Bot Melee Training: Grimlock vs the World

[Kup]

After he's finished going of the basics of firing a weapon, Kup strolls over to an area where several rings have been set into the soft soil and grass near the river itself to serve as melee practice area.

Kup himself is better than average, but really is no master at hand to hand combat. The Transformers of his reality tend to focus their talents on ranged, and why shouldn't they? If you can take an opponent out who's five miles away from you, why even give him more of a chance to kill you? This is not to say that Kup is unskilled when he needs to fight toe to toe, but really, he's strong enough and tough enough that he can get away with relying on that more than anything else when he wants to.

He steps into a ring and scans the battlefield, a faint smile settling as he watches the training field. A good turn out, really. But still, there are some notable absences...

[Nightbeat]

Nightbeat's unarmed combat skills are more of that of a bar-room brawler, lacking in the skill but getting the job done. One important thing, however, makes him qualified to lend a hand here. He knows how to fight dirty.

"Need a hand with the youth element, Kup?"

[Kup]

"I can handle the youth element just find," Kup grumbled at Nightbeat, right hand settled lightly on his hip. Then he grins faintly and, perhaps, a bit sheepishly, and adds, "Usually." Then he looks over towards the obstacle course and the range. "Looks like most the youth element's focused elsewhere, anyway. For the best, really. Bringing a sword, or even just your fists, to a gun fight is a... questionable tactic for most people under the best of circumstances, but for a beginner? They’re best off practicing their aim and taking out their opponents from a distance."

[Grimlock]

Grimlock finally shows up for combat training, and for the part in which he excels - melee combat. He's in robot mode, so he's probably not gonna do much that will freak Nightbeat out.

"Me Grimlock here, who me fight?" he asks upon arrival, crossing his arms. You could say that he's been looking forward to this, just a bit.

[Nightbeat]

"Trust me, Kup," Nightbeat chuckles, "none of 'em here are anywhere near as bad as Siren or Hosehead. Those two could drive a recreation droid to madness."

He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I don't really have any formal training in it... just experience from surviving all kinds of back alley and barroom brawls. If these guys are gonna learn to fight, they ought to learn to fight dirty."

He still isn't used to such a friendly Grimlock, but he hides it well. "I'm sure you'll get your chance, Big Grim."

[Kup]

Kup resists the urge to facepalm as Grimlock shows up to offer his, erm, assistance. He shouldn't be surprised the Dinobot Commander picked melee for practice. He'd want to show off what he's good at. Instead, the veteran puts on a smile that actually looks easy.

"Oh, yeah. Fancy, 'honorable' duels are the sorta things that get a kid killed. That said, I need you guys," 'you guys,' of course, meaning 'Grimlock,' "to keep in mind that some of these kids are fresh-faced beginners, and not alla them are that tough. What that means is that if anyone needs the edge a few... non-standard combat techniques will give 'em, that's them, but it also means," and here, Kup does look right at Grimlock, "go easy on them. Yes, I know the 'Cons won't, but we don't want anyone so smashed up they won't learn anything."

Of course, if none of the less experienced sort show up, it may well be Nightbeat and Kup against Grimlock, and, well, Kup may be a canny opponent, but even he wouldn’t put energon on his odds in that fight.

[Nightbeat]

Nightbeat nods. "I'm most concerned about Wheelie and Holi, frankly. The one's definitely a scrapper, but he needs a heck of a lot of training or focus or something. And Holi... We gotta get him up to fighting standard, or we're just gonna have a boy hostage on our team."

[Grimlock]

Awww, go easy? "...me Grimlock can handle that. Me guess" he says, keeping his arms crossed, and perhaps tightening up a bit. Not quite something he's happy with, but oh well. Hopefully he'll face someone that can take some good hits, like that little bulldozer guy.

[Kup]

"I appreciate that, Grimlock," Kup answers. "We don't want anyone out of commission for too long because of training, after all."

Kup himself can take a few hits, and that's fortunate, because it looks like he may be the one brawling with Grimlock in order to keep the big lug happy.

