Memories of the Dead, Souls of the Living
A Transformers Armada/Yu-Yu Hakusho story
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis pulled up to the mountain that Autobot Headquarters was
under. They hopped off their Minicons and quickly ran inside. When the Autobots
transformed the cave the Minicon ship was found in into their command center, they
made sure there was easy access for the kids to reach. So Red Alert installed a
miniature control panel to the elevator. As Rad typed in the access code, Alexis
stared at him from behind. For some reason, she was still thinking about his rapid-
changing attitude today in class. After he came back from the restroom, he sat in
silence for the rest of the class, something Rad rarely does. He didn't even talk
to Carlos. Maybe it was her imagination.
"Alexis?" Alexis raised her head. Rad was staring at her with a quizzical look.
Alexis' cheeks reddened. He must've been watching her for a while.
"Um... yeah, Rad?"
"Are you okay? I noticed that you looked a little down lately."
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Carlos interrupted. "You were
looking a little cross today in class." Alexis forgot that Carlos was also in
their class because he sat on the other side of the classroom. "What crawled up
your butt and died?"
"It's no big deal, guys," Rad said. "I'm just... concerned about how the Autobots
are going to stop Megatron when he has the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, and the
Requiem Blaster."
"I don't believe you," Alexis said. "This is about more than just the weapons,
isn't it. Please, Rad, tell us." Rad didn't want to be put on the spot. He
felt that his problems were personal.
Fortunately for Rad, the elevator doors opened and the kids came across their
first Autobot of the day, Scavenger. The large gold-colored robot was making
adjustments to an security camera.
"Hey, Scavenger," Rad greeted almost gratefully. "Has Optimus figured out a way
to get the weapons back from Megatron's clutches?"
"Not yet. Optimus, Jet Fire and myself have been discussing it for the past five
hours." Scavenger actually rubbed the bridge of his nose showing that even Autobots
get fatigued.
"How's Hot Shot?" Alexis asked. She knew that the young (compared to the others
anyway) Autobot was still upset over Starscream's betrayal.
"He's still in the targeting range," Scavenger said. "He's been in there ever since."
"I think I'll go see him," Carlos said and immediately took off down the hallway.
Rad turned to Scavenger. "Scavenger, if there's anything we can do to help..."
"Thanks. To tell the truth, we could use any help we can get."
Scavenger, Rad, and Alexis arrived at the cargo bay where Smokescreen, Blurr, and
Sideswipe were helping the Minicons they rescued from the Decepticons' Moonbase in
constructing their spaceship that they could use to return to Cybertron.
"Scavenger," Optimus Prime called as he walked into the bay as well. "May I see you
for a moment?"
"What is it, Optimus, sir?"
"Follow me." Optimus and Scavenger went into the control room where Red Alert was
looking over a topographic map. There were two dots on the screen, a red one and a
yellow one.
"For the past three hours, we've been monitoring a strange energy signature."
"Minicon?" Scavenger asked.
"Unknown, it doesn't match anything in our database," Red Alert reported.
"Should we investigate it? It might be dangerous?" Scavenger pointed out.
"I'd like to, but we really can't spare the resources right now, we need to
concentrate everything we have on constructing the ship to take us back to
Cybertron."
"Optimus, let us do it," Rad volunteered. "We can investigate it for you."
"I don't know," Optimus said. "We don't know what's out there, it could be
dangerous."
"Maybe we should," Red Alert said. "It's not far from here. And if it is
trouble, they can always use Laserbeak to contact us."
"All right. Rad, Alexis, take Carlos and investigate the source of the strange
energy signature. At the first sign of danger, get out of there and contact us."
"You got it, Optimus. Come on, Alexis!" Rad grabbed Alexis' hands and lead her
out of the control room.
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis arrived at the location the Autobots gave them. It was
actually a rather busy city street.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Carlos asked jumping off Grindor.
"Anything unusual," Rad said. "Something that would give off an energy signature."
