Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 22, 2007 20:53:33 GMT -5
Skyblast wonders if he's hungover. How else would he end up on a beach? Skyblast stands up and stretches. Feeling the grit of sand in inconvenient places, he shakes himself.
He squints in the daylight and cover his optics with a hand. Skyblast decides that he feels too well to be hungover. This also doesn't look like where he last was. He makes a mental note to never use that travel agent again.
Maybe it's Earth? Skyblast feels rather doubtful, but he's never been to Earth. He really likes to think that he'd remember the trip. The sky looks beautiful here, with just a hint of lavender. He could get used to this place.
Tearing his optics away from the sky, he notes that there's a large patch of glass on the beach. Maybe he left that when he re-entered? Why isn't he in protoform format, then? Skyblast still has his atmospheric Valkyrie mode and his nice grey camouflage. He rubs his head with a hand. This doesn't make any sense. At least there aren't any inhabitants around to see him. It hasn't yet hit him how spooky the desertion is.
Tentatively, he tries Autobot broadband, //Hello? It's Skyblast. Is this Earth? Did I get the right place?//
The worst that can happen is that no one answers, right? He's too devil-may-care to think that enemies may be listening.
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 22, 2007 21:31:55 GMT -5
There was a swirl of light and color, blinding fuschia and glittering cyan, bright beyond anything Slingshot had ever seen in his very short life.
Then it all went out.
***
The next thing he knows, there's water sloshing against his legs, and he's laying on his jet, and it's telling him in no certain terms to stop fraggin' doing that.
He climbs to his feet, using a few choice English curses that he picked up from TV. He's on a beach. Why's he on a beach? He was on Cybertron, not Earth! Cybertron didn't have sandy beaches! Cybertron had metal! Lots of metal!
Muttering low curses, Slingshot scans the area-
-And spots a tiny, grey Skyfire. Huh. "Hey, uh-" It probably wasn't Skyfire, come to think of it. On account of being tiny and grey and all. "You! What's going on?"
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 22, 2007 22:01:50 GMT -5
Skyblast would swear that the strange winged robot wasn't there when he looked around the beach. However, he's certainly there now. Perhaps he missed the other robot while he was sighing over the wondrous, perfect sky. Maybe the water washed him up on the beach.
Maybe he's an enemy, but he's wearing Autobot symbols, and he hasn't drawn a gun on Skyblast. Also, he has wings. Despite the other robot's lack of detail and moving parts, Skyblast is going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, what can he do to Skyblast? It just takes a second to jump into the air or extrude an energon weapon.
At the questions, Skyblast throws his hands up in the air and protests, "I have no idea! Some guy says that this is Gillanan III, and that we're not all from the same time and reality. I was just trying to get to Earth."
Then, he drops his arms to his sides and peers at the strange robot a bit more closely. Curiously, he asks, "What are you? What is your name? I am Skyblast, Autobot sky-painter." He's not introducing himself as a warrior. That's just an inconvenience of war.
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 22, 2007 22:07:59 GMT -5
"Whaddaya mean 'what am I?'? I'm an Aerialbot!" He'd heard what the other guy had to say about all this too, and he didn't believe a word of it. The Decepticons might have just pulled a fast one on them, but the Decepticons couldn't make something to toss people into other universes.
He waits for the Silverbolt-part of him to tell him he's wrong, but there's no echo of his brother.
"My name's Slingshot," he adds in a more subdued tone. "Didn't know we had sky-painters."
How the frick did you paint the sky, anyway?
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 22, 2007 22:27:11 GMT -5
Skyblast does not look like a Decepticon. In fact, looking at him closer, he looks rather over-detailed to even be a Transformer, as far as someone from Slingshot's universe might be concerned. Skyblast does seem to have tell-tale alternate mode components. He does look like he could transform, although it may be a little hard to follow what goes where.
"'We'?" Skyblast repeats quizzically, looking up at the taller robot. "You are an Autobot, too?" Maybe the Allspark got really lazy before it was destroyed. Yes, there's been mention of other realities, but other realities would have Allsparks, wouldn't they? He sweeps a hand to his chest, covering the silver Autobot symbol there, and sputters melodramatically, "You have never heard of sky-painting? You poor, deprived child." So Skyblast's young, too. Artistic licence. "I'll show you!"
Getting a running start and kicking up some sand clouds, Skyblast leaps into the air and transforms, the sound nothing like the transformation sounds Slingshot might know, drawn out, ratcheting, and eerie. The Valkyrie spins, his jet wash cutting a line in the sand. Then, the jet fairly stands on his tail and rockets upward. Choosing a fairly simple design, as he'd like to convey the concept swiftly, Skyblast sketches out an Autobot symbol with his exhaust, just the normal grey. The lines and arcs are perfectly formed, the angles exact.
