Memories of the Dead, Souls of the Living
The next day, the kids were on their way to school when their came a loud explosion.
"What was that?" Alexis asked.
"I don't know," Rad replied. "Let's check it out." The kids got onto their
Minicons and took off.
They haven't gotten far when they came upon the source of the explosion. An entire
section of the city had been vaporized. Both kid and Minicon were frightened at the
sight.
"Wh... what... what happened?" Carlos staggered.
"This is horrible!" Alexis gasped just before collapsing to her knees.
"There's only one thing I know of that can cause such destruction," Rad said grimly.
Alexis immediately caught on. "Rad, it can't be, they wouldn't."
"They would if they were under the control of the Decepticons," Rad said.
"You mean the Requiem Blaster?" Carlos inquired. Rad nodded.
A new explosion echoed through the sky, but this one was different. However, it was
a sound that the kids were all too familiar with.
The sounds of battle.
The kids immediately went to check it out unaware that they were stealthly being
followed by Hiei.
The sight that they beheld when they arrived at the source of the fighting was also one
they were familiar with. Autobot battling Decepticon. Jet Optimus was taking on Megatron
in his Tidal Wave armor. Scavenger, Smokescreen, Blurr, and Sideswipe were already there
taking on Cyclonus, Demolisher, Thrust, and Wheeljack. Alexis figured that Hot Shot and
Red Alert remained behind at headquarters. Red Alert to act as medic and Hot Shot was
still too emotional to participate in battle.
A beeping sound came from Rad's pocket. He took out Laserbeak. "This is weird, Laserbeak
never reacted like this before."
"Red Alert programmed Laserbeak to go off if there was a Minicon panel nearby," Alexis told
her two companions.
"I'll go look for it," Rad said. "The more help we can use on this, the better. You two
stay out of sight."
"No, Rad, we all go."
"But... Alexis, I don't want you to get hurt."
"I don't want you to get hurt also, Rad," Alexis said laying a hand on his shoulder. "Let
all of us go."
"But the Autobots are going to need your help," Rad countered. "Don't worry about me, I'll
be fine." He gave Alexis a quick peck on the cheek then took off, Laserbeak flying besides
him.
Alexis, after a thought, turned to Highwire. "Highwire, please look after him." The blue
Minicon nodded and transformed into his bike mode. He followed behind his friend like a
loyal dog.
"Alexis, I don't understand," Carlos said. "Why is Megatron zapping entire city streets
for no reason?"
"I... I don't know, Carlos," Alexis said. To tell the truth, she never felt so scared in
her life. If Megatron was using the Requiem Blaster on humans, then nobody was safe, not
even them.
"Laserbeak, home in on the Minicon panel," Rad instructed. Laserbeak pulled ahead and flew
around looking for the Minicon panel. Unknown to Rad, Demolisher's Minicon, Blackout, was
listening in. He radioed his master.
Despite having two of the Minicon weapons with him and his Tidal Wave armor, Megatron was
struggling in his battle against Jet Optimus. The gestalt of Optimus Prime and Jet Fire
has grown incredibly stronger, though Megatron will never admit that. It was only natural,
since he was now the most strongest Transformer in the universe.
"Demolisher to Megatron," Megatron's internal communication system activated.
"Not now, you mis-matched moron," Megatron insulted as he swung the Star Saber.
"But Megatron, sir, A Minicon has been spotted."
"A Minicon?" Megatron pushed Jet Optimus away. "Well, that's different." This was his
chance to re-plensih his Minicon army. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this meeting
short, Optimus. Something better came up." And using his jet pack, Megatron took off.
"Where could he be going?" Jet Optimus thought to himself. "I better follow him."
"Any sign of the Minicon, Laserbeak?" Rad asked. Highwire beeped an answer to Rad: No.
Suddenly Laserbeak started to fly around a certain area. To Rad, that meant only one thing:
The Minicon had been found. Rad ran over to where Laserbeak was flying and dug through the
ground until the edge of a small green panel was revealed. Rad cleaned the dirt around from
the Minicon panel. "Found it! Now to revive it." Rad placed his palm on the panel to
activate it but nothing happened. Rad tried again and again to activate it, but it remained
dormant.
"Perhaps I better check in with Red Alert. Laserbeak, get down here!" Laserbeak transformed
back into its camera form and Rad spoke to its lens. "Red Alert, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Rad, what is it?" Red Alert's voice came from the communicator built into Laserbeak.