"Anything unusual," Carlos mocked. "Right, if I see an elephant tap dancing with
roller skates, I'll let you... huh?" Something caught Carlos' eye. It was a girl,
about his age with shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes. It triggered a
not-too-distant memory in Carlos. "No way!" Carlos quickly turned to his friends.
"Guys, I saw her, I saw her!"
"Saw who?" Alexis asked.
"The girl! The hologram girl!"
"What hologram girl?" Alexis asked again.
Rad, however, cought on. "Oh, you mean the hologram girl we met at the underwater
ruins."
"Yes!" Carlos cried all too excitedly. "She's right over there!" Carlos pointed
to where he saw her but she wasn't there. "Huh? Where'd she go?" The kids all
looked around but couldn't see her.
"I don't see her, Carlos," Rad said.
"Will you two pay attention?" Alexis snapped. "We're here on a mission from the
Autobots!"
"Hey, why are you yelling at me? Carlos was the one who was interested in her,"
Rad protested.
But Alexis wouldn't hear any more of it. "Let's just get this over with."
Rad moaned. This was just like when they came back from the ruins, Alexis
automatically thought that both Rad and Carlos had a crush on her.
Little did she know that Rad did have a crush on someone, but it was a real girl,
not a hologram.
"Hey, I have an idea," Rad said and took out Laserbeak. "Laserbeak, transform and
search for anything that would emit a strange energy signature." The camera turned
into a little bird-like robot and took off into the air.
"Good thinking, Rad," Alexis said taking out her palm pilot. "We'll cover much more
ground that way." She tapped into Laserbeak's visual feed. A buiding in the upper
left corner of the screen became highlighted.
"We've got something." The three kids climbed back onto their Minicons and rode to
the location. It was an abandoned warehouse. They crept inside. They could hear
the sound of fighting. They ducked behind some crates and spied on the young man
inside.
It was a boy older than them with long spiky black hair and beady black eyes. He was
short and had no shirt on. His pants were something that looked like what a samurai
might wear. He had a kitana sheathed at his side. His white headband was tied tightly
around his head. He seemed to be deep in meditation.
But he was actually getting ready to attack.
Faster than the blink of an eye, he was on the other side of the room. He leaped up and
bounced off a support post as well as a catwalk above the ceiling. He did several flips
and almost seemed to hover there in mid-air. He drew his sword and made several quick
slashes with it. He then sheathed it and fell to his feet in the center of the area
where he was training. He stood there for a while, like he was waiting for something.
Finally, he said, "Well, are you just going to stand there gawking or are you actually
going to say something?"
"Is he talking to us?" Carlos whispered to Alexis.
"How should I know?" Alexis whispered back.
"Of course I'm talking to you," the boy replied without even looking at them. "We're
the only ones here."
"He saw us!" Rad cried. "Let's get out of here." The kids ran out as fast as their
Minicons could carry them.
Back inside, the man known as Hiei crossed his arms and closed his eyes. A soft, almost
whisper of a voice, came from the shadows. "You have a way with children, Hiei."
"I had killed my first human by the time I was their age, Kurama," Hiei told the former
thief. "Children these days are soft and weak."
"I guess not everybody can be as strong as Yusuke and Kuwabara," Kurama said leaning
against a crate.
"You mean not everybody can be as strong as Yusuke and me."
Kurama smiled knowingly. "Of course, how silly of me."
Hiei stared at his hand. "I was trying to control the power level of my Dragon of the
Darkness Flame before those kids came in."
"Any luck?" Kurama asked.
"No, it's just too powerful to regulate."
"Keep trying, I'm sure you can do it."
Back outside, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good thing we decided to get out of there before he decided to kung-fu us to death,"
Carlos said. He then looked up. There she was again, the girl from the ruins. "Hey!"
He ran off after her.
"Carlos, where are you going?" Rad called out and started to follow him. Alexis,
after muttering something under her breath, decided to follow them. Their Minicons
looked at each other, shrugged and followed after their friends.
