NOTE: I am going over the entire story fixing the spelling stuff and editing it like crazy. I wish I could tell you how idiotic some of my mess ups are. I think I type too fast, write words as I hear them rather than how they are actually spelled and somehow miss stuff in spell check. SIGH! I am a doofus. :D
-0-Here we go!
The Diego Diaries: Moving On 1
-0-In front of Polyhex Tower, Metroplex Highway 1, Autobot City, Mars
Gathering in front of the tower, they waited for the others to arrive. Ravel held Praxus who was singing at the top of his vocal capacity for whatever reason he had. Orion who was sitting on Alor's arm watched him a moment. Glancing at his grandatar, he pointed at Praxus. "Pax, him?"
Blackjack grinned. "He's happy."
Orion considered that and grinned. "Quack."
Blackjack glanced at Ratchet who snorted. "Don't ask me. Little mech lives in his own world."
"They both do," Blackjack said glancing down into the basket at Hero. She sat looking upward with a smile. All was well in her soft blankie and dollie lined world.
The crowds filed by as Prime and his group reached them. Behind came the twins, Bluestreak and their younglings. They stood commiserating with the LOSERS until Venture and Miler appeared. "How are we getting to the restaurant, Ratchet?" Miler asked liberating Miracle from his atar.
"We have to put the infants in the back of Ironhide's alt format and have the girls ride to Terra inside one of us. We can transform and go there on our own," Ratchet said pausing to look at the elders in their group. "You do have an alt format?" he asked them.
They looked at him, then each other. "We have Cybertronian formats. That won't matter will it?"
Ratchet snorted and shook his helm. Glancing at Ironhide, the big mech turned and moved to the street in a break in traffic flow. When he had changed, the little mechs were loaded up and then the infants placed in their laps. "Hold onto them," Prowl said firmly.
They nodded and waved as Ironhide slowly drove off. Ratchet glanced at Prowl. "How about getting train service for civilians to the city as soon as possible?"
"I am going to take that up with Jetta. They have a line already going that way. Maybe we can parallel a line beside it for civilian use. Perhaps even above ground. That should be easier and faster," Prowl said watching as Venture turned and the little femmes were placed inside his cab in their baskets. The others began to change following as traffic allowed. Prowl and Ratchet watched them as they waited.
"That would be the best way. Non-sentient buses are a possible idea but trains with enclosed cars that have aids would help for the new school and traffic will be cut down severely if residents out there can come and go on mass transit."
Prowl nodded and moved to the street. "Last one there is a rotten targ," he said peering back at Ratchet. He grinned. "Loser." With that, he transformed and moved out.
Ratchet snorted and transformed himself riding Prowl's tail all the way. When they arrived everyone was already there holding infants and bantering. Prowl and Ratchet transformed and Ratchet kicked Prowl in the aft. "Whiner."
They laughed and paused a moment looking around. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with the flow of traffic managed around four lanes going each way with a round about traffic device in the intersections. Towers stood all around them, grouped into neighborhoods rectangular in design. They weren't laid out around a gravel pit or quarry. They were placed on the grid strategically to create neighborhoods and business areas.
There were tall towers for offices, businesses and government workers. There were shorter more stylilized buildings for businesses. A tower for the Sparkling Day School was nearly finished, copper glyphs announcing itself glistening in the late afternoon sunlight. The place was immaculate where finished and the construction farther into the town rising ever higher.
"This place is going to be awesome," Ratchet said looking around.
"This is going to house up to 300,000 new residents," Optimus said. "That tower back there will be the one with the hospital for this area. Since we're so close to the industrial plants, we will cut time for anything that happens there a great deal. Also, the residents won't have to go so far to get treatment."
"That building over there," Ravel said pointing to a huge domed construction that sat on a large city block by itself, landscaping only just beginning. "What is that?"
"That is the Sports Center," Prowl said. "That is going to have a huge pool and space for games and families to come and play. The air locks for the pool are state of the art. Jetta surpassed himself. Again."
"That mech is a spark attack waiting to happen," Ratchet said nodding.
They turned and looked up at the tower before them, a business tower that reached up 50 stories. As the tallest building in Terra, the very top held a saucer-shaped disk that was home to the restaurant and bar they were attending. "Onward ho," Ratchet said with a grin.
With that, they turned and walked inside an immaculate lobby, heading for a bank of elevators that would take them up with gusto.
-0-Day/Night Watch Substation 4
They sat on a bench, their angst proceeding them. They had been hauled out of the game for disorderly and drunk in public. They had missed the game. They had pissed their genitors off. Their 'nana' would have a lot to say about it as well.
And they had missed the game.
That about summed it up.
Watching the mech on duty inputting three drunks ahead of them, the three sub adult younglings sat back. Bummed. "This is not how I expected this to turn out today."
"No."
Silence.
"My Ada is going to kick my aft."
"Yes."
Pause. (Heated look) "Is that all you have to say."
"Yes."
(Stewed silence)
-0-The Restaurant in the Sky
They exited the elevators and walked toward a door across a highly polished stone floor. The restaurant was spectacular and as they were led to their seat in a surprisingly full restaurant they could see all the way back to Autobot City. Sitting, parking infants, they looked around.
"This is so nice, Ratchet. I've never been to such a nice restaurant," Ravel said glancing here and there.
"Get used to it, Ada," Ratchet said with a grin.
The waiter came and took orders, walking away to bring drinks as the adas in the mix pulled sippie cups from subspace. Ratchet looked at Sunstreaker who was lounging in his chair watching Kaon grin at Blue as he waited for his cup. "Is it too soon to ask about the game or have you passed all the stages of mourning yet?"
