Hey guys! I'm back with chapter 20! I hope you enjoy!

Transformers Animated: Different Angle

Chapter 20: Training and Bonding

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Animated

(Jacy's POV)

(4:55 am, the next morning)

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Kylie and I bolt up wide awake, both of us falling out of our berths while a startled Waldorf jumps up in alarm. Spark now beating in my audio receptors, we look over to see Sari standing there with a whistle in her hand.

"Alright, ladies!" Sari barks, trying to sound like a drill sergeant, "your first day of Autobot training starts now! Atteeeention!"

Kylie and I glance at one another before looking back at her.

"Sari, what are you doing?" I ask her.

My only response is the sound of the whistle as she blows into it again, making us cover our audio receptors. I look over to see Waldorf sticking his head underneath his blanket, trying to block out the noise as well.

"I said, Atteeeeention!" Sari repeats sternly.

Letting out a vent, Kylie and I humor her as we stand up straight, acting like actual cadets.

"Forward... march!"

We head for the door.

"I said MARCH!" Sari orders, blowing the whistle again as she marches herself to demonstrate.

Glancing at each other again, Kylie and I don't argue as we start marching along with her. Sari takes the lead as we follow. I can't help but look behind to see Waldorf going back to sleep.

"Lucky," I mumble quietly as I march sideways out the door.

Kylie and I, now in the storage/training room, are standing in a defense position as Prowl teaches us proper stances. I notice Sari sound asleep off to the side, making me wish to be in her place.

Kylie lets out a yawn as Prowl gets in front of her. Swiftly getting into position, the ninja bot shoots out his fist, stopping it centimeters away from Kylie's face. Now wide awake, she lets out a squeak as she nervously looks at him.

"You have to stay alert when defending yourself," Prowl instructs her as he stands up straight again. "and keep your arms up."

Kylie does so, now making sure she stays awake.

He then moves over to me. Thankfully, I remember how to do a proper stance from my self defense class. But that still doesn't stop the pressure of being watched by the ninja bot.

"Jacy, I want you to try and do a kick," he says.

Confused, I do as he says.

Eek!

I end up losing my balance as I fall backwards onto my butt.

"Ow," I mumble.

Prowl walks over as I get back up. "You need to improve your balance," he says.

"It's hard with the extra weight on my back," I say, pointing at my wings.

"Too bad you can't just remove them," Kylie jokes, still in her stance.

I frown. "Don't tempt me."

(Time skip)

After showing us proper stances and defense techniques, Prowl then has us face him in the center of a ring painted on the floor. I am the first one up.

"Now that you know the basics, we can move on with your training," Prowl says as he gets into a fighting position, "keep a close watch on my attacks."

Soon as I'm ready, he begins.

I can barely keep up with him as a series of punches and kicks come flying at me. I try my best to block each blow. After a few seconds, I lose my balance thanks to a kick in the gut. I stagger back as Prowl lands right in front of me.

For a bot smaller than me, he's tough.

"You left an opening," Prowl says, "you can't just focus on protecting one part of your body." He then gets into another fighting position. "again."

After five tries of either landing on my back, front, and even head, I finally sit down. I hold my helm in pain as Kylie goes next.

"Just like Jacy, I want you to try and focus on my attacks," Prowl instructs her.

"Got it," Kylie says, getting into position, "just tell me wh- AH!"

She panics as Prowl goes in for the attack, causing her to duck down and cover her head. This takes Prowl by surprise as he ends up tripping over her and falls flat on his front. Groaning in annoyance, he looks over his shoulder and frowns at her.

"Hehe," she weakly chuckles, "oops."

(thirty attempts later)

Once we finished learning defense, we move on to offense.

Kylie tries her best to land a punch on Prowl, only for him to dodge her every move. He even gets her into an arm lock after the fifth time.

"Oh come on!" Kylie complains with a frown, "its not fair! You're bigger than I am!"

"So are the decepticons," Prowl points out, letting her go, "but a wise bot once told me, it's not the size of the bot that matters. It's the size from within."

