The Diego Diaries: Face Off (literally) (dd6 585)
=0=Game
Kaon gathered at the bench for a time out to discuss strategy off line as Prime walked to his with the team. They could have stayed on the court and looked sexy but it was good form to take a moment when the other slaggers were still looking for their fingers. Gathering together, all of them, Iacon back slapped and did all the jock stuff that makes (men's) sports so hetero.
After a moment, they walked back out with a grim(ly determined) Kaon team putting the ball in (*again!*) at their end zone for the ins. Sideswipe bounced it between Raptor's legs as he did and it flashed into Rad-R's servos. Rad-R spun and ran straight into Blackjack's chassis. Bouncing back, he managed to hand it off to Sunstreaker before stumbling to the sidelines to fall on his face.
The ref whistled but no one paid attention as the Invaders did their well (practiced) oiled magic (skill driven hotness) to deprive the Kow(d) Boys of their (back teeth, middle fingers, car keys, will to live, etc) chance to score. It was a battle of elbows and hip bumps until at long last Sideswipe went out of the game sideways and hit the wall. Sticking for a nanosecond, he slid down and landed on his helm. Falling over, he lay on his back listening to the crows crow as he clenched the ball so tightly in his servos that two refs had to pull it loose together.
Ratchet leaped over the edge with a graceful swan dive, landed on the ground, then hippity-skippitied to his son to check his noggin.
The crowd howled.
So did the Invaders.
Prowl frowned prettily.
The Kowboys were holding their opinions for a moment to see if Sideswipe was going to come back in or go to the machine shop for a total rebuild.
Ratchet knelt, then turned Sideswipe's face toward his own. "Hey, ba-bee. Tell me how many adas you see here?"
Sideswipe looked at him dully. "Fifteen?" he asked groggily.
Ratchet scanned his aft, deduced mild concussion and benched his sorry backside. Sunstreaker rolled up and they had a fierce off line conversation about it before Ada proved his point to his sonny boy. Ratchet grinned, then hauled Sideswipe to his peds. Glancing at the swaying slagger, he patted his aft. "I'm here, baby. It's Bluestreak."
Sideswipe wilted, then threw his arms around Ratchet. "Blue. Babe," he managed before sliding down Ratchet's body to hug his ankles face first on the floor.
The crowd howled.
So did the Kowboys. (Not in a good way)
Iacon was sharpening their nails as they watched 'one down and many more to go' unfold.
Ratchet gripped Sideswipe to help First Aid and his helpers load the slagger. That six of them were kids from the Watch Mentor program and now the C&A Program at the Med Center was icing on the cake. They fussed Sideswipe on board, then helped carry him to the tunnel where they would shake him hard and fix what rattled. Until then, Kaon was down half of their (not so) secret weapon.
Ratchet walked back, climbed the steps, then angled over to stand beside Prowl who was staring at the twins regroup down below with an amused expression. He glanced at Ratchet. "You don't even try to be normal, do you."
"Nope," Ratchet said with a giant smile. "How about giving me back my maracas?"
"Never," Prowl said as he crossed his arms over his rather nice chassis.
"Okay," Ratchet grinned as he messaged his Appa Ratchet to hand him something behind Prowl's back. He did. Ratchet took it, put it up in the air and tooted his air horn. It startled mechs and femmes everywhere, possibly even two miles away before his ada ripped it out of his servos from where he was standing behind Ratchet on a bench to watch the game.
Frowning at his wayward boy, Ravel leaned in. "How is our boy, hoodlum?"
Ratchet grinned. "Top drawer. They'll change a few filters and his oil, then he'll be back." A rap of knuckles on his helm greeted that but Ratchet didn't care. His appa had his tambourine, too.
=0=Down below, if anyone still cares …
A deeply agitated Kaon put the ball in and ran around in circles. Shoulder bumping this and that mech they made it to the zone and after running straight at Ironhide, leaping rather than ramming, Tulley flew into the air and shot for the basket.
Hard Drive leaped again like a fragging gazelle, albeit a very old and classy one, then bounced it off his servo.
Tulley stared at Hardie, Hardie stared at Sunstreaker, Prowl stared at Prime, Ratchet winked at Appa Ratchet, Appa Ratchet cackled at his namesake, a tambourine was clandestinely passed, Huge-E made a vow, Kestrel nearly swooned at his son's greatness, Prowl caught sight of a tambourine, Miler was taking pictures of the game, Edict worried to Madura about the roughness of the play, Borealis assured him that Rad-R was good enough to handle himself, Prowl frowned at Ratchet, Ratchet banged his tambourine and began to sing an Iacon team song, Prowl lunged for the tambourine, Ravel frowned at his son as he saw him raise the tambourine, Appa Ratchet nearly fell off his bench laughing at his namesake, Ravel rapped Appa Ratchet on the noggin for aiding and abetting a(n oversized) delinquent, Prowl missed the tambourine but slipped and nearly fell off the balcony, everyone gripped him and pulled back, then the ball went in again for Kaon.
Everyone then turned toward the game, mercifully, as the clock continued running.
