The Diego Diaries: Moving On (dd6 184)
-0-On the street
"Where are you going besides home with the baby?" Turbine asked.
"Home with Halo, I guess," Ratchet said.
Ironhide slipped Halo deftly into his arm, then settled her in the crook. "I have to show her the munitions depot. She has to start thinking about her favorite munition."
"You're certifiable," Turbine said as she grinned at his 'little baby boy'. "I have to motor. I have a meet up with the Temple Board. Maintenance of the shrines over the holidays is on the agenda. We can meet up at the game shortly."
Everyone nodded, then Turbine hurried off with Venture. Miler grinned, then turned to Ratchet. "What a fine evening. I haven't had so much fun in a long time, Ratchet. This squad business, its the best thing ever. You know," he began with a slight hesitation, "being in a high caste bond meant supporting the purpose of it. If you didn't have your own identity outside of it, you could disappear. It was almost like a business partnership. Its a good thing that they work out the way they do, with so much love anyway. I think Anders, Madura and Edict have a better chance of happiness than Laslo. He's rather like me. Traditional."
"You high castes have so many rules. Even living with a Praxian Elite all this time didn't show me all of them," Ratchet said.
"Praxian Elites are different. They bond for love and they do what they do. Their Code is different from ours. Mercifully," Miler said as the others nodded.
"I hate The System. It nearly ended Edict and Madura. Fortunately, something I never expected happened for Madura. Proteus turned out to be worthwhile," Prowl said.
Optimus nodded. "I think the distance from The Fall to here affected them more than they realized. I do not expect everyone who comes to change. We must be vigilant and unyielding, but we will see more changes than not, I believe, given opportunity." He glanced at Ratchet. "You do very good things for others. Just so you know, some of us notice."
"I'm a doctor, Optimus," Ratchet said with a serious expression. "I've gotten cunning over the vorns and if I can help someone, I will. Consider the number of children we have," he said before everyone laughed loudly. "I think Lancer and Partition have promise. That leaves how many daughters of bonding age now?" he asked before scorn buried him. He grinned. "Slaggers."
They chatted away, then Miler, Kes and Tagg along with Prime and Prowl walked toward the tower to check in and get things ready for trick-or-treat that night and the game in about three to four joors. Kaon v Simfur was slated to be BIG, BIG, BIG, a rematch of the championship on the new march toward the next championship. Springer and the others walked with them, then turned at the corner to go to the station and the office at Metrotitan down the way.
Watching everyone go, Ironhide glanced at Ratchet. "Wanna ride the trains?"
Ratchet slipped his servo through Ironhide's arm. "Yep," he said. They sauntered off to do that and take the acclaim of the crowds for their new co-production, Halo of Mars.
-0-Autobot City Performing Arts Center, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Postal District 187
They stood on tables as the technicians made their last minute adjustments of the Halloween costumes of the little children before them. They had all been roped together by Chan, Corr, Ravel, and Appa Ratchet, then taken with Scout and Trooper to the costumes department of the massive performing arts center. They had decided on costumes earlier and now they were getting last minute fixes on them. It was very exciting.
"I LOVE THIS!" -Orion
"This is so fun, Amma!" -Hero
"I can't wait for Atar and Ada to see this!" -the three Prime little mechs
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, ADA!? IS THIS GREAT!? AREN'T APPA AND AMMA THE BEST!?" -three little mechs, Bos, Reflector and Co-D who were shared with Ratchet and Ironhide to their smiling families who were there to watch
"This is lovely, Co-D. I think I like this holiday." -Great Grand Amma to her little mech
"I like this, Amma," Prowler said to Scout who was examining a snug corner of the costume.
"I'm so glad, my sweet baby. You look so handsome and grown up," Scout said with a smile.
"I grown up, Amma," Praxus said.
"You are?" Trooper asked with a smile.
"I am. I grown up," Praxus said with a nod and a matter-of-fact tone.
It would go like that.
-0-In a locker room of the arena
They sat together listening to the coaches while adding their own commentary. Soon, they would walk out to do battle with Simfur who had won their last game. They were also among the undefeated, the Kaon Kavaliers. They were determined to stay there. Outside, the arena was already getting spectators, some coming for the concessions and a beer, a chat with their friends in this, a sort of tailgating, before the vast mob came to cheer for their teams. It was relatively quiet in the arena for now.
-0-On the air with the pregame show with Earth, "Cybertronian Football Today"
"How are the Cybertronian teams matching up with Martian, Jazz? Its hard to pinpoint right now from the last games," a reporter who specialized in rugby asked over the MCA from his studio in London.
