The Diego Diaries Part Seven

by arctapus

This is a continuation of the universe started in Diego Diaries and continued through parts two to six. The premise is a joke that led to world building. This is about family, friendship, overcoming adversity and finding the best parts of yourself. This is an adventure, a trek through the world of Transformers and its a comedy/drama. Everyone is here and if you are, too, then YAY!

408. Chapter 408

The Diego Diaries: Cloudy With a Chance of Footie (dd7 408)

Sorry about this. It snowed yesterday. Guess what I was doing. :P~~~~~

=0=That night

"How did it go. I forgot to ask."

Ironhide glanced at Ratchet. "Slagging fine. I have to say, I'm quite the footballer."

Ratchet grinned as he walked into the berth room. "I never said you weren't."

"And you won't," Ironhide said with satisfaction.

=0=Up there

"How did it go?" Prowl asked as he walked from the washroom to the berth. Orion was already there. "I never got to ask you." Prowl sat, laid back, then called down the lights. The darkness outside was broken by illumination from a lot of things, some of them flying overhead to and from the airfield.

"It went well. I haven't played a game for a while but some things you never forget. RC and Deion … Jetta … we used to play a lot and made money on it," Orion said as Prowl settled in his arms.

"You bet on yourself?" Prowl asked with surprise.

Orion grinned. "We did. We bought books with it. Deion and I were hard to beat and RC was very fast. Jetta could run and steal better than anyone I knew. Our game with this team is very like the one we played together."

"That's good. I worry about it," Prowl said.

"I would not," Orion said. "Its going to be an interesting affair. Some things you never forget."

=0=Elsewhere

"I think we're going to do well tomorrow at the game," Arcee said as she sat down on the couch next to Magnus. He was finishing up a few things on a data pad. "Orion is his old self."

"It paid off to play so much as kids," Magnus said. "I don't intend to lose tomorrow."

Arcee grinned. "That's my boy."

=0=Morning on the way to the game

"You ready?"

"Born ready," Ironhide said as he ambled to the door with three little kids sitting on his arm. They were wearing onesies and grinning from audial to audial.

Ratchet followed him with the rest of the children including Prowler and Halo in his hold. They walked next door, then opened it while the big kids walked into Blackjack and Alor's house. "HOWDY! YOU READY?!"

Everyone of his elders paused their hustling to glance at Ratchet.

"My, Sonny … you have a big mouth," Ravel said with a chuckle. He was swept off his peds as everyone, a cow and dog came inside.

Alor peeked in. "YOU READY!?"

Everyone laughed, then began to amble including Ravel who carried a full pack of snacks and drinks. "All the babies need to keep up their strength," he said as he walked toward the elevator. "I think snacks are essential."

Everyone grinned as Ironhide coveted the bag. They'd have a short pit stop at Ye Old Donut Shoppe on the way for the infant.

Ironhide, that is.

=0=Elsewhere

He walked down the street, then disappeared around a corner.

Someone hiding nearby had seen what happened. A very big mech walked toward another and shot him. That mech fell and the other turned casually to walk away.

The bystander hurried across the street, then knelt. The fallen mech still showed color which meant he was hanging on so the bystander called for help. It arrived swiftly and took him away. The conversation with the police would take longer.

Riding on a train, Xylon relaxed. No one sat near him as his aura discouraged the contact. He had out of curiosity searched for himself here, finding that he was a bonded mech with three kids who ran a machine shop he owned. The version of himself here was mild, well liked and hardworking. He loved his family, served his community on various committees and had been an Autobot during the war. That alone warranted his end.

That mech also named Rotor was tracked, watched, mused over and shot. It would be practice for the elimination of Megatronus soon enough. The train continued onward into the emerging afternoon in Iacon.

=0=In the locker room

Little kids stood by holding the leashes to a dog, a bug and three cows. All of them wore the 'cheer gear' for the Crater Comets as 'assistant coaches' and 'mascots'. The big mechs and femmes were lounging as they waited, chatting about anything but the game. They'd practiced and found their rhythm again with only a few additions from their game as played now. It would be showtime in minutes.

=0=In the stands

Everyone made it to the box including scads of humans. Everyone was stoked and so were the two hundred forty plus thousand fans in the Public School Arena of Autobot City. It was a colorful, enormously loud gathering of fans.

The cameras panned the stadium as Blaster and Jazz did their pre-game show with the punters on Earth. It was the usual combination of shop talk, the occasional question about the players and their lives outside of football and the running show on the jumbotron. When the game began, the punters would be shut down to allow Jazz and Blaster to do the commentary for the nearly 11 billion individuals around the Primal domain to hear.

Meanwhile …

:You look tense:

Prowl glanced at Ratchet. :You aren't?:

:Nah. Old mech will do me proud. Or not. Maybe:

Prowl grinned as the refs walked out to begin the mash up. :Maybe: he echoed with a chuckle.

Password who walked out with them had the comm system. "WELCOME TO THE GAME! WE HAVE CRATER COMETS AGAINST THE SIMFUR TEMPLARS!"

Cue madness.

Sela grinned, then glanced at Lauren and Chevron. They were here with a contingent of priests and religious from Cybertron. They were here to represent the home town fans in this, the game that might well decide their further participation in the championship run up to victory.

Or not.

They were sweetly talking together with some of them holding pennants for Simfur. The sun was bright, it wasn't terribly cold and life was good. The banquet they'd hold in the 'party room', the community gathering room at the Temple would be held right afterward. It would be fun.

It would probably surprise some how much fun it would be.

The teams were announced, then Simfur walked out. The entire group stood and cheered madly.