"Red Alert, I found a Minicon panel, but it won't revive. I was thinking, maybe it's another
Minicon team like the weapons."
"I suppose its possible. Have Laserbeak record it for analysis." Rad complied and Red Alert
used the Autobot computer to analyze it.
"Well, what's the result, Alert?"
"It's a blank panel," Red Alert concluded.
"A blank panel?"
"Minicons are normally compressed into panels. It's possible that one of the pods used to
compress the Minicons was empty when the Minicons went to sleep just before they crashed on
Earth," Red Alert explained.
"So there really is no Minicon," Rad said. Apparently his trip was for nothing. "All right,
thanks, Red Alert. I better get back to Alexis and Carlos."
"Listen, Rad, I want you three to come to headquarters immediately. For some reason, Megatron
has been taking pot shots at busy streets."
Rad's heart froze. "You mean that... that crater... was Megatron's doing?" That was a stupid
question. Only the Requiem Blaster had that kind of power and Megatron currently possessed the
Requiem Blaster.
"I believe so," Red Alert said. "That's what prompted Optimus to dispatch the Autobots."
Rad still couldn't believe it. To cruelly control others is one thing, but to play god with
their lives? To just decide who lives and dies? No, this was even worse than that. Megatron
freely-chose to kill humans. Not kidnap, not control, kill! He wanted to kill humans. He treated
humans like they were insignificant, like they were nothing but moving targets. Rad felt sick,
sick beyond any flu, beyond any virus or disease. He felt sick with anger, sick with grief,
sick with despair.
"Red Alert..." Rad said but his voice was barely a whisper. "How many... what were the
casualties?"
Red Alert didn't know if he should tell Rad. Everything in his spark said not to divulge the
information. But... on the other hand, Rad did have a right to know. It was his home town,
he probably had friends who were caught in the blast.
Red Alert did a couple of quick calculations then said, "According to the news reports, the
estimated casualties are... 215." Even Red Alert was surprised by the number.
"Two... two hundred and fifteen." Rad's heart jumped into his throat.
"Rad, sensors are indicating a Decepticon heading your way," Red Alert warned. "Get out of
there before..."
"Human!" A voice called. Rad looked up to see Megatron flying down towards him. "Surrender
the Minicon!"
"You kill hundreds of people and you have the nerve to demand a Minicon?" Rad snapped.
"I'll kill thousands of humans if it means to get a Minicon," Megatron declared. "I'll even
kill you. Now surrender the Minicon!"
"It wouldn't do you any good. This Minicon's a blank. It's a panel without a Minicon."
For a minute, it looked like Megatron believed Rad, he then aimed his Tidal Wave cannon at the
boy. "Nice try, human, but there's no such thing as a blank Minicon pannel." The cannon fired.
A beam of black fire that looked suspiciously like a dragon, for lack of a better term, "consumed"
the energy blast that Megatron emitted.
"What was that?" Megatron asked. He looked around but couldn't find the source. "That didn't
look like any energy blast. It almost looked... alive."
Hidden out of sight, Hiei wiped his hands. "Well, at least now that pathetic Kuwabara can't say
I never did anything nice for anyone." He then disappeared.
Megatron forgot about Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame and landed. Highwire leaped at the
Decepticon commander but Megatron brushed him aside with incredible ease. He then trained the
Requiem Blaster on Rad. "I hate repeating myself, human, so I'm only going to say this one more
time. Give me the Minicon pannel. Do it or I will varporize you."
"I don't like repeating myself either, Megatron," Rad snapped. "So I'll only say this one more
time as well. The Minicon pannel is a blank. Even if I did give it to you, it wouldn't do you
any good. Now just go back home."
"You insignificant little speck." He pulled the trigger of the Requiem Blaster.
Jet Optimus was coming into view and while he didn't hear the conversation about the Minicon
pannel, he realized what Megatron was about to do upon seeing the setup. "Megatron, no, don't
do it!" Deep down, he knew that even if Megatron heard him, he wouldn't obey him.
Rad knew that he shouldn't have been surprised by this action from Megatron. After vaporizing
an area of over 200 people, this was a logical conclusion. Still, it took him by surprise as
an enormous, even by Transformer standards, wave of energy shot towards him at mach speed.
Despite himself, Rad heard himself muttering a name followed by five words: "Marcy, I'm coming
to join you."
To Rad's surprise, the energy hitting him didn't hurt as much as he thought. It was almost like
he was getting an intense tan. But he could still feel his body evaporating bit by bit.
~Alexis, I'm sorry,~ were his final thoughts.
