The Diego Diaries: The Next Orn (dd8 352)
=0=On the street
The atmosphere of The City was bustling and upbeat as the colony prepared for the first game of the Adult Basketball League of Mars. Tonight in the arenas at Retriades, Kaon would take on the Comets and Vos would try to defeat Polyhex. It was getting to be a grudge match between the two teams and their respective fan bases. Retriades would be ground zero for the night life that would kick off the weekend of more basketball games and other sporting events as reported by The Hourly News during Sports Table that morning.
"Tonight is the first game of the basketball season but the weekend has a full slate of sports for those who live for such things as we all do," Tarley said with a chuckle. It was the portion of the show where they would hook up with a different sportscasting group from Earth to talk about the rather fabulous sporting world of Mars and Cybertron.
Cymbol who was his partner in the daily hourly broadcast nodded. "There's going to be a full slate of races at the Autobot City Race Track with a grudge match between racers from Cybertron and the colony world of Velocitron. The name of that colony will tell you something about the near fetish the Velocitronian colonists have for racing and speed. We're going to get to that later in the chat.
"The championship of the Rugby League gets settled tomorrow at the School District Arena in The City with the Alphas of the University of Mars and the Bangers of the University of Iacon from Cybertron. This will be the first championship in the sport that includes both worlds.
"There will also be a continuation of the season for Lobbying and Cube. Golf will be organizing to begin a tournament series in September and we will discuss that with Password shortly. The children's sports are concluding with T-Ball and football. Swimming and archery are still underway with culmination in a regional meet up in the fall." Cymbol turned to the screen with the humans listening. "Let's talk about basketball or as we called it on Cybertron, basketrek." He grinned. "That's where some of our seemingly odder rules and play come from. Its a similar game played for millions of years on our home world."
"I wondered about that," a sportscaster from Earth said with a chuckle. "What do you see about the game tonight between the defending champions, the Comets and the Kaon Kavaliers?"
Tarley considered the question. "I see a battle for dominance right out of the gate. I believe that the Comets have the edge in skill and teamwork. Prime has played basketball here longer than most and he was an enthusiastic player on Cybertron with our version, basketrek from the time he was a kid. His team works at their cohesion and I think its going to take a lot to get ahead of them. I see them, barring trouble or injury as the team to beat.
"Kaon is very tough. They have a lot of talented individuals but teamwork and just acquiring the skills this game demands is difficult and a process. The playing field is smaller than we use with basketrek and that counts. I expect a lot of aggression to get possession of the ball from the Comets by Kaon but unless they've honed their skills to the level of Prime and his teammates I don't know that it'll be enough."
"I agree," Cymbol said. "Kaon is a scrapper. They never give up and they have a very aggressive offense. Their defense is tough but they're not as fast and agile as the Comets. Prime took his time to assemble his team. He's got a great balance of offense and defense. Chromia is a force to reckon with and her teamwork with Elita-1, Jetta for the set ups and Arcee is seamless.
"Ultra Magnus and Prime are a pair to draw to. I would hate to try and defend against any of them. The most telling point of their team is their goalie, Ironhide of Praxus. He's tough and fast but so are the offensive players of Kaon who are incidentally his sons. No one cuts corners even for family. Its going to be family pitted against family with the twins on Kaon playing against their elders on the Comets team."
The conversation would continue and all of the sports covered before Sports Talk finished and GOOD MORNING, AUTOBOT CITY! began. That venerable show would discuss sports, gossip around the colony, interview a number of movers and shakers including Jazz and Blaster about the new film crews due to arrive to expand the human-bot film community alliance, recipes for game foods if you were having a party or hanging out at home to watch the game and a chat with the maintenance crews of the Retriades Basketball Arenas.
Eclectic as ever.
=0=Sharing Time at the classroom in Centurion
"And then we get to go home to our hotel apartment and have a party." Sunspot smiled his million watt smile before passing the talking stick to Jamie Jameson.
"Sounds like fun. What's it like to walk out in front of so many spectators, Sunny?" Terradive asked.
Sunny considered that. "I don't think about it anymore. The first time was scary but you can't really see individual faces so its just a blur. It makes it easier."
Reflector and Co-D nodded.
Terradive glanced at Jamie. "What about your life, Jamie?"
:We're having a birthday party for my dad on First Tuesday: she began as the others listened, happy for her.
Most of the kids in the room knew there was some kind of thing going on with some of the humans at Earth2 and that there might be trouble for their fathers. Jamie wasn't included but Camilla Brown's father, Hamilton was. It was a subdued Camilla who attended school gratefully everyday for some sort of consolation and diversion.
It would go on like that.
