The Nova didn't have to travel long to meet up with the Elite Guard's flagship.

"Pull over!" sentinel ordered, "And prepared to be boarded! We have a warrant for your arrest, Shadestalker!"

"There's a minor problem," Tran replied, "Shade isn't exactly in peak condition and Perceptor's loosing a lot of fluid. We can't stop until we get to Cybertron!"
"I order you…"

"Sentinel, let them pass! Clearly, it's a medical emergency!"

"Yes sir, Ultra Magnus."

"Kiss up," Glitch teased. Sentinel broke communications.

Tran quickly landed on a landing pad. Sentinel came in with stasis cuffs.

"You are in so much trouble! I have enough charges to put you in the stockades for eons!"

A barely conscious Shade groaned, wondering why the blue mech couldn't see that he was in great pain, instead of reading him off his rights and trying to arrest him.

"By the power invested in me by the Elite Guard, I hereby arrest you on charges of desertion, vigilante actions, and theft of top secret Autobot tech! You have right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you."

"Slag off… Jerkinel."

Before Sentinel could slap the stasis cuffs on, Jazz rushed in. he observed the damage.

"Master! He's hurt! We have to get him to a repair center!"

Jazz took his arm, put it over his shoulder, and supported Shade's weight. They slowly walked out, Shade more limping than walking. Ultra Magnus came in, ducking his head so he wouldn't hit it on the door post.

"Tell the repair center to prep 400 CCs of fluid fast!" Tran exclaimed, "Hurrying around, "Also tell them that we have a bot in a state of shock with major fluid leakage. We need a smooth but quick ride. He's in a state of shock so we have to handle him very carefully. Here, hold this!"

He handed Sentinel Perceptor's arm.

"Oh look, it's an arm. Wait… an arm?!"

He let out a girly shriek before falling over, shut off. Glitch caught Perceptor's arm. Magnus helped Tran lift Perceptor onto the stretcher.

"I'll transfer to the repair center. Just get him there safely."

"Right!"

Tran blinked off.

"You need this," Glitch offered, "you can't really reattach the arm without the arm itself."

Magnus grabbed it.

"uh, you watch Sentinel for me. Do you think you can handle him?"

"Yes sir!"

An evil glint came in her optic. Ultra Magnus rushed Perceptor out. She spotted cans of pink paint. She gleefully rubbed her servos together.

"This is too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Sentinel came back online.

"I can't believe I shut off! And why am I pink?!" Glitch giggled.

"You little… I'll…"

"It'll wash off if you hurry." HE quickly rinsed it off.

"So I guess I'm supposed to watch you. How come I always get stuck with you?"

"I asked myself the same thing. And actually, Ultra Magnus told me to watch you."

"Yeah right!"

"That's what he said."

"You look tired."

"I am. The Cons don't let you get much sleep."

Much to Glitch's distaste, Sentinel kneeled over, laughing his inners out. It took him a while to regain control of himself and get back up.

"The Cons… he he….don't…. ha ha, this is the first time you've ever made me laugh, ha ha!"

"What's so funny?!"

"The Cons don't exist any more! They're gone, extinct!"

"What about Megatron?"

"I say he's been offline ever since the end of the Great War."

"How do you think Perceptor lost his arm?"

"I think your ninja father had a little training "accident" with his weapons."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Eventually, they both went into recharge. That was until Glitch woke up and decided that she was hungry. She got out of her berth and found Sentinel snoring in a chair.

"Jerkinel, wake up!"

He continued snoring. She took a small wire from the computer and touched it to one of his feet. The shock was enough to wake him up, and maybe cause a little damage.

"What?! Where?! Oh, it's just you. What do you want?"

"I'm hungry."

"You woke me up just to tell me that?!"

"What else was I supposed to do?"

"Fine, I'm up!"

He got up and stretched. He followed her out of the ship, yawning.

They reached the plaza where Sentinel ordered some energon. She scrafed it down.