Laserbeak short-circuited and fell.
Alexis gasped as her palm pilot suddenly fell out of her pocket and cracked.
"Uh-oh, I think that's a bad omen," Carlos commented.
Alexis hated to admit it, but he was right. ~Did something happen to Laserbeak? Wait a minute,
wasn't it with Rad? Oh my God!~ "SURESHOCK!" Alexis shouted at the top of her lungs. Sureshock
transformed and Alexis leaped on. Carlos followed with Grindor.
Jet Optimus could only watch in horror as Rad was blasted at direct range with the Requiem Blaster.
"RAD, NO!" Jet Optimus flew as fast as he could but even he knew that there was no way he could stop
it in time. Again, he could only watch as Rad's body violently disappeared.
The Minicon pannel landed in front of Megatron. He picked it up and stared at it.
"That's strange, it won't revive." Leader-1 appeared on his shoulder and let out a series of beeps.
"So the kid was right, it was a blank. Oh well." Megatron threw the panel away and turned to leave.
"Megatron!" Jet Optimus flew down with anger in his eyes. "You will pay for what you did, Megatron!
I'll personally make you suffer."
Megatron looked at the Autobot gestalt with indifference. He then activated his Decepticon. "All
Decepticons withdraw at once. I repeat, all Decepticons withdraw at once." And without a single
word to his rival (although he did give him a smirk of satisfaction, a smirk that showed that he
totally defeated him), he warped out.
Optimus and Jetfire separated and Optimus pounded on the ground. "No, this isn't possible, how
could this happen. I failed, I failed him."
The other Autobots arrived then. They looked around and Scavenger immediately deduced that
something bad had happened. Someone had died.
And judging from the way Highwire and Laserbeak looked, it was easy to figure out who it was.
"Jetfire, what happened?" Smokescreen asked the Sub-Commander. Jetfire grimly told them what
happened.
It was then that Alexis and Carlos arrived. Alexis looked from Optimus, to Highwire, to
Laserbeak. She looked around for Rad.
Her face gone as white as a sheet and she sank to her knees again. This time, she almost fell
flat on her face. She cried into her hands.
"Rad... no, you can't be dead, you can't be. No... No!... NOOOOOOO!" Alexis screamed at the top
of her lungs.
The next day, the kids were on their way to school when their came a loud explosion.
"What was that?" Alexis asked.
"I don't know," Rad replied. "Let's check it out." The kids got onto their
Minicons and took off.
They haven't gotten far when they came upon the source of the explosion. An entire
section of the city had been vaporized. Both kid and Minicon were frightened at the
sight.
"Wh... what... what happened?" Carlos staggered.
"This is horrible!" Alexis gasped just before collapsing to her knees.
"There's only one thing I know of that can cause such destruction," Rad said grimly.
Alexis immediately caught on. "Rad, it can't be, they wouldn't."
"They would if they were under the control of the Decepticons," Rad said.
"You mean the Requiem Blaster?" Carlos inquired. Rad nodded.
A new explosion echoed through the sky, but this one was different. However, it was
a sound that the kids were all too familiar with.
The sounds of battle.
The kids immediately went to check it out unaware that they were stealthly being
followed by Hiei.
The sight that they beheld when they arrived at the source of the fighting was also one
they were familiar with. Autobot battling Decepticon. Jet Optimus was taking on Megatron
in his Tidal Wave armor. Scavenger, Smokescreen, Blurr, and Sideswipe were already there
taking on Cyclonus, Demolisher, Thrust, and Wheeljack. Alexis figured that Hot Shot and
Red Alert remained behind at headquarters. Red Alert to act as medic and Hot Shot was
still too emotional to participate in battle.
A beeping sound came from Rad's pocket. He took out Laserbeak. "This is weird, Laserbeak
never reacted like this before."
"Red Alert programmed Laserbeak to go off if there was a Minicon panel nearby," Alexis told
her two companions.
"I'll go look for it," Rad said. "The more help we can use on this, the better. You two
stay out of sight."
"No, Rad, we all go."
"But... Alexis, I don't want you to get hurt."
"I don't want you to get hurt also, Rad," Alexis said laying a hand on his shoulder. "Let
all of us go."
"But the Autobots are going to need your help," Rad countered. "Don't worry about me, I'll
be fine." He gave Alexis a quick peck on the cheek then took off, Laserbeak flying besides
him.
Alexis, after a thought, turned to Highwire. "Highwire, please look after him." The blue
Minicon nodded and transformed into his bike mode. He followed behind his friend like a
loyal dog.
