A Predacon's day Out (Open)

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Once more they had come to a stand still. Zodiac circling him and Skystalker watching and thinking. Perhaps he had underestimated just how much of a pain Seekers could be to take down, or fight in general. And he also was beginning to understand why aerial superiority was generally associated with such fliers to begin with. It was making Skystalker realize for the first time that an aerial fight would not be in his favor if he did not start preparing for them more often then he did.

For now, he had to handle his present opponent who seemed intent on figuring out how to take him down as much as he was trying to figure out how to knock her from the skies. As much as he figured his discs might do the trick, they would take too long to charge up if he wanted them to be of greater effect than the first time. So instead, he concentrated energy to his chest once more, preparing for her next attack, “Seeming as you were so courteous enough to ask, perhaps a name from my opponent would likewise be nice to know.” Skystalker pressed, wanting to know just who he was dealing with, and may deal with in the future.

But he had barely gotten the statement out before Zodiac was once more coming at him, catching the Predacon off-guard. Several shots struck his face, grazing his optics and causing him to roar in pain, rear back his head, letting out the built up cryo energy earlier than he had wanted. Skystalker rubbed at his optics, feeling a small crack in one and the other having small scratches across it and causing a stinging pain that temporarily blinded him.

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It had worked. The predacon was temporarily blinded. She grinned as she turned around and sped toward him once again, this time with the intent to bring him fully down. But even in the beast's blindness he continued to blast her with cryo-breath. It singed`and blackened the top of her cock pit as she desperately veered away to avoid it. As she flew away from the predacon she could feel the burn of the the fire and gave a small grunt of pain.

Instead of trying to take the beast down from the front, just go for rear instead!

Turning back around she sped toward the back of the predacon. This time not with the intent of firing at the beast but bringing him down for good. At the last moment before contact she transformed and kicked the predacon down with her pistols in her servos. She thought about the look on the predacon's face. She thought of the all the information she would require. Her spark was beating a mile a minute as her adrenaline reached it's highest peak. She was so close to her goal she could almost taste it.

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He held a paw over his cracked optics, focusing through the one that had been simply grazed from Zodiac's initial attack. He could still hear her, she was trying to attack him but it seemed her first attempt was for naught. Perhaps his attack had struck after all? At least, that was what Skystalker was hoping would happen. But the sound of her engines still going was more than enough to reveal she still functioned in the air. 'Where are you seeker?' He thought, turning to try and track where she was...but too late.

Before Skystalker knew what was coming, Zodiac was already on him causing him to snarl in surprise as she kicked him down. The crash was hard from such a height, the collision knocking the wind from his frame as he crashed into one of the nearby plateaus, leaving a small crater upon contact. He heard a horrible crunching sound and his internal systems warning of damage to his wing, causing a crack in the armor where he had already been shot before. And the pain that followed...Primus being experimented on had never felt that bad, not that he could recall that is.

But, he had to force past the pain, wincing as he managed to roll onto his stomach, dizziness hitting him like a ton of bricks. "What could she possibly accomplish taking me down." He muttered to himself, presently not even thinking about where Zodiac might be, only trying to get past the terrible pain radiating from his wing and the dizziness from such a violent collision.

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Zodiac landed roughly on her peds not far from the predacon. Her amour was now slightly blackened thanks to the beast cryo breath. She growled as she turned to face the beast, anger imminent in her optics. She had to admit that the beast had given her quite a work out. One that she honestly could've done without, but that didn't matter now. She clutched her pistols in her servos as she walked up to the wounded predacon. A smile found it's way to her faceplate as she gazed upon her master piece. One of the mighty beasts, created and grown by the genius Shockwave himself was no a mere wounded animal with no way out.

"Shockwave's losing his touch," The femme teased as she gazed at the predacon. She might have feigned being relaxed, but she was still on alert. For all she knew there could be more tricks up Skystalker's sleeve. Perhaps had she had a proper working spark she would've felt bad for him. He was a sitting duck as the humans say. "Alright now down to business. I want you to tell me everything you know about the Autobots. And if you don't - well - I assume you're smart enough to know what happens next."

Her voice was cold and empty. With the adrenaline and excitement of battle gone she was nothing but an emotionless husk. A femme that was surviving, not living. Back on Cybertron she used to be jealous of those who could feel. But it was moments like these, moment when she saw bots at their very worst that she was thankful she couldn't feel anything at all. The anguish and embarrassment he must be feeling right now must be absolute torture.

"Oh how rude of me, it seems I have forgot my manners," The femme said. "I nearly forgot to give you my name. I am Zodiac. Although I'm sure that isn't of much importance to you."

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Skystalker turned his gaze towards Zodiac when he heard her land, optics narrowing towards her as she approached. She was teasing him, mocking his unfortunate situation of not being up to snuff when it came to his creator's creations. Well, least Skystalker had one confirmation: he had to work on his aerial combat, a lot. He had long suspected air superiority might belong to the Seekers, but this was the first time he had gotten the confirmation. 'I need to train more.' Was his initial thought as he glared at the Seeker.

