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In an effort to make connections locally after the big move, Shelby joins a beginner hikers club, who meet every other weekend to hike along the Tennessee mountain range. One fateful weekend, the group organizes an all-day trip to Lookout Mountain. While making their way up the trail, Shelby’s interest is piqued by a bizarre-looking ‘city’ on the other side of the tracks. Since this takes place during the early years of public Internet (2003-2005), declassified information about Cybertronian operations on Earth are still scarce, and Shelby just can’t help her own curiosity. Knowing that the group wouldn’t entertain the idea, she sneaks off to get a better look for herself, winding up lost in the process. By a stroke of luck, she runs into one of the locals— Hot Rod.

After their first meeting, they continue to cross paths several times in increasingly comical ways, leading the two to form a friendship based on their mutual fascination with one another and their shared love of Earth’s culture and natural beauty. As they grow closer, Shelby gets to meet the other denizens of Autobot City, including two of Hot Rod’s partners: Arcee and Springer; both of whom take a liking to her.