re_alignment_logs | Too Close to the Edge

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Too Close to the Edge

WHO: Thundercracker and Ventus
WHERE: The Badlands
WHEN: About the fourth day of the Badlands expedition
WHAT: At Megatron's request for them to scout ahead, the two have set out to do just that- but it turns out to be less than smooth flying for either of them.
WARNINGS: --

     It didn't seem like they were getting anywhere with this. For as long as they seemed to travel, the distance never appeared to change, and it had by no means been a leisurely flight.

     As disappointed as Ventus was becoming in that they might not have much worth reporting once they made way back to where Megatron and the others were, he was anxious about getting away from this place as well. There was something that bothered him, though he wasn't sure exactly what it was. Was that just how it was with this place? It was a question he felt probably would never really be answered.

     He shifted on his glider, wondering just how long they'd been going now. For a good while now he hadn't had any problems, although earlier had been somewhat questionable, and even Thundercracker had been having some difficulty in keeping aloft. The boy decided to check in, tapping at his Link.

     "-hey Thundercracker, how're you holding up?" he asked, his helmeted head glancing towards the Seeker.

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Thundercracker had been almost sedately coasting pretty much the whole time. It was the only way he could keep pace with Ventus - or rather, let the boy keep pace with him. The boy would sweep himself off his own glider if he tried to keep up with the fighter jet at any higher of a speed.

At first, the pace had been grating, even if he'd never have admitted as much. But the longer they went, the more he was . . . almost thankful for it. He'd have been forced to slow down anyway, what with the number of time each breem his systems had begun to regularly fail and reset. The wildly-fluctuating magnetic fields out here only got worse the closer - however infinitesimally - they got.

"Holding, though the magnetic fields out here are wrecking havoc on pretty much everything. How much longer do you think your glider will last?" Since the second or third time the boy's glider had wobbled, the Seeker had been splitting his attention between his surroundings and his companion. At this height and speed, however "slow" for the Cybertronian, if their systems cut out entirely on them, Thundercracker would be injured by the crash . . . Ventus would likely be dead.

Not on his watch.

     Even though he didn't understand exactly what that meant, he nodded. At the very least he knew it meant that something was interfering with whatever systems Thundercracker had, and it was bad enough that it seemed to even take a toll on the boy's glider, which was a little concerning. It had never failed him in the Lanes Between, but for something to be able to do so here...

     "Not sure," Ventus replied, casting a glance down at the glider beneath his feet. "It was kind of slow a moment ago, but I think it's evened out again..."

     He didn't know how he was able to tell, but it felt like the hovercraft was straining for all that it didn't seem to run on anything mechanical. Looking frontwards again, he tried in vain to see if there was anything he could see beyond the dark, bleak landscape. "...think we'll even reach anything? It hardly seems like we're moving."

"It sure feels like that, doesn't it?" Thundercracker's triangulation was in even worse shape than the rest of his navigational systems or his flight systems. "We are covering ground, though. It's just the ambient energies are fragging with our perceptions."

A pause, then a confession – "You're right, though. I don't like this. Pretty sure we should have reached something by now."

     "Yeah... This is pretty weird..." Although unseen for the helmet he wore, his frown could be heard in his tone.

     "Do...you think we should turn back? I'm not even sure how long we've been going now, but who knows- we could probably keep flying for days and there wouldn't be any ch-"

     The boy's words cut short with a gasp, his glider jerking slightly. For a brief moment it seemed that he had gotten it back under control, but just as abruptly, it began to drop from the sky.

Whatever opinion Thundercracker might have had in regards to Ventus's suggestion was swept from his processor before it could fully form. The Seeker transformed - he'd need hands to catch the boy after all - but hesitated an astro-second to see if he would recover on his own.

The glider began to drop.

"Ventus!" The Seeker folded and dove easily, aiming to get under his partner, reaching to catch boy and glider. He succeeded, but something was wrong - his navigational systems chose just that instant to fail again . . . and refuse to reboot. Ventus would hear a frustrated snarl from the mech above him as he was tucked protectively to the Seeker's chest, the glider in the other hand, the Seeker himself shifting upright from his dive. "Nav systems are down, won't come back." His voice was tight as he reported. "And . . . my optics . . . visuals are fading!" The last comes out a growl . . . but if Ventus has never heard alarm in the Decepticon's tone, he has now.

