The Diego Diaries: FOOTIE! (dd8 82)
=0=T-minus two joors
"ORION! PRAXUS!"
Two little mechs ran in, then slid to a halt.
"ADA! WHAT YOU!?"
"Here. Get these harnesses on. I don't want to lose you in the crowd and end up at war with Cybertron when they try to give you back to us," Ratchet said with a grin.
"ADA! YOU'RE FUNNY!" Hero said as she helped Prowler and Halo into theirs. She had hers on already.
Of course.
They rummaged around shrugging into their harnesses with the GPS monitoring chip and location finder software. Hooks were hooked from leashes and kids stashed by the door, clipped to an ornate wall brace that Ratchet asked Ironhide to make for him.
"PUT THE FRAGGING HOOK ON THE WALL, IRONHIDE! WHEN I GET THEM READY TO GO I DON'T WANT TO CHASE THEM EVERYWHERE!"
"WHY NOT GET A HORSE HITCHING POST THEN! PENNING THEM UP LIKE LITTLE PONIES! WHAT THE FRAG!"
"DON'T BRING YOUR BRONEY SLAG INTO THIS, SLAGGER. DO IT!"
He did it. He liked it. He would die before he said it.
"ADA! WHY ME? I, ORION NOT DOIN'!"
"That's right, you little slagger. You're not doing because I hooked you to the wall. YOUR OLD ADA WASN'T BORN YESTERDAY!"
It was silent a moment as they took that in.
"Ada, you were born a zillion years ago. Right?" Hero asked.
Ratchet paused gathering stuff to look at her. "A zillion years ago? Who told you that?"
"Atar," she said sweetly.
"Oh," Ratchet replied with 'sweetness', too, around the battle lust that roared up.
"THAT'S MY NAME! What's up?" Ironhide asked as he walked out of the berth room lounge with the big kids.
"Later," Ratchet glowered. "Are you infants ready to go to Appa and Amma's house?"
"We are, Ada. We can go with you to Cybertron and help," Fireball said as he surveyed the infants chained up at the door. He grinned and they grinned back.
"No. You go to your party after the game. Ammas and Appa said they'd manage things until we get back," Ratchet said as he hugged them.
"I hope you make the playoffs," Quadrus said.
"We do, too. We'll come to that one for sure," Genesis said as he hugged the little kids. Picking up the cat, he put Cousin into his hold where there were things to play with and his 'sleepy bed' as the little kids called it. "Is there anything we can do now?"
"No. Go. Play. Stay out of jail," Ironhide said with a grin.
A lot of laughs and hugs later, the door closed behind them.
"Those infants are golden," Ironhide said as he glanced at the others. They all smiled back at the same time. He laughed as the door opened and elders began to filter inside.
Alor picked up Halo and Hero, uncoupling them from the hook. "DIBS!"
Turbine and Delphi picked up the others, stowing them as well.
"Well, our work here is finished," Turbine said with a chuckle as he picked up bags and the carry basket where the girls could nap if they wanted. It was even possible for them to watch the game if they wanted from comfort and safety through the clear domed cover.
"Slaggers," Ratchet said as Sunspot came dancing out of his room with Spot and Robby. "I'M READY TO GO!"
"YOU ARE, HANDSOME!" Delphi exclaimed as he swept Sunspot up into his arms. "Are you ready to mascot the team?"
"We are, Amma. Bos, Reflector and Co-D are going to meet us at the team's room," Sunspot said. "Spot can come. Can Robby?"
Everyone stared at the little cow who stared back. Glancing at each other, they shrugged.
"Sure." -every adult in the room
Children were stowed along with a cow as everyone gathered the rest of the 'stuff' that always seemed to go with. Subbing it, they walked out the door to destiny. It would be a short hop to Iacon and a shorter ride by bus to the stadium. It would be he first game played by the team that wouldn't have human fans along for the ride.
=0=Family Tower
Food was everywhere, snacks, drinks and 'meal makings' as Merlie Epps said. Cooking had been done for hours and it was enough to last through dinner later in the evening. Desserts, drinks, beer and sodas were abundant.
After all, it was **GAME DAY**!
The huge screen was tuned into the MCA-IntraCom feed that was currently spinning around Iacon through the camera system there. Towers and beautiful streets were plain to be seen as the views came and went. There were places of great devastation, areas where construction was heavily ongoing and the rather large and growing much larger area where construction was over.
Jazz and Blaster were shooting the shit with sportscasters and news people from all over Earth and Mars. Below them was the immaculate stadium where the game would be played. The stadium was filling up, heading toward its maximum (at present) capacity of 120,000 spectators.
:Tell us about the reconstruction, Jazz. Some of your city looks beautiful and some doesn't yet: a sportscaster from Ireland asked.
"We've rebuilt about 49% of the city focusing on redesigning the plans, building habitations and business areas to do the most good for the most people. Our city is really old as are all of the developed areas of Cybertron. We've redesigned the plats so that it makes more sense and puts features where they do the most good rather than where someone in the past decided to start something.
"We've housed millions starting with those most vulnerable. Its going on everywhere. Some of our rural areas, villages and small towns are completely reconstructed with good facilities for common use, new features for the population such as schools and a business area that's better organized and laid out. Industrial areas are clustered rather than scattered around. We've preserved a lot but we've also taken to spark the haphazardness of some of the older areas. We've also set things aside as historical preservation sites."
