The Diego Diaries: Valles Ho! (dd7 351)
=0=Morning at the Southern Airfield past the Autobot City Stables and The Fortress
Ratchet stood beside his runabout waiting for the rest of them to come. He had loaded up the vehicle the night before cutting his own personal monkey motion in half. Others drove up carrying their own gear which they stowed in other vessels. There would be four of them and they would all go flying off together.
Hopefully.
It was cold but sunny. He'd sneaked out of the house before anyone was awake but Ironhide who grinned, then rolled over to go to sleep.
Ratchet stared at him, then grinned. / … romantic slagger, I'll say that about you … / He walked out quietly, headed for The Takeout Place for a breakfast sandwich, then transformed to drive to the airport. It was just getting busy here with a lot of individuals heading out to various places in the growing and ever diverse National Park System that was designed, administered and created out of the endless possibilities by the Department of the Interior ran by Beachcomber.
Vehicles drove up, mechs and the odd femme got out and everyone began to load up. When they were finished with that essential chore, Ratchet walked to his own. "MOUNT UP AND FOLLOW ME!"
"Primus preserve us," Prowl said as they began to climb into rather large runabouts. Lifting off, they flew into the blue skies heading for the Valles many miles away. They were lost to sight in moments.
=0=At Campsite 14-16 at Campground 17 in the Upper Valles Park System
A huge mob of mini-cons had staked out their turf and put up pup tents and other shelters that would be their home-away-from-home during their stay over. They had their families, both young and old as well as a mob of children running around making noise. There were chairs around fire pits here and there and in the center of the camp area for them, a stack of beer cases and some hard stuff were piled. It would appear that their 'bar' would help anchor a large 'kitchen' where boxes of food were also stacked.
Sitting in some of the chairs were elders, mechs and the odd femme who were chatting away, sipping beer and eating food as they relaxed into their long planned vacation. The mechs were still setting up tents, more chairs and moving things into their central 'stuff' location to keep things as organized as they could.
Youngling mechs and a few femmes were flirting and fooling around giving zero assistance to the adults. Pets barked and ran around with the children and it was evident that they were going to have a great time together. It would be there that they'd have their usual swinging party without knowing that next to them would be that of Ratchet and his.
There was going to be a hot time in the old Valles tonight.
=0=Flying there
:Hey, Loon: came to him over the inter-ship intercom radio. Ratchet grinned. :Is there someone calling me? Some pinched faced spinster-type perhaps?" he replied.
It was silent a moment, then the voice was back. :There's no one in this party that even comes close to that description but you, Loon:
Ratchet laughed. "Prowl, Prowl, Prowl … what do you want to know?"
:We're supposing you have things organized. I was considering how we're putting our lives into your hands. A rather scary thought all around if you ask me:
"That's alright, Prowler. No one asked you," Ratchet said as he began to make the descent. The others followed him in a row.
=0=At home
Optimus Prime onlined his optics, then turned his helm to see a row of infants staring at him with big smiles. He grinned. They grinned. Then they began to climb into the berth with him. It would take some of them a while.
=0=At home as well
Ironhide snored onward. The kids who had gathered to stare at him glanced at each other. Then they walked into the hallway to gather together with Generalissimo Orion. He leaned in and began to 'whisper'. "Lou not talkeded to Atar. We goed there," he said pointing to the kitchen. "We doin'." Then he smiled like the sun.
Hero glanced at the others, then Orion. She smiled. "I'll help you, Orion. We can eat our breakfast, then make some for everyone else."
Orion beamed, then hugged Hero. He then hugged Prowler, Praxus and Halo. "Lou good me, Ho-Ho. Lou do good me. Lou my she." He smiled brilliantly.
Everyone smiled brilliantly back, then stealthed down the hallway to the kitchen far away.
=0=Landing in the vehicle parking lot at the Valles
Everyone landed, then climbed out. The Squad and a number of others were there, all of them bonds, all of them the ada part of their bond's equation, mostly, and all of them were raring to go. They gathered to stare at Ratchet.
He stared back, then dazzled them with a smile. "I imagine you're wondering why I called you all together?"
"Loon," Prowl said with a smirk.
"Prowler, you're always so … predictable," Ratchet said as he opened the back of his runabout. He reached in and grabbed a number of very fully packed duffels. He tossed them to Prowl. "Carry these and I'll bring more. Bring your stuff. Our campground awaits. It's next door to Munchkin Land I was told."
"Oh, joy," Prowl said as he gathered more stuff, the two duffels and began to trudge up the hillside trail to campground space #17.
It was a merry group that wandered along, waving at the seemingly thousands of mini-cons at the two sites next to them before they reached their own. Each of the sites were outlined by low stone walls to keep things straight. They reached their big space, dropped their gear, then turned to Ratchet again.
"What do you have planned now, Ratchet? I'm almost afraid to ask," Ravel said as the others laughed.
Ratchet took the duffels from Prowl, then smiled. "I brought tents. You can use your own but these are genius. The mechs at The Camping Place wanted me to test them. Watch this," he said as he turned to the empty space beyond and tossed them to the ground. He pulled a small device, then pressed one of the two buttons on it. That's when the magic happened.
