Memories of the Dead, Souls of the Living

Koenma Jr., ruler of the Spirit World, paced up and down his desk. "This isn't good,
this is not good, I thought something like this was suppose to happen every hundred
years. This isn't good, this isn't good, this isn't good." He turned to Ogre, his
assistant. "Do you know that this isn't good, Ogre?"

The blue monster just rolled his eyes. "Yes, Koenma, sir, I know this isn't good."

"No, I don't think you do." Koenma shook his finger at Ogre.

"Sir..."

"However, because I'm so smart, so kind and so handsome, I will enlighten you.
A case like this is suppose to happen every hundred years or so. Having it
happen once was just a nuisance, but if it continues like this, it could really
weaken the order of the Spirit World."

"But Koenma, sir, this is only the second time it happened. Don't you think you're
overeacting just a little?"

"Just get Botan in here," Koenma said giving him an evil look.

Ogre sighed. There were times when he really hated his job.

Moments later, the young-looking ferrywoman of the dead was standing in her boss'
office. "You wanted to see me, Koenma, sir."

"Botan, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Oh no, your father isn't having one of his nervous breakdowns again? Last time
that happened, we had to send him to Buddha for counselling."

"I almost wish it was that, Botan, at least we were prepared for that. But,
actually, we have a code 2986."

Botan gasped and almost dropped her oar. Code 2986 was spirit world code for
an unauthorized passing away.

"A code 2986, but I thought those happened once every hundread years." Botan had
only dealt with a code 2986 once before, with Yusuke Urameshi.

"Well we are in a new century, Botan." Botan kept her mouth shut, deciding it was
best to let Junior be right on this, or at least make him think he was. Koenma
motioned Botan to look at his screen as an image of Rad appeared. "His name is Rad.
This kid has had more brushes with death than anybody'd care to count. I'm afraid
that his time came much too early. We don't have anything planned for him yet."

"So are you going to give him an ordeal like you did Yusuke?" Botan asked.

"No," Koenma replied.

Botan reacted with surprise. "What do you mean no?"

"Unlike Yusuke, whose life actions were... somewhat questionable, this boy is noble
through and through. It would be unfair to give him an ordeal when he constatntly
proves himself of his nobility in life. Not to mention that unlike Yusuke, Rad's
body was completely destroyed. The rules have changed a little bit, Botan. Bring
Rad in. By that time, I'll probably figure out what to do by then." Botan nodded
and left.

Ogre sighed again. "This isn't good."

Rad sat staring at the sun. For some reason, his eyes weren't hurting like they
should've been. He blinked.

"Okay, this is weird," he said. "Wasn't I about to get zapped with the Requiem
Blaster?" He looked down at himself. He could see his arms, legs, chest, and torso.
As far as he knew, nothing was missing.

"Wow, talk about good luck." He got up when he realized that he couldn't feel the
ground. He looked down.

He was over 200 feet in the air.

Rad screamed for all he's worth and flapped his arms and legs in a desperate attempt
to keep himself from falling. Then he realized that he wasn't falling. "Okay, what's
going on here? First, I'm about to be disintegrated by the Requiem Blaster, now I'm
suddenly high in the air being supported by nothing yet not falling at all."

Rad took a risk and looked down again. He could see the Autobots and his friends
gathering around.

"Hey, guys!" Rad called as he flew down to meet them. "Hey Smokescreen, look at what
I..." Rad passed right through Smokescreen.

Rad turned around but Smokescreen was apparently looking past Rad. Rad turned around
and saw that Optimus Prime was talking.

"Optimus, it's me, I'm all right," Rad said.

"I was too late," Optimus was saying.

"Hey, we were too late," Jet Fire corrected. "Don't forget I was technically there too."

"Jet Fire's right, Optimus," Scavenger said. "You can't place the entire blame on
yourself."

"Yeah, I say it's Megatron's fault, he pulled the trigger," Sideswipe fumed.

"No, Sideswipe," Optimus said. "A leader must take responsibility for those underneath
his command. Rad was under my command. His death was my fault."

"Huh? My death? Optimus, I'm right here. Hey, hello?" Rad waved his arm in front of
Optimus Prime's face, but Optimus was unresponsive.

Rad looked over at Alexis and Carlos. Alexis was crying crcodile tears. Carlos and
Sureshock were trying to comfort her but it was no use. Highwire was silent and unmoving,
most likely mourning in his own way. Grindor was observing him.

"This can't be," Rad said. "But... there's no other explanation. I... I'm dead, I'm really
dead."

"You got it. You're pretty smart for someone your age." Rad looked over and saw a young
woman sitting on an oar. Her light blue hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her eyes
were wide and violet.

Rad screamed. "A witch!"

"Death, actually," Botan corrected.

"Uh... excuse me, but did you say death?