in strategically. He was at a total disadvantage. What a superb warrior he was. once he steadied himself as well as he could, he quickly surveyed his surroundings trying to catch sight of his adversary. There she was, climbing from beneath the icy trap of her own making. Pointing her weapon directly at Sabreblade. She had him dead to rights. He had no where to go.

His mind raced as he began to formulate a plan to get out of his predicament. This Predacon didn't strike him as a "typical" warrior. She wasn't particularly large, nor wash she camouflaged for her surroundings. He was going to have to resort to bargaining his way out.

"Hey! Looks like you struck a bit of luck there. But a fuzzy femme such as yourself has got ta know that luck only goes so far." It was the only shot he had, so he decided to go for intimidation. " Do you have any idea who your dealing with. The names 'Blade, Sabreblade, Maximal Security Forces Close Quarters Combat Specialist, First Class. I know it's a lot to take in, so I'll sum it up for you. I'm one of the greatest Maximal warriors ever. You've probably seen my pic on the Predacons most wanted listing. So I'll extend a very generous offer to you. You lower your weapon. You live. We both go our separate ways."

[Mayhem]

Being a pint sized Predacon, Maydae knew intimidation tactics when she scanned them. She was on the receiving end often enough. Maximals, she discovered, were not as adept as Predacons when it came to the art of intimidation. His threats did not impress her in the least. She had been threatened with far worse in her short time. Plus it helped to know she had the advantage; a rare but pleasant change.

FUZZY?! The crash must have damaged his circuits.

“Look Slobberblade, the way you’re digging in and not moving, we both know you’ll end up flat on your shock absorbers if you try to transform. And if you are damaged enough to try, I’ll permanently put you offline.”

Of course it was a bluff. She had not yet demonstrated to him her fire power. Might as well let him think she had more power than she had. She saw no need to point out that she was stuck and in no better position than he was.

“Great warrior? Pfft!”

Why did all male bots boast that they were the greatest warrior of all time? Next he would be telling her that he was a direct descendent of the Autobots. Maydae rolled her eyes. Male bots. Blah.

“How about you pad off to wherever you were rejected from? Might I remind you, Slobberblade, you interrupted my peaceful nap, not the other way around. Go back to cuddling with some organics or whatever you Maxies do when you’re not playing warrior.”

[Charger426]

"Slobberblade!? Oh, this one is really pushing it." Sabreblade thought to himself. But she was right. His position on the ice left him at a tactical disadvantage. But at least one thing was becoming apparent. For whatever reason, she didn't seem all that interested in slagging him. If so, she would have done so by now. This just didn't make any sense to him. He still felt the need to save face. His own pride depended on it.

It was just part of his nature to try to be the best, or at least act like it. Some call it arrogance. Others behind his back call it clueless. Whatever, it was his way of dealing with the world. He was determined to win this "battle".

" I believe I failed to mention my squad is about 30 meters from here. If they don't hear from me soon, they are going to storm this location." Sounded reasonably true to him. " I'm going to extend you the courtesy of allowing you to escape with out any...NNNGG!" Just then he shifted his balance due to the slick ice, forcing him bear weight on his injured leg and shooting pain signals through his multiplex network.

He quickly regained his composure to finish his statement. " Uh... As I was saying. You leave. I'm staying." Actually he probably didn't have a choice. Even in 'Bot mode he was still going to need that leg. He couldn't call for help either. There was no way he was going to explain to his peers that he got caught up in some furry little Preda-femme's ice trap. Unacceptable.

[Mayhem]

Maydae rolled her eyes, clearly not believing him for an instant. Battle inept as she was, her enhanced scent detection (courtesy of her beast form) told her that there were no gatherings of bots anywhere near them. If that was not enough, his claim of thirty metres meant she would likely be able to hear and maybe even see them. Young she might be but she had more brains than he gave her credit if he thought he was going to fool her with that trick.

“I was here first, little slobberblade. Why don’t you limp on home where you belong,” she chided.

Part of her just wanted to blast him and be done with it. However, she did not believe in shooting unless in defense. Perhaps it was part of her medic programming or perhaps she was just defective. Whatever the reason, she kept him in her blaster-sights but left the safety on. Maydae had slipped on arm behind her back and with the small welding tool concealed in her fingertips, she began melting the ice behind her.

“Maybe if you’re a good bot and leave now, I may not spread this tale far and wide.”

She had learned a lot about intimidation. Her shipmates were constantly throwing their weight and words around. It was tiring but educational. In times like this one, it also proved very useful.

[Charger426]

Sabreblade realized his current strategy was getting him nowhere fast. He was just plain old stuck in a bad situation. Besides, he didn't feel as if the Predacon femme posed any real threat. The weapon she pointed at him was relatively small. Even if it packed a wallop, it would only be a shot or two judging by the lack of any large power cell needed to sustain such a weapon. Unless she drew power from her own energon stores. Some how he doubted it.

