Tran landed smoothly. "Phew, that was exciting!" he commented; "Now I know why I hate flying!" Sentinel was about to say something, but Glitch gave him her look. "If looks could off line you," he muttered. Everybody unstrapped themselves. "Keep com systems open," Shadestalker told Tran, "They might want to talk to you." "Will do. Good luck and have fun, Glitch!" She nodded, but clinged tightly to Shadestalker's servo. He just smiled and they all left the ship.
The first thing Glitch noticed was all the noise. The noise of incoming and departing ships, the noise of bots talking, and some transformations sound were almost too much for her, making her cling tighter to Shade. "You'll get used to it," he explained, "It's nothing to be afraid of." Glitch wasn't so sure. They spotted to mechs coming towards them. Glitch hid behind Shade's leg, squeezing it. "It's about time, Sentinel commented when they came closer. One mech was blue and white, very large, and carried a hammer. The other one was shorter, black and white, wearing a visor. Sentinel saluted the large one. "Mission completed, Ultra Magnus." "Good job, Sentinel Prime. Master Shadestalker, It's an honor to meet you again." Shade kowtowed him. The other mech came up. "Master," he said, kowtowing, "I've not seen you for a long time." "I've been living peacefully and happily on another planet. It's good to see you again, Jazz."
Glitch peeked from behind Shade's leg to observe the one called Ultra Magnus. When he looked her direction, she ducked back behind Shade's leg. "I didn't know you had a youngling," he commented, "How old is she?" "6," Shadestalker replied, "Somebody left her at my doorstep. As you can see, she's a little shy. She's never been around such tall bots before." "But she wasn't scared of me," Sentinel remarked, "And I'm large!" "You don't scare anybody," Jazz pointed out, "Hey there, little miss! Don't be shy! My name's Jazz, what's yours?"
"G-G-Glitch," she stuttered, "Hi." She hesitantly shook his servo. "Nice to meet you, Glitch. Have you ever been to Cybertron before?" She shook her head. Ultra Magnus, pleased that Jazz had success with her, decided to give it a try. "Hello young one," he greeted, "I'm Ultra Magnus, leader of the Elite Guard." She hid completely behind Shade. He frowned. "Just give her time," Shade assured him, "If she responds immediately, that usually means that she doesn't like you." He eyed Sentinel. "What are her colors?" Magnus whispered out of her hearing range. "None, as far as I can tell. Maybe she'll eventually choose, or stay neutral." He nodded. "The High Command is waiting. But first, Master Shadestalker, there's somebody wanting to meet you." "I'm not ready to take on another student!" "He's not quite a student."
Glitch peeked out from behind Shade's leg to see a lanky red mech with a long red tube on his shoulder. He wore a huge smile. Shadestalker grinned. "Perceptor! Howa are you?!" he excitedly asked, "How long has it been?" "Too long, you rogue! You never call, never write! Where'd you go?" (AN/ not the same Perceptor from 'Transwarped'. This one's much younger and easier to understand.) "Kalstus II." "That would be logical choice for you, an untamed bot on an untamed planet. I could hardly believe my audio sensors when I heard that you were coming back." "Yeah, I came back for my court martial I'm afraid. It was either come willingly or be arrested. I want you to meet someone close to my spark." Shade pushed Glitch from behind his leg. Perceptor, the shortest mech there, kneeled down to her level.
"Hello there," he stated, "What's your name?" "Glitch," she replied confidently, "Aren't you Shade's brother?" "No, not really. He just accepted me into his clan, making me his brother in arms, but I guess you don't know what I'm talking about." "No, I do and I understand. What are you?" "I'm just a scientist trying to make life better." "And one that barely show his face in public, making him unbearable in social situations," Sentinel snidely commented. "You're unbearable in social situations!" Glitch shot back. "She got ya there, Sentinel," Jazz stated, laughing. "Hmph!"
"Do you need me at the trial?" Perceptor asked Ultra Magnus, "I could be…" "There's no need, Perceptor," he cut in, trying to calm the younger bot down, "The trial won't start until tomorrow and it's more of a…" "Yeah," Shade answered, "It's a lynching." He stormed off.
"He'll be back," Perceptor remarked. "How do you know, smarty mech?" Sentinel questioned, "You can't read processors!" "He left something behind." The Elite Guard found a very confuse Glitch, who was cocking her head at her guardian's sudden departure without her. "Perceptor and I'll find 'im," Jazz volunteered, "I have a pretty good idea of where he went." "Suck up," Sentinel teased, only to get whacked in the back of his head by his leader. (It's about time!)
"You're a lot worse, Sentinel," he sternly commented, "And why did you give him an impression that this was a court martial?" "It is, isn't it?" Ultra Magnus sighed and walked away. "What'd I say?" Sentinel wondered, "I guess I'm stuck with you downgrades." "Oh joy," Glitch remarked, "Does he really have to come with us?" "I'm afraid so, G," Jazz answered, "We better get moving."
Jazz and Perceptor searched the front while Sentinel and Glitch took up the rear. "So uh, Stitch…" "Glitch." "…whatever. What are your colors?" "Rrm, aquamarine?" Sentinel burst out laughing. "I gotta save that one in the ol' hard drive!" he exclaimed, "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!" Glitch blinked, very confused. "Stop teasing her," Perceptor growled, "The hapless youngling has enough strife without your disparaging comments." Now it was Sentinel's turn to be confused. Glitch smirked, knowing every word that Perceptor had said.
Jazz spotted Shadestalker meditating on the roof of a very tall building. "C'mon little missy," He told Glitch, "Let's return you to your guardian." She took Jazz's servo, blew a quick raspberry at Sentinel, and the two rushed into the building.