"... I'm sorry, what?" Kylie asks in confusion.

"Back at the stadium," Prowl says, "if I remember correctly, you were willing to fight against Airstrike to protect Jacy."

"Well, yeah," Kylie says, "but I still lost."

"But that didn't stop you from doing it again against Lugnut," he points out, "you were determined to fight for your friend. You fought with your spark."

"My what?" Kylie asks, not sure what he means.

"In human terms, it's the same thing as a heart/soul," Prowl explains, "by fighting with your heart, you proved you are capable of being a strong fighter."

Kylie smiles, though quickly thinks for a moment. "So, how do I take down someone three times my size?"

"It's not something I can fully teach you," Prowl says, "but one thing I know from trying to train Sari, is that everyone has their own unique way of defending themselves." Giving her a small smile, he gets into another fighting position. "So, lets see what you can do."

A look of determination now on her face, Kylie goes for the attack. As I watch, I think on Prowl's words, taking it to heart... er, spark I should say.

(Time skip)

"Remember to keep your arms up," Prowl instructs me from the side as I throw a punch into Bulkhead's open servo. Bulkhead came back to base earlier than the others and agreed to help us out.

"Thanks for doing this, Bulkhead," the ninja bot says as I continue punching.

"Glad I can help," he says.

Prowl and Kylie go off to the side to train while I continue practicing with Bulkhead. Curious as to why he's here before the others, I decide to ask him.

"So, how come you're back so early?" I ask him as I keep punching.

"Oh, they didn't need me anymore," he says, "plus I, mighta… dropped something."

"Like what?"

"... A bridge," he says in embarrassment.

I make a wincing sound at that.

"I didn't mean to do it," he says, "I was trying to help but... I didn't do so well." He sadly lowers his arm, making me stop.

I let out a vent, feeling bad for him. "Hey, it's not like you did it on purpose."

"That's even worse," he says, "no matter what I do, I'm too big. You don't know what it's like being so big."

Hearing that last sentence, I can't help but laugh.

He frowns at me. "It's not funny."

I make myself stop as I explain, "I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because I do understand." I make a size estimate with my servos, "I was this small before I became a bot."

He looks at me weird. "You mean when you were "human?"

Ignoring the quote/quote, I explain it to him. "I had to relearn how to walk without falling over. It wasn't easy. I felt like a giant. Still do. And trust me, I broke some stuff too."

He perks up a little, "Really?"

"Yeah. Heck, I even thrown Kylie up into a huge tree by mistake."

He laughs, "No kidding?! I did that to Bumblebee! Only it was a building!"

We both end up laughing as we compare our errors.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one," Bulkhead says with a smile.

"Hey, us bigger bots have to stick together," I say as I lift up a fist.

In return, he fist bumps it, making my arm bounce back a little. He stops with his fist still up as he looks at me, worried that he hit too hard. Grinning, I fist bump him back with a bit more force, making his smile come back bigger.

"Now come on," I say, bringing both fists up, "I need to practice."

He sticks his open servo out at me. "You got it!" he says, "and Jacy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

I smile as I give him a nod. "You're welcome."

(Time skip)

A little while after the others get back, Kylie and I move on to mod training. I am paired up with Optimus while Kylie is being instructed by Ratchet.

"Alright," Optimus says to me, "first step; activate your mod."

Letting out a vent, I try doing so, only for nothing to happen. I feel silly just trying.

"Try not to over think it," Optimus tells me.

That may be a challenge for me, I think to myself.

"Try and remember what you felt when it activated," he says.

Taking a vent, I think on it. "I guess scared," I say, "but that didn't work when I tried to do it yesterday. And trust me, I was terrified. I think I can only activate it out of reaction."

"Don't worry," Optimus assures me, "you'll figure it out."

"Oh for slag's sake! It's not that difficult!"

Optimus and I look over to see Ratchet and Kylie bickering amongst each other.

"Well excuse me!" Kylie argues, "I haven't exactly been a bot that long!"

"It's as natural as walking and transforming!" Ratchet exclaims.

"Yelling at me isn't going to help!"

