Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Balm: I don't like the looks of this.

Authoress: *smiles* Don't worry, all things happen for a reason.

Pandimala: That's not usually a good thing with you Authoress.

Chapter 14: Welcome to the Club

Balm's 1st P.O.V.

I sighed as I sat on my berth. Everybot had returned from their adventures here on Earth and we all had a lot of new insights to share about the planet. Learning about all of the different aspects that we all had discovered here on Earth, and with so much that we hadn't even seen, Earth was reminding me more and more of Cybertron. The bustle of bots moving about, and so many different cultures from the different city-states coming together, I had both seen and heard accounts of that being found here on Earth.

After I had received my tour from Mr. Sumdac, I had thanked him and continued to explore the city. Not to my surprise, I had ended up in one of their medical centers. It was someplace that I was familiar with and, being there, it had brought back all of the good times that I had on Cybertron. Learning my trade from Ratchet and finding out more about myself in general. Being in that human hospital, and hearing the doctors yelling back and forth, it had reminded me of Ratchet so much.

He was always yelling at his patients. When I had first started training under him, I had been terrified by that. But, after watching a few sessions of his, I realized that his patients almost seemed to expect it. I think Ratchet noticed at one point how his yelling had affected me and, for one session that I watched, he tried to avoid yelling. It was a surprise to me when his patient seemed more scared of Ratchet not yelling than when he was. At that point, I realized that it was just a part of who Ratchet was.

Of course, thinking about Ratchet during my training also brought to processor one of the lessons that he spoke on often. Never depend solely on different mods and tech to work perfectly. One of his pet peeves with the newer generation, my generation, was that they usually depended upon their mods to work perfectly and for their tech to never fail. He would blow a gasket whenever a bot came in and said that they couldn't do something without their mods.

I did miss him. Even though I would never regret supporting Pandimala, and if given the chance to go back and stop myself from coming I wouldn't, I did miss my mentor. It was strange waking up without hearing him yelling at one patient or another. Back then, when I would come down, he would put me straight to work. Even after I passed my medical exam and became a full medic, and decided to stay with him, the old mech never failed to put me to work as soon as I woke for the solar.

Now, it was just me and Honeywhip as the medical staff. No yelling medic waking us up. I knew that one solar, I would see my mentor again. But, until then, I had to just continue living with the teachings that he left me with.

Thinking back on how my mentor used to react on the reliance of bots on mods and tech, I realized that we needed to do more testing with our soliforms. It was one thing to visit famous places to humans and interact with those crowds, but it would be much different in a highly packed space like this music festival was sounding like it would be.

So, standing up, I made my way to the bridge of the Estia. Once there, I saw that all the others were there, still talking about the different things they saw and the people that they met. "Hey 'Mala,"

Pandimala turned to me and smiled. "What can I do for you Balm?"

"I was thinking about Ratchet a bit ago and that got me thinking," I started. The others stopped their conversations and turned to me as I continued. "All the exploring we did separately is one thing, but going to this music festival sounds like it is going to be a different experience completely. I think that we need to do another test as a group somewhere crowded. If we can act like regular humans there then we should be alright at the festival."

The others stared at me before Scorpi nodded. "That sounds like a good idea Balm. There are a lot of different places that are crowded that we can go to." She then moved next to Remcy at one of the monitors before typing in some things.

"Here's something." Remcy suddenly said before he typed some more things in. After a click, an informational page on a club was on the screen.

Wait...a club? Oh no…

"A club? Sounds perfect." I whined internally when Honeywhip agreed. Why couldn't we just go to...I don't know, and amusement center? Maybe a shopping market? Why did it have to be a club? "Clubs are a scene that we are used to since I know that we have all been to them on Cybertron." He looked pointedly at me when he said that and it took a lot of restraint to not glare at him. "And we will be able to interact with many different types of humans."

As the others started to nod, I felt my spark sink slightly. Something told me that I was not going to enjoy this…at all. "And this club that you all have found seems like a decent place to go," Zarron added. "Club Legacy. Catchy name."

Vox nodded as well. Frag it they were all agreeing. Me and my big mouth. "We should make sure that our soliforms are dressed appropriately for a club for our ages. It wouldn't do us any good if we were not similarly dressed to humans who are the ages of our soliforms."