But when she spoke of "getting down to business" he couldn't help laughing softly. "Zodiac, you must certainly be smart enough to know if I had any intention to divulge any secrets or knowledge about the Autobots I probably would have. But I can assure you, I'm willing to take the risk to not say slag to you." Skystalker's laugh became a chuckle. Such a brass question, and a brass way to demand information. And if he didn't give anything else she was essentially going to torture him for it. She has brass, he could give her that. But, her close proximity had not escaped his notice as he looked her in the optics, a fanged sneer coming to his maw, "But let me give you a little advice, you should never corner a wounded animal that is still willing to fight."

With a snarl, Skystalker shifted to his robot mode, reaching back to grab his tail that detached from the back and swinging the spiked end towards her. If he was going to go down, he was going to pull all the tricks he knew. He may be in pain but that wasn't going to stop him from giving this Seeker a run for her energon before he would ever give anything to her, especially if he still had some fight left.

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Zodiac watched the beast movements as she waited for her answer. Just what did he have in store for her? She was quickly taken out of her thoughts when she heard the soft chuckling coming from the predacon. She frowned a bit knowing exactly what this would entail. Now she had to torture him. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn't care much for the beast's well being but she certainly didn't want to get her own servos dirty. She already had to buff out the black singe marks on her cockpit. She didn't want to stain the rest of her armor as well. She glared at the beast. The irritation in her pink-red optics was imminent. Why did this thing have to be so difficult? Her anger spiked even further when the predacon sneered at her giving her some "advice".

In the blink of an eye the predacon transformed back into it's bot mode and grabbed his tail. Know she wouldn't be able to jump put of the way fast enough the braced herself as she attempted to shield herself with her decently armored arms. She knew this wasn't enough, and she knew sure as hell that this was going to hurt. A lot. The impact hit her arms full force, the spikes at the end of his tail would no doubt leave scars on her arms. Zodiac shut her optics tightly as she felt her body fly through the air for a moment before crashing down.

Slightly disoriented she stood up once more quickly examining the damage. Just as she had suspected. It had left deep and hideous scars on her armor and a few scratches around said scars. Suddenly she didn't feel so bad about staining her armor with his energon.

She turned to the predacon with angry optics devoid of any other emotion. How dare he? She offered him an easy way out and this is how he repays her? With damaged armor?

With both her servos wielding her prized pistols she pointed them at the predacon's helm. No! Don't kill him! Not yet. Immobilize him. Listening to her conscience she aimed both of her pistols on each of his knees and fired. Zodiac cursed herself for no being more carefully. All this thing had to do was grab her, and she would be done for. But she was never going to give him a chance like that again.

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His weapon met its mark. For once in this fight, Skystalker's observation had actually been right. She had been too close to dodge, and considering the armor on most Seekers, he figured it would give her a little something to remember him by. Something a little more permanent than getting out scorched armor or handling a small brittle area.

But, Skystalker this time did not pursue his adversary. As much as his pride screamed at him to tear this Decepticon apart, to have her found by her fellow Decepticons as an example his logic was winning over for once. Zodiac was skilled, more experienced, and there was only so much he could keep doing to keep her off him. True that he had gotten her away, that didn't mean she would go running off from some damage to her arms. 'I can save face, and fight another day.' He thought, albeit reluctant to give up the fight when he still had fight left to give.

Placing his tail back where it belonged, Skystalker reached up to the side of his helm, ready to comm his allies before he heard the shots. Another pained growl left the young mech, his knee joints buckling from the next round of fire and causing him to crash to a kneeling position, catching himself with his free hand. "Now she's really getting on my final nerve." He growled under his breathe but nevertheless pressed two fingers to his communication array, ":This is Skystalker to Autobot base, requesting a ground bridge asap, or some much needed back up. Anything works.:" Skystalker commed in before letting his hand drop, his glowing yellow optics narrowing at Zodiac.

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Zodiac glared at the mech before, her optics seething with anger. This thing was really beginning to be a pain her aft. First singeing and now a blow that was going to leave irremovable scars on her precious armor. But her irritation only continued to spike when she saw him reach for his comm. So now he was trying to bail out of the situation. A mighty beast like this, was just going to space bridge back to safety, especially after the irreversible damage he had just done.

In truth, she could just go back to the Nemesis and let Shockwave know that one of his little science projects was still online, that would surely get Shockwave's attention perhaps Megatron as well. But what was the fun in that? Why bring back mere news back to Megatron when she could get even more information? Information that is much more valuable.

