Arrival: Worlds Apart, Colliding

[Sable Conolly]

"I would not know about Optimus Prime's taste. I wasn't busy licking his boots, Autobot," Scourge parries back. He endures some minor nicks to his fingers to secure a grip on his sword, mainly by the flat of the blade.

Scourge sails clean over Rodimus Prime's head, but he manages to tuck and tumble in the air and land on his feet pummelling the road beneath him with his impact. He puts the gun away and switches to a two-handed grip on the sword, given the strength of his opponent and the damage to his fingers. Scourge sweeps the sword in an arc, aiming to bring himself and the blade around to cleave the sword into Rodimus Prime's side more injured side.

He's getting the kind of workout here he'd expect from Optimus Prime, to be honest. This Autobot is a bit bigger than Optimus Prime, but he's extremely agile and definitely on par for strength. Scourge finds him infuriating, of course, but that goes without saying. The combat itself is challenging, almost enjoyable.

[Rodimus Prime]

"Well, y'know, when you don't have a mouth..." mutters Rodimus. He's still laying with his back on the ground, and when Scourge swings he rolls, moving far enough out of the way to avoid the majority of the swing, although the weapon does bite into the thing on his back that holds his spoiler in place.

It occurs to him that he's going about this battle all wrong. Once you know the sort of battle your opponent likes to fight, avoid giving it to them, as Kup's always tried drilling home to him. Since he's now lying front-down, it's easy enough to push up from the ground and transform. The moment his new form's wheels come into contact with the ground he's moving, accelerating faster than a vehicle his size has a right to. He'll go through or over Scourge if possible, but the intent, now, is to give himself some space.

And himself some cover. As soon as he's cleared Scourge, one way or another, he swerves and virtually leaps off the road and hits the black desert, kicking up dust and dirt to give himself an impromptu smokescreen against the darkening sky.

[Sable Conolly]

"If you didn't have a mouth, would you shut up?" Scourge jibes. Seeing a whole lot of Winnebago coming at him, well-armoured to judge by how little damage his sword has done, he decides to get airborne and attempts to jump over Rodimus Prime. He twists in the air, slashing his sword down at the Autobot's trailer section.

Scourge thumps down behind Rodimus Prime and collapses into his own vehicle mode. His trailer slots in, and with a roar of mighty diesel power, he takes off after the speedy Winnebago.

Fortunately for him and unfortunately for his foe, Scourge knows how to fight ranged, as well. His Frisbees of death shoot out of from the top of his trailer after Rodimus Prime.

[Rodimus Prime]

The sword slices down on the left aft-end of Rodimus's trailer, cutting a good sized section of his brilliant red paneling, complete with yellow flame designs. Even he can't prevent a brief, strangled cry of pain, but it's not enough to keep him from sniping back at Scourge, "It doesn't seem to work for you, does it?"

He swerves back and forth as he tries to put distance between himself and his opponent, kicking up as much dirt and debris as possible, but Rodimus realizes he has made a mistake when the disks shoot out at him. Oh, of course this guy has an alternate mode weapon. Everyone has vehicle mode weapons. Heck, even Hot Rod had a vehicle mode weapon, but the Matrix decided that apparently Rodimus Prime didn't need one.

"Running people down was good enough for Optimus Prime, and it'll be good enough for you!"

Stupid Wisdom of the Ancients.

Rodimus's swerving, meandering path means that he manages to duck most of the disks (although one clips him on the back end, not far from where Scourge had sliced off that bit of panel, leaving a respectably deep dent. Ouch!), but also makes it easier for Scourge to catch up with him. Rodimus is still going at a very high speed when he suddenly jinks to the left, transforms, and roll-skids into a kneeling position, his legs cutting deep gouges in the black land. As Scourge drives by he hooks the fingers of both hands into claws and attempts to slam them into the other, intending on ripping off some of that tough outer armor to make it easier to damage what's beneath.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge merely grunts in reply to the Autobot, fuelled by spite more than diesel now. At Rodimus Prime's surprise transformation and grab, Scourge tries to turn, but fast as he's going, eighteen wheelers, even elite alien eighteen wheelers, can't turn on a dime. The Prime's clawing fingers dig into his armour, leaving deep gouges, but cannot quite piece through to the machinery. Once they reach his door, his hinges, which are not nearly so sturdy as the rest of him, give out with a tortured squeal, and his whole door comes loose.