A ball flew here and there as big mechs worked out the mathematics of cramming it in a hoop or someone's pie hole as a last resort, then stuffing the hoop with both. Hugh-E watched it get stolen by Raptor then flash passed to Prime. That was when he put into motion what he hoped would be either deeply useful as a tactic or a banishment from the game penalty. Either way, he was satisfied.
Hugh-E put his servos behind his back, then ran forward toward Optimus who had just gotten the ball in his own and was turning to run for the goal. Just as he did, both he and Huge-E ran into each other with a clang heard around the world(s).
Optimus Prime could pick up 500 tons or 1,000,000 pounds by himself without breaking a sweat. It was greatness like that which made him so admired at the docks when he was a young longshoreman. That was the tonnage that usually took combiners to achieve such as Predaking, for instance.
He was massive, Primal frame massive and almost without parallel among their species. Primal frames which he nearly bore already before ascending were designed to be perfect, nearly unlimited in their ability to take abuse and protect the spark that bore the Matrix. He was magnificent, Our Optimus.
Hugh-E or Huge-E as he was called was a massive frame himself, almost in height as tall as Prime. He was powerful in a way that was hard to quantify just like Prime. He was also nearly square built and when he got up a head of steam almost unstoppable. When he bent into Prime to push him backwards, he was Even Steven with Optimus in the big mechanism category.
Prime leaned into Huge-E, pushing back hard. They strained, their groans echoing off the rafters. As long as Huge-E didn't link his arms around Prime and hold him, doing this was legal. He also wouldn't have the problem of manhandling the Messiah Of Their People among the religiously minded. All he had to do was get traction and Prime was toast.
Prime knowing all Huge-E had to do was get traction to toast him pushed back as well. Both of them were amazed given that few existed who could monkey with either one of them like this.
Hardie waited tensely in the goalie zone watching the struggle. Everyone else was jonesing to get the ball but Kaon had them blocked. If Prime threw it they would be intercepted. All he could do was push back and hold onto the ball as tightly as possible. That was then Prime began to slide.
A cry of intense surprise went up in the room as Prime began to slide toward the Kaon net. That was also when two fights brought out between Kaon and Iacon as Prime slid. Topper, a big mech with a love of fighting … the Kowboy's Raptor … was slagging it out with Raptor on one side of Prime as they both worked to get inside (or not) of the two behemoths to steal the ball.
The other was Spindler and Blackjack who were mixing it up with big smiles and Marquess of Queensberry fisticuffs on the other side of Prime. They would put forward classic boxing form and punching as everyone waited to see what happened now that two trains had collided and were still determined to get their own way no matter how many hubcaps fell off in the process.
It was all great fun.
Maybe.
Prowl had stopped slapping and jumping on Ratchet to get the errant tambourine as he froze in place, then nearly fell out of the box as he leaned in to see what was happening. That's when he began to send to Prime his highly reasoned, highly mathematically formulated advice ...
:WHAT THE FRAG! KNEECAP HIS AFT, OPTIMUS!: -Prowl laying down The Wisdom
:BWAHAHAHAHAHAA!: -Prime receiving The Word
Ratchet on the other hand had gotten out his camera and was taking videos of the two fights going on, the tension in Hardie as he waited for the pushing match to resolve itself, the sight of Chromia cracking her knuckles as she waited to go into the game, Arcee lounging on the bench with a grin as she spotted him, then waved, Jetta bent over laughing loudly as he sat beside her and last but not least, Elita who was rubbing Jetta's back gently with her servo.
Like that.
GRUNT!
PUSH!
SLIDE!
THEN … *SLLLLLIIIIDDDDEEEEE*!
Optimus Prime, Messiah of the People, He Who Who Is On A First Name Basis With The Most High Themselves lost his traction on the blindingly polished and shiny floor finding himself moving backward at high speed. Huge-E moving like a street sweeper shoved him hard enough that Optimus flew off his peds letting go of the ball as he did, then slammed into the wall behind the basket hard. He slammed hard enough that Ratchet's tambourine fell off the wall where he'd put it and landed on his helm like a cockamamie crown.
It was silent for a second, then several things happened all at once. Hugh-E scored for Kaon. Ratchet got a punch in the face from Prowl who had to be restrained from jumping over the wall. First Aid and six seriously worried appearing kids ran out with a stretcher to assist Prime who was sitting on the ground with a tambourine on his head. Nearby waiting with deep and abiding attention and willingness to SERVE THE PEOPLE, a good dozen other mentorship kids peered out of a couple of the tunnels leading into the bowels of the building toward locker rooms and other places.
Cybertronian basketball. It isn't for the faint of spark.
That was when the siren sounded and the game ended for the halftime break.
Iacon, 15, Kaon, 5.
Prowl, several.
Ratchet, none.
Tambourine, frisbeed into the parking lot at half time by Prowl.
ESPN Christmas Blooper reel, more than a calculator could add up.
=0=TBC 2-3-19 edited 2-4-19 edited 2-16-19
NOTE:
'hetero' short for heterosexual or straight in gender orientation … it amuses me in men's sports how they slap each other on the backside when they excel. It sort of seems so … cute. :D
"By the way, Guest, Optimus and Prowl didn't have a Praxian ceremony. Does that mean they actually have a legal bond? Prying … uh, inquiring minds want to know. Good catch. Maybe Ratchet can resear-"
"ON IT!"
;)