"I'm not yelling!"

(One minute later)

"Alright, what seems to be the trouble?" Ratchet asks me gruffly, now instructing me as Optimus helps out Kylie.

"Still can't activate my mod," I say, "at least on purpose."

"So, you can only activate it out of reaction, huh?" he says as he walks over and picks up an empty oil can, "think fast!"

I immediately shield myself as he throws the can at me. Just like that, my mod activates as it creates a field in front of me. The can bounces off of it and flies backwards before hitting the ground. My field drops as Ratchet walks up to me.

"What you did there is a reaction of self defense," he explains, "its easier to activate when you don't overthink it." He then points to his right at a stacked pile of cans off to the side with a bullseye painted on them. "You said you can shoot it out like a blast, right? Try it on those cans."

Looking at my servos, I turn to face the target. Lifting my servo up, I try focusing on it. Nothing happens as I keep trying. I eventually hear Ratchet letting out a vent.

"Don't overthink it," he says in a gruff voice, "It's like transforming. You don't think it. You do it. Imagine someone you care about in trouble. What is your response?"

I think I understand as I turn my attention back to the pile. I remember when I did it to Starscream back at the mine. When he threatened to hurt Kylie.

Releasing a big vent, I bring my arm back up, trying my best not to overthink.

I feel something in my arm charge up as the circle in my palm gets brighter. Once I feel it fully charged, I fire.

The blast hits the cans, causing them to go flying. Both Ratchet and I cover our helms as the cans rain down on top of us.

"Maybe I shouldn't have gone full blast," I say sheepishly as the last can falls on top of me.

"That would be wise," Ratchet says as we stand straight up again. He gives me a small smile. "Still... nice work."

"You two okay?" Optimus asks us.

We give him a thumbs up, just in time to see Kylie activating her mod. Her visor slides over her optics from the side while her servos disappear into her forearms as they spin around, revealing her sonic blasters. It's similar to how Bumblebee activates his stingers.

"Yes!" she cheers.

"Nice work," Optimus says to her. He then points at the targets further away. "Now we can begin target practice. See if you can hit the bullseye."

Letting out a vent, she aims her blasters at a target. I hear the sound of them charging up as she readies herself.

"Here we go," she says as she fires.

However, soon as she fires, the sonic blast sends her flying backwards. She lets out a scream as she rapidly flies towards Optimus, catching him off guard and knocking him off to the side. She can't stop as she heads straight towards a stack of boxes. Ratchet and I wince as she collides into them, knocking them over and on top of her as well.

I hear the sound of her mod silencing from within the pile as she weakly cries out, "I'm okay."

Optimus, Ratchet and I let out a vent as we go over to help her.

(The next day - 10:06 am)

After another rude awakening from Sari, we are now standing outside of the factory. Bumblebee and Sari have us at attention as they begin today's training.

"Welcome to Autobot Boot Camp; Earth style!" Bumblebee says, pulling the sergeant act, "I will be your instructor for the day! When I say march, you march! When I say jump, you say, 'how high?'! I'm here to make autobots out of you, and that's what I'm going to do!" He then motions towards Sari standing beside him. "my assistant here will make sure none of you are slacking! Any questions?!"

I raise my servo. "Is it wise for us to train outside? What if the cons fly overhead and see us?"

"Don't worry," Sari says, "Ratchet and Prowl installed a hologram projector on the roof so that if anyone flies overhead, they can't see us."

"Oh," I say, feeling better, "good to know."

"Any other questions?!" Bumblebee asks.

Kylie raises her servo. "When do we get breaks?"

"When I say so!" Bumblebee says before dropping the act, "though since I don't want to stand for more than a megacycle, we'll see where it goes from there." Putting his drill sergeant face back on, he barks out his order. "Now drop and give me fifty transform-ups!"

Kylie raises her servo again. "Uh, what are those?"

Bumblebee lets out a vent as he drops the act again. "You get into a plank position and transform over and over again."

I lean over towards her. "It's like a combination of push ups and transforming," I whisper.

