Windblazer Prime, who owns Danielle, Alisa, Mark, Regina Ellen Tennyson, Evelyn Tiana Tennyson, and the names for Ratchet's, Evelyn's and Regina's Anodite forms. She also owns Shadow Striker/Shadow Steel.

I don't own anything in this story. The game Operation belongs to Hasbro.

Watching And Worrying

Ratchet smiled as he watched Mark and Alisa playing a game called 'Operation'. He was babysitting them while Danielle and Kuphulu were on a mission with Rook Blonko. Rachel was at work while the other aliens were all either at work or with their families, so Ratchet, Mark, and Alisa were pretty much the only ones there.

The Autobot Medic now watched as Alisa tried to carefully pull out one of the many objects in the 'Operation' game. The look on her small face reminded him of when Danielle and him would play the game and she'd be concentrating very hard on it. He then saw her successfully pull out the object she had selected from the nearby doctor and specialist cards. "Good job, Alisa," he said proudly.

"You've gotten better at not making it buzz," said Mark.

"It's a little hard," Alisa admitted. "But fun."

The game finished in a tie and they begged Ratchet to play with them. So, he turned on his holoform and they played a few more times. "You know, your mother and I used to play this game all the time when she was younger," he said. "In fact, we still play it every now and then."

"It's a great game," said Mark.

"Yes," Ratchet agreed. "It was one of the things I used to teach your mother how to be a medic, mechanic, and a technician."

"How?" asked Alisa.

He took a moment to explain the parts of the game and other games he played with Danielle to teach her. She learned best that way and he could see his two grandchildren were eager to learn the same way their mother did. He even told them more about their mother's Cybertronian form.

In her Cybertronian form, she was a six changer, meaning she had six forms: a kitsune form, where she could go either Cybertronian or human size and retained her ability to talk; a predacon form where she could grow at the size of Predaking, very similar to her kitsune form and still retain her ability to talk; a grounder form, which was a 2014 Pink Fuchsia Chevrolet Camaro Concept; a jet form, which was a pink fuchsia and black Lockhead Martin F-35 Lightning II plane that was as big as Dreadwing's alt-mode; and a wolf form that was also similar to her kitsune and predacon form, where she could be Cybertronian size or human size and once again retained her ability to speak in that form. The two children were amazed at that and asked then asked Ratchet what he called himself in his Anodite form.

"Night Striker," he answered with a smile. "And my twin brother, your grandfather, was called Shadow Striker in Autobot form and Shadow Steel in his Anodite form."

He then turned serious. "But there is someone very dangerous that is like your mother and I," he said. "Nightingale."

"Why's he so dangerous?" asked Alisa curiously.

Ratchet took a deep breath. "He looks just like me and sounds just like me, but is very sinister, threatening, evil, smooth, seductive, sly, crafty, persuasive, tricky, cunning, menacing, conniving, sneaky, and arrogant to name a few. Also, he is painted in red and black color scheme, has many scars of poorly patched wounds all over his chest and arms which are very apparent, and has ruby red eyes optics, along his Autobot symbol in the same place as I have mine," he said.

"Does he have an Anodite form like you too, Uncle Ratchet?" asked Mark.

"Yes, young one," said the Autobot Medic. "In his Anodite hybrid form, Nightingale goes by the name Lightning Striker and has the same body structure and hairstyle me, expect his hair is bright red highlighted with a light purple streak, his skin turns bright purple and also has many scars like in his Cybertronian form, his left eye remains its ruby red color, but his right eye is dark Energon purple, and his purple Autobot symbol tattoo is also on his left shoulder. He also wears his Autobot necklace around his neck, as I do. As for his clothing, he wears armor instead of a black jumpsuit like I do, black fingerless gloves, black combat boots and black trench coat like myself, but his set of armor consists of a chestplate, waistguard, gauntlets and legplates, which all features a silver tint. The pauldrons also don the purple Autobot symbol over each one and his legplates are designed with a unusual decoration, or tattoo to be more exact. Also, his armor is worn with black pants, silver elbowplates underneath the gauntlets and complemented with an black belt that is tied above the waistguard. He also has a black mask like Danielle and myself and twin katana swords and bo staff strapped on his back, just like I do."

Ratchet then reached into his back compartment, pulling out two photos. "Your mother took these when she was younger," he said. "These are what Nightingale looks like in both his forms."

Alisa shivered a little. "He looks scarier than you, Uncle Ratchet," she said.

"I agree, little one," he said.

"And he's your enemy?" asked Mark.

Ratchet nodded. "Yes, long ago, he killed your grandfather and your grandmother, Regina Ellen Tennyson, who also known as Night Fire in her Anodite form and she had a twin sister named Evelyn Tiana Tennyson, who was also known as Fire Shadow in her Anodite form. Your great aunt Evelyn is also my sparkmate," he explained.

Mark and Alisa knew what the term 'sparkmate' meant, thanks to Danielle explaining it to them one day. Ratchet now pointed to the pictures he gave them. "I want you to keep these photos," he said. "And in case you ever encounter Nightingale or see him, you must immediately warn me, your mother, and the others about your encounter with him and then go into hiding."

"In case he sees us too?" asked Alisa.

"Yes," said Ratchet. "Can you two promise me you'll do that?"

They both nodded solemnly. "Yes, Uncle Ratchet," said Mark.

The medic nodded and decided they had had enough worry for a while. "Alright, how about we go inside and you two pick out a movie?" he suggested.

"And popcorn!" Alisa squealed excitedly.

Ratchet smiled. Even though he didn't think popcorn was healthy for little ones, he did love spoiling his little niece and nephew every now and then. He glanced up at the sky, hoping his worries wouldn't materialize so soon. But if they did, he wouldn't hesitate to defend his family, no matter what.

Deciding to put his worries aside for now, he headed in to get the popcorn before Mark and Alisa grew too impatient.

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GoldGuardian2418