"That youngling is evil I tell you!" "No, she's not. She's just a little… roguish. Nothing evil about that." "Are you sure she's not a spy?" "Grow up, Sentinel. The only spy around here is Longarm Prime."(Forgive any continuity errors. It will all straighten out.) "No he isn't! Take that back!" "No, and I'll stand by my suspicions!"
"Master," Jazz said when he got to the roof, "Sorry to disturb you, but you forgot something." Shadestalker turned around. "Oh, sorry Glitch he apologized, "I didn't mean to…" "I know," she finished, "And the big one said that it's not a court material." "Martial," he corrected her, "It's not?" "No, the High Command is trying to prevent security breeches. They just want answers. The note you left didn't cover enough. Look Master, no matter what the outcome, I still think you're one groovy bot!" "Thank you Jazz, you always did have your own way of complimenting. Thank you for making sure that Glitch got here safely. If I remember right, the streets aren't always so friendly."
"You got that right, Master. Yesterday, two rogue Decepticons attacked an Autobot couple walking home. What they didn't realize was that the mech is the best shot at the academy." "Hmm, maybe while I'm here, I better make the best of my abilities." "My lips are sealed. But what about Glitch? You can't just leave her!" "I'll do at night, while she's asleep. I figure that we would stay with Perceptor. He'll probably insist on it. I just hope that Sentinel doesn't find out."
Jazz and Shade came down, Glitch hold on to Shade's servo. "Well, it's about time," Sentinel snorted, "What took you guys so long?" "Lay off," Jazz told him, "You've done enough already." "You're welcome to stay at my place," Perceptor offered, "But it's a tad… disorganized." "I wouldn't expect anything different," Shade replied, "I'll go report and then we'll have lunch." "Don't you have to get her a spark certificate? You know, just to make the guardianship legally recorded so no one accuses you of youngling-napping." "Good ides, Perce. Here, take Glitch and meet me in the plaza in a couple of megacycles." He handed her off to Perceptor and left.
"Why does everybody pass me around?" she asked, "And what's this whole thing about colors?" "You'll understand when you're older. Jazz, why don't we take her on our own tour of Cybertron?" "It'll kill time." "I'll go with you to make sure she doesn't get into anything that she's not supposed to." "It's a strange place; I seriously doubt that she'll wander off. Fine, you can tag along; just don't draw any attention to us." "Okay. Everybody move aside, Elite Guard coming through!" Perceptor shook his head while Jazz did a face palm. "Want to ditch him?" "Yes please."
It didn't take long for Sentinel to get them lost. "I told you this wasn't the right way," Jazz chided him, "Let's just for back the way we came." "No, I'm sure this is the right shortcut." "No!" all three of them exclaimed and they turned around. "I'm tired," Glitch complained, "When are we going to eat?" "Oh yeah, I was supposed to feed you this morning," Sentinel remembered, "I felt like I was forgetting something!" Everybody glared at him.
"Here, hitch a ride on the Jazzenator," Jazz offered, "Don't worry, you'll get something to eat soon. She climbed onto his shoulders. "Wow, quite a view," she admitted, "Is this what it's like being tall?" "It's all fun and games until you hit your head on something." "We need to go that way. I see a whole bunch of bots." "Okay, let's go." The group trudged towards the busy place.
"Ah, civilization," Sentinel sighed, "Hey, Longarm Prime is here!" "Oh goody," Perceptor groaned, "Longarm." You're just jealous because he's smarter than you!" "Sure, and he uses my inventions to do so well at his job. I still don't trust him, there's something sinister about him." "Fine, have it your way. Come on Jazz, you can play with the youngling later." "But-""No buts." Jazz put Glitch down and followed him.
Perceptor ordered them a couple of energon treats as they continued to look for the plaza. "So you're a scientist," Glitch began, "How did you meet Shade?" "Well, some bad mechs shot down the research I was on. Shadestalker had been training on the planet we crashed on. I got separated from the group and was found by him. Then the Decepticons attacked us, seriously injuring him. He was offline for a couple of cycles before I managed to reboot him. He was thankful that I saved his spark, so he made me part of his clan, which was only him. He was in between students." "So that makes you my uncle?" "Uhh…" Come on Perceptor! You can do advance mechanics and physics, but you can't talk to a youngling?!
"Sure, maybe." "I'll let you decide later." "Thanks, I appreciate it." "You don't get out a lot, do you?" "No, it's kind of hard when you know more than everybody else. You notice things that nobody else gives a second thought about. Do you understand?" "Yep! I'm smart too! I really want to get into advance mechanics, but I decided to wait until I was older. Maybe those two can help us." Perceptor looked at the aforementioned two. They gave him an evil look.
They finally arrived at the plaza. About the time, Shadestalker arrived, "Okay, what's the best place to eat?" he asked, "I'll pay, I have plenty in my account." "Erm, about that Shade… I had to move it to my account because the Cybertroninan First bank declared you dead. You'll have to go in person to transfer it back to your account." Shade sighed. "It can wait until tomorrow, if I'm still online after the hearing." "It's not a court martial. Let's eat and forget about it. We've been delayed for too long." "Where's Jazz and Jerkinel?" "Oh, Jerkinel spotted his favorite charge and dragged Jazz with him." "I don't believe I've ever met the bot." "Hmph, I don't trust him! He's ….too good at his job." "Yeah, those intelligent types can be really shady." "Let's stop here."
They took a seat and ordered some energon. "Have you been behaving Glitch?" "Depends on who you ask." "Good girl." He stroked the top of here head. "Tomorrow, you're staying with Pereceptor. Just do what he says." "Okay, will you be gone long? "Yeah, for a while. But don't worry, nothings going to happen."
AN/ Famous last words, Shadestalker. Next chap: a familiar face and a skirmish