     Either out of surprise from the sudden failure of his ride or the effect of the Badlands, both the glider and Ventus' armor winked out shortly after being caught by Thundercracker. "Wh- what just..." He started to level himself upright, but the noise from the Seeker made him look up.

     "Wait, what do you mean-" he began to say, but the tone in which the other spoke needed no explanation; they were still in trouble.

     Ventus hauled himself up by the Seeker's fingers, peering out at the bleak landscape below. This was bad, they were still pretty high up and if the Decepticon couldn't see, it wouldn't be a pretty landing for either of them.

     "-you can still fly, right? We need to level out again..."

"Ah!" He made a grasping gesture as the glider . . . apparently just vanished from his hand. But he'd have to worry about that later – too many other concerns right now.

"I am level!" He hadn't meant to snarl that, and he made himself pause before speaking again . . . in which time he realized that he couldn't actually tell if he was level or not. "I…think," he added more quietly, uncertainty clear in his tine. He huffed a harsh cycle through his vents, forced to admit his current weakness. "I can fly, yes. But . . . I'm . . . blind. My optics are dark and all of my scanners are offline. Pit, even my fragging gyroscope isn't responding!" Another pause, and then . . . "I'll need your help to land safely."

Once upon a time, he'd have refused to even consider accepting – let alone asking for – help from "a fleshie". He was still mortified (more for his own pride than anything), but . . . making the comment was easier than he'd thought it would be.

     The boy flinched at the tone, but he stole a glance up at Thundercracker at the admission that had been amended to it. Worry colored his expression as he looked back out again, careful about just how far he leaned over those fingers that held him.

     "I'll do my best. If you can't see or tell what direction you're going, we definitely need to get down from here. I just wish it wasn't so dark... Wait!"

     He could summon light, courtesy of his status with Prima. Maybe it would be enough...!

     Ventus lifted a hand, focusing on summoning the orbs of light. One flared to life in front of him, and then another, no bigger than his fist, but that didn't seem to affect its ability for brightness. Pointing outwards, the young Keyblade wielder directed the two orbs ahead of them, their light piercing the dark that practically swallowed their surroundings.

     "Okay, first we should straighten out a little. You're kind of tilting left right now. And if we can slow down some, we can start trying to descend..."

"What? Wait what?" Had Ventus thought of something, spotted something, what? He couldn't see the balls of light, and with his sensors as screwy as they were, he couldn't be sure what it might be when he thought he might have scanned something.

At the directions, he nodded, shifting to his right and cutting some of the power to his thrusters. He also flared his wings, ailerons tilting and causing windbreaks to further help slow them. "How's that?"

Ventus pulled himself forward again, trying to get into the best position he could to see. He felt the adjustment as Thundercracker complied with his suggestion, nodding before adding a verbal reply, having to remind himself that his friend was visually impaired.

"Yeah, that's better," he said as they also began to slow down. "I can't say exactly how high up we are, but it looks clear enough to start easing down."

"All right." Redirecting power to bolster his stabilizers, Thundercracker began his decent in earnest. The problem was that he had no real way of telling just how fast or slow he was doing so. "Ventus . . . I can't see and my scanners are down. You'll have to tell me if we're dropping too fast." He hated admitting as much, but if he were to come out of this with minimal damage – and more importantly, if Ventus was – he needed for Ventus to know as much.

"Got it."

The boy scanned the scenery below, thankful for the spheres of light that lit the way. It would have definitely been more of a challenge if he hadn't been able to use them. "Easy now- I think we're starting to speed up again, but it shouldn't be too much longer." He just hoped that Thundercracker's flight wouldn't cut out like it had with his glider.

That was definitely something the Seeker was fighting with, catching and rebooting his systems himself before they cut out entirely, alternating between primary and backups so nothing was down altogether at any given time. But then just as he took down a key backup system to reboot, the primary failed . . . and the backup refused to reboot. They began to drop groundward at an alarming rate. Thundercracker snarled curses in creative Cybertronian – Ventus might guess that to be what he was saying from the harshness of the screeching, multi-tonal noises he was making – as he shifted, curling up with Ventus cupped completely to his chest in his hands. He tried to lock all the servomotors and joints in his arms and hands, but he could still only pray that the impact didn't jar fingers, a hand, a whole arm enough to either drop or crush the boy despite his best efforts.

     Something was wrong. They were starting to plummet. "Thundercracker-" the boy started, cutting himself off as he heard the strange noise that made up the Decepticon's tone. Gasping, Ventus turned to look back outward, but he'd lost sight of the light orbs since he'd sent them ahead.