Sunstreaker gave Ratchet a baleful look. "You're supposed to support me no matter what."
"I know," Ratchet said. "The doctor is in. Care to unload?"
Sideswipe glanced at Ratchet and grinned. "On the refs. Sunstreaker should have had the second shot."
"Poor mech got a shot to the helm, then he got another one," Ratchet replied. "That should count for something."
"I hope his family collected him, poor sparkling," Prowl said nodding. He didn't even try to hide his grin.
Everyone looked at him. The raspberries were intense. He grinned more smugly and sat up straighter. "Losers."
Hilarity ensued.
-0-In the all knowing optic
Blaster sat talking to sportscasters on Earth doing the post game wrap up. The game was becoming pretty clear to human viewers but the 'subtleties' were subtle.
"Blaster, how is it that they can land fists, kick each other in the back side and stand on each other's necks? That is foul territory here," a sportscaster from Spain asked.
"We never said we were a refined game," Blaster said with a grin. "This game came out of the hard luck neighborhoods and was an underground event like the gladiatorial bouts in Kaon. They were overlooked because they were so popular. No one would have had the bearings to stop them and they were eventually elevated to the whole society."
"This appears to be a mix of rugby, soccer, football American style and field hockey if those games were put together and played without rules. How do you manage not to have serious injury and have players died playing?"
Blaster paused a moment thinking, then nodded. "They have on Cybertron. The game was a status symbol for the players, a way out of the underclass. They held on with everything and the play was fierce a lot of the time. I've been at games where players died. No one on Earth can play at this level of ferocity even accommodating for your own species and not suffer injuries or death. We're stronger and we can take a lot more but we do keep medics and good doctors at the games."
"The little kids … we've seen their games and love them. They play tag football, right?" a sportscaster from ESPN asked.
"They do," Blaster said. "We have incredibly strict rules for our infant league. Only tag. Only touch. No tackles, no body contact. I want my son to play football at some point and I want him to go into the infant leagues. Whether he plays at the adult level is his decision. I will support him and so will Revet."
"Blaster, we get to see a lot of different Cybertronians, some of them infamous. Do you maintain that football is a way to bridge the gap of differences between you and unite your population again? Many of them are Decepticons," a French sportscaster asked.
"They are. There are thousands of former Decepticons here. They are united by war fatigue, hatred of Megatron and his lies, loss and the overwhelming desire to protect their families and friends from a mad tyrant. We are one here. We have made a way to move ahead and the support for our colony and Prime is overwhelming. Football is a good way to remember how to feel Cybertronian again. You can be Kaon or Vos again. We love this game and we're pretty tribal about our teams. All of our teams represent city-States and people line up behind them. It makes things exciting."
"Do you feel that broadcasting games and other shows about you helps humans to understand and support your people and effort? You are aware that there are outbreaks of violence here by those who oppose you in this solar system. They believe Earth should be for Earthers," a reporter for the New York Times asked.
"We are aware. We are also aware and pretty skilled at remembering other planets facing Megatron's wrath who wanted us to go and are now charred embers floating in space. We think allowing you to look around is a good thing. Anytime you can let others see you to understand you, that's a good thing. We would hope that understanding is the end product of our effort. That and respect too. We are after all placing our treasure on the line here too as we protect the solar system," Blaster said turning a camera toward Revet who sat in a rocking chair holding 'Vette who was sleeping. "That is what I fight for. That is what I will die protecting. That should never be underestimated. That is why Decepticons and Seekers defected, the threat to their families and the weariness of lies. We are all here making this our stand. They will pay in spades if they make the mistake of coming here. Football is just one window you can look through to see our resolve on this issue," he said.
The conversation continued.
-0-On the way to the Substation near Industrial Park 1
:Drift and Springer:
:Drift here:
:Springer here:
:We have a call of a fight in Old Maccaddam's Oil House:
:On our way: Springer glanced at Drift. "This is going to be fun."
Drift smirked. "I hear ya," he said as they turned and hurried through the crowds to the tower where Blurr's bar was located.
-0-At the Restaurant in the Sky
Dinner came and was had, drinks were drank and football discussed. Kaon's two cavaliers were thoroughly commiserated with, getting surprisingly little simpathy but loads of sass. The restaurant itself someone noticed after their second drink actually turned slowly. The view of the city they had seen when they came in was replaced by a view of the vast plain.
"This is pretty nice. I'm glad it turns," Ratchet said with his third high grade. "I thought I was getting overenergized faster than I planned."
Ironhide snorted. "Watch out for that, old mech. The last time you did that we got her," he said nodding to Hero who was sitting on the table chewing on her digits.
"And what a fine 'got' she was, Ironhide," Ratchet said reaching out to tweek her ped. Hero paused and smiled holding out her arms for him to pick her up.
Alor beat Ratchet to it and kissed the little waif. "Who loves ya, baby?"
"Telly Savalas. That cop show, Kojak," Ravel said with a grin. Glancing at Prowl, it faded. "No offense, Prowl."
"None taken," he said with a chuckle. He wasn't feeling any pain either. "I'll tell you what. Why don't Ratchet and I go on the town while you all take care of the sparklings?"
Everyone looked at Prowl for a moment. He blinked. "It was just a suggestion."
Prime snorted and grinned. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "We'll divide the infants up while you and Ratchet go play. Celebrate the wild cards and such."
Sideswipe snorted. "Rub it in."
"That's alright," Prowl said rising slowly. "Who loves ya, baby."
Hilarity ensued.
-0-TBC
2012 (12)