"Wheelie adapted to being an Autobot pretty quickly first time around," Kup then tells Nightbeat, "and I shouldn't be too surprised if he does so again. Holi, on the other hand, has apparently been an Autobot for awhile, but in his universe not everyone's expected to be a combatant." Well, okay. Not everyone in Kup's universe is, also, but that mostly translates into, 'First Aid is not expected to fight unless he's serving as Defensor's arm. Everyone else is.'

"Really, it's a good thing they've taken to each other. Holi's no good in a fight, but he's otherwise pretty sensible and attempts to be responsible, plus he has a broader base of experience. Wheelie can handle himself just fine, but only knows Quintessa and isn't used to having anyone else rely on him."

Together, it's almost like having a whole Autobot!

[Nightbeat]

Nightbeat nods. Of course, in his neck of the multiverse, neutrals and non-combatants tended to end up very dead or very down and out. Sooner or later, the war came to everybody.

"Yeah; the kids are doing pretty right by each other. I think most of the people around here are pretty good, on the average... But we gotta work on teamwork."

[Grimlock]

"Me Grimlock agree - Wheelie and Holi good at getting along. Wheelie no know discipline yet...Holi probably teach him that. " he muses, thinking back to the mall.

"It be good for them to stick together, me think" he says, in response to Kup's descriptions of the two. Then he looks over at Nightbeat, a touch confused. "We all Autobots, right? Then we should know how to work like team already."

[Kup]

"Well, some of us, and by 'us' I mean 'not me,' are very young Autobots, Grimlock," Kup explains, "and the initial program install doesn't always cover quite as much as one'd hope." A fact which Grimlock himself should be all too familiar with.

Kup scans the field, and notices that while a number are gainfully employed in training of various sorts, there are also a couple who are just... there, and not really doing anything in particular, and while Kup isn't going to demand that Xaaron join them in melee combat, a certain red racer is another matter.

"Hey, Swerve!" he shouts, raising his voice so that it carries well over the field, "You just out here to look pretty or something?"

[Swerve]

OOC: Crossposted from here in the Training Central thread.

---

Thoughts of driving the courses vanish under a wash of renewed anger and the first heat spike that comes with it when Kup's voice rings out across the field with a taunt. Swerve said he'd show up and here he is. Getting antsy and eyeing the obstacle courses, but he's here all the same. And Kup gets mouthy at him for it?

Leaking oldtimer. "So it ain't enough you trick me into saying I'd come t' this stupid training thing o' yours," Swerve bellows back at top volume even as he starts down to the fighting rings, scowling and fists clenched, "you're gonna mock me for it now, too?" By this point, the prospect of another go at the pickup really doesn't sound too bad at all. In fact, it sounds pretty good. The other two had better just stay out of Swerve's way, he decides, shooting Grimlock and Nightbeat decidedly hostile glances before fixing his glare on Kup.

[Nightbeat]

With Grimlock's question having been rather deftly handled by Kup (and probably using less abrasive language than Nightbeat would have), Nightbeat is free to focus his attention on the newly arrived Swerve.

It doesn't take Cybertron's Greatest Detective--which he wouldn't hesitate to point out he was--to see there was a pretty high level of bad oil between Kup and the racer. Nightbeat settles for tossing him off a salute.

Good luck, he thinks. Going against Kup... you're gonna need it.

[Grimlock]

Grimlock looks over when Kup hollers at this 'Swerve' fellow. It appears to be -- no, it is that cranky little guy from the voting plaza.

And it appears that he's still cranky, and is back-talking Kup. Clearly, this is one of those younger Autobots who doesn't know better! Clearly, some instruction is in order. A minor quibble, though. Kup said to go easy, so the usual stuff he uses on Slag won't work well here. For a moment, one could probably hear Grimlock's processors kick into high gear a moment as he considers his options. A moment later, he falls forward into dinobot form.

Stepping forward about ten feet, he lets out a fairly loud roar, raising his foot up. It drops with a shockwave-inducing THOOM on the ground, leaving a reasonably deep indention - complete with cracks at the edges. "Me Grimlock say watch tone of vocaliser!"