=0=Ratchet
He stared at his costume in the box that he'd ordered from Earth. It was insane and amusing, something that most cheer gear from Iaconian fans at any sporting event might concoct. That he went this far was to press Prowl's buttons rather than a desire to be this big of an exhibitionist. He was comical, confident, fun and adventurous. What Ratchet wasn't, oddly enough, was a true exhibitionist. It was a fine line between that and having fun.
He packed it up, slid it back into the closet, then headed out again. There were ambassadorial things to do, the evening to organize and food to order in for The Boyz™. They'd be watching the kids while the Squad went out and strutted high. Given that Springer and The Boss™ would be riding the range to round up the doggies, they'd be on their own.
After every major event in the colony that boded badly for the common peace, there would be fights, drunkenness and all around hoo-haw for several orns after in the bars, game stops and other entertainments, especially if there was a lot of folks out and about. It was a miracle given their level of trauma that there wasn't more of it than there would be.
He would stoke his internals and get an array of medical things added to subspace just in case. Ratchet had been in enough base towns and other encampments to know that it would be impossible to get through the weekend without shootings, stabbings and other slag to break up the monotony of the peace. He walked out with a perk in his step heading for the Med Center and the Secretariat of State on the 34th floor.
=0=The Skwad
Madura dried off his son and set him on the bed while he got the armor lotion and settled on his outdoor gear. Proteus was at work at the Halls of Order and Maduro was going to meet him for lunch with Rugur.
Both Rugur and Proteus would join Boyz Night In at the hotel where Ratchet and Ironhide lived. A lot of the boys were congregating for a poker tournament among the punters. It was a glorious thing that he would be bar hopping while Proteus would be losing at poker with real friends and their son.
Life was never better than this.
He grinned at Rugur who grinned back, finished his shine, then slid him into his gear. Picking him up, he slid him into his carry hold, then walked to the door. Glancing around at the immaculate apartment, he stepped out to go to the grocery, order some things, get others to make things for the boys' party, then meet Proteus. Life would be as happy as Madura ever remembered as the door closed behind him.
=0=Edict
Edict held his grandson as he watched over him. He was babysitting until Full Circle opened and he could go back to work there running the cafe for the business. The sun was streaming in as he held the baby on his lap. They were in the rocking chair by the windows. Edict was pointing out the many landmarks beyond that would be part of the baby's life here. It would be peaceful for both of them as they waited for Bron-E and Borealis to come home.
=0=Laslo
He hurried to his office to finalize the schedule for office hours for his students. They wouldn't begin until First Monday but he liked to have his upcoming work week planned out ahead of time. Given that he was a futurist it wasn't a surprise.
Lucien was working getting things lined up for Ratchet to pour oil on the waters of a number of individuals on Earth who were still rattled by the attack. He'd be accompanying Ratchet if the need arose to go there to speak. He enjoyed it, he told Laslo. It was a learning experience and it helped him gauge what he did with the experience with humans first hand.
Lucian would be going to the poker game tonight, a move that made Laslo almost delirious with happiness. It was forward progress. All of their sons would be working hard to keep everyone from killing each other during this, the first weekend of basketball. All of the squad would be at the Kaon-Comet game and then the fun would begin when it was over.
Morius and Inweld had passed their medic testing with flying colors and were now in the rotation to be permanent substation medics after a basic shakedown. Until a permanent opening appeared for them to be as settled at a substation as Partition, they would go where the need was. It would allow them to see the different cities and pick up experience. Partition had told him that they'd be assigned in no time.
It made him happy as could be to know everyone was getting their footing. He himself would be losing his about midnight with the Squad. Life was good for Laslo as he furiously planned his week to come while anticipating the evening ahead.
=0=Prime
He sat in his office working on this and that. His minions would testify before the Legislative committees about the attack and it would help the people here and on Earth to understand what had happened and what they were doing to make sure it didn't happen again. As he did he considered the new plays they'd honed for the game this evening. He couldn't wait to play.
As he sat thinking about it a small portion of his processor turned over the only spot on his personal sun left to settle in some fashion.
Paladin.
It was personal.
=0=TBC 01-26-2022
Odds and Ends and the such:
My niece Bobby Jeanne is a hoot. She used to say to my little mom, her most beloved and onliest granny when Mom was doing a good, 'You're strutting high there, Grandma'. Heh, heh, heh. Amusing.
Basketrek is canon in Transformers. So is cube, lobbing and a football game called mecha-soccer. They also had sports like sumo, sharpshooting and prismaball. They would also hold such things as tournaments (I lost the list but will let you know when I find it) as well as card games galore. Millions of years before humans did, Transformers actually pole vaulted as a sport. I'm going to be adding things as I go along. Who wouldn't?
Eclectic: not following a pattern but creating your own. Choosing from an array of things to make your own thing rather than following an established pattern, rather like my house. LOL!