"Do you really think that after this," Zodiac angrily raised her arms to show her scared arm gauntlets. "That I would ever let you go? If you do, I'm sad to say you're even dumber than you look. Listen here beast, you know as well as I, that defeating me isn't an option for you. You put up quite a fight and commend for upholding the whole 'fierce' aspect of your species. So I'm going to give you one last chance only because I'm charmed that life finds away even in creatures such as yourself. Stand down. I will not hesitate to blow your helm of you shoulders."

With that she raised her pistol, her servos tightened on the handle. Her digit itches to pull it and put this thing out of it's misery, but this was the creation of the mighty Shockwave. Killing Skystalker would only be a last resort. Hopefully he wouldn't be stupid enough to get her to that point.

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There was no immediate response, but Skystalker wasn't going to let that stop him, not yet. His optics remained trained on Zodiac, seeing her growing anger and irritation, no doubt from giving her more trouble than she probably wanted. Unsurprisingly, Skystalker felt a sense of satisfaction that despite his lack of experience against a fellow flier that he had given her a run for her energon. He had made it clear that despite his more primitive method of handling a fight, he still was capable of causing damage to his most hated enemies.

"My dear, if I am correct, we are in the middle of a war, getting scars in inevitable at some point is it not." Skystalker pointed out, his tone surprisingly calm compared to his own initial irritation before. Honestly, what more could he do if he didn't keep his anger held back somewhat and think of a way out of his predicament. Flying was out of the question. His one wing was quite damage and bordering on coming off and Zodiac would overwhelm him within moments. And his one leg was rather...useless, at the present. But, he did have three good ones, so long as he remained in his dragon form.

With a low growl he reverted back to his dragon mode, because if it came down to it perhaps he could still run. "What exactly are you looking to get from me 'Con?" Skystalker inquired, his tail swaying back and forth, small chips from her paint present on the tips of the spikes. "I may be aligned with the Autobots, but I know so little of them. Interrogating me would be wasting your time." Skystalker pointed out, beginning to move back and forth in a defensive crouch, a slight limp from his damage knee joint on one of his back legs which formed his legs in robot mode. "I have nothing of value to give."

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The seeker considered the predacon's words. Everything he said made sense, but Zodiac couldn't help but feel skeptical. Perhaps the beast was telling the truth? Then again one could never truly be sure. Her mood turned even more sour when she noticed pieces of her grey chipped paint on the predacon's spikes. She narrowed her optics and grit her denta in frustration. If he wasn't hiding anything, or truly did not harbor any useful information there was only one thing that could be done. Report back to the Nemesis and inform Shockwave of the existences of his little science project. Zodiac's optics wandered to the scars on her arm gauntlets and frowned a bit. She had let her anger get the better of her again. She had been cocky and careless, and this was the price she paid.

"Very well," The sniper mumbled just loud enough for Skystalker to hear. Her optics still twisted with fury as she placed her pistols back on her hips. To think that all this was for nothing. Her optics once again fell on her arm gauntlets. I have scars to remember him by. I may as well return the favor. With a smirk creeping across her faceplate the femme mockingly took a bow before the predacon. "I look forward to our next brawl."

With that the femme transformed and blasted into the sky. But, she wasn't leaving. Oh no, not before giving this predacon something to remember her by. Taking a sharp turn back towards the predacon she carefully aimed for his faceplate. She didn't want to kill he, she just wished the bullet to graze his faceplate with just enough force to give him a scar of his own. Swooping in dangerously close she fired a single bullet. "Till next time my dear beast!" She exclaimed as she blasted off into the skies.

".:Soundwave bridge me back:." Zodiac asked over the comm unit. ".:And tell Shockwave I have the best news:."

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When Zodiac finally seemed to see reason Skystalker could only watch her for a moment longer. She may appear to be backing off but sometimes you could never be too certain with the Decepticons. However, it appeared he could finally relax to some degree, giving a snort in response. "Next time, I'll do more than leave scars on your arms Seeker, I intend to make sure I crush you beneath my claws." He growled back towards her, making it not just a threat but a promise. And he had every intention of making himself better prepared for such a fight, especially since there were many Seekers among the Decepticons to be concerned about.

Once Zodiac transformed and appeared to be leaving, Skystalker saw no reason to remain. In fact, he turned the moment he finally heard the sound of the green energy vortex opening, "Better late than never." He grumbled under his breathe as he partly limped towards the portal until he heard the sound of Zodiac's jet form coming back. Was she trying to follow him through? That was his first thought, causing him to turn his head slightly to see where she was, until he heard a single shot of her weapon and felt the stinging pain of the bullet grazing deep into the layer of his cheek armor, causing him to snarl and shake his head, casting droplets of energon across the ground.

He turned his attention to her once more with a glare of hatred and malice. Yes, he would remember this moment well. He would make sure the next time he met Zodiac, he would give her much more of a fight than he had shown her now. "Until we meet next indeed, Zodiac." He hissed under his breathe, finally turning away and disappearing into the vortex to return to the Autobot base.