Rad looked around for Carlos. Not only has he not seen anyone who even remotely resembled
the girl from the underwater ruins (except maybe for a four year old leaning into the window
of a candy store) but he lost Carlos too. He was just about to send Laserbeak to look for
him when Carlos pulled him into an alley. "Carlos, what..."
Carlos hushed him and turned Rad's head to across the street. There was a girl about their
age with shoulder-length blonde hair. As she turned, she gave Rad and Carlos a good view
of her face.
Rad almost had a heart attack.
"Marcy," he muttered. Carlos was just too busy oogling her to hear him. Rad just kept
muttering to himself. "It can't be... how can it be her?... there's just no way."
Alexis bashed the two of them in the head. "You guys disgust me, sometime. Come on, let's
get back to Autobot Headquarters." Rad got up and followed Alexis. Carlos just sat there
staring at the girl who looked like the girl from the ruins until Alexis and Grindor had to
drag him away.
The negative emotions were high at the Decepticons' Moonbase. Since the Autobots invaded
and took all the Minicons, the Decepticons themselves had to finish building the spaceship.
Tidal Wave, Cyclonus, Demolisher and Wheeljack were doing the gruntwork while Megatron,
Starscream, and Thrust convened in his throne room.
"The Star Saber, the Skyboom Shield, and the Requiem Blaster." Megatron stared at the Minicon
weapons gathered on a table in front of his throne. "I can almost feel our victory at hand.
We have the three most powerful weapons in existence," Megatron said. "I could destroy a
human city in the blink of an eye with the Requiem Blaster."
"No, wait," Starscream protested. "There's no need to! Just leave them alone."
Megatron cast a side glance at the aerial soldier. "If I didn't know any better, Starscream,
I would say that you actually feel compassion for those humans." Starscream grumbled.
Megatron had been edging him like this ever since he returned with the Star Saber and the
Skyboom Shield.
"I think what Starscream is trying to say, Mighty Megatron," Thrust intervened. "Is that
why waste such tremendous power on lower lifeforms? We should save it for the Autobots, the
immediate threat. Once we return to Cybertron and destroy all the Autobots, then if you want,
you can come back and destroy Earth."
Megatron was content with that answer. Thrust sent Starscream a look that said 'you owe me.'
Starscream turned and went back to his quarters. He wondered if all this was worth usurping
control of the Decepticons from Megatron. Since he and Thrust had formed a secret alliance,
Starscream has had this nagging feeling in his circuits. He wished he could stop it. He
was a Decepticon, a soldier, bred for combat, destined for destruction. That was his lot in
life. He thought about the surprise party the kids threw him. They were actually showing
him compassion. Such compassion was unworthy of him, he was a soldier, he would never be
anything else.
Megatron was toying with the idea of killing humans, the brainchild of the conversation he
had with Starscream and Thrust. He noticed how devoted the Autobots were too protective of
the humans, especially those three kids. That was it, that was the Autobots'achilles heel.
If he started to target the humans, the Autobots would be forced to give up the Minicons.
It almost worked before, but it might work now that he has the Requiem Blaster.
Back at Autobot Headquarters, Alexis (still fuming at Carlos and Rad for their, actually
Carlos', attitude) was giving a report to Optimus Prime, accompanied by the images that
Laserbeak recorded. Carlos was sitting in a corner watching the others finish construction
on the spaceship, but not actually watching them. He was actually thinking about the Hologram
girl, the one who first warned them of the Star Saber. In many ways, she set the stage for
all the battles that were to come.
Rad was visiting Hot Shot in the target range. "Hey, Hot Shot, mind some company?"
"Sure, Rad," Hot Shot said taking his eyes off the target. But his audio receptors noticed
that Rad's voice seemed depressed. "You okay? You seem bummed about something."
"Carlos thought he saw the hologram girl today."
"You mean the girl who first introduced us to the Star Saber? I thought she was dead."
Rad bit the back of his teeth at the irony of Hot Shot's last sentence. "Yeah, she is."