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 22, 2007 22:41:09 GMT -5
If Slingshot had gotten the idea that Skyblast was a Decepticon, he would have shot the blighter. No, it was just that the Aerialbots had just gotten tricked by Starscream and Megatron into standing on a place that they shouldn't have.
Skyblast's a weird-looking sucker, but he's a weirdie with wings. So he has to be better than most of the other Autobots Slingshot knows. Or he could be Powerglide. In which case, shooting became a possibility again.
He jerks a thumb at his shoulder and the Autobrand there. "This ain't just random geometry, you know. And hey, I don't-"
The grey jet has already taken off, and he's spewing a contrail that would get Slingshot dragged down to medical to be poked and prodded. But the way he moves-!
It's like Starscream or Thundercracker or Thrust. Grade-A fliers who really know what they're doing, who have seduced the sky and courted the wind.
Slingshot doesn't 'see' the picture Skyblast is 'painting' for a few moments after it's complete, too excited by the way the other jet moves.
When he does, though...
"Whoa."
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 23, 2007 8:52:44 GMT -5
In order to create a visible contrail, Skyblast burns paraffin along with the more typical jet fuel. In order to stop the contrail, he just shuts off the flow of paraffin. He could do different colours by using his dyed paraffins, but until he's sure that he's going to be able to get more of them, he's going to stick with normal light grey.
Once the emblem is done, he transforms and drops out the sky. He somersaults thrice as he's falling, and he lands on his feet in a bow, his arms wide. Skyblast waits for the dust to settle before he straightens out and shakes himself clean. Okay, beaches are pretty, but they're messy, he decides.
Skyblast sees Slingshot's look, and he smiles contentedly. He looks up at his own work, a hand to a chin, and he judges it, "I really should have done something more elaborate as my first overture to the skies of this planet. I didn't even consider how the design interacts with the surroundings, shame on me. Still, it shows off the general idea, I think."
He turns back to Slingshot and address him mire directly, "So that's sky-painting, if a poor example. Now, have you heard of any of these guys on the Autobot broadband? I only know First Lieutenant Jazz."
Jazz is supposed to be dead! Skyblast still can't get over that. Sure, it's great that he's not dead, but it's so very odd.
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 23, 2007 14:00:57 GMT -5
Slingshot gapes at the Autobrand. "That was... That was such awesome flying! You did-" He gestures with his hand to show what he means, the moment when Skyblast all but stood on his tail. "And this-" Another hand-gesture. "Incredible!"
"The Autobrand was pretty cool, too," he adds. He's such a heathen sometimes.
Then Omega Supreme booms at him over the broadband, and Slingshot looks a little lost. Omega is unhappy with him, and he's not too clear why. What's all this about the green mech being 'uncorrupted'?
"But that's a Constructicon," he mutters. No, it's not like he can tell them apart. They should be glad he even recognized the mech's voice!
"Um, the big guy who doesn't use a lot of words, that's Omega Supreme. And that mech who said he disabled Jazz's radio was a Decepticon." He scowls. "Must be pulling some kind of trick on the others."
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 23, 2007 14:24:30 GMT -5
Skyblast basks in Singshot's praise, fairly glowing. Some artists like to feel angst over how their work doesn't measure up to some impossibly high standard, but Skyblast is daredevil flyboy enough to suck up complements like a cactus sucks up water. So Slingshot seems more interested in the act of painting than the actual painting itself. Skyblast'll take that.
Grinning widely, Skyblast replies, "Thanks. You're some kind of jet, aren't you?" He points to Slingshot's wings. "What kind of Gs can you pull?"
It takes being kissed by the sky to really appreciate his work. A car can see the brush strokes, but he can't imagine the wind stroking up against him as he traces the lines.
Skyblast's optics widen as Slingshot fills him in on Omega Supreme and a ballpark identity of one of the fellows on the radio. Smacking a fist into his hand, he exclaims, "Then Jazz is in trouble! We have to save him from the, uh, Constructicon, Slingshot."
He's about to transform when he realises he has no idea where he's going. Scrap!
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 23, 2007 14:44:56 GMT -5
And then Skyblast goes and asks a question about his flight capabilities. A slow, acidic burn starts in his jet, and excess heat floods through his hands and up his arms.
