Misfire
Minor
The Chamberlain, His Incomparable Immensity, Emperor Misfire. The Accidental Butcher of Anyone He Wasn't Aiming At
Improving. Honest!
Posts: 449
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Post by Misfire on Jun 26, 2008 22:28:55 GMT -5
Misfire does indeed have good radar. He smooths out his flight long enough to double check, then answers Duskwing, "Yeah, looks like a strong one at <coordinates>. Have at."
He doesn't immediately follow Fleetwind back into the winds. Instead Misfire takes the time to map out the storm, trying to understand the patterns. He hasn't had the chance to really play in a storm on one of these organic planets, and he'd rather have a better idea what he's dealing with. Yes, there's dangers up here from the lightening, but not if he watched himself.
After a few moments he dives back down, heading toward that clear space Fleetwind mentioned, which might just happen to be close to the funnel he directed Duskwing towards. "Looks like more turbulence and less precip the further east we go."
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jun 27, 2008 7:04:52 GMT -5
"Booyah! Come on!' Duskwing waggled his wings in reply and dove toward Misfire's coordinates, twisting and turning with the winds. He bucked and rolled in the turbulence, laughing--drunk as a lord on the spiked energon and enjoying every second of it.
The funnel was there just as Misfire promised, dangling gray and ominious from the storm cloud. Lightning flashed inside it as battered water molecules gave up their electrons under the funnel's bullying. Still the light gray of clouds, it hadn't touched down yet and started sucking seawater up.
Duskwing circled, riding the outflow winds that fed the turbulence. Were the others with him? Showboating wasn't as much fun without an audience.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jun 27, 2008 11:15:45 GMT -5
"More turbulence and less precip is the goal, right?" Fleetwind asks, adjusting his flight and heading east. Once more, it's a matter of constant adjustment, as he moves into a situation where his light build and unstable form work against him. To compensate, he ducks low and speeds up, running so low that he pulls up a rooster tail behind him as he rockets past the sound barrier. Then he pulls up and twists before he can move too far away from the others.
"Gillanan is my first organic world, but though I've been here awhile, I'm not quite sure I'm up for that funnel yet."
Cartoon Seekers can fly underwater, but in order to do that, they must still be in flying condition. Fleetwind's not about to get that badly damaged out in the middle of the ocean.
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Misfire
Minor
The Chamberlain, His Incomparable Immensity, Emperor Misfire. The Accidental Butcher of Anyone He Wasn't Aiming At
Improving. Honest!
Posts: 449
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Post by Misfire on Jun 28, 2008 19:10:26 GMT -5
Fleetwind may have decided to err on the side of caution, but the twisting winds of the funnel are a bit too tempting to Misfire. He joins Duskwing for a few turns just to try it out. Rough, but not the worst he's winds he's been in. Still, they are over an ocean, and Misfire is not one who tends to be reckless. He breaks out of the funnel's winds, but he stays in the immediate area, circling as long as Duskwing chooses to play, just in case the frolicking Seeker has a mishap.
"Oh, now that looks like fun,"he says, as he watches Fleetwind kick up a spray. "It's <insert arbitrary distance> to the other side of the storm. We could race to the edge, if you guys like."
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jun 29, 2008 10:46:13 GMT -5
For Duskwing, the trick is in getting close but not too close; he banked and spiralled around the funnel, anticipating its jinks and jibes as best he could. The funnel caught at his tail-tips and suddenly accelerated that end of him--
Sending him tumbling violently away from the storm. Duskwing laughed and transformed to right himself, then circled back to another pass. He banked sharply around the funnel, swinging close and back again, as if daring the tornado to grab him--
It grabbed a wingtip, spinning it forward-- and Duskwing banking sharply away from the storm again.
That was the trick of it--only let an extremity touch the funnel, then the winds accelerated it, tilting your body away from the storm. It looked scary and dangerous, but done right, it was safer than canyon-running1, and it impressed the hell out of ground-pounders.
Just don't let it flip you around and grab you by the nose...
--- 1'Safer' to a Decepticon is extremely relative. Storm Tag is safer than Tornado-Baiting is safer than Canyon-Running, but then Skydiving is safer than juggling nitroglycerin.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jun 29, 2008 14:40:06 GMT -5
Fleetwind starts spinning into a transform, finishing with something like a hovering pirouette. He keeps his boot jets on, resulting in a stationary circular spray of water being kicked up beneath him. Perhaps he enjoys the effect.