"I don't see how it could be her though," Hot Shot said as a new target was set up. "What
Red Alert told me was that it was just an artificial intelligence using a little girl's form
to communicate." Rad was silent. Hot Shot put his weapon away and gave Rad a little smile.
"I'm guessing that Carlos was ecstatic."
"Yeah," Rad said absent-mindedly.
"Hey Rad, is something wrong? I mean I thought I was suppose to be the depressed one around
here."
"Well... it's just that... well I saw her too, although it was briefly. But... she didn't
remind me of the hologram girl, she reminded me of... someone else."
"Someone else?" Hot Shot repeated. But Rad's only reply was silence. "Is it someone I know?"
Still silent. "It's okay, Rad, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Rad looked up at his friend. "No, it's okay, Hot Shot, perhaps it would be better if I told
someone." So Rad told Hot Shot everything and in the end, Hot Shot understood. Rad then went
back to the control room while Hot Shot decided to bury the hatchet for a while and help the
Autobots construct their ship.
"Hey, Carlos," Rad greeted.
"Hey, what's up, man?" Carlos said punching Rad's fist in their usual greeting. "You okay?"
"Well... it was about today."
"You mean that weird karate dude?"
"No... it was when we saw the girl who looked like the hologram girl. She reminded me of...
her." Carlos was confused. He thought about Rad, then her.
Suddenly it clicked.
"Oh man! Dude, I'm sorry, I guess I was too ga-ga over her to notice the resemblance. But
now I do... but Rad, why now, I mean you didn't seem to act that way when we were at those
underwater ruins when we first saw her. Is the anniversary showing up?"
"Yeah. Ten years next week."
"Whoa, I had no idea. Are... are you going to visit..."
"Probably. It's the least I could do."
"Hey, man, if you'd like, I could join you."
"Thanks. I think I'd like it."
It was then that Alexis came over to them. "Come on, guys, it's time to go. I don't think
there's anything we really can do now."
"Yeah, you're right," Rad agreed. "Hey Optimus, you'll contact us if there's anything we
can do, right?"
"Of course, Rad," Optimus said like it was a stupid question. "The three of you are just
as important on this team as anyone else."
"Thanks, Optimus, that's good to know." Rad actually took comfort in knowing that the
Autobots would always be there to back them up and vice versa.
That evening, Alexis pulled up to a corner grocery store. Sureshock asked a question
although to anyone else, it sounded like an electric guitar out of tune.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," she told the Minicon scooter.
When Alexis came out, she saw that Sureshock was gone. In its place was a bunch of mean-
looking thugs. Alexis backed up to the store wall. "Hey, I don't want any trouble," she
said.
"We don't want any trouble either," one of the thugs said. "All we want is some... fun."
Alexis had a faint idea what he meant by 'fun.' She looked around for a place to escape
but the store had already closed for the night and there were no lights anywhere except for
the occasional street lamp. She was at their mercy.
Or so she thought.
"Let her go," a harsh voice said. Everybody turned to see Rad and Carlos standing ten feet
away from them.
"And who are you, her protector?" A thug asked.
"Something like that," Rad replied. "I suggest you leave, unless you want to upset my friend
here." From the shadows stepped Perceptor, the mini gestalt of High Wire, Sureshock, and Grindor.
Upon seeing the combined Minicon, the thugs beated it out of there post-haste.
"Alexis, are you okay?" Rad asked.
"Yeah, thanks, but how did you know..."
"Carlos and I saw them hanging around Sureshock so we grabbed it waited to make sure you didn't
encounter any trouble."
"Well, thanks guys," Alexis said as Perceptor separated.
"The one you should be thanking is Rad. He had the idea of having Perceptor scare these guys,"
Carlos informed her.
Alexis smiled greatfully at Rad. "Thank you, Rad. I thought..."
"Hey, anything for a friend." He smiled back at her. The clock in the distance chimed five.
"Well, I guess we better leave. See you tomorrow, Alexis."
"Bye, Rad." As Alexis took off on Sureshock, she began to realize that perhaps Rad wasn't as
gaa-gaa over the hologram girl as she originally thought.