Overbalancing, the tanker truck tips over on its side, falling away from Rodimus Prime. A great cloud of black dust arises around him. Groaning, Scourge grumbles, "Transform."

He's sitting on his skidplate in a cloud of dust on an alien world, and there's an Autobot out there ready to hand him his aft. Scourge gets to his feet. He steps out of the dust cloud and launches a volley of his shoulder missiles at the Autobot. "Barrage attack!"

[Rodimus Prime]

Rodimus really wants to ask why Scourge's announcing what he's doing, but for once he keeps his vocalizer shut down. Although it doesn't seem likely, there's always the chance that if Rodimus points out the fact that the other is doing it, he'll stop, and Rodimus is really all for his opponents giving him warning as to what they're doing.

Even so, he hadn't quite been expecting that! Rodimus Prime leaps to the side and rolls upright again, although before he's even hits the ground he summons his photon eliminator, shunting Scourge's door to subspace to give him room for it. Once back on his feet he runs in a wide circle around the Decepticon, avoiding the missiles as best he can. Even so, one slams into his right shoulder, shattering out his headlight and ripping through his armor, while another hitting his left leg causes him to stumble and leaves a cracked and smoldering dent.

While he stumbles, Rodimus does not fall, and as he circles, he also fires rapidly both his electroblasts from his left arm-pipes and his photon eliminator. While not as impressive as missiles from the shoulders, this is the sort of firepower that succeeded in keeping even Galvatron off-balance...

...of course, it can only do so much if it doesn't hit, and the dirt could he had kicked up is now working against him.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge is announcing what he's doing because he fundamentally cannot help himself, and now that he sees somebody who doesn't have to make the stupid announcements, he's green with envy for all that he's glossy ebon.

The Decepticon takes some hits, and he's knocked back with a yelp. Sparking holes gape in his armour on his side and arm, and the odd glass window that serves no purpose in alternate form shatters. Having his photons eliminated may only make Scourge blacker, but it hurts! He stays on his feet, but he's staggering.

It's time to get down to business while there's still business left in him. Scourge unfolds his trailer into a combat base stocked with firepower and missiles and unleashes its full firepower in addition to his shoulder missiles and his handgun.

[Rodimus Prime]

Scourge isn't the only one envious! That single little gun mount in Rodimus's trailer is looking pretty pathetic right about now! His running loop turns into a dive as Scourge's barrage goes off, and although a few more shots hit him leaving ugly black welts across his bright colors, he manages to get behind the cover of an outcropping before the worst of the firepower rains down upon him.

At that point, it's simply a matter of waiting it out. It's completely night by now, and Scourge's onslaught kicks up even more dirt, dust, and rocks, until the whole of the area is virtually obscured.

A missile hits the area where the outcropping is (or was seen to be, before it was obscured), and a great cry of pain rings out into the night, one that's cut off, suddenly, by a second shot to the same area.

And after that, there is no discernable movement, nor noise, within the cloud that does not originate with Scourge himself.

[Sable Conolly]

Night has cast its star-spangled velvet blanket over the desert, and Scourge's headlights are on the tops of his shoulders. This is not useful. He turns on the taillights on his trailer, but the red lights don't help much. They just add an eerie, feverish cast to the combat.

At the sounds of the second shot, Scourge looks around, trying to search out the source of the shot. He calls out, "Show yourself!"

Unable to discern anything, Scourge lopes over to the discarded flame-painted panel, picks it up, and pockets it. Then, keeping his gun in hand and combat base deployed, he withdraws his sword and cautiously edges toward the sound of the cry. Scourge just has to make sure.

[Rodimus Prime]

It's not just ground level that's been blackened by the cloud kicked up by the onslaught. The stars overhead are becoming blotted out by the dissipating debris.

Or so it seems at first. It shortly becomes obvious, however, that it is not clouds of dust that feed the growing blackness, but clouds of clouds. Perhaps they've gathered to witness a Prime die.

Perhaps not.

Rodimus would have been foolish to have stayed in the spot that the voice had emanated from, and in fact, he wasn't even in that spot when he cried out, having slipped to a different outcropping under cover of debris. When Scourge edges in to investigate he makes his move, springing suddenly out from cover and through the settling dirt, pushing off in a handspring before somersaulting towards the Black Convoy. As he comes down on the other, his hands withdraw and are replaced with whirling buzz saws, with which he slashes with all the force he can muster.

So Scourge would summon the firepower of a small platoon, with missile batteries and a full stock of other guns to deal with Rodimus Prime. And how does Rodimus Prime respond?