"Sounds like fun to me," Fleetwind shouts from his position, "but Duskwing seems a bit busy!"
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Misfire
Minor
The Chamberlain, His Incomparable Immensity, Emperor Misfire. The Accidental Butcher of Anyone He Wasn't Aiming At
Improving. Honest!
Posts: 449
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Post by Misfire on Jun 30, 2008 10:48:12 GMT -5
Misfire zips in close to Duskwing at a point when the Seeker isn't in the middle of playing tag.
"How about it, Duskwing? Up for a race to the storm's edge, or are you having too much fun here?"
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jun 30, 2008 18:38:10 GMT -5
"A RACE?" Duskwing yells over the howl of the tornado. "SURE!"
A flick of his ailerons, and he banks away from the twisting coil of wind. "Which way, and how we starting?"
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jun 30, 2008 22:18:54 GMT -5
Fleetwind's been skimming water all this time - he does best when he keeps his speed up, especially in an environment like this.
"The way opposite the nearest edge of the storm, Duskwing!" Which really, is whatever direction everyone wants it to be.
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Misfire
Minor
The Chamberlain, His Incomparable Immensity, Emperor Misfire. The Accidental Butcher of Anyone He Wasn't Aiming At
Improving. Honest!
Posts: 449
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Post by Misfire on Jul 1, 2008 23:15:04 GMT -5
Misfire checks his radar. "Which would be......THIS WAY!" he shouts, flipping suddenly to point to the farthest edge. He's moving as he's talking, "Give it a few for us all to get oriented and roughly even and then go for it!"
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jul 2, 2008 6:38:35 GMT -5
"Arrright!" Duskwing comes sharply around and lines up with Misfire's point.
"I'm ori--ori-- ready! 123GO!" A twenty-foot tongue of flame leaps from Duskwing's engines as he ignites his afterburners and he's off!
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jul 2, 2008 18:39:59 GMT -5
Fleetwind only chuckles when Duskwing attempts to give himself the advantage. No use in complaining - a Decepticon takes whatever advantage they can, after all.
The pastel Seeker flicks his flaps, steering himself back onto course as he accelerates. He gives a shout of joy as he darts low over the water, spray shooting behind him from the force of his afterburners. The joy continues until the Seeker hits another section of hail, at which point it turns into a shout of pain. However, moments later he's out of it.
"Hmph. Looks like I'll have to more dents pounded out than I do after most parties."
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Misfire
Minor
The Chamberlain, His Incomparable Immensity, Emperor Misfire. The Accidental Butcher of Anyone He Wasn't Aiming At
Improving. Honest!
Posts: 449
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Post by Misfire on Jul 3, 2008 23:37:11 GMT -5
Misfire likewise has no problems with Duskwing jumping the gun so to speak. Truth be told, Misfire expected one or both of his companions to try for an advantage. No worries. This race is only partially about speed, after all; it's also about skill. The winds they'll be flying through are some of the worst.
He takes the low road as well, quickly catching up Fleetwind and Duskwing's general positions. Now that he knows what to look for, Misfire manages to avoid the worst of the hail patches, but he still takes some lumps.
"You won't be the only one!" he shouts as he swings closer to Fleetwind and tries to pass the pastel Seeker. Meanwhile, he's trying to get a read on Duskwing's position.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jul 5, 2008 12:24:23 GMT -5
Duskwing was notoriously as dumb as the hailstones pounding Fleetwind, and slow on the uptake for anything that required serious thinking--but he knew how to fly, and his reflexes were decent. He simply blew straight on through as long as the winds weren't against him, riding and rolling with the updrafts and downdrafts that tossed him about.
When the winds turned to opposition, he dove, looking for better winds--in a race, every bit of groundspeed counted.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jul 9, 2008 7:58:21 GMT -5
Fleetwind shifts in flight to avoid a wave, bringing him a bit higher than Misfire when Misfire starts to pass him. The Seeker matches pace with the Targetmaster briefly, then, rather suddenly, transforms to drop down on top of Misfire, curling up to attempt to hit feet-first. Should he hit, hopefully taking Misfire off-course, he'll spring away before re-activating his anti-gravs and transforming again, trying to catch up with Duskwing to make up for lost time.
Should he miss, however, he'll have to transform before hitting the water, and will have not just Duskwing but Misfire to catch up to.
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