"Ooooooooh!" she says as I stand up straight again.

Sari blows her whistle. "you heard the bot!" she barks, "give us fifty transform-ups!"

Releasing a vent, Kylie and I get down to the ground and start. It's so far so good as I manage to maintain transforming into my truck mode.

"Come on, ladies, look alive!" Sari shouts, "no pain, no gain!"

"Even here, the saying exists," Kylie groans, sounding like she has had enough.

I end up losing count as I too begin feeling exhausted. All of a sudden, my transformation goes off, causing me to transform into my jet mode.

Crash!

I stop in jet mode with one of my wings now through the factory wall. Kylie stops her transform-ups as all eyes/optics look at me.

"Maybe we shouldn't do the exercises so close to the factory," Sari tells Bumblebee.

The yellow autobot rubs the back of his helm and nods. "Yeah, that might be a good idea."

I mentally groan as I look at my wing, wondering how the heck am I going to get it out.

(Time skip)

After I was able to get my wing out, we move on to the next exercise, this time further away from the factory. Both Bumblebee and Sari stand a little ways away from us with a tarp covering something in between them.

"During a fire fight, it's best to not let yourself get hit!" Bumblebee says as he reaches over and grabs the top of the tarp. "Which is why..!" he pulls the tarp off and tosses it to the side, revealing two buckets full of water balloons, "we will be training you on dodging!" Both he and Sari grab a balloon, "oh, and you can't use your mod, Jacy."

I look at the bucket questionably. "Where did you get all of those-"

"Fire!" Sari shouts.

Kylie and I shriek as we get pelted by water balloons. Remembering the point of it, we begin dodging. Bumblebee tries aiming his balloons at me while Sari fires at Kylie.

I try dodging as much as possible, only to still get hit. I frantically grab a board laying on the ground and use it to block my face from the oncoming water balloons, though its not big enough to shield my entire body. I look over to see Kylie frantically dodging until she decides to run behind me, using me as a shield.

I peak over the board to look at our instructors. "You two are enjoying this too much, aren't you?" I ask.

"...Maybe," Sari says as both her and Bumblebee give us a grin, followed by laughter and more water balloons.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

(Time skip)

Now dripping wet from dodging practice, Kylie and I move on to our next exercise. An obstacle course.

"Welcome to the obstacle course!" Bumblebee says as he and Sari stand next to the starting line. "here you will be tested on speed, endurance, and agility! Your goal is to make it past these four challenges!" He points at the metal beams stacked very low, "you will start by army crawling under those beams and then make your way over to the pile!" he then points over to a huge pile of junk sitting off to the side, "there you will climb over it and head on over to the race track!" He moves his digit further down and points at a small space with three oil cans standing there, "once there, you will transform and loop around those obstacles!" He finally points over to the last challenge, which is a couple wooden barricades behind a big mud puddle, "and finally, you will transform back into bot mode and hurdle your way over that mud puddle and race back to the finish line!"

Kylie shivers, "mud, yuck!" she comments.

"Kylie, you will be the first to go," Sari orders.

Groaning to herself, Kylie walks up to the starting line while Sari pulls out a stop watch.

"On your mark!" Bumblebee shouts, "get set...!"

Soon as Sari blows her whistle, Kylie takes off running.

I can't help but snicker as she crawls underneath the beams. Once through, she jumps up and brushes the dirt off of her before running to the pile. Immediately she begins climbing. She slides down it a couple times before finally making it to the top... only to tumble down the other side.

Ouch!

Looking dizzy, she makes her way over to the race track and transforms. She moves almost in zigzags, but manages to drive around the cans okay, almost knocking over the last one. She then gets to the hurdle jump and stops. Transforming, she looks at the mud puddle hesitantly then over at us. Out of support, I give her a thumbs up.

Taking a big vent, she backs away a little to get a running start. I watch as she books it, seeing a look of determination on her face. However soon as she jumps, her foot hits the top of the barricade, causing her to fumble and fall right into the mud.

Splash!

I feel bad for her as she crawls out of there, covered completely. A look of disgust now on her face, she rushes over to the finish line where Sari stops her stop watch.