:When you came, the stories were grim. There was a lot of starvation and rough living. How has that changed and how far do you think you have to go before you get it in control and under construction everywhere?: a newsman from Sweden asked.
"We had so much destitution that it was a nightmare. We had to manage the starving stampedes of civilians who were on their last legs, the Decepticons who were still in control on the ground and the homelessness of most of the population here. There were about 1.3 billion civilians and soldiers still here with most in dire, and I can't state it enough, extremely dire conditions.
"We had to hunt them out, moving against the 'Cons in a few circumstances and overpower them with our effort. You can't discount the sight of metrotitans coming into the atmosphere to quell any wild aft behavior from the local thugs. We came in with a few and now there's about 4,600 on the ground permanently.
"Because we have that much industrial, medical and food infrastructure in place, we've been able to help our people out of starvation and medical desperation. From that came the work force that stepped up to rebuild our civilization. Right now, we have years ahead of us to make sure everyone has a home and a chance to do the things they want. Businesses are doing well and schools are everywhere. People are housed in camps and other arrangements for now but the goal is everyone in a house or apartment. No one left behind is our ultimate goal."
:You have a cashless society, right? How does that work?: a news man from Peru asked.
"We have a cashless society by common widespread mutual consent. Given that we place our greatest value on our people, the idea of them having to suffer for anything after all this is just wrong. Our people work, go to school, raise kids, own their own business, do the job they choose, take time off to recover, make the military a career, do the arts, all of it. They can rest up, then choose. Elders don't have to do a slagging thing again. You can stay home and take care of your family. You can think up things, write for a career or have six careers. All of it's good.
"Given that everyone works for each other, everyone supporting each other, it means that nothing you need or want is off limits. The store that really throws our new immigrants is the grocery. They go there and see all manner of things they could only dream about, even the former high castes. They get what they need … food, a chair, electronics or whatever, then walk out with it or have it deliver. It doesn't cost a cent because they paid for it already with their labor or choices of what they do with their time. We work for the common good for all and everyone loves it.
"It makes them nervous at first, the freedom to choose and have. They expect to be arrested but its the way the system works here. People work to create stuff. People patronize and use it. Everyone is happy. We're a different society now. We value everyone. Everyone no matter who they are is as equal as anyone else so there's no haves and have nots. Its the most peaceful society I've ever lived in. We have so little crime its almost scary while on Cybertron there were entire districts where no one went who was an authority, it was just that dangerous and angry." Jazz grinned. "When everyone is valued by everyone, then discord and trouble disappears."
The conversation continued.
=0=Crater Comet Locker Room in the Iacon Regional Stadium
They entered the room, moving around the space to sit and relax. All 23 members of the team were here without anyone on the reserve list due to injury. Given that the league had expanded the rosters because the game was so violent that some teams were down to their coaches, a gimpy center and a ball boy by half season, it was decided that more players meant better times for all.
Of the teams in the fourteen member league, only the Crater Comets had the number of femmes playing for them that they did. They were Elita, Arcee, Chromia and Winnie. They were called by the media on Earth the 'Four Femmes of the Apocalypse', something that was amusing to the femmes as they gathered by the beverage machine to plan strategy.
"When we get the ball we slag them to the Pit and run as fast as we can to the hoop. Anyone who gets in the way we mow them down. Any suggestions or is this good?" Chromia asked.
None of the other three objected.
Of those that remained to be counted, it was clear that there were different groups banding together for the team. Of those who were family, Ironhide, Raptor, Hard Drive, Flint and Steiner were from the same gene pool. Friends from the old neighborhood included Optimus himself. Jetta and Magnus, though Arcee and Elita were children with them as well. Former Decepticons were well represented by Payload, Maelstrom, Nitro and Scar. Autobots included but were not limited to Bulkhead, Twin Twist, Sandstorm and Devcon. Joining at the last possible moment because he 'liked slagging slaggers' was the venerable Kup.
Hercy would join the next season if 'you make it through this one, recruit'.
They were big, experienced and in for basketball when that season rolled around again. Baseball was also under consideration.
And golf. That one, too.
They sat down and relaxed as they waited to be called to play against the toughest team on Cybertron, the highly motivated, enormously huge and determined Brigadiers of Nova Cronum.
The slaggers.
They sat or stood around being tended to by four little kids while three cows and a dog lay in a pile by the door ready to show their team spirit when the call came.
=0=In the Prime's Box
They clambered in, sorted themselves out, got rifled for infants, then glanced toward the field. It was immaculate as was the entire area. The sky overhead was as inky black as ever but the light system was amazing. There were search lights flashing through the sky to celebrate the playoffs of the Primus Cup between the Crater Comets of the Martian League and the Brigadiers of the Cybertronian League. The place was as full as a place could be.
Songs, cheer gear and dancing in the arena seating areas made the place a spectacle, a terribly welcome one. The only one who wasn't dancing, singing or making merry was Prowl who was hunched over a datapad ready to download intel to Optimus at just the most opportune moments. He wasn't joining in on the fun but he was making a spectacle of himself anyway.
So there was that …
=0=TBC 02-02-2021 02-21-2021
I am going to post What Makes No Difference Is No Difference, A Transformer: Prime story part 27 tonight. I was supposed to post it yesterday but I had a hiccup in the game plan. Doggies. :D:D:D HUGS!