"Alexis, I don't understand," Carlos said. "Why is Megatron zapping entire city streets
for no reason?"
"I... I don't know, Carlos," Alexis said. To tell the truth, she never felt so scared in
her life. If Megatron was using the Requiem Blaster on humans, then nobody was safe, not
even them.
"Laserbeak, home in on the Minicon panel," Rad instructed. Laserbeak pulled ahead and flew
around looking for the Minicon panel. Unknown to Rad, Demolisher's Minicon, Blackout, was
listening in. He radioed his master.
Despite having two of the Minicon weapons with him and his Tidal Wave armor, Megatron was
struggling in his battle against Jet Optimus. The gestalt of Optimus Prime and Jet Fire
has grown incredibly stronger, though Megatron will never admit that. It was only natural,
since he was now the most strongest Transformer in the universe.
"Demolisher to Megatron," Megatron's internal communication system activated.
"Not now, you mis-matched moron," Megatron insulted as he swung the Star Saber.
"But Megatron, sir, A Minicon has been spotted."
"A Minicon?" Megatron pushed Jet Optimus away. "Well, that's different." This was his
chance to re-plensih his Minicon army. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this meeting
short, Optimus. Something better came up." And using his jet pack, Megatron took off.
"Where could he be going?" Jet Optimus thought to himself. "I better follow him."
"Any sign of the Minicon, Laserbeak?" Rad asked. Highwire beeped an answer to Rad: No.
Suddenly Laserbeak started to fly around a certain area. To Rad, that meant only one thing:
The Minicon had been found. Rad ran over to where Laserbeak was flying and dug through the
ground until the edge of a small green panel was revealed. Rad cleaned the dirt around from
the Minicon panel. "Found it! Now to revive it." Rad placed his palm on the panel to
activate it but nothing happened. Rad tried again and again to activate it, but it remained
dormant.
"Perhaps I better check in with Red Alert. Laserbeak, get down here!" Laserbeak transformed
back into its camera form and Rad spoke to its lens. "Red Alert, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Rad, what is it?" Red Alert's voice came from the communicator built into Laserbeak.
"Red Alert, I found a Minicon panel, but it won't revive. I was thinking, maybe it's another
Minicon team like the weapons."
"I suppose its possible. Have Laserbeak record it for analysis." Rad complied and Red Alert
used the Autobot computer to analyze it.
"Well, what's the result, Alert?"
"It's a blank panel," Red Alert concluded.
"A blank panel?"
"Minicons are normally compressed into panels. It's possible that one of the pods used to
compress the Minicons was empty when the Minicons went to sleep just before they crashed on
Earth," Red Alert explained.
"So there really is no Minicon," Rad said. Apparently his trip was for nothing. "All right,
thanks, Red Alert. I better get back to Alexis and Carlos."
"Listen, Rad, I want you three to come to headquarters immediately. For some reason, Megatron
has been taking pot shots at busy streets."
Rad's heart froze. "You mean that... that crater... was Megatron's doing?" That was a stupid
question. Only the Requiem Blaster had that kind of power and Megatron currently possessed the
Requiem Blaster.
"I believe so," Red Alert said. "That's what prompted Optimus to dispatch the Autobots."
Rad still couldn't believe it. To cruelly control others is one thing, but to play god with
their lives? To just decide who lives and dies? No, this was even worse than that. Megatron
freely-chose to kill humans. Not kidnap, not control, kill! He wanted to kill humans. He treated
humans like they were insignificant, like they were nothing but moving targets. Rad felt sick,
sick beyond any flu, beyond any virus or disease. He felt sick with anger, sick with grief,
sick with despair.
"Red Alert..." Rad said but his voice was barely a whisper. "How many... what were the
casualties?"
Red Alert didn't know if he should tell Rad. Everything in his spark said not to divulge the
information. But... on the other hand, Rad did have a right to know. It was his home town,
he probably had friends who were caught in the blast.
Red Alert did a couple of quick calculations then said, "According to the news reports, the
estimated casualties are... 215." Even Red Alert was surprised by the number.
"Two... two hundred and fifteen." Rad's heart jumped into his throat.
"Rad, sensors are indicating a Decepticon heading your way," Red Alert warned. "Get out of
there before..."
"Human!" A voice called. Rad looked up to see Megatron flying down towards him. "Surrender
the Minicon!"
"You kill hundreds of people and you have the nerve to demand a Minicon?" Rad snapped.