He should have known it wasn't going to last. "Six to eight Gs," he spits out, daring Skyblast to say something uncomplimentary or just look like he was going to.
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 23, 2007 15:13:52 GMT -5
Skyblast turned away from Slingshot when he decided that he needs to rush off an save Jazz, so Slingshot doesn't get to see the look on Skyblast's face. If he did, it would have been something like polite pity. Of course not everyone can be as good as him. Those are still decent G ratings, he does have to admit. It's not like Slingshot's a cargo plane. He's too small for that, judges Skyblast, woefully ignorant of size change technology as he is.
When he turns back to look at Slingshot, his eager grin has returned. Hands on his hips, he says, "3 days by ground? Forget that! I see that sweep on your wings and the point of your nosecone. Bet you can at least break the sound barrier."
Again, he turns to transform and take-off and stops mid-way. He spins around to look at Slingshot. "Wait, we don't want to go meet whoever it is. We need to save Jazz from the Constructicon first. Then we can save whoever it is."
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 23, 2007 15:54:14 GMT -5
Slingshot can imagine it. Oh, can he ever imagine it. The acid feeling in his jet spreads to his head. Skyblast is so lucky that Slingshot has been taught very thoroughly against hitting his fellow jets. That's not the way to prove he's better than them.
Besides the chatter on the broadband is getting to him. "Look, your friend needs the parts from that body, doesn't he? And the others are pretty sure Long Haul is on their side right now. So we get the parts, your friend gets repaired. We try to rescue him, he's not going to get repaired and alla those guys are going to be mad at us because they're still fooled. So we don't do that yet."
There's a belligerence in his voice that wasn't there before, and the unspoken 'idiot' is pretty darn loud at the end.
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 23, 2007 16:14:16 GMT -5
Slingshot just doesn't get it, does he? He's the one who told him that this guy is a Decepticon, and Skyblast heard right on the radio that the Constructiwhatever cut Jazz's radio. That really sounds bad, especially to someone who has no idea what's going on.
There's a reason why Skyblast had rank 4 on his box.
Skyblast sulks, "I'm only doing this because Bumblebee says they're okay. You got that?"
Finally, he turns and leaps into the air, giving the impression of a pole vaulter without a pole. He transforms, ratchets sounding furious, and he engages full military afterburners, breaking the sound barrier like a sullen child kicks over a sand castle. There are windows blown out for miles around here, and the air itself protests, seared by his passing.
The wind whispers, Eat my jetwash, Slingshot.
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 23, 2007 16:25:27 GMT -5
Slingshot glares after the other jet, then transforms to jet-mode right there on the beach sand. Skyblast wants to just hurl himself into the sky, huh? Well, Skyblast probably can't do this!
The Harrier's vectored thrust nozzles turn to point down to the hard, gleamingly white sand. A noise starts, the soft roar of an engine just engaged. Then the Harrier lifts vertically off the ground. Slowly, and he can feel every mile Skyblast is getting away from him scratched on his wings, but he has to do this! He can do this, and Skyblast can't!
Grey exhaust haze changes the color of the sky below his thrust nozzles, so anyone can see exactly where he's pushing against and where on his jet-mode the nozzles are. But then he's got the right height, and he turns his nozzles to the back and kicks in his afterburners-
He may not be as fast as even Silverbolt, but he can sure as heck break the sound barrier!
In the very back of his head, the part that Air Raid would call his Second Thoughts, Slingshot wonders what would happen if he turned his thrust nozzles a different way.
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Jul 23, 2007 21:18:41 GMT -5
Skyblast doesn't look back, not to start. Then he notices that he's alone in the air. Slamming down his flaps, he wheels around and looks back. So Slingshot can hover. So what? Skyblast can't say that he ever saw the point of hovering. Hovering is for creepy Decepticons like that monster Blackout. There'd be no skill, no passion in hovering out a design. Besides, all hovering is doing is slowing Slingshot down.
Pushing his control surfaces hard, Skyblast pulls off another hairpin turn. He's had time to turn around, and he's still ahead of Slingshot! Skyblast doesn't know the meaning of turning radius. Well, he does, but he's special, and the words really don't apply to him.
The ground is a blur below him, and the clouds stretch out and streak. The Valkyrie flits through the clouds, enjoying the feeling of water droplets vaporizing off his heated metal skin. It's just him and the sky.
Until Slingshot catches up, if he ever does.
Skyblast isn't even sure what he'll do if Slingshot does. He hasn't peaked out at top speed yet. Part of him thinks that it might be nice to have a comrade who can know the sky as he does. Part of him just wants to pour on the afterburner.
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