A voice trick and a buzz saw.

Typical.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge hears the sickening whine of the buzzsaws too late. He brings up the flat of his sword to block one, but he takes the other to the face, leaving a deep gash in his facemask. Scourge cries out in pain and stumbles backward.

He trips and finds himself awkwardly positioned in an arroyo, a dry stream bed. Scourge hears a loud crack, and he wonders if that's his back breaking. He wipes the dirt from his optic band with the back of a hand, and he is greeted by a bright flash of light followed shortly after by another loud boom. Oh, it's just thunder.

Waitaminute, thunder in a desert? Heavy, wet drops start falling from the sky, and Scourge tries to scramble to his feet, using his sword to prop himself up. He's in a stream bed. Scourge needs to get out, now.

[Rodimus Prime]

That little hand of sorrow that ever sits inside clasps his fuel pump tighter, and Rodimus Prime prepares to bring an end to this battle while he has the advantage.

Unlike the young person (female?) named, of all things, Firebolt over the radios, Rodimus knows full well what must be done with a defeated Decepticon. Mercy is an admirable trait, rightly held sacred by the Autobot leadership over the millennia, but when the Decepticon left alive today kills two Autobots or, worse, two innocents tomorrow, the guilt falls on the Autobot who failed to stop him just as surely as it does on the Decepticon himself.

Mercy is a precious thing, and Rodimus Prime values it like he values little else, more so because it's always been just out of his price range. The Boy Prime has long been too poor to afford to be merciful.

Prime takes one step forward, two steps, and prepares to leap in to finish the battle, to finish his wretched duty, when the crack of thunder and the fall of the first few heavy raindrops pulls him up short. Optics widen as he judges Scourge's location and quickly comes to the same conclusions as Optimus's dark duplicate. Instead of moving forward, he leaps back, handspringing to give himself further distance as the rain starts coming down swiftly, with shocking thickness. When he lands, his photon eliminator is out once more and he crouches, but it would seem this battle is at an end, anyway, whether Prime would will it or not.

Failing to follow through is one thing, but some times circumstances interfere with even the best of intentions. A few shots are fired even as the rain washes down, so it cannot be said that Rodimus did not try, but it becomes increasingly obvious there will be no deaths on this battlefield today.

Inside, part of Rodimus worries over what this powerful Decepticon may do in the future since it looks like Rodimus will be unable to deny him that future.

Most of him, however, is joyous.

[Sable Conolly]

Rage against Nature Herself fills Scourge. Even the heavens cry out against him and will not let him see this battle to its conclusion. Anger swelling in his spark, he digs the Sword of Fury into the dry, parched soil and tries to lever himself out of the arroyo. The soil crumbles under his force, putting Scourge right back where he started as the gushing waters of a flash flood come roaring down the thirsty, greedy stream bed.

Scourge blocks a shot here, dodges one there, and takes some more damage to his side and to his arm. His next actions are futile, but he will be defiant even in the face of Nature, brutal to the core. Snarling with rage, Scourge stands to his full height, which is not as impressive as his attitude would suggest, and he lines up one shot with his plasma gun and takes it.

The blast has not left the twin barrels when the surging water is upon him, rendering raw and tender his exposed circuits. Scourge can normally deal with water, and he tries to collapse into tanker truck mode, which is better for fording raging waters. His own rage has undone him. He just had to take that last shot, and he is washed away, unable to transform in time to save himself.

"There will be a rematch!" he vows, but perhaps his words are swallowed by the flood as even he is. This strange flame-painted Autobot has fought well, but the next time, Scourge will prepare for him. The fight will not be nearly so fair, if Scourge has anything to say about it. The right thing with a powerful enemy is to ambush him and make it quick.

Isn't that just what the flood did to Scourge?

[Rodimus Prime]

Rodimus starts to twist, but still the shot takes him on the right side of his chest and knocks him back and off his feet. Another dent that stresses his armor to cracking point, several shards knocked completely clear, another blackening of his vibrant paint job.

The Prime lays there for a moment or two, recovering, but then he pulls himself painfully upright. His head tilts back towards the black sky, and the rain washes down the face lit only by the pale blue glow of his optics until the heavens are once more ripped asunder by lightning strike which glints off his bright silver features.

Rodimus lowers his head to gaze in the direction where his opponent just got washed away, but then it's time to get moving once more.

The storm is only beginning.