"Well, they're doing well. All of the teams are named for cities and towns on Cybertron and they're all tough. Nova Cronum is undefeated and so is Kalis and Tesarus. The others can't be discounted. They had a bigger pool to draw from for players than all the others including Mars. Right now, Nova Cronum along with Kalis and Tesarus lead the statistics and standings from Cybertron while Kaon, Simfur and Tarn lead them here. The game is tough that's brought from Cybertron. Our guys are up to it, though, because we have a lot of soldiers on Martian teams and they know about being tough and ignoring pain. It's hard to say how it'll be long term but the teams from Cybertron have professional players and some very tough, very fast players."
"What about the chances of Kaon to repeat this year? They're playing Simfur today, a grudge match most likely," a French sportscaster asked.
"Anytime Kaon plays, they play for the win," Blaster said as Jazz nodded. "They don't quit and they don't give up. They're tough and because half of them are either soldiers, convicts or both, they understand suffering."
Jazz and Blaster laughed uproariously.
"Tell us about that, Jazz," a British journalist asked. "Tell us about the players with prison records. Some of our players end up there but they usually don't start at that point or come from the penal system."
Jazz grinned. "We had an unjust society that kept everyone down. Some had to break the law just to survive and a few got caught. I never got caught," he said as Blaster grinned at him. "Did you?" Jazz asked him.
"No," Blaster said. "I was mid caste and I had a skill. I had options, slagger."
"Are you sayin' I don't have skills?" Jazz asked with a smile.
"I wouldn't say that but I have to say, your 'skills' were questionable at the time," Blaster said with a grin. "You were too fast to get caught."
"Fast and smart. The slaggers were never close," Jazz said with a smile, then he looked back at the camera. "I wouldn't say anyone should emulate me. I was living in special circumstances."
"Were the twins living in a criminal manner?" a nice journalist asked who lived in Spain.
Blaster and Jazz stared at the screen, then each other. They burst into laughter. Jazz grinned at the sweet journalist from Spain. "The twins came from my town, Kaon," Jazz said. "They grew up orphans and learned like I did to take care of themselves from the start. You could say they had a less-than-normal background but given the circumstances, we all did. The caste system was slavery. Fighting that wasn't criminal to anyone but the state. To us, it was justice." Jazz grinned. "But all's not lost. Sideswipe is religious."
Blaster and Jazz laughed loudly.
The Spanish journalist watched them with a slight perplexed expression, then leaned closer to the camera. "Sideswipe is religious? Is that unusual?"
Jazz grinned. "No, that's typical but understand, the way the twins were then, everyone expected them to be Decepticons, not the priesthood."
"Oh," the journalist said with a slight sense of confusion. "I see."
Jazz and Blaster grinned.
-0-On the way to the arena
They walked along hoppity-hipping as they made their way to the arena. Sunspot and Spot, Bos, Co-D, Reflector, Rambler, T-Bar, and Spirit walked with Silverbow and Tippy, a nice little femme spending the orn with Silverbow in the company of Ironhide, Prime and Ratchet's elders. Ratchet and Ironhide were coming from the Industrial Parks, meeting up with his squad in the Terra Hub station. They were all going to be sharing the Primal Box, which would be snug but doable.
-0-Terra Hub
The train slid in and a number of individuals stepped out. Smiling, Madura and Proteus joined Ratchet and Ironhide. "This is so exciting!" Madura said. "You should see the little remote things that Proteus and I have chosen for the game. We're going into the Wasteland to practice."
"That's great," Ratchet said. "I may join you. Then we can win this slagger"
"That would be delightful," Edict said as she stood with her daughter, her daughter's beau, Borealis, and a composed but slightly nervous Burris.
"Since everyone's here, the next Circle train is the one," Ratchet said. A train slid in, a Circle, so they got on board and the doors shut. Onward it went around the city toward Metro #1 in Autobot City. It would be a very jolly ride. For everyone, that is, but a strangely opaque Lucien.
-0-At the arena
Alor stood at the end of the corridor that led into the field. Optimus stood with him chatting amiably. His family was already in the stands with most of Ratchet's and Prowl's. The 'projects', Partition, Cargo and Keystock were with them as well, following Raptor and Hard Drive to the Primal Box. It would be snug but not too much for all that would eventually be there. The infants were dropped off at the locker room to help the team and be good mascots. Bos, Reflector, Co-D, and Sunspot with Spot happily decked out in their finery for Kaon rushed inside.