     He found his balance compromised as the Seeker started to move his arms- and him- closer. Bracing for impact, Ventus realized, and he wasn't sure what more he could do. It was dark in Thundercracker's grasp, and not knowing what was going on or when they'd hit the ground only compounded the boy's growing fears.

     Squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to brace himself as best he could, he threw his arms over his head in preparation for the worst.

Thundercracker did his best, trying to take the ground feet-first and let his knees buckle to help absorb the impact, but he couldn't see - or scan – the ground to judge his breakfall. His feet pounded into the ground, knees collapsing completely. The Seeker unclamped his right wing, letting it swing on its transformation hinges straight back like a door as he threw his right shoulder out to take the rest of the fall rather than his face or chest. Shoulder and elbow bore the brunt of his upper body's impact, the limb jarred enough to open the protective canopy of his hands. In the chaos of pain and scrambled system alerts, he couldn't be sure, but he thought he felt the human thrown from his grip. "Ventus!"

It took him an instant to stop – he slid what felt like several feet at least – and another instant to just…deal…before he shifted, lifting his head and trying to "look" around on reflex, and cursed again when he still couldn't see. He lay half-curled and still on his right shoulder, his wing folded back along the ground. He moved his left hand, gingerly tapping and brushing the ground, trying to assess a clear spot to plant it so he could start working himself upright into a sitting position once more – he wanted to make sure he didn't squash his scouting partner in the process. "Ventus? Can you hear me?"

     Amidst the crunch and screech of rock against a metal frame, there might have been a shout. Everything had happened to fast that even Ventus wasn't sure just when it was that he found himself freed from the metal confines that had tried to keep him secure- and flying without sense of which way was up and which was down.

     He found out soon enough, which was of course by then too late to do anything about it. Pain flared through his left arm as he hit the ground, enough to force a gasp from him as he tumbled further along the uneven surface like a rag doll.

     Stillness finally settled, although for Thundercracker it might be a tense minute too many before he'd even hear anything from the boy. He'd blacked out for a moment, but it wasn't enough to hold the pain he was feeling at bay. Shock however seemed to work well in his favor for the time being. While he made no verbal reply, the Seeker would probably hear the weak groan some distance ways from him.

When Ventus didn't reply right away, Thundercracker froze, hand kept up over the ground. Pit, don't let the kid be offline! He listened sharply for an sign of breathing, cooling fans held still to cut down his own internal noises. Finally, he heard a groan. "Ventus!" The Seeker planted his hand and sat up, then pulled his knees under him. He was banged up pretty badly but still operational. Except for flight, but that would be a bad idea to try now anyway. Staying on hands and knees, he crawled carefully, feeling around with one hand at a time before leaning on it to shift a "step" forward. At first, he was mostly looking for sharp stones and other possible obstacles, but as he got closer to where he thought Ventus might be, he slowed even more, his movements sweeping wider and even more carefully. "Ventus . . . are you functional?"

The sound came again, though Thundercracker wouldn't be able to see the slight movement that accompanied it as the boy stirred where he lay.

"...Thundercracker..?" His voice was faint, uncertain, but he'd thought he'd heard the Decepticon just then. Ventus turned his head a little, trying to see where the Seeker was. "I'm...I'm over h-" He'd made the mistake of trying to move, a sharp cry of pain cutting off his words. His breath was shaky as he kept still again, waiting for it to subside as he tried to assess his injuries.

"Ventus!" The Seeker hesitated another split astro-second, trying to assess if the cry was due to his own movement or being attacked. He'd experienced both himself, so he knew it could be either. Hearing nothing else, he guessed the former.

Sliding forward on his hands and knees, he swept each hand in slow, wide arcs before putting his weight on it. Finally, his fingers brushed familiar armor. "Ventus…" The large Decepticon's touch was surprisingly light and gentle as he sat back on his heels and carefully explored with his fingertips. From the sharp, interrupting cry, asking if the boy was hurt was pointless. "How badly injured are you?"

     Thankfully Thundercracker was being careful, because that shoulderguard was on the boy's left, which was the arm he was finding trouble getting to cooperate. He tensed as he saw the large hand near, but he could tell that the Seeker was being careful.

     Ventus slowly reached out with his right hand for the metal fingers that moved blindly in search of him.

     "I...can't move my left arm. ...hurts really bad trying to sit up, too..."

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Too Close to the Edge

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Let me know if you want me to change anything! =D;;;

Looks good to me! :3

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