"5 minutes and 43 seconds," Sari says.

Bumblebee, seeing Kylie now covered in mud, is trying so hard to keep himself from laughing.

Frowning at him, she shakes off some of the mud and walks back towards me.

"Okay, Jacy," Sari says, looking at me, "you're next."

Already having my doubts, I walk up to the starting line and get into position.

"On your mark... get set...!

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

I run and dive down for the crawl. But as soon as I start crawling, I feel my wings taking apart the beams' structure the further I go. Once I reach the end, I rush over to the pile and go to jump on it. I literally collide into it, causing junk to scatter everywhere. Feeling embarrassed, I still keep going as I head for the race track and transform. Unfortunately, my form is too big for the tiny space and I end up driving over the cans, flattening them in the process. Transforming back into bot mode, I look over at the hurdle. This one should at least be easy. Making a run for it, I go to jump... only to trip on my own feet.

BOOM! SPLASH!

Crushing the barricades under my weight, I fall into the puddle, sending mud flying everywhere. It's not until I look up that I see Bumblebee and Sari standing there... both covered head to toe in mud as they look at me.

I feel my face heat up in embarrassment as they continue staring. All of a sudden, Kylie starts laughing. We all look at her as she keeps going, showing no signs of restraint. This gets me laughing along with her. Soon Sari and Bumblebee follow after. Now all four of us are dying laughing as we point at one another.

"We-we didn't think this through!" Bumblebee laughs.

"N-no!" I laugh as I start tearing up, "No you didn't!"

"You just plowed right through everything!" Kylie laughs, crying as well.

"That was so awesome!" Sari snorts as she tears up too.

Eventually we calm down and take a vent/breath. I let out a few more chuckles as I wipe away a stray tear.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Bumblebee asks us, looking concerned.

We look at him weird.

"What do you mean?" Kylie asks.

"Your optics were leaking a few seconds ago," he says.

I let out a slight chuckle. "We were just crying from laughing so hard."

Bumblebee looks at me in confusion. "But... cybertronians can't cry."

I'm confused for a second until I remember. The bots didn't know what crying was until they saw Sari doing it.

But, if they can't cry... then how are we...?

"Uh, what's going on here?"

We turn around to see Optimus and the others standing there as they look at us weird.

"Just training," Sari says with a smile.

"We didn't do so good," Kylie adds sheepishly.

"Uh huh," Optimus says unconvinced as he looks at the mess. "you are going to clean this up, right?"

"Uh, sure thing, boss bot," Bumblebee says as he and Sari go to start cleaning.

"We'll help," I say, standing back up, "besides, I made this mess."

The bots walk off as we start cleaning. It's not long until we here, "What happened to the wall?!"

(Time skip)

Boom! Boom!

Optimus continues to help Kylie with training, making sure she doesn't go flying back again as she practices her aiming.

Instead of practicing firing, Ratchet now has me practicing on making fields and holding them for as long as possible. I find this hard as I try to make a small one between my servos. It pops up for a second, and then disappears. After about ten minutes of trying, I grow tired.

"I need to take a break," I tell Ratchet.

"You can take a break after you make a field and hold it for ten nanokliks," he tells me gruffly, "now try again."

Venting, I keep trying. Finally making one, I try holding it for ten seconds, only for it to disappear after five.

I let out a groan. "Come on! I did it once before! And it was bigger than that!"

"That's because you weren't overthinking it at the time," Ratchet tells me.

I vent. "I'm trying not too, I swear," I say, pinching my brow, "but it's not that simple for me."

"I can tell."

My wings droop down in frustration.

Ratchet lets out a vent. "If it makes you feel better, I didn't do so well the first time I tried using my mod."

I look at him as I raise my optical ridge, "yeah?"

He nods. "It was my first day of learning how to use it. Problem was, everything around me was metal. Soon as I activated it, everything came flying at me." he lets out a laugh, "took me a good megacycle to finally calm down and turn it off."

I can't help but laugh as well, my wings even perking up. "Oh no," I chuckle.