Frag.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell them all. Before I could get a word out in protest, Scorpi, 'Mala, and Tana grabbed me before moving out of the room. "We femmes have to go and get ready. See you mechs in a few cycles!" Slag.

Chaom's 1st P.O.V.

"Come on Nathan, I know we are undercover to have a good time, but why pick Kansas of all places to go?" My brother in all but actuality, Stormfire, asked.

We had been on this planet for just over three hundred years and it had been quite an experience to grow with this young species. The two of us had been friends since we were younglings on Sigma Six. When the war between the Autobots and Decepticons started to tear our planet apart, the two of us had fled with another bot, a femme called Beam. All bots who wanted to remain neutral in the Autobot/Decepticon conflict did. The three of us stayed together and we ended up on this marble we now called home.

Motioning to the small crowd at the club we were at, I said, "Because, most people wouldn't look for a semi-famous singer and organizer of music festivals along with his brother and sister in a place like this. People would be hard-pressed to recognize us." And they would. Since these were soliforms, the three of us had adjusted them slightly so we would still look like our soliforms, just not so easily recognizable.

In return, Stormfire let out a huff before saying, "Nice excuse, except we are soliforms and that means we can change our appearance in an instant. We didn't have to travel out to the middle of nowhere just to do that. And, no offense to the girls in here, I don't see any that are screaming 'I'm worthy of being your girlfriend'. Or, on that note, any guys for Jazmine. So, what is the real reason you dragged us out to the middle of nowhere?"

Well, this wasn't the middle of nowhere. The town was large enough to support both this club and the bar next door. But, compared to Los Angeles, where we are from for this life, then yeah, it was in the middle of nowhere.

Letting out a sigh, I answered him. "Honestly Matt, though you would think that multiple lives in the center of fame would be enough to get used to the gossip, I can't deal with it. Have you seen the tabloids?" I then held out the latest issue of a few of the more popular tabloids. Each one had a picture of me and Jazmine laughing together and, that would be bad at all. However, they all had subtitles saying that I was secretly dating her! I considered her a sister, and the humans knew her as my sister, and they were suggesting...incest! I shuddered at the mere thought of it.

In return, there was a sigh from next to me and I turned to see the pink and plum purple-haired girl in question was standing next to me. "You know Nathan, you take these things way too personally sometimes. If you are letting a little thing like a few tabloid ads affect you, then maybe we shouldn't have elected you as the leader." I turned to her with a surprised look but I took it back when I saw that she was staring at me with a look that said she didn't mean that last bit...hopefully. "If you start reacting to what the tabloids write, then the regular newspapers will catch that and you will have an issue then."

"How are you taking this that well?" I asked her. Sure, she was a saboteur and had to react to these kinds of situations often. But, this was something that even I wouldn't think she would be ready for.

In return to my question, Beam, which was Jazmine's real name, smirked at me before saying, "Sorry Nathan, you're cute, but you aren't that cute. I hate to break it to you but you aren't my type."

"Oh, and what is your type?" I shot back at her with a smirk. My past feelings of worry about the tabloid pictures were now non-existent. This was the type of banter that allowed the three of us to live together and not tear each other apart.

Beam stayed quiet for a few minutes and I could see that she was taking this question seriously. I guess I should have expected as much. I then watched as she looked around and shook her head. I agreed with Stormfire's earlier statement to me when he said that he saw no one in here that would be even close to boyfriend and girlfriend material for us all. I was about to say so when she spoke up. "Like him and frag is he hot."

Wow, she must be impressed with the guy who caught her eye to slip out some Cybertronian. Looking to where she was looking, my jaw dropped as a group of people walked in. The first, which was probably the guy she was talking about, had on black slacks, a black v-neck shirt, and a black jacket. Around his neck was a scarf that was flack and dark blue striped. He had fair skin, pale blue eyes, and was maybe five foot nine. His hair was black with long bangs, and he had two braids that were a dark blue against the right side of his head.

"Whoa, they aren't from around here," Stormfire added as this group slowly made their way inside.

His eyes seemed to be locked on the girl who was being pushed in. Her outfit was a white mini-skirt with a yellow-green dress blouse that had a bow connecting it and a red undershirt. She had fair skin, with freckles going across her nose and cheeks, red hair that was pulled up in a messy bun, and light blue eyes. She stood at about five foot six. From the red glow that was on her cheeks, she seemed to be nervous.