A Transformers Armada/Yu-Yu Hakusho story
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis pulled up to the mountain that Autobot Headquarters was
under. They hopped off their Minicons and quickly ran inside. When the Autobots
transformed the cave the Minicon ship was found in into their command center, they
made sure there was easy access for the kids to reach. So Red Alert installed a
miniature control panel to the elevator. As Rad typed in the access code, Alexis
stared at him from behind. For some reason, she was still thinking about his rapid-
changing attitude today in class. After he came back from the restroom, he sat in
silence for the rest of the class, something Rad rarely does. He didn't even talk
to Carlos. Maybe it was her imagination.
"Alexis?" Alexis raised her head. Rad was staring at her with a quizzical look.
Alexis' cheeks reddened. He must've been watching her for a while.
"Um... yeah, Rad?"
"Are you okay? I noticed that you looked a little down lately."
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Carlos interrupted. "You were
looking a little cross today in class." Alexis forgot that Carlos was also in
their class because he sat on the other side of the classroom. "What crawled up
your butt and died?"
"It's no big deal, guys," Rad said. "I'm just... concerned about how the Autobots
are going to stop Megatron when he has the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, and the
Requiem Blaster."
"I don't believe you," Alexis said. "This is about more than just the weapons,
isn't it. Please, Rad, tell us." Rad didn't want to be put on the spot. He
felt that his problems were personal.
Fortunately for Rad, the elevator doors opened and the kids came across their
first Autobot of the day, Scavenger. The large gold-colored robot was making
adjustments to an security camera.
"Hey, Scavenger," Rad greeted almost gratefully. "Has Optimus figured out a way
to get the weapons back from Megatron's clutches?"
"Not yet. Optimus, Jet Fire and myself have been discussing it for the past five
hours." Scavenger actually rubbed the bridge of his nose showing that even Autobots
get fatigued.
"How's Hot Shot?" Alexis asked. She knew that the young (compared to the others
anyway) Autobot was still upset over Starscream's betrayal.
"He's still in the targeting range," Scavenger said. "He's been in there ever since."
"I think I'll go see him," Carlos said and immediately took off down the hallway.
Rad turned to Scavenger. "Scavenger, if there's anything we can do to help..."
"Thanks. To tell the truth, we could use any help we can get."
Scavenger, Rad, and Alexis arrived at the cargo bay where Smokescreen, Blurr, and
Sideswipe were helping the Minicons they rescued from the Decepticons' Moonbase in
constructing their spaceship that they could use to return to Cybertron.
"Scavenger," Optimus Prime called as he walked into the bay as well. "May I see you
for a moment?"
"What is it, Optimus, sir?"
"Follow me." Optimus and Scavenger went into the control room where Red Alert was
looking over a topographic map. There were two dots on the screen, a red one and a
yellow one.
"For the past three hours, we've been monitoring a strange energy signature."
"Minicon?" Scavenger asked.
"Unknown, it doesn't match anything in our database," Red Alert reported.
"Should we investigate it? It might be dangerous?" Scavenger pointed out.
"I'd like to, but we really can't spare the resources right now, we need to
concentrate everything we have on constructing the ship to take us back to
Cybertron."
"Optimus, let us do it," Rad volunteered. "We can investigate it for you."
"I don't know," Optimus said. "We don't know what's out there, it could be
dangerous."
"Maybe we should," Red Alert said. "It's not far from here. And if it is
trouble, they can always use Laserbeak to contact us."
"All right. Rad, Alexis, take Carlos and investigate the source of the strange
energy signature. At the first sign of danger, get out of there and contact us."
"You got it, Optimus. Come on, Alexis!" Rad grabbed Alexis' hands and lead her
out of the control room.
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis arrived at the location the Autobots gave them. It was
actually a rather busy city street.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Carlos asked jumping off Grindor.
"Anything unusual," Rad said. "Something that would give off an energy signature."
