Game Plan
As the Autobots discovered more about the Human culture, sports had become a common way to let off steam and use downtime in a command-approved manner. Hockey was popular for quite a while, until an unfortunate accident involving the puck, a slightly over enthusiastic Brawn and one of Wheeljack's experiments led to it being banned.
Out of the many sports, baseball, soccer, football and rugby were seasonal favorites. But it was basketball that was the most enjoyed all year round, with even Prime indulging in the occasional game.
Prowl had just finished his work shift and was quietly sipping a cup of energon at a table in a corner of the rec room while going through the daily reports. He had almost finished when he heard a call of "Hey Prowl! Waasup?"
He looked up to see Jazz striding towards him, trademark grin in place. "Not much." Prowl answered as Jazz grabbed a nearby chair and straddled it, arms crossed on top of the chair's back.
"I was wonderin' if ya could help me with somethin'." Jazz began. "Y'see, the brothers challenged me an' Blue to a B-ball game, only ol' Blue-boy's down for the count in th' repair bay. I woul'a asked Hound, but he's plunging down cliffs in th' middle-o-nowhere somewhere with Trailbreaker. Wheeljack just got 'imself a whole stack o' new toys from NASA, Ironhide don't do basketball, the Dinos are under house arrest fer what happened to Tracks, an' everyone else is doin' somethin. So wadda ya say?"
"Well, I suppose…"
"Great!" Jazz beamed and grabbed the tactician's arm, hauling him up. "C'mon, they're waiting for us on the court."
"Booyaw!" Sideswipe hollered as he slammed the ball through the hoop in a perfect slam dunk. Prowl caught the ball on the rebound and threw it to Jazz from the sidelines. Jazz caught it easily and sprinted to the other end of the court, the twins quickly moving to intercept. Sunstreaker closed in to steal the ball, but was thrown off as Jazz faked left and passed it to Prowl as he ran past on the right. The black and white quickly whirled around Sideswipe and threw the Autobot sized basket ball for a clean drop through the hoop.
Perfectly in sync, the twin Lamborghinis began their new attack vector, zigzagging the ball from one side of the court to the other with high passes. Prowl quickly calculated the next throw and sent the information to Jazz, who positioned himself, knelt and cupped his hands. As Sideswipe threw the ball back to his brother, Prowl placed his foot in Jazz's hands and Jazz launched him straight up, allowing him to intercept the ball easily. A dunk by Jazz brought the black and whites into a tie with the brothers.
"So," Sideswipe puffed. "Best of five or next shot wins all?"
"Wins all o'course." Jazz grinned. He and Sideswipe faced each other across the center line as Prowl prepared to throw the ball. The 2IC launched the ball straight up…
Vvvvmmm BANG!
Starscream hovered above the quartet, his arm laser trailing a wisp of smoke as charred scraps of basket ball fluttered down. "Aww, did I ruin your little game, Auto-fools?" he smirked. The rest of the Seekers flanking him sniggered. "We've got you out gunned and out numbered. Give it up."
"Starscreech up there seems to think we're outnumbered." Sideswipe commented rather loudly to his brother.
"As if him and his stool pigeons could ever play fair." Sunstreaker snorted. "But then again, they're so weak they have to fly in packs just to protect themselves."
"Got that right."
By now the Decepticons were fuming as the twin's carefully orchestrated taunting broke down their focus.
"Hey Jazz, since our ball just got shot howzabout whoever bags the most birdies wins?" Sunstreaker suggested with a truly evil grin.
"Sounds good to me." Jazz replied nonchalantly.
"Sideswipe, flank left, Sunstreaker, flank right," Prowl quietly radioed. "Jazz and I will go down the middle. You must capture the high ground."
"Roger."
"Gotcha."
"Whatever."
In the moment of silence before the battle, Prowl heard the soft slide of pistons and gears as the twins coiled for the kill, echoed by faint hum of the Seekers charging up their lasers. There was a scratch of gravel as Jazz got his footing; then Sunstreaker uttered one sharp word.
"GO!"
The twins bolted, sprinting side by side in a near suicidal charge, quickly followed by Jazz and Prowl. The startled Seekers took a moment to react, but by the time their lasers were ripping up the court, the Autobots were nearly underneath them.
"GET THEM!" Starscream screeched as he twisted in mid air to get a bead on Jazz. He was about to fire on the Autobot as he scrambled up a low hill, but was rudely interrupted by Sideswipe as the red twin ignited his jetpack and ripped the jet out of the air. Dirge was next, savagely tackled by the yellow Lambo as he launched himself off a tall rock. Jazz and Prowl began harassing the Seekers with laser fire from behind, throwing them into further confusion.
Starscream lashed out with a desperate kick and managed to dislodge Sideswipe long enough to get airborne again. Thundercracker flung a missile at the struggling Sunstreaker and Dirge, the explosion blowing the two apart and allowing Dirge to limp skyward.
"RETREAT!" Starscream squawked as he transformed and fled, leading his fellow Seekers around the far side of the mountain.
"C'mon, let's finish them!" Sideswipe was about to fly after them, but he felt Prowl's restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Wait." The tactician instructed, a small smile just visible.
In the distance, six smoking jets veered away from the volcano and struck out across the ocean, the lasers from the Ark's automatic defenses chasing after them.
"You planned that, didn't you?" Sunstreaker accused.
"Perhaps." Prowl replied, his smile growing slightly.
"Well, it seems that Prowl here just won the game." Jazz beamed. "Wadda ya think Sides?"
"Appears so." Sideswipe shrugged. "But we would've won if Screamer hadn't interfered."
"Whatever man. Good game though."
"Yup."