But, the girl behind her didn't seem to care and was smiling. This girl was wearing a dark gray pair of shorts with overall straps attached to them and a silver-colored elbow-length shirt that was hanging off of her left shoulder slightly. She was about five foot eight, lightly tanned skin, dark blue eyes, and short silver-colored hair. So far, this group all looked about the same age.

Following the pushing girl was a guy who was about six foot tall, fair skin, and light blue eyes. His hair was a golden blonde and was so long that, even in the ponytail it was in, it reached his lower back. He wore silver slacks with a silver dress shirt, a gold tie, and a gold jacket that was buttoned up. Said jacket had silver edging on the collar and the cuffs. He looked very professional but he was smiling along with the silver-haired girl.

After them walked in another guy and girl. The guy was about five foot eight, light-skinned, and had medium blue eyes. He had brown hair that reached the back of his neck in the back, though grew shorter as it reached the front, and he had one streak of orange on the top. He wore black slacks, a brown jacket with an orange shirt underneath.

The girl was in a white ruffled skirt, dress shirt, and undershirt. She also wore a green charm around her neck. She was the same height as the boy she walked in with and had fair skin, darker blue eyes than the guy, and long white hair with purple streaks throughout it.

I didn't think that this group could get any larger but next walked in a guy with a dark blue shirt on, a loosely tied gold tie, black slacks, and a black belt and black shoes. He was about six feet in height and had blue eyes, blonde hair, and lightly tanned skin.

When the last member of their group walked in, everything else went to the back of my mind. "Slag," I uttered as I watched the girl with black hair that was in a ponytail that had a lime-green streak in the bangs walk inside. She stood at about six-foot-three, so only about two inches off of my height, and had fair skin. She wore lime-green short shorts, a black shirt with a lime-green design on the front, and a black open shirt over that with green plaid on the inside.

She was laughing at the front of the line. "Come on Alice, you're holding up the line."

The girl that Stormfire was watching was able to turn her head behind her. "You know, you're right. Maybe I should go back to the car. You all have this."

At that, the silver-haired one shook her head. "Alice, you're fine. Just interact. You'll be just fine in a few minutes."

Seems like their friend was not usually one who went out like this. "I'm going to talk to them." Then before I could stop him, Stormfire moved over to the group and started to talk with them. I noticed he motioned over to the two of us at one instant before he moved to the dancefloor with the one called Alice. I also noticed a number of the other girls here, including the owner's daughter, were watching him. They had tried to get us to dance with them this entire night but it looked like this Alice won out with Storm.

I focused as the one with the black hair started to walk up to me. Even how she moved was almost breath-taking.

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

I let out a laugh as I listened to Nathan. He and I had danced a couple of dances when I had arrived and now I had been talking to him for about an hour. He seemed like a great human and he was so much fun to talk to. In this short amount of time, I felt like he and I had known each other for years. While I translated all of my adventures as if they happened on Earth, it was nice to talk with Nathan and listen to all of the stories that he was telling as well. His life sounded almost as chaotic as mine was.

"So, you said that you were walking down the sidewalk when some random guy hit you right in the forehead?" I asked Nathan, surprised at the story he was telling.

Nathan nodded at that. "Yeah, but we were all dressed in costumes that day. Who knew that there would be two identical Grim Reaper costumes? Josh and I laughed it off later but he was so surprised that I wasn't Ian." He then let out a laugh of his own.

It didn't take long for me to join him in laughing. However, as I did, I took stock of where everyone was. Zarron was talking to Nathan's cousin, Jazmine Nicols, and he seemed to be very into his conversation. Remcy had set up by the bar and seemed to be chatting with one of the barkeepers. Scorpi and Honeywhip were on the dancefloor and seemed to be having a blast. Tana and Vox were both sitting in the lounge area with a group of people and, from how they all seemed to be looking at her, Tana was telling a story of her own. Good thing Vox was there to keep her from slipping about us.

Lastly, there was Balm. Last I saw her, she was with Nathan's brother, Matt Knight. But, I felt confused when I looked at the man and he seemed to look confused...and Balm wasn't with him. Following his gaze, I noticed that a group of girls was moving outside and Balm was with them. What was worrying was that she looked nervous.