"Anything unusual," Carlos mocked. "Right, if I see an elephant tap dancing with
roller skates, I'll let you... huh?" Something caught Carlos' eye. It was a girl,
about his age with shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes. It triggered a
not-too-distant memory in Carlos. "No way!" Carlos quickly turned to his friends.
"Guys, I saw her, I saw her!"
"Saw who?" Alexis asked.
"The girl! The hologram girl!"
"What hologram girl?" Alexis asked again.
Rad, however, cought on. "Oh, you mean the hologram girl we met at the underwater
ruins."
"Yes!" Carlos cried all too excitedly. "She's right over there!" Carlos pointed
to where he saw her but she wasn't there. "Huh? Where'd she go?" The kids all
looked around but couldn't see her.
"I don't see her, Carlos," Rad said.
"Will you two pay attention?" Alexis snapped. "We're here on a mission from the
Autobots!"
"Hey, why are you yelling at me? Carlos was the one who was interested in her,"
Rad protested.
But Alexis wouldn't hear any more of it. "Let's just get this over with."
Rad moaned. This was just like when they came back from the ruins, Alexis
automatically thought that both Rad and Carlos had a crush on her.
Little did she know that Rad did have a crush on someone, but it was a real girl,
not a hologram.
"Hey, I have an idea," Rad said and took out Laserbeak. "Laserbeak, transform and
search for anything that would emit a strange energy signature." The camera turned
into a little bird-like robot and took off into the air.
"Good thinking, Rad," Alexis said taking out her palm pilot. "We'll cover much more
ground that way." She tapped into Laserbeak's visual feed. A buiding in the upper
left corner of the screen became highlighted.
"We've got something." The three kids climbed back onto their Minicons and rode to
the location. It was an abandoned warehouse. They crept inside. They could hear
the sound of fighting. They ducked behind some crates and spied on the young man
inside.
It was a boy older than them with long spiky black hair and beady black eyes. He was
short and had no shirt on. His pants were something that looked like what a samurai
might wear. He had a kitana sheathed at his side. His white headband was tied tightly
around his head. He seemed to be deep in meditation.
But he was actually getting ready to attack.
Faster than the blink of an eye, he was on the other side of the room. He leaped up and
bounced off a support post as well as a catwalk above the ceiling. He did several flips
and almost seemed to hover there in mid-air. He drew his sword and made several quick
slashes with it. He then sheathed it and fell to his feet in the center of the area
where he was training. He stood there for a while, like he was waiting for something.
Finally, he said, "Well, are you just going to stand there gawking or are you actually
going to say something?"
"Is he talking to us?" Carlos whispered to Alexis.
"How should I know?" Alexis whispered back.
"Of course I'm talking to you," the boy replied without even looking at them. "We're
the only ones here."
"He saw us!" Rad cried. "Let's get out of here." The kids ran out as fast as their
Minicons could carry them.
Back inside, the man known as Hiei crossed his arms and closed his eyes. A soft, almost
whisper of a voice, came from the shadows. "You have a way with children, Hiei."
"I had killed my first human by the time I was their age, Kurama," Hiei told the former
thief. "Children these days are soft and weak."
"I guess not everybody can be as strong as Yusuke and Kuwabara," Kurama said leaning
against a crate.
"You mean not everybody can be as strong as Yusuke and me."
Kurama smiled knowingly. "Of course, how silly of me."
Hiei stared at his hand. "I was trying to control the power level of my Dragon of the
Darkness Flame before those kids came in."
"Any luck?" Kurama asked.
"No, it's just too powerful to regulate."
"Keep trying, I'm sure you can do it."
Back outside, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good thing we decided to get out of there before he decided to kung-fu us to death,"
Carlos said. He then looked up. There she was again, the girl from the ruins. "Hey!"
He ran off after her.
"Carlos, where are you going?" Rad called out and started to follow him. Alexis,
after muttering something under her breath, decided to follow them. Their Minicons
looked at each other, shrugged and followed after their friends.