Orion and his team stood in the tunnel watching the show outside. A frisson of fear flashed through him and he could see, also Ironhide. Then it passed as they gathered to go forward. Orion would go first, stand a moment to allow Alor to play the requisite music, then the team would come followed by the kids and pets who were team good luck pieces apparently. This was the pattern when he played in the game.

They were called, Orion stepped out and stood on the line, glancing around himself at the crowd. It was a terrifying sight to see.

=0=Nearby

Prowl felt Orion's fear so tuned into the big mech was he. Then he felt it subside. He was beginning lately to feel what Orion felt and grasp his condition better even without the connection of a bond. It still wasn't the bond which was muted to the point of faintness but this had taken its place, this growing knowing. He watched fretfully as the team walked out, did the kata which incidentally he found out was the chant that Orion, Deion, Elita, Jetta and RC had used when kids.

Then they took their sides.

Prowl would be standing throughout the game, his anxiety levels as elevated as anyone there.

Ratchet on the other hand would watch the shit show with amusement. Old Mech was sturdy. He was goalie. What could go wrong?

=0=Alternative Iacon

Megatronus received the message about a shooting out of the blue near the downtown business area of the city. It was forwarded to him because of the similarities of a police alert for Xylon that had been made when Megatronus and the others had decided upon doing so while in the Matrix. He read it, then glanced up at a grim-faced Black Shadow, Six Shot, Overlord and Blue Bacchus. "This is not good."

Black Shadow nodded. "He hunted himself. This mech shot himself."

"He's after you, Megatronus. We have to keep you safe. We don't want any dissent from this because he might shoot someone else aiming for you," Six Shot said. "As chief security officer for the Empire, I'm placing you into restrictive protective custody. You're confined to The Residence or The Citadel until we bag this fragger. A bridge can get you from one place to another and you'll have a heavily armed escort. We also want you to put this on to give you body cover," he said as he held out a small device that plugged into a neck port.

Megatronus took it, looked at it a moment, then plugged it in. "I will comply unless something comes up that cannot be ignored. I surrender to your good services."

The mechs looked relieved.

Then Six Shot stepped closer. "I'll alert Prowl."

"Please do. I want anyone going after this mech to do so with the greatest care. No one should be harmed further by him. How is his victim?" Megatronus asked.

"He's going to survive. He has a family," Black Shadow said with real anger as the others nodded grimly. "I feel there's going to be no upside to taking him alive. I'm asking to have him hunted and brought down."

"That might be impossible. Prime said that his armor is impregnable by ordinary means. But he did say there was a code that spoken would deactivate him. I will discuss this with Optimus shortly," Megatronus said, then grinned. "Apparently he's in the middle of a football game."

Everyone glanced at each other, then Megatronus.

"Football?" Six Shot asked.

Blue Bacchus glanced at Black Shadow. "What's football?"

=0=Game

They walked out onto the field, the Crater Comets offensive line up. They won the toss and were prepared to 'slap the slag out of 'em' according to Raptor. They took their positions and waited. Ironhide was goalie, Raptor and Blackjack were backs to help defend the goal, Arcee, Hard Drive, Chromia and Jetta were wings while Orion was center and most of the offensive defense. The ref threw the ball at Orion and it was on.

Orion shoved forward pushing the defensive center off his peds while everyone came together like two submarines crashing into each other at full speed. Several mechs jumped on Orion though he didn't have the ball by then. He shook them off, then began to run after Arcee who had it.

Arcee ran like the wind as Chromia joined her to prevent anyone from laying a hand on her fleeing chassis. They were catching up but so was Jetta and Hard Drive, both of whom were slimmer than the big bruisers and very fast runners. Bouncing pursuit out of bounds with scientifically applied fists and flying kicks, they came as one into the defensive territory of Simfur.

The two defensive backs swarmed them and were engaged in fisticuffs with Hardie who was laughing loudly and Chromia who wasn't.

Arcee ran onward with Jetta and when he body slammed the goalie into the outback of the beyond, Arcee gracefully, prettily dunked the ball.

Score.

Crater Comets, 5.

Simfur Templars, 0.

Roar, etc as the fans weighed in.

Prowl was his usual demure self: "LOOK AT THAT! HA! OPTIMUS PRIME IS PERFECTION! WE HAVE A SCORE! TRY AND STOP THEM! THEY'RE HANDPICKED BY OPTIMUS PRIME!"

Ratchet who was standing beside Prowl watching him jump around, wave his arms and gloat like a mad hatter grinned. "That's Our Prowler." Then he joined him.

Down the way, a passel of clergy sat together, their little Templar pennants flagging a bit as they watched Prowl and the rest of Crater's big cheering section lose it in gloating and exultation.

Chevron grinned, then glanced at the Guiding Hand and Temple priests staring at the game uncertainly. "My friends? Does anyone have the personal line to Primus?" he asked sweetly.

None of them did but they had a good laugh.

=0=Hanging in the afterlife together

They sat around the visual of the game laughing with the priests as They watched the game transpire.

Onyx grinned slightly. "Would anyone consider Me sacrilegious if I fanboy for the Comets?"

The others glanced at Him, then grinned.

Solus laughed. "Not if You don't tell anyone." She materialized a Crater pennant in her servo.

It would be a very pleasant ball game on Cloud 9 this afternoon.

=0=TBC 10-19-2020 1-=25-2020

ESL:

Scads: a word meaning numerous, lots of something. Example: "Our party had scads of beer and scads of drunks." :D (old slang word)

Stoked: (Stoh-kt) excited out of your skull (oldish slang word)

flag, flagging, flagged: in this case, it means drooping or running out of energy, sadness and down turns in feelings also can mean the same.

demure: (dee-muhr) quiet, polite, very ladylike if you're female