"Excuse me, Nathan, I need to go and see how the rest of my family is doing. I'll be back as soon as I can, though." He looked confused as I stood up and a part of me wanted to stay and explain.

However, the rest of me was made of my stellars upon stellars of training and that training was telling me to not waste any time. Balm never went anywhere with someone she didn't know at first. It was what made boot camp so difficult for her, and what made her going with Ratchet for the first time to help save my aft the first time even worse. It must have been because I was close to offlining at the time that she was able to overcome it.

Here, on a new planet and surrounded by a lot of beings that she didn't know, she would have taken one of us with her. Frag, she was only comfortable talking with Matt alone here because the rest of us were in the same building surrounding her. Well...that and we had practically thrown the two of them together before all of us moved away from them.

It didn't take me long before I was on the main floor heading toward the side door that the group had used. Hearing footsteps behind me, I saw that Matt had followed me. He looked worried. Guess he saw after talking to Balm that she didn't just go off with people she didn't know, no matter what species they were.

When I finally stepped outside, it didn't take me long to locate the group of girls and Balm. What I saw, though, caused me to glare. Balm was slowly backing up toward the wall and her soliform was bleeding in the face. Judging from the blood on the other girls' hands, they were the ones responsible.

"Let me say it again bitch, you go near Matt Knight again and you won't survive what comes after." The girl that seemed to be the leader spoke as Matt and I moved closer to them.

From how he was shaking his head next to me, I had a feeling that Matt had been through these sorts of situations before. Balm had been sending information she was getting on Matt to all of us while they were talking and he said he was single. I was leaning more toward believing him than these girls who were attacking Balm.

"Y...you can't tell me w...who I c...can talk to." Balm got out with a glare of her own. "I'm g...going to t...talk to Matt if I want."

Matt and I were getting closer to the group as two of the girls held Balm's arms at that. While she struggled, the leader swung a right hook against Balm's face. I felt my anger rising as I watched blood come out of Balm's nose. "Such a smart mouth for a stuttering slut." The leader said before she raised her fist again.

However, this time I was there to stop it. "Four on one hardly seems fair," I growled. As she turned, I slammed my fist against the girl's face. Her eyes went out of focus for a second before she fell back unconscious. "Now three on one, I can handle that." I then motioned to Matt. "Stay by Alice. I've got these three."

He looked nervous at leaving me on my own but nodded. As he moved, the one girl who wasn't holding Balm back launched at me. Such a sloppy show. Of course, I was dealing with a species that only lived on average about a hundred stellar cycles, give or take. They had no idea who they were messing with. It didn't take me long to knock out the second girl.

The last two seemed to think that their odds were improved if they attacked me at once. Well, that would normally be the case, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with them. "Wrong step." I coldly spoke to the one as she stopped to set her feet. Just me saying that caused the girl to waver and I diverted the punch that her friend threw at me before punching that girl. She went down and it wasn't long before it was just one on one.

Grabbing the girl by her collar with both hands, I held her there. "When Chrissa's dad hears about this,"

"I won't give a damn," I growled at the girl in my hands. "Now, you listen here. You attacked my family tonight. I took retribution. The fight is over. If any of you come near one of my family members in a hostile way again, I can assure you that there are worse things in life than death." The girl was shaking in my grip. "Now, you wake up your little friends and get out of my sight. I held back for now. I won't be as forgiving the next time." I then held her there for a second before I dropped her.

The girl fell on her butt and stared at me for a few seconds, fear easily read on her face before she scurried to her friends.

With them taken care of, I moved over to where Matt was supporting Balm. "How is she?"

Matt looked at Balm and smiled. "Roughed up but she'll be fine. I'd like to get her somewhere to sit so I can patch up some of these scrapes."

"I...I'm fine," Balm tried to argue.

"Nope," I interrupted her. "You are going to let Matt take a look at you." It did not escape my notice that she blushed when I said that.

"You lot can come in here." I turned to see a stockier looking man who looked middle-aged if the research I had done would tell me anything. He was standing in the doorway of what was a bar. Above the door read 'Jaxson's'. "I keep an eye on that place since the last time that Chrissa brat gave me trouble. Had to get a restraining order against her too, nasty piece of work."