Rad looked around for Carlos. Not only has he not seen anyone who even remotely resembled
the girl from the underwater ruins (except maybe for a four year old leaning into the window
of a candy store) but he lost Carlos too. He was just about to send Laserbeak to look for
him when Carlos pulled him into an alley. "Carlos, what..."
Carlos hushed him and turned Rad's head to across the street. There was a girl about their
age with shoulder-length blonde hair. As she turned, she gave Rad and Carlos a good view
of her face.
Rad almost had a heart attack.
"Marcy," he muttered. Carlos was just too busy oogling her to hear him. Rad just kept
muttering to himself. "It can't be... how can it be her?... there's just no way."
Alexis bashed the two of them in the head. "You guys disgust me, sometime. Come on, let's
get back to Autobot Headquarters." Rad got up and followed Alexis. Carlos just sat there
staring at the girl who looked like the girl from the ruins until Alexis and Grindor had to
drag him away.
The negative emotions were high at the Decepticons' Moonbase. Since the Autobots invaded
and took all the Minicons, the Decepticons themselves had to finish building the spaceship.
Tidal Wave, Cyclonus, Demolisher and Wheeljack were doing the gruntwork while Megatron,
Starscream, and Thrust convened in his throne room.
"The Star Saber, the Skyboom Shield, and the Requiem Blaster." Megatron stared at the Minicon
weapons gathered on a table in front of his throne. "I can almost feel our victory at hand.
We have the three most powerful weapons in existence," Megatron said. "I could destroy a
human city in the blink of an eye with the Requiem Blaster."
"No, wait," Starscream protested. "There's no need to! Just leave them alone."
Megatron cast a side glance at the aerial soldier. "If I didn't know any better, Starscream,
I would say that you actually feel compassion for those humans." Starscream grumbled.
Megatron had been edging him like this ever since he returned with the Star Saber and the
Skyboom Shield.
"I think what Starscream is trying to say, Mighty Megatron," Thrust intervened. "Is that
why waste such tremendous power on lower lifeforms? We should save it for the Autobots, the
immediate threat. Once we return to Cybertron and destroy all the Autobots, then if you want,
you can come back and destroy Earth."
Megatron was content with that answer. Thrust sent Starscream a look that said 'you owe me.'
Starscream turned and went back to his quarters. He wondered if all this was worth usurping
control of the Decepticons from Megatron. Since he and Thrust had formed a secret alliance,
Starscream has had this nagging feeling in his circuits. He wished he could stop it. He
was a Decepticon, a soldier, bred for combat, destined for destruction. That was his lot in
life. He thought about the surprise party the kids threw him. They were actually showing
him compassion. Such compassion was unworthy of him, he was a soldier, he would never be
anything else.
Megatron was toying with the idea of killing humans, the brainchild of the conversation he
had with Starscream and Thrust. He noticed how devoted the Autobots were too protective of
the humans, especially those three kids. That was it, that was the Autobots'achilles heel.
If he started to target the humans, the Autobots would be forced to give up the Minicons.
It almost worked before, but it might work now that he has the Requiem Blaster.
Back at Autobot Headquarters, Alexis (still fuming at Carlos and Rad for their, actually
Carlos', attitude) was giving a report to Optimus Prime, accompanied by the images that
Laserbeak recorded. Carlos was sitting in a corner watching the others finish construction
on the spaceship, but not actually watching them. He was actually thinking about the Hologram
girl, the one who first warned them of the Star Saber. In many ways, she set the stage for
all the battles that were to come.
Rad was visiting Hot Shot in the target range. "Hey, Hot Shot, mind some company?"
"Sure, Rad," Hot Shot said taking his eyes off the target. But his audio receptors noticed
that Rad's voice seemed depressed. "You okay? You seem bummed about something."
"Carlos thought he saw the hologram girl today."
"You mean the girl who first introduced us to the Star Saber? I thought she was dead."
Rad bit the back of his teeth at the irony of Hot Shot's last sentence. "Yeah, she is."