Standing in the stands chatting together, nine big kids, their appa, ammas and abbas watched the crowd and made their predictions. Before them were the adults of Prime's 'squad' and their assorted children. All that was missing was Alor and Optimus. Standing among the regular family was that of Edict and Burris, Vinn and Joon, Proteus and Madura, Hobbes, Edict, Bron-E and her pre-bond, Borealis, a teacher at Sparkling Day as well as Laslo and Lucien. Keystock and Cargo along with Lon and Bezel were next to their genitors and all were waiting expectantly for the show to begin. Infants were in arms, holds or carry baskets, some of them being passed around among the newcomers who asked to hold them. The infants were happy to comply having never known anything but love, safety and acceptance all their lives.
Riff climbed through the row, then paused beside Lucien, Morius and Inweld. He leaned forward, then smiled at his genitors who smiled back down the row. "Rad-R is going to play a lot today. Sunstreaker wants him to have some experience and the three of them, Sunny, Sideswipe and Rad-R are going to show a new offense. This is going to kick aft!" he said happily.
Keystock and Cargo moved a bit to allow him to stand between them as the stadium began to build in anticipation. Security was out in droves as usual for football and so were partisan groups. Cheers and team songs rose up along with banners, flags and sheer gall. Mini-cons were staked out. Everyone was ready, some really liquored up, though hard stuff was banned from the games and excitement was high.
-0-In the booth
"We're a minute or two from Alor playing the anthem and starting the game. We hope that you enjoy yourself. We're cutting from the live feed and will return at half time, Earth," Jazz said. The line was cut, then everyone relaxed on Earth.
"This is going to be awesome," a London-based sportswriter said.
"It will. I wish I was there," one of them said.
The others nodded in agreement.
Grandma Annie, Grandpa Leonard and the family were there as guests of the Resort. They would agree, too, but they were too busy being at the game.
It was then that the teams walked out in their lines, beautiful, tough and ready to rumble. They walked down the tunnel to pause behind Prime and Alor. He grinned at them, then followed the groundskeepers outward to the middle of the field where he sat at the keyboard. A roar went up, then died down. Alor began to play. Everyone stood for the Anthem of the Primes, then the one for Cybertron. When he was finished, Alor walked off and headed up the stairs. Prime nodded to him, then walked out to be seen. The place went nuts.
Lucien watched Prime as he halted on the edge of the field to allow The People to see him. He was an incredibly impressive figure, Optimus Prime. He was huge, brilliantly colored and looked like he could rip you in two pieces. It was clear to Lucien that he could. Most of the Primes were imposing specimens, mechs of some size who were reformatted during the process of acceptance by the Matrix into even more the perfect specimen of Cybertronian. They were, in fact, perfect specimens.
The cry for Prime was overwhelming and he found himself wondering how much of it was for Prime, himself or for the moment and the spectacle. He wouldn't know. He had never seen a Prime that was beloved. His Primes began with Nova. He watched Prime walk along the side, then up the stairs to the row where he stood. Prime walked to his place, nodding to everyone in the box, then picked up his smallest son, Miracle. Turning to the crowd, he watched as everyone waited expectantly.
The first team to leave the tunnel was Kaon's Kavaliers. They were spectacular. The sunlight seemed to gleam off them as they followed their captain, Sunstreaker, who bore their flag. At the end of the line followed by Sideswipe, four little mechs, one a Seeker leading two dogs and a bug came with intense pride. The stared all around themselves as they did, waving to their families who were one row above the Primal Box. All around them were the shirt tail family of the Prime, friends and allies who might as well have been family, they were so close. The little mech's families waved back as they filmed their babies taking the field.
Reaching the line, then planted their flag, bowed as a team to Prime, then knelt for a moment. After a moment, they stood, then began their war dance and cry. Loudly, passionately, ferociously, they gave their challenge. Then they finished, walked to the line and waited. The place was a madhouse of approval as Simfur walked out, planted their flag, then bowed to Prime. They knelt, then stood and replied to Kaon with their own highly ferocious and ultra masculine war cry. When that was finished, they walked back to the line and all bowed to Prime. He returned the salute with a nod, then both sides walked to the sideline where Sunstreaker would plant the flag in the dirt. The little kids climbed onto a bench, Bob, Spot and Dawg found a place under it to lie in a pile and the offenses walked out to call the toss.
Sunstreaker and the Captain of Simfur called it, then walked to the bench as the Kaon defense and the Simfur offense walked onto the field. They lined up, the ball was tossed to Simfur, then the teams came together like two charging trains. The clang was heard everywhere. A huge pushing match was begun when the Simfur wing who had the ball was caught in the clash of two titanic players. Others gripped them and it was on. A scrum formed almost immediately as the sides pressed their incredible strength against each other. It moved only slightly, then it careened toward the Kaon bench.