"Thank you," I thanked the man as we moved toward him, Matt supporting Balm.

As I sent a message to the others about what happened and where we were, the man continued to speak. "The name's Jaxson Phyll. And you're welcome. I saw what was happening but couldn't go near because she has a restraining order on me as well. But, from what I saw, you and the injured girl both have some backbone to ya."

I smirked at that, while also receiving the affirmatives from the others, before saying, "It helps when you are fighting people without one."

As we walked inside, and Matt lead Balm behind the bar to what looked like a storeroom, Jaxson let out a loud laugh. "Oh, that's very true. I don't think I caught your names though."

"I'm Lizzie Val and the other girl is my sister, Alice Loveadiast. The nice gentleman who is helping us is called Matt Knight." I responded to Jaxson.

When he held out his hand, I shook it. "It's nice to meet you." He then looked in the back. "Now, I had better go and find that first aid kit so we can help fix up your sister. Make yourself comfortable at the bar while you are waiting."

I nodded at that as he walked through a different door. When the sounds of falling objects and cursing soon followed him, I let out a light chuckle. It reminded me of home. Speaking about home, the man did say to make myself comfortable so I moved to sit at one of the barstools.

However, the sound of the door opening behind me. Probably one of the others getting here. So, I turned to start explaining when I stopped in surprise. Standing there in the doorway was Nathan Knight and he looked very angry. "You know, I thought you were different. Not some classless thug who beats up defenseless people in alleyways. Your friend had me fooled with her nervous act But, ganging up on Chrissa wasn't something you should have done. Now, you are going to go and apologize before I have to make you."

I apologize? Just where did this idiot get his facts from? When I was talking to him earlier, I thought that Nathan had a working brain. Now I was finding out that he didn't. And there was no way in the Pit that he was going to be able to make me. "I will not apologize to that girl and you can't make me." Seeing that he was going to move toward me, I let my training kick in and I launched at the man.

Stormfire's 1st P.O.V.

Thankfully, I had found a first aid kit here in the storeroom to use on Alice. I wasn't sure what was taking Jaxson but I would be able to use this to treat most of Alice's wounds. Those girls roughed her up and I could tell that she was shaken. Alice had told me earlier that she didn't do well in new places, and especially around new people. I knew that she seemed okay with me because her family was around her.

When Chrissa, the club owner's daughter, had insisted on Alice stepping outside with them, I was confused when Alice had agreed, though with a stutter. It was only after they had moved a ways away from me that I remembered that Balm said that she didn't like to disappoint people, especially if they could turn out to be new friends. When I had remembered that, her sister Lizzie was already moving toward the door. Alice had said that, while Lizzie was the next youngest after her, their group of siblings looked to her as their leader and example.

But, as tough as Alice was trying to look, I could tell that she was in pain. While I was the weapon-specialist between Beam, Chaom, and me, I also had enough of a medical background to fix up superficial wounds. Transferring that idea to Alice right now was the reason I was able to help her. "Alice, are you sure that you are okay?"

The girl that I had spent so much time with tonight nodded. "Y...yeah I'm fine. J...just a bit sh...shaken up."

Seeing as she might want a different subject to talk on, I decided to pick up our conversation from where we left off before Chrissa and her goon squad showed up. "So, you were telling me about what brought you all out here in the first place?"

Alice looked at me confused for a moment before her mind must have remembered what I was getting at. "Oh right! Well, our family decided that we needed to get out and just relax before tomorrow. Seeing as a club has something for everyone, we decided to come before tomorrow."

"And what's tomorrow?" I asked her. I knew where I was going to be tomorrow. We had that music festival here that we had helped plan and I was going to be spending all weekend there. I was excited about it until I met Alice here. Now I was upset that I had plans. But, from the sounds of it, she had plans too.

"Tomorrow?" She repeated my question back at me before she smiled. "Oh, Lizzie was in Egypt not too long ago and met a woman there. The two became friends and so the lady gave Lizzie her tickets to a music festival here that starts tomorrow. I think it's called Metal Aliens."

Wait….she was going to be there? And, hell if a woman in Egypt gave her sister those tickets, then I had a feeling that woman was Marge, Nathan's pen pal. When we had first arrived on Earth, Marge's family was one of the first ones that we met and I knew that Nathan invited the family to everything that we hosted, even if they couldn't make it, and sent enough tickets for a group of eight to go.