Either way, she just didn't seem like the warrior type. Somewhat small in stature and woefully inadequate in the camouflage department. Although the part about "spreading the tale" didn't sit too well with him. He would never be able to live it down. It took this long just to get past the incident of mistaken identity with Optimus Unus and Lightfang.

Lightfang. A slight pang of anxiety registered through his circuits. He had avoided her out of fear of not knowing how to handle a real relationship. Now he was injured and might have to actually visit her in the medbay. What would he say to her? Worse yet, what would she say (or do to him?)

He shook the thought and dealt with the situation at hand. He decided to try different approach to his adversary. " Alright, Snowball. You have me at a clear disadvantage. You tagged me pretty good with your magic popsicle trick. How about you drop the arm cannon there and help me off this ice. No funny stuff. Honest Autobot." He tried his best to look earnest. Until the ice under his paws melted, he could not move anywhere any time soon. " So, do we have a truce or not, Snowflake?"

This post has been edited by Charger426 on Oct 13 2009, 08:17 PM

[Mayhem]

A number of small singes were the price for her eventual freedom. The tiny welding tool worked out well as an improvised mini blow torch. Slowly, so to look natural, she leaned forward. The armor like cape followed her with little resistance and she discretely replaced the small tool back into her finger. Being free gave her a greater sense of ease. Although she had been the one with the advantage, while she had been stuck, she had been vulnerable. Her newly regained freedom gave her a more comfortable position.

Snowball? A name like that degraded her Pred pride. It insulted her choice of form, which ironically was the result of an accident. To be called snowball was absolutely ridiculous. Her optics narrowed dangerously and flashed a brighter red. Then, without warning…. She laughed.

It was not the scornful, mocking laugh she had practiced to near perfection. No, for whatever reason, the absurdity of it had struck her as downright funny. She knew it would have been more proper for her to blast the impudent Maxie in some vital area for such a comment. However, Maydae had never had much success at being proper.

“Ah, so you are able to speak sense,” she teased but kept her aim locked on him as she stood up. Though he claimed not to engage in ‘funny stuff’ she still felt vulnerable. Once she transformed and they were on unfrozen land, she would be at the disadvantage once more.

With some reluctance, Maydae transformed. For her, transforming on ice posed no problem. Once transformed however, the bear made no immediate effort to come to his aid.

“What is to keep you from calling off a truce once you are off the ice?”

Maydae walked in a leisurely circled around him. Those teeth of his still had the potential to inflict serious damage. As a Pred, she had learned very quickly that promises were easily broken and no one could be trusted.

[Charger426]

Sabreblade continued to steady himself and maintain his balance while keeping his weight off his injured hind leg. His claws dug into the slippery slowly melting ice. He began contemplating a quick transformation and blast the ice around him. But the Predacon would probably fire on him before he could even fully transform. And now she was mobile, off the ice herself, able to get a better line of fire on him.

How does one convince an enemy he will keep his word? If their roles were reversed, would she stand a chance? This bothered Sabreblade. Training would dictate that every possible advantage should be exploited. But this wasn't quite the same as war. Military life and its structure seemed to apply less and less to his new existence within the Zeta colony. Things were grayer and more complicated.

" I uhh... Well..., I'm a professional. I adhere to a strict moral code, I guess." What the frag, he didn't have an answer. " Look, I'm busted up here. What am I going to do to you? I can barely stand right now. Even in bot mode I'm gonna be hopping on one leg!" The pain was making him irritable. He just wanted off the ice. " You're the one holding all the cards here. its your call. If you want, just leave me here till the ice melts. There's no reason you need to stay here. Unless that busted log is your favorite spot on this whole forsaken rock."

This post has been edited by Charger426 on Oct 15 2009, 07:40 PM

[Mayhem]

Ah, now there was something she could appreciate. His broken, unpolished answer satisfied her. Maydae loathed smooth talkers. Glossy, well prepared answers were typically pre-made lies and trickery. He did not play pity cards or any other manipulating nonsense. That too she could appreciate. Satisfied that if he was willing to wait for the ice to melt and let her walk away, then he hopefully would still let her walk away if she helped him.

The ice gave her no trouble (another reason why she had invented ice tricks). Those teeth still worried her. Helping others had never paid off for her. Not once. Yet once again she found herself doing what she had told herself never to do again. Airing on the side of caution, Maydae approached him from behind and away from his teeth.

“If you squirm, I’ll drop and leave you,” she warned.

What she did not mention was that she would leave but return. For whatever reason, she felt bad for him. He was just a sad little Maxie after all.

Maydae reached over and, with remarkable gentleness, took the back of his neck in her mouth. Much like as if he were a cub, she lifted him high enough so that his forelegs were off the ground. Despite her size, he was still too big for her to hoist completely off the ground. Knowing that he had an injury, when they left the ice, she found a soft patch and put him down lightly.