The Diego Diaries: FOOTBALL! (dd6 314)
-0-On the field of battle
It would be amazing to those watching from whatever planetoid feature or dimension they were just how fast the little rats were and how slow the big frames could be in comparison. Even though they were terrifyingly swift in most of their movements and situations, watching them try to grab the little slaggers walking and running around in their tiny alt modes was hilarious.
Huge groups in the stands were singing songs for the musical interlude as Ratchet, Springer, Drift and Kup raged. Walking to the center of the field like they were on a hike, Hercy and Roadbuster sauntered.
"What do ya wanna do, Appa?" Roadie asked.
"You drive them this way and I'll brand 'em," Hercy said as he concealed his tazer behind his back.
"Gotcha," Roadie said as he turned toward a knot of little half wits taunting Metrohex nearby.
They saw him, then ran around the big mechs legs, making a break for the other side of the field. They tried to skirt Hercy who stood silently watching them approach, then they moved too late as he came forward with astonishing speed. They weren't as fast as him as he tagged them one-by-one. Falling like summer hay before a scythe, they fell in heaps on the ground twitching from the shock of a lifetime.
The crowd roared as Jolt and Dymascus walked over with their boxes. Grabbing the little twitchers by an arm or leg, they were tossed inside.
Jolt grinned. "Nice haul. Four down, ninety-six more to go. You lost the element of surprise, Hercy."
"Maybe," Hercy said with a grin. He looked around. "Let's go help Ratchet."
They walked that direction to where Ratchet was rolling around on the ground with half a dozen mini-cons who knew how to mix it up.
When he reached them, Hercy leaned in. "You need help there, Ratchet?"
Ratchet who was being beaten senseless glanced at him with fury. "No."
"Okay." Hercy grinned, then walked away.
Roadie who smirked slightly as he watched Hercy leave reached down and began to pick up mini-cons. He threw them down field in the general direction of Jolt and Dymascus who were standing in the center of the field chatting about the duty shifts on Charon. As they bounced on the ground, the two picked up the riffraff as they landed and bagged them.
The crowd was delighted.
Prime was howling.
Prowl was smirking with disgust and delight.
Ironhide was wondering how much of a beating he'd get if he didn't go down to help.
Warlord and his brother leaped into the air from the stands and began to give air support to the fighting on the ground. Sweeping in, they grabbed slaggers by whatever they could get, bringing the winged version of everyone present to their peds to salute and sing patriotic songs.
Oddly enough, that included Prowl.
Metroplex was so pissed for Ratchet that he reached down to pick all of the little slaggers up and jerked Ratchet to his peds in the process.
Swaying like a runaway drunk, Ratchet looked upward, sort of. "Thanks."
Metroplex who had three minis in his servos grinned. "Don't mention it."
Ratchet cracked his knuckles, cricked his neck, then ran forward in a slightly wavering line to the next pile up arriving there eventually.
Springer was getting his clock cleaned.
Drift who was nearby was chasing three little squealing intensely delighted femmes. They were hoofing it like debutantes just ahead of his grasping servos.
Tee-hee-ing as they galloped along, they could see themselves on the jumbotron. They made it to the Kaon bench, then crawled under it.
Drift who on a normal day could pivot on a dime and leave change found himself unable to stop. Perhaps some deep down mechanism labeled 'stop' in his mainframe was glitching or maybe he was just too pissed but either way he kept going, tripped over the Kaon bench, then flew headfirst into the wall of the stadium.
The humans leaning over the edge to watch flinched mightily as the great Drift went down for the count. Lying in a pile with perhaps a neck two inches shorter, he watched the sparkles in his optics for a while.
Springer who would have galloped to his defense was being rescued by his old ma.
Ratchet had rattled up, lunged about three times before he gripped a mini-con who was actually the real one among the three he was seeing at the moment, then turned and began to spin to throw his aft all the way to the Industrial Park Cities. Around and around, both of them went. The mini-con screamed as Ratchet spun like someone throwing the hammer in some Robot Olympic Games.
Unfortunately for both of them, Ratchet couldn't or wouldn't let go. Both of them flew off for quite a distance before crashing to the ground. Fortunately, Ratchet landed on the mini-con.
Everyone who had paused a moment to watch then turned back to the task at hand. Mini-cons dropped into boxes, mini-cons ran like the wind. Policing forces kept arriving and soon it was down to the big frames, about 25 mini-cons, a slowly rousing Ratchet/Drift/Springer and the one referee who wasn't smashed flat at the start.
"What the frag," Ratchet said drowsily as he stood up and weaved in a circle. Something was bent in his gyros he considered so he demanded his programming to fix it. It did. It happened so fast that Ratchet lurched just in time to trip over a tiny pickup truck heading as far from Typhoon's giant servos as he could. Ratchet did a complete flip in the air, then landed on his back.
It took all Ty had not to step on him. He didn't but that didn't mean that 6 fleeing mini-con mechs and three little giggling femmes didn't run up his chassis getting away from Hammer of Primus.
He would need a new buff when this was over.
Among other things.
-0-In the stands
"I have to go down there." -Ironhide
Everyone nodded.
"I'm afraid to go down there." -IH
Everyone nodded.
-0-In the midst of battle
They bagged the last few, dropping them in the box. Three terribly sweet, very drunk, giggly little mini-con femmes rode on the servos of Acroplex, Metrohex and Titan rather than the box because they were cute and it would look bad. They didn't do anything anyway but run and jump around, flinging their arms and flirting with everyone so it wasn't like they deserved to be strung up by the neck until dead like the others.