"You're going to Metal Aliens?" I asked her just to make sure I heard her right. When she nodded, I felt my face grow a big smile. "I'm going to be there too! My brother and our family help organize concerts like this all the time. Metal Aliens is one of our most popular ones!"

"You're going to b...be there too?" Alice asked me in surprise. "I hope I get to s...see you there."

"Me too Alice," I responded with a smile.

Before we could say anything else, the two of us jumped when we heard a loud thump on the other side of the storeroom door along with some angry voices. What the frag was going on out there? I felt panicked, slightly, when Alice started to stand up. "We had b...better go and see what is going on out there."

"Let me help you," I said before I stood next to her as support. The two of us made our way to the door and, once it was opened, I frowned.

"You son of a bitch you are going to have to drag my cold dead corpse out of here before I go and apologize to that bitch!"

"I don't remember giving you a choice in the matter! You need to grow up and take responsibility for attacking her! Go say you're sorry!"

"Never!"

At this point, I noticed that the rest of Alice's siblings were here along with Beam, who looked like she was trying to figure out how to stop Chaom from fighting with Lizzie. Ashland, the boy that Beam had been with since his arrival, looked to be contemplating the same thing about Lizzie. Jaxson was standing in the doorway of a different room with a first aid kit in his hand.

That idiot! Chaom had a real problem with being the knight in shining armor at times and would dive helm-first into a situation without checking the facts. Otherwise, he would not be demanding for Lizzie to go and apologize. I would have to explain to the idiot that I considered a brother later.

"I better g...go and stop Lizzie." Alice suddenly said with a sigh. "She won't stop unless either whoever she is f...fighting stops and moves away or I do it. The others are pr...probably enjoying watching her fight too much."

Immediately, I shook my head. "No, you are still hurt. I'll go and pull Nathan off. He acts the same way. Plus, I'm in better shape to do so." While she looked reluctant to send me into that fight, she gave a nod of what I was assuming was approval. So, I moved and left her with her brother John before I moved to the two fighting people, who were rolling around on the ground.

Waiting until Lizzie had kicked Nathan off of her, I moved in and grabbed Chaom by the back of the collar before starting to drag him out. "St...Matt, what the hell?" Chaom started to argue and move against me.

While he did, I turned to the others and sighed. "My apologies for Nathan here. He can be a real idiot at times. I'll take him out of here and explain. I hope we see you all again." I looked at Alice and winked at that since we both knew we would be seeing each other tomorrow. Alice's face went as red as an apple at that and I smiled as it did, feeling a little warmth in my cheeks.

"What the hell are you talking about Matt? Let me go right now!"

Instead of listening to my leader while he was like this, I simply shook my head and started to pull him out of the bar, Beam moving in front of me to hold open the door. Once we were in Beam's alt mode I would get the idiot to calm down and explain what happened.

Of course, I was going to hold off on telling him that they were going to be at the festival tomorrow as VIPs. He would find out eventually.

Balm: *faceplate palms* Something tells me that we are going to have more instances with 'Mala and the human Nathan meeting.

Authoress: *smirks* And some time for you and that boy Matt.

Balm: *faceplate turns to fire* Um...I...I have to go for a click. *runs out*

Pandimala: *walks in* What was that about?

Authoress: *smirks* Oh, nothing dear.

AN: And here is the next chapter! Looks like Pandimala and Nathan meeting isn't quite the hearts and lovey-dovey stuff from before. *evil laugh* I had a lot of fun with this chapter and it looks like Nathan and Pandimala aren't the only ones getting closer. Matt and Balm seem to enjoy being in each other's company. I wonder how this is all going to play out?

The next chapter brings us to the music festival. I wonder how things are going to go this time around with Nathan and Pandimala meeting up again? It should be a lot of fun and maybe a surprise thrown in there as well.

So, without further wait, here are the next chapters!

Chapter 15: Stronger

Chapter 16: Finding Secrets

Chapter 17: (find out next time!)

And that is all for now folks. I hope you have all enjoyed this! Please leave a review and, if you don't then just say hi! Well, that's all for now. TTYL! *willing to drink to that*