The twins grabbed the kids and dogs, hiking it away from the point of impact as the scrum raged their way. It ran over the bench, then slammed hard into the wall where the humans were gathered to watch. Farther up, the newbies cringed at the sight as huge mechanisms slammed into things. Partition who was standing with Lancer and Elita howled with delight. His ada, Laslo, looked at him, then the play. He then smiled and howled himself. Partition turned toward him with a smile, then hugged Laslo off his peds. "THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!"
Lucien stared at the pair without expression, then looked at the sidelines again. A number of security had jumped onto the wall to absorb the collision for the humans. They were sitting there on the ledge of the stadium seating watching the fighting going on below. It was legal within parameters and the refs watched with flags in servo looking for an excuse to penalize their sorry afts. With a few terrific punches, they walked back to the line for the ins, cursing and shoving each other as they did. The Kaon team came back, set the babies back up, put the dogs into the stands to go to Ratchet and Ironhide, then walked to the sidelines to see the play.
Bob, Dawg and Spot sat at Ratchet's peds, staring up at him with puzzled expressions. "I know," Ratchet said. "If you didn't have bad luck, you'd have no luck at all. Get faster, infants," Ratchet said petting all of them. Spot and Dawg were parted out as Bob snuggled down between Ratchet's peds, his purring heard by all around him. He fell into a snooze immediately.
"That's an Insecticon infant," Burris said. "I've seen that vermin before."
"That is a damaged, abandoned baby, Burris," Ratchet said. "He's ours now. Lucky us."
"If you say so, Ratchet," Burris said doubtfully.
The ins was begun, the ball thrown hard to Simfur who ran it at the defense and Bracket, the goalie. It was passed around, then thrown. Bracket got a piece of the ball with his servo and it flew out of bounds, the shot a miss. He landed with his usual incredible grace, then received the hugs of his teammates. Simfur stared at him with disgust, then walked toward the lines. The defense was coming on for Simfur. Sunstreaker and his marauders were coming on for Kaon.
-0-TBC 11-8-17 edited 12-24-17
NOTE:
If you want to see genius and some facsimile of the war dance the teams do before the games, go to you tube and google haka. This is a ceremonial war dance and challenge that heroic societies like those in South Africa and the Maoris of New Zealand do. The Maoris are awesome. They use a lot of scary looking faces to add to the overall awesomeness. The South African rugby team does one, too. They use them to welcome others, challenge others and even at weddings and funerals to honor someone. I LOVE them. I think probably the Scots and others from the Celtic world used them, too, but they were lost to history. The Romans told of feeling despair and fear when facing Celtic and Gothic enemies from the frenzy they would see when they showed up. These are wonderful and I wanted them in the story because they show something of the heroic warrior side of the bots. HUGS!
ESL: opaque (oh-pay-kuh) something that is murky or hard to see through
NOTES TO READERS! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
leoness chapter 183 . Nov 7
Chaos Lord, lol.
I love that line - never underestimate the power of love in the face of great loneliness. So, so, SO true. Kindness and love from a crazy group of community theater people saved 13 year old lonely me, and I'm thankful for them every darn day of my life, even...jeez, 23 years later.
ME: So true, that. You can own everything in the world but when you go, you only take love with you. I think that's the big undertone here, love. You were lucky at a vulnerable time to find a home. Good on you, Miss Kitty. Love ya.
Lackwit chapter 183 . Nov 7
This has been a very good story arc, the downside of the high caste system for the gentler members. Quite sad for the bonds and I can actually believe that love for the bond will assist redemption of the losers. But maybe not Lucien :)
Actually, cookies was last contest, in which Ratchet's frozen hodgepodge was a winner :) This year was indeed supposed to be candy.
ME: I've seen so many partners in relationships fall down into obscurity because the job and the fortune was the focus. They had to make sure the main job flourished. Olivia had the same problem. Lucien is still being unclear to me but the others love the light so to speak. I'll check on the cookies thing. :D I think you guys know this better than me. LOL! HUGS
kattenbelletje chapter 182 . Nov 6
There was a time when the soldiers and the civilians were split up. The civilians went to No-a or one of his colleagues and the soldiers got a drum head with Prime. Why didn't that happen this time?
I love mini-cons.
ME: Prime speaks to that. :D I don't know what we would do at games with mini-cons. LOL! I remember a few things that Cliff and Bee did through the years and it sort of formed my view of them, NEVER SAY DIE! HUGS!
Ragemoose chapter 182 . Nov 5
this whole arc has been so cute :D i love the family elders. this is unrelated, but tonight over dinner my parents and I were watching holiday cake wars and there was an older southern gentleman named Jason Smith and all i could think of was hercy
ME: Aw. I love old geezers like Hercy. He's modeled after my Uncle John Paxton. Just a great guy. Hugs to you, darling.