=0=There
They climbed onto chairs to get the things they needed and wanted. Praxus waited on the ground to catch stuff that Hero and Orion tossed down to them. Prowler stood next to him watching everything with a smile as he held the leg of his Teddy bear. He was content as ever to just be there even if he didn't have much to do.
It would be an eclectic group of things that would land amongst them, all of them tasty things to eat. That most of them weren't necessarily breakfast things wouldn't matter. They were 'helping'.
=0-#17
They watched as the duffel bags exploded. Emerging into thin air were inflating shapes that flew upward, then landed on the ground. The two huge tents bounced several times, then landed at last. Everyone stared at them, then Ravel walked to one.
It was a huge tent rather like a child's bouncing toy. He stepped inside onto the inflated floor, then stared out of the doorway. All of the sides were open at the moment because the flaps came fastened for the inflation process. They would be unfastened and form walls for privacy and against the elements with ease. He bounced a moment, then grinned. "This is nice. What a surprise."
Everyone laughed, then glanced at their gear. It would only take a moment for gear to be dropped into the huge tents both of which had a jaunty little pennant flag on the top like some kind of medieval pavilion.
Prowl walked out of his, then grinned at Ratchet. "What now, Loon?"
"Set up the fire pit, slagger. Chairs for everyone. We can put any food or booze that anyone bought in the middle space there," he said as he watched Madura set up a large fire pit cum barbecue. "I have the food on delivery. We can get fancy pants some other time. I want to eat a lot of food, tell a lot of lies and get slag faced. Amirite?"
Prowl laughed in spite of himself. "You gave up cooking? I rather miss your frying pan."
Ratchet subbed his little one with Ironhide's name on it. "I brought Tiny with me. Old Meat Getter can come next time."
It would take a moment to organize things, then sit down with the first of many beers to come. They would shoot the shit, wave at mini-cons and wait for lunch to be delivered by drone from The City. Things were just about perfect in everyone's world.
So far.
=0=There
Optimus Prime made pancakes for his children. They were sitting at the table with Possibility in his high chair. He was making bunny pancakes for the kids, pouring the batter with his usual precision. Rambler was helping get things together, plates and utensils, while Spirit and T-Bar got things to drink and condiments for the pancakes.
Prime grinned at his kids. "What is your plan for the orn, Rambler?" he asked.
"I was going to go to the stables and ride horses with my friends. You don't mind do you, Atar?" he asked.
"No, I do not mind. I am glad you have these things to do with friends," Prime replied as he stacked pancakes on plates for T-Bar and Spirit to deliver. They settled the routine for him to go, then got things ready to eat together.
"Atar."
Prime glanced over his shoulder into the dining room. "What, Miracle?"
"Where is Ada?" he asked sweetly as he watched T-Bar 'butter and syrup' his pancakes. He smiled. "BUNNIES!"
Prime grinned. "Ada is having the orn out with Uncle Ratchet. We will see him soon."
It would be a chatty morning at The Residence as the Prime of Cybertron, the Bearer of the Creation Matrix, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, ruler of a vast empire and First Disciple of Primus ate bunny pancakes with his kids.
=0=There, too
They were eating their breakfast when Ironhide strolled in, pausing to take in the scene. They were sitting at the table eating away, chatting together and making almost no noise. They glanced at him when he came into view.
"ATAR!" Orion said. "Lou comed to I, Orion and dems?" he asked pointing to the others. "Lou my she."
Ironhide grinned. "Maybe," he said. He walked closer to peer at their food. It wasn't bad. Cereal and jello, donuts with jam filling and toast. He grinned at them, then made his own plate of the same thing, sitting down to join them for breakfast. The dread kids and Sunspot would still be sawing logs as they did.
=0=#17
They sat around their campfire eating from boxes delivered by drone from The City. It was a good lunch of sandwiches, desserts, pizza, a few desserts and other delectables. It had appeared out of the sky and landed because Ratchet had the locator for it in his subspace. Everyone unloaded it, then sat down with boxes of food and drinks.
In the campsites nearby, the mini-cons watched with amazement. Their ammas who were famed cooks had packed a lot of stuff to make meals with. When they saw the drones land a tiny femme ambled over to ask about things. She was given lunch and sat down to chat, discern this 'newfangled thing', then amble back to the other elders who rose as one and began to pummel the mechs after she told them how much easier this was for all of them.
Ratchet and the others who were watching grinned at the spectacle. "Several things," Ratchet began. "First, I've never seen so many femme mini-cons in one spot before especially that age. Second, its going to get wild around here tonight. They can not only bring in food by drone but hootch."
Miler who was watching a tiny femme dive bomb a number of contrite-appearing youngling mech grandson appearing individuals glanced at Ratchet. "You don't think there's going to be trouble do you?" he asked slightly nervously.
Ratchet snickered. "I slagging hope so, Milie."
"Don't fret, Ada. Loon, here speaks drunk," Prowl said with a smirk.
Ratchet glanced at Prowl, then dazzled him with a smile. "All of the dialects, Granny."
=0=TBC 8-11-2020