"Careful, you might choke on it, and I don't know Heimlich."

"More?"

"You really are hungry. Stay here wile I go get some more." He got up.

Glitch looked around, observing everybody in the area. There was a couple, looking romantically ate each other, a sparkling crying, and someone yelling.

"Don't these bots know how to relax?! They run around like their circuits are on fire." The whole plaza fell silent.

"It's a little too quiet. I wonder what's going one." She looked over the crowd.

A repaired Shadestalker walked up, but he still looked exhausted. Everybody in plaza stared at the newcomer. Murmurs ripped through the crowd.

"Is that Shadestalker? I thought he was off line!"

"I heard they found him on an organic planet."

"What was he doing there?"

Glitch jumped out of the chair, nearly knocking it over.

"Shade! You're okay!"

He knelled down, slowing her to envelope him in a hug around his neck. Sentinel came back with the energon, just to see them hugging.

"I'm not going to cry! I'm not going to cry! I better go before I start." He quickly left. Even more murmurs ran through the crowd.

"So, that's what you've been doing all these stellar cycles," someone spoke up, "I thought you were off line."

Shade turned to see a black ninja bot emerge from the crowd. He smiled a little.

"Prowl? Is that you?"

"Yes it is. Welcome back to Cybertron, Sensei. I never thanked you for helping me with my optic journey." He kowtowed.

"Thank you, but I won't be staying. I'll come back more often. I trust you'll be around?"

"I will." Prowl stepped back into the crowd. As they walked away, Glitch saw bots whispering.

"Nosy bots! I'm glad we're not staying. This place is so rushed. Shade?"

"Yes, Glitch"

"Will Perceptor be okay?"

"I don't know. All we can do is wait."

Shade woke up when somebody knocked on Perceptor's door. He answered it.

"Jazz, any news?"

"Yes, in fact, it's probably the best news you've heard all stellar cycle! The reattachment was successful. Perceptor is dying to see you two. The repair center can't get him to shut up! And Ultra Magnus wants to talk to both of you, alone."

"Alright, I'll get Glitch." He went to her berth and tickled her feet. She woke up.

"What is it Shade?"

"Perceptor's fixed. We have to visit him."

"Okay." She got up and followed him out.

They arrived at Perceptor's room. Ultra Magnus was already in there.

"Glitch, wait out her with Jazz. The adults have to discuss something." She nodded, letting Shade go in and shut the door. She sat next to Jazz, swinging her legs and rhythmically hitting the state.

"Jazz?"

"Yeah, G?"

"What does everybody mean by colors? Sentinel asked and I told him aquamarine. He just burst out laughing."

"You know about Autobot and Decepticons, right?"

"Yeah, the two factions have been going at it for stellar cycles."

"Well, I don't' see why SP asked you that. It refers to what faction you belong to."

"Um, I'm a neutral with Autobot sympathies?"

"Don't worry about it, just be you. And remember, SP is a glitch head." She giggled.

A light blue gray femme and a green and yellow mech came by.

"Excuse me, is Perceptor in here?" she asked, "I'm Moonhopper and this is my husband, Springer. We're friends of his."

"Yeah, he's here," Jazz replied, "But you have to wait to visit him. They're discussing some important details in there."

"I knew this would happen, "Springer stated, "I knew that he wouldn't focus on his surroundings and accidently chop his arm off!" Moon hopper elbowed him.

"Be nice! After all, he was your best bot at our wedding."

"I know. I'm just saying that he needs to be more careful."

"I'm Glitch," Glitch added, "I'm Perceptor's niece, sort of."

"I didn't know that Shadestalker had a kid," Springer whispered to jazz, "How'd he get her? He doesn't seem like the type to…" Moonhopper whacked him on the head.

"Ow, why?"

"Do you want to help me set Perceptor with somebody? He was muttering about someone," she asked Moonhopper.

"Sure, Perceptor needs someone to help him."

"One problem, I don't live here. But we'll visit often, we'll do it then. Deal?"