"I don't see how it could be her though," Hot Shot said as a new target was set up. "What
Red Alert told me was that it was just an artificial intelligence using a little girl's form
to communicate." Rad was silent. Hot Shot put his weapon away and gave Rad a little smile.
"I'm guessing that Carlos was ecstatic."
"Yeah," Rad said absent-mindedly.
"Hey Rad, is something wrong? I mean I thought I was suppose to be the depressed one around
here."
"Well... it's just that... well I saw her too, although it was briefly. But... she didn't
remind me of the hologram girl, she reminded me of... someone else."
"Someone else?" Hot Shot repeated. But Rad's only reply was silence. "Is it someone I know?"
Still silent. "It's okay, Rad, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Rad looked up at his friend. "No, it's okay, Hot Shot, perhaps it would be better if I told
someone." So Rad told Hot Shot everything and in the end, Hot Shot understood. Rad then went
back to the control room while Hot Shot decided to bury the hatchet for a while and help the
Autobots construct their ship.
"Hey, Carlos," Rad greeted.
"Hey, what's up, man?" Carlos said punching Rad's fist in their usual greeting. "You okay?"
"Well... it was about today."
"You mean that weird karate dude?"
"No... it was when we saw the girl who looked like the hologram girl. She reminded me of...
her." Carlos was confused. He thought about Rad, then her.
Suddenly it clicked.
"Oh man! Dude, I'm sorry, I guess I was too ga-ga over her to notice the resemblance. But
now I do... but Rad, why now, I mean you didn't seem to act that way when we were at those
underwater ruins when we first saw her. Is the anniversary showing up?"
"Yeah. Ten years next week."
"Whoa, I had no idea. Are... are you going to visit..."
"Probably. It's the least I could do."
"Hey, man, if you'd like, I could join you."
"Thanks. I think I'd like it."
It was then that Alexis came over to them. "Come on, guys, it's time to go. I don't think
there's anything we really can do now."
"Yeah, you're right," Rad agreed. "Hey Optimus, you'll contact us if there's anything we
can do, right?"
"Of course, Rad," Optimus said like it was a stupid question. "The three of you are just
as important on this team as anyone else."
"Thanks, Optimus, that's good to know." Rad actually took comfort in knowing that the
Autobots would always be there to back them up and vice versa.
That evening, Alexis pulled up to a corner grocery store. Sureshock asked a question
although to anyone else, it sounded like an electric guitar out of tune.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," she told the Minicon scooter.
When Alexis came out, she saw that Sureshock was gone. In its place was a bunch of mean-
looking thugs. Alexis backed up to the store wall. "Hey, I don't want any trouble," she
said.
"We don't want any trouble either," one of the thugs said. "All we want is some... fun."
Alexis had a faint idea what he meant by 'fun.' She looked around for a place to escape
but the store had already closed for the night and there were no lights anywhere except for
the occasional street lamp. She was at their mercy.
Or so she thought.
"Let her go," a harsh voice said. Everybody turned to see Rad and Carlos standing ten feet
away from them.
"And who are you, her protector?" A thug asked.
"Something like that," Rad replied. "I suggest you leave, unless you want to upset my friend
here." From the shadows stepped Perceptor, the mini gestalt of High Wire, Sureshock, and Grindor.
Upon seeing the combined Minicon, the thugs beated it out of there post-haste.
"Alexis, are you okay?" Rad asked.
"Yeah, thanks, but how did you know..."
"Carlos and I saw them hanging around Sureshock so we grabbed it waited to make sure you didn't
encounter any trouble."
"Well, thanks guys," Alexis said as Perceptor separated.
"The one you should be thanking is Rad. He had the idea of having Perceptor scare these guys,"
Carlos informed her.
Alexis smiled greatfully at Rad. "Thank you, Rad. I thought..."
"Hey, anything for a friend." He smiled back at her. The clock in the distance chimed five.
"Well, I guess we better leave. See you tomorrow, Alexis."
"Bye, Rad." As Alexis took off on Sureshock, she began to realize that perhaps Rad wasn't as
gaa-gaa over the hologram girl as she originally thought.