"Yep," he says, "point is, I eventually got the hang of it. And you will too with practice." He takes a step back and motions at me, "so come on. Let's try again."

Feeling better, I nod and reactivate my servos. Trying to block out my thoughts, I feel the familiar surge coming out as I field appears.

"That's it," Ratchet says, "now hold it."

Venting through it, I continue to hold the field, almost losing it a couple times. After a certain amount of time, it disappears.

I look at Ratchet. "How long was that?"

He smiles, "twelve nanokliks."

Hearing that, I immediately do a fist pump. "Yes!"

"You still want that break?" Ratchet asks me, folding his arms as he smirks.

"... Actually, I think I'm good," I say, now feeling motivated.

He smiles again. "That's what I want to hear."

Just then the sound of loud music blares throughout the room, making us immediately cover our audio receptors. Looking over, we see Optimus covering his audio receptors while Kylie has loud upbeat music blaring out of her sonic blasters.

"Check it out!" she yells excitedly over the music, "I'm a walking speaker!"

A frown immediately appears on Ratchet's face. "Lucky us!" he exclaims sarcastically as she continues.

(Third POV)

(Main area)

While the girls train, the remaining bots and humans are sitting in the main area, letting themselves relax.

"Phew!" Sari says as she sinks into her tire seat, "being an assistant trainer is hard work."

"I hear the girls have been doing good," Sumdac says, sitting beside her with Waldorf laying down at his feet.

"It may have been only a couple solar cycles, but they've been working hard," Prowl says, leaning over to gently rub the top of the dog's head.

Bumblebee, having something troubling him for a while, decides to speak out to his friends.

"Hey, can I ask you bots something?"

All eyes/optics look over at him.

"What is it, little buddy?" Bulkhead asks, taking a big gulp from his oil can.

"... Have you ever heard of Cybertronians that can cry?"

Both Prowl and Bulkhead look at him with their optical ridges raised up.

"What makes you ask that?" Prowl asks.

"Earlier today we were laughing, and both Jacy and Kylie's optics were leaking," the small bot explains, "they acted like it was normal for them."

The other two bots look at one another then back at Bumblebee.

"Are you sure?" Bulkhead asks.

"Positive," Bumblebee says.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact they used to be human," Sari thinks out loud.

"You don't actually believe their story, do you?" Prowl asks the girl.

"I've seen how they act," Sari says, "they act like actual humans. Kylie even talks like one."

"They could have picked up human culture from being on earth," Prowl says.

"Well, what about the stuff Jacy knows?" Sari asks, "she knows a lot about what's been happening. Sorta."

"What do you mean by 'sorta?" Bulkhead asks.

"She says she's been noticing changes happening. Apparently we were suppose to fight against some Headmaster thing and go on a camping trip where we fight off space barnacles."

All three bots plus her father look at her strange.

"Headmaster?" Sumdac asks.

"Space barnacles?" Prowl asks.

"Camping?!" Bumblebee asks in disbelief.

"That's what she said," Sari says.

"Okaay," Prowl says, still not convinced, "but that doesn't really prove anything."

"She knows I was captured by Meltdown and that he made the dinobots help him."

"... Maybe she was there at the time and we didn't notice her?" Bulkhead guesses.

Sari frowns at him. "How?! She doesn't know how to fly!"

"There must be a logical explanation," Prowl says.

"But that still doesn't explain the crying," Bumblebee points out.

"Maybe we should talk to Ratchet about that?" Bulkhead suggests.

They soon hear the sound of footsteps approaching the room.

"I think for now, we should keep this conversation to ourselves," Prowl says to everyone.

The others nod in agreement before Prime, Ratchet, and the femmes enter the room.

And that was chapter 20! I hope I didn't add too much into it. I saw this chapter going two different ways, but I decided to stick with this because I love the idea of the girls bonding with the bots before... oops, no spoilers. lol ;D

Poor Ratchet though lol. Hopefully he finds common ground with Kylie soon.

Anyway, I hope you liked it! Until next time! God bless!