It was clear that Tyke was smitten.
Drift who was crawling on his servos and knee assemblies got past the Kaon bench because the players lifted it up to let him by. He kept going until a stretcher arrived and he was loaded up.
Springer who was hanging like a limp rag in the big servo of Fort Max was given a stretcher of his own.
Ratchet was still flat on his chassis watching the birdies sing as overhead a number of mechs were staring down at him.
"Hey, Ratchet? You still alive?" Hercy asked as six worried kids ran onto the field and blew the collective processors of their oblivious families in the stands.
"Is he alright, Appa?" Coros asked.
"He's going to be fine. I want you to know that if we ever have a chance to be in the human Olympics, I'm going to suggest Ratchet to represent our gymnastics team," Hercy said with a straight face.
The boys nodded, unaware of what he was really saying but they were with him and he was saying it so it was true.
Like that.
Hercy grinned, then watched as Ratchet was loaded up.
Nearby, Kup was loaded as well and they were given a hero's salute as they were managed off the field.
Nearby in the stands, Ironhide was hoofing it with Ravel to the exits to see what the frag they could do about it. Mostly, Ironhide was steeling himself for the gigantic shot to the kisser he was probably going to be receiving.
-0-Lying on gurneys in the triage center
Ratchet was watching the light show in his helm as the others were getting theirs.
First Aid reluctantly walked away from Bumblebee who if he were a human and Aid was as neurotic about him there as he was here, Bee would be lying in a head to toe plaster caste with intravenous lines out his ass. But he wasn't so he wasn't.
Yet.
It was a frenzy of doctoring as several friends on staff at the hospital walked in to assist.
Ironhide crept in with Ravel who paused next to his son. "Son? You alive?" Ravel asked with anxiety.
"Dorfo-blahsmia," Ratchet said as he looked at the lizard people standing over him. It was clear that he was in their clutches and would need rescue. If he could remember who he was, he would call for others he couldn't remember either to come. Whoever they were.
Somehow, he knew this wasn't Kansas anymore.
"He's really got his bell rung," Ironhide said.
Gypsy plugged in, then grinned. "He's going to be fine. Just a lot of rebooting and stuff."
"Good," Ravel said with a sigh. "This is one wayward youngling but he has a spark of gold."
Everyone grinned at Ravel.
"He has. Why don't you go to the game? I'll help get him stabilizing so he can reboot."
"Do you think that's going to be okay?" Ravel asked anxiously. "I don't want to not be with my boy when he needs me so."
"It'll be alright," Gypsy said with a smile. "I'll stay with him."
"I'll get you back to the stands, Ravie. I'll be right back, Gypsy," Ironhide said. "What will he do? Recharge until he's rebooted?"
"I think so," Gypsy said with a slight smirk.
Ironhide nodded. "Uh, I'll be right back. I have to help Ravel get back safely."
With that, the two walked out of the door.
Gypsy grinned. "Ratchet is so going to clobber you, Ironhide."
-0-On the way back
"I can find the place, Ironhide."
"I know, Ravel. I just want to make sure. Old mech will be out of it a bit so ..."
They walked onward.
-0-A joor later
Ratchet sat up as the last program clicked in. He looked around at the mob.
Springer, Drift, two mini-cons, and Kup were lounging on their stretchers, the odd groan punctuating the silence. He looked around and didn't see Ironhide. Grinning slightly, he felt along the bond link just enough to locate him. He was in an agitated state of being. Either Kaon was winning or losing. He lay back down, then grinned.
Two could play at this game, slagger.
-0-A joor later than that
They walked along the corridor heading to the triage station. The kids were parted out to a number of different individuals so that Ironhide, Ravel, Tie Down, Raptor, Turbine, Alor and Hard Drive could go see how everyone was. They walked into the triage center, then looked around. No one was there but a kid cleaning up the place.
"Where's everyone?" Alor asked.
The kid glanced at them. "At the hospital. They took everyone there."
It was silent a moment, everyone glanced at each other, then with haste they hoofed it out almost as one.
The kid watched them go, then grinned. "Heh-heh-heh," he said to himself, then he put the broom in the closet and left to go to the after game party with his friends and family. His work here was done.
-0-Emergency, Autobot City Medical Center
They fogged in, pausing by admissions. "Where's Ratchet and the others?" -everyone
"That away," the clerk said pointing to the elevator. "They're in intensive care."
Everyone stared at him, each other, then ran for the elevator. They packed in, then went to ICU. Bursting out, they hurried to the station. "Where's Ratchet and the others?" -everyone
The nurse on duty looked at them. "If you can hush, you can go in. Understand?" he asked with a fierce look of fierceness.
They nodded suitably cowed, then were allowed in. They entered a room with beeping devices, several mechs in berths with thermal blankets over them and a nurse or two here and there looking worried. The mechs had plugs in every orifice as they lay in a dense stupor with their optics off line. A soft moan could be heard from them now and again.
Ironhide crept forward until he reached Ratchet. His big old peds were sticking out of the blanket so he found him easily. Nearby, Drift was moaning as he lay attached to devices everywhere. Ironhide took Ratchet's servo gently. "Ratchet?" he asked with a bit of fright.
A loud moan rose from the area where Ratchet's helm was supposed to be. It was awful.
-0-TBC 3-31-18. Edited 4-1-18 01-19-2022