It's so peaceful out here - but then you jinxed us

[invisiblepinkboat]

WHO: Elita and a 25 feet long lamprey-headed critter of mechanoid centipede doom.
WHERE: Solus quadrant, close to the crystal forest and thus the edge towards the wilderness, but still well-within Solus' territory.
WHEN: Backdated to slightly before Elita's post here as that's when the fight's over.
WHAT: FIGHTING A BUG OF LAMPREY-HEADED DOOM.
WARNINGS: Violence, a bit of maiming. Rocket-launcher head-exploding bug-death.

She was still a few hics away from the crystal tree "forest", which had actually both shot up towards the sky and spread quite a bit from the heat, steam and minerals added from the vents and fissures that had opened as a result of the earthquake and the aftershocks, flooding Solus Prime's territory with heat.

It was obvious why Solus had warned any and all organics from staying out of the quadrant outside of the temple, and why she's warned anyone away from the vents and fissures. Elita had one off to her right, and even from this distance she could feel the pressure of heat against her side.

What had captured her attention while speeding towards the forest to make sure the latest aftershocks hadn't compromised any of the crystals was the view of said forest. Stopping at a rise, it was quite hard not to be taken by the play of light that the crystals caught even if it was dimmer here than closer to Prima's quadrant.

The largest of the crystals trees would now be able to securely hold a minibot... or maybe even herself even close up to the top, jagged, lacy structures reaching towards the twilight sky.

She should move on, but the heat and the view made it sort of pleasant to simply stand here.

Comments

[re_alignednpcs]

Though no one so far had known enough to advertize it, there was good reason for lone mechs to stay out of the open as well. Behind Elita, a rounded head ending in concentric rows of teeth peeked out from around a rock.

This creature, too, was attracted by the view – but for very different reasons. The beauty of the crystal forest was lost on its simple mind. Instead, it was focused on the lone mech at the top of the hill. Elita stuck out like a minibot among gestalts against the overall gray of the landscape, bright, pink energon-hued armor like a dinner bell to her silent watcher.

This one had energy. This one could be eaten.

It crept towards her, pointed limbs making little more noise against the ground than dust sliding down the slope she stood atop. Then it threw itself at her with an audial-splitting shriek.

[invisiblepinkboat]

It had the advantage of surprise on her, but at least Elita was proficient in hand-to-hand. Though in this case, as she whirled around, surprise momentarily making her footing slip before she compensated and a hand struck out, it might have been better if her first instinct had been to get away.

Hitting nothing more vital than one of the forward graspers, terribly sinous against her hand, Elita closed her hand about it and yanked before she got her own hand trapped. Throwing herself sideways in the same movement to avoid that head bearing down on her, she wouldn't deny the sudden flare of discordant jangling alarms or the rush of energon.

Fear was healthy, and at least she didn't freeze up.

[re_alignednpcs]

Letting shock overcome her would have been fatal: despite the multitude of limbs to coordinate, the creature was fast. In that aspect, her slighter frame was an advantage compared to those of her bulkier peers.

The hand blocking its path was only a momentary roadblock. The creature flared its teeth at her, then moved swiftly over her palm and up her arm. At her back were two large expanses of metal that could not push it away like hands could. These parts, it thought, would be good handholds.

Or mouthholds, perhaps. It bit at her left wing, a pair of graspers following its jaws, seeking to dig in and embed itself there.

[invisiblepinkboat]

Flared too many teeth to be healthy, what was that "face" even! The issue with trying to toss yourself away from something as multi-limbed and sinuous as this thing was that it could just as easily follow; there wasn't any easy way to get it off balance.

"I don't think I've ever seen something quite as ugly as you," Elita muttered with a grunt, flaring her wings away and wide - but not fast enough, and she didn't have enough range of movement to get it out of reach or grasp.

Aiming a punch up towards the underside of its head (or as much as she could, anyway), with her other hand curling around the back and attempting to find a gap, or make one, for all that, between plates to yank the creature back while she shifted the back-mounted panel backwards---

She knew she'd probably be unable to get it out of the grip without tearing something, but as long as the "wing" still stayed attached, that would be better than nothing.