"Deal." They shook servos.

"So, how old are you, kid?" Springer inquired, "5, 4?"

"6 actually."

"Hm, you look shorter than that." WHAP!

"Ow!"

Ultra Magnus finally came out, shaking his head.

"Jazz."

"Yes sir?"

"I want you to stay here until Perceptor can leave."

"Will do." The tall bot walked out. Everybody rushed into Perceptor's room. Shadestalker leaned against the wall, deep in thought. Glitch was the first one to get to Perceptor's side.

"Perceptor, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's pretty mush a blank on how this exactly happened, but I'm fine nonetheless. Oh, Moonhopper, Springer, I didn't realize that you would be here! Do you remember Shadestalker?"

"Who could forget?" Springer remarked, "You did bring him back to life after all." Shade looked around the room some and left.

"Family issues," Perceptor explained.

Tran appeared, nearly scaring Springer out of his armor.

"Meet Tran, the only holographic medic that wasn't shut off, the one who save my skid plate."

"But there are no projectors in here. How is he here?"

"I made some improvements to his programming the night they arrived. I also implanted a miniature projector in him, but I'm afraid it's only a prototype. Once I perfect, he can go any where he wants." Moonhopper went up to Tran.

"Thank you."

"No need to, any friend of Shade's is a friend of mine. I live in his ship's computer."

"That would explain a lot." They all sat around Perceptor, chatting and visiting away.

Shdaestalker stood on the roof, watching the streets below and meditating over everything that had happened.

"So what did the Command decide? Please tell me the truth." Jazz stepped out of the shadows.

"They decided to let you do your own thing. It doesn't appear to be hurting anything; they just don't want you to go that long without checking in again." Shade chuckled.

"Oh believe me, I won't. What about Glitch?"

"They saw no reason that you couldn't keep her." Shade continued to look down.

"Are you alright?"

"I just have a lot on my processor."

"Okay, I'll just leave you to your meditation."

"Thank you, Jazz."

Meanwhile, Perceptor had nodded off into recharge. Everybody left the room. Jazz stood up from his seat.

"I know Ultra Magnus wanted me to stay her, but I think Shadestalker is a better substitute. I'll take you home Glitch. Man, what a cool bot!"

"You're better than Jerkinel." Jazz laughed.

"Where is he any way?"'"I don't know." Jazz tapped his com.

"Hey man, where are you? You disappeared when Shad showed up!"

"I had to do something, like make sure the Nova got decontaminated!" Jazz sighed.

"What's with him and organics?"

"I don't really know, just that it involved giant spiders."

"Did you say giant spiders?" "Yeah, why?" "It's nothing… nothing at all.

One week later….

"It's good to be back on Kalstus II," Shade sighed, "Fresh air, good natured organics, no Cons, and I'm cleared of all charges. Life is good!" Tran stood outside with him.

"I can't believe it! I can go any where I want without having to worry about projectors. I like bots to say that I'm not real now! Are we going back soon?"

"Next week, Moonhopper and Glitch are setting up Perceptor with a femme named Trig."

"I can help the medical academy with their holographic training teachers. Ultra Magnus does know how to have things work out for everybody."

"Glitch also got her vehicle mode. I've never been so proud!"

Glitch hiked through the woods she often wandered in. She spotted and Kalstus wolf (like our wolves but bigger). "Cool, I wonder if I can get a scan of its bios." She quickly scanned it and started back.

"Shade, is it just me or is there an aquamarine wolf coming towards us?"

"No, I see it too." Glitch transformed back.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Well I'll be," Tran muttered, "She's a triple changer! And she somehow managed to scan an organic!" Shadestalker buried his head in his servo and groaned.

"It's going to be a long orbital cycle."

The End of one story, the beginning of another!

AN/ Finally finished! Thanks to my reviewers and any fans for bearing with me. I will follow up with a prequel going deeper into Shadestalker's and Perceptor's pasts, plus a narrative story of Solion. Chao!