"I'll kill thousands of humans if it means to get a Minicon," Megatron declared. "I'll even
kill you. Now surrender the Minicon!"
"It wouldn't do you any good. This Minicon's a blank. It's a panel without a Minicon."
For a minute, it looked like Megatron believed Rad, he then aimed his Tidal Wave cannon at the
boy. "Nice try, human, but there's no such thing as a blank Minicon pannel." The cannon fired.
A beam of black fire that looked suspiciously like a dragon, for lack of a better term, "consumed"
the energy blast that Megatron emitted.
"What was that?" Megatron asked. He looked around but couldn't find the source. "That didn't
look like any energy blast. It almost looked... alive."
Hidden out of sight, Hiei wiped his hands. "Well, at least now that pathetic Kuwabara can't say
I never did anything nice for anyone." He then disappeared.
Megatron forgot about Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame and landed. Highwire leaped at the
Decepticon commander but Megatron brushed him aside with incredible ease. He then trained the
Requiem Blaster on Rad. "I hate repeating myself, human, so I'm only going to say this one more
time. Give me the Minicon pannel. Do it or I will varporize you."
"I don't like repeating myself either, Megatron," Rad snapped. "So I'll only say this one more
time as well. The Minicon pannel is a blank. Even if I did give it to you, it wouldn't do you
any good. Now just go back home."
"You insignificant little speck." He pulled the trigger of the Requiem Blaster.
Jet Optimus was coming into view and while he didn't hear the conversation about the Minicon
pannel, he realized what Megatron was about to do upon seeing the setup. "Megatron, no, don't
do it!" Deep down, he knew that even if Megatron heard him, he wouldn't obey him.
Rad knew that he shouldn't have been surprised by this action from Megatron. After vaporizing
an area of over 200 people, this was a logical conclusion. Still, it took him by surprise as
an enormous, even by Transformer standards, wave of energy shot towards him at mach speed.
Despite himself, Rad heard himself muttering a name followed by five words: "Marcy, I'm coming
to join you."
To Rad's surprise, the energy hitting him didn't hurt as much as he thought. It was almost like
he was getting an intense tan. But he could still feel his body evaporating bit by bit.
~Alexis, I'm sorry,~ were his final thoughts.
Laserbeak short-circuited and fell.
Alexis gasped as her palm pilot suddenly fell out of her pocket and cracked.
"Uh-oh, I think that's a bad omen," Carlos commented.
Alexis hated to admit it, but he was right. ~Did something happen to Laserbeak? Wait a minute,
wasn't it with Rad? Oh my God!~ "SURESHOCK!" Alexis shouted at the top of her lungs. Sureshock
transformed and Alexis leaped on. Carlos followed with Grindor.
Jet Optimus could only watch in horror as Rad was blasted at direct range with the Requiem Blaster.
"RAD, NO!" Jet Optimus flew as fast as he could but even he knew that there was no way he could stop
it in time. Again, he could only watch as Rad's body violently disappeared.
The Minicon pannel landed in front of Megatron. He picked it up and stared at it.
"That's strange, it won't revive." Leader-1 appeared on his shoulder and let out a series of beeps.
"So the kid was right, it was a blank. Oh well." Megatron threw the panel away and turned to leave.
"Megatron!" Jet Optimus flew down with anger in his eyes. "You will pay for what you did, Megatron!
I'll personally make you suffer."
Megatron looked at the Autobot gestalt with indifference. He then activated his Decepticon. "All
Decepticons withdraw at once. I repeat, all Decepticons withdraw at once." And without a single
word to his rival (although he did give him a smirk of satisfaction, a smirk that showed that he
totally defeated him), he warped out.
Optimus and Jetfire separated and Optimus pounded on the ground. "No, this isn't possible, how
could this happen. I failed, I failed him."
The other Autobots arrived then. They looked around and Scavenger immediately deduced that
something bad had happened. Someone had died.
And judging from the way Highwire and Laserbeak looked, it was easy to figure out who it was.
"Jetfire, what happened?" Smokescreen asked the Sub-Commander. Jetfire grimly told them what
happened.
It was then that Alexis and Carlos arrived. Alexis looked from Optimus, to Highwire, to
Laserbeak. She looked around for Rad.
Her face gone as white as a sheet and she sank to her knees again. This time, she almost fell
flat on her face. She cried into her hands.
"Rad... no, you can't be dead, you can't be. No... No!... NOOOOOOO!" Alexis screamed at the top
of her lungs.