Author's Note: I just want to thank my good friend Niteflite for letting me use her character in my series

Author's Note: I just want to thank my good friend Niteflite for letting me use her character in my series! Also, Blackarachnia had her daughter (named Lightning) in between this story and "Come In, Wanderers."

Night's The Time For A Flight

Part One

By: Flyby

Flyby was tinkering with the scanners in the command center.

"There. The scanners should work." She flipped a switch. On the screen appeared oval objects. One was heading for the planet.

"Flyby to Optimus."

~Optimus here. What is it?~

"I just finished repairing the space scanners. According to them, there are several stasis pods in orbit."

~I thought all the pods had come down in the alien explosion.~

"These must have been shielded from the explosion by the planet. And another thing. One of the pods is heading planet-side," said Flyby.

~Get to the pod! If you need back-up, call Air Razor and Tigatron.~

"Will do. Flyby out." The falcon opened a blast door. Then she transformed and flew to the pod at top speed.

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"Megatron," said Dragonite, "scanners report a stasis pod heading for Grid Alpha."

"Send Waspinator, Quickstrike, and Dinobot, and follow them. The Maximals must NOT get the protoform!"

"Yes, sir."

____________________________________________________________________

The pod landed smoothly in a clearing. A scanner came out from a panel on the side of the pod. "Scanning for compatible life forms," said the pod's computer. A yellow light came from the scanner.

Flyby flew into the clearing and transformed to robot mode. She watched silently as the lid of the pod opened, revealing a black panther with black bat's wings, a bat's head, and brown eyes. She smiled when she saw Flyby.

"Hi," said the new maximal.

"Hi, My name's Flyby."

"Well... Strikeout doesn't fit me anymore. Niteflite, call me Niteflite."

Flyby's jaw dropped. "Strikeout? Is it really you?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"It's me, Stardancer."

"No way," said Niteflite as she transformed. She was tall, and delicate. Her beast mode wings were draped around her shoulders and over her chest. She was all black except her large optics were green. "Is Windracer here too?"

"Yeah, but he goes by Cheetor now."

"Cool. Are my parents here? Oh, wait. You don't know them."

"Dang right. Look, we're at war right now with some rouge Predacons, so let's get back to base before we're jumped."

"Too late. Dragonite, terrorize!"

"Wazzpinator, terrorizze!"

"Dinobot, terrorize!"

"Quickstrike, terrorize!"

"Slag!! We can't take on all four of them. I better call Tigatron and Air Razor." Looking around, Flyby saw that Niteflite had taken to the air and was fighting with her only weapon, a quasar gun.

Flyby took to the air also, dodged some shots from Quickstrike, then shot her optic lasers at Dragonite.

"Flyby to Air Razor," she said into her com.

~Air Razor here. What is it?~

"Well, me and a girl named Niteflite, who came from the pod I was sent to secure, are under attaaaaaaaah!" Flyby screamed as Dinobot's optic cannon hit her back, disabling her jets. As she was about to hit the ground, Quickstrike shot her in the stomach, causing the falcon to fly back a few feet. Flyby slumped to the ground, unconscious.

____________________________________________________________________

~Attaaaaaaaah!~

"Flyby!" cried Air Razor. "Come on, answer me!"

~(static)~

Air Razor sighed. "Looks like we'll have to go to her, Tigatron." The two started toward the battle. When they arrived, they saw Flyby lying unconscious on the ground, and that the four Predacons were ganging up on the new 'bot.

Air Razor blasted the unsuspecting Waspinator into a piece of scrap. Niteflite gave Air Razor a smile. The two females then turned and fired their guns at Dragonite, who fell with smoking holes in him.

Tigatron in the meantime, had frozen Quickstrike, and was now fighting Dinobot. Both had taken damage. Dinobot fired his op. cannon at Tigatron, which hit him in the leg. Tigatron switched the setting on his gun. A white mist came from the gun and hit Dinobot, freezing his arm. Dinobot fired again, this time knocking the gun out of Tigatron's hand. Tigatron took careful aim and hit Dinobot with one of his rarely-used wrist missiles. Dinobot fell, unconscious.

Air Razor and Niteflite swooped down. Air Razor and Tigatron were about to introduce themselves when their memory datatracks came on-line with a quiet whirl.

"Strikeout?" they asked in unison.

"Mom... Dad?" The three smiled at each other then hugged (group hug ;-)

"Let's go home. You two need repairs as well as Flyby," suggested Air Razor. She picked up Flyby's body and the three headed for the Ark.

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"I hate waking up in that thing," grumbled Flyby.

"It's better than not waking up at all," replied Niteflite.

"That's true. has someone given you a tour of the base yet?"

"Yeah. Mom and Dad did it."

"Who are your parents?"

"Air Razor and Tigatron."

"Well, that makes sense."

"What does?"

"AR and Stripes are your parents. I mean, you act a lot like them," replied Flyby.

Just then Cheetor came in the room. "Hi, Cheetor," said Flyby.

"Hi, Flyby." Then Cheetor noticed Niteflite. "So you're the new girl. Looking good."

Flyby knew Niteflite was blushing. "You two don't need to be introduced since you already know each other," said Flyby.

Cheetor raised his eyebrows (he doesn't have eyebrows, but you get the idea). "I know her?" he asked.

Niteflite sighed. "You never change, do you Windracer?"

Cheetor's eyes went wide with recognition. "Strikeout?"

"Yeah, it's me. I go by Niteflite now, though." Cheetor gave his friend a hug, then he realized what he was doing and pulled back, blushing (he can't do that either, but you get the idea). Flyby burst out laughing. Her two friends looked at her.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself," she explained. There was a long silence.

Niteflite broke the silence. "I'm leaving tomorrow," she said.

"Why?" asked Cheetor.

"I want to explore this world. My best way of doing that is joining my parents as another long range scout."

Suddenly it dawned on him. "Razor and Big Cat are your parents?" he asked in a surprised voice.

"Yeah."

"I'll just leave you two alone," said Flyby. She then left the room and went to her quarters. The two cats just stood in silence.

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"What?!?!" exclaimed a seriously unhappy Megatron.

"Those maxies got there before us, boss. We tried to stop them, but they called for reinforcements. If you want, I'll go an' kick their kiesters for ya," replied a now un-frozen Quickstrike.

"Get out of my sight!!!!!" bellowed the predacon leader. All the now repaired 'bots left before Megatron changed his mind and scrapped all of them. Meggs slumped back in his throne, deep in his thoughts. The Maximals have nine more soldiers than us. This must change. Suddenly a plan popped into the evil leader's mind.

"Tarantulas, report to me now," Megatron said into the ship's com system. There was a look of complete evil on Megatron's face. This time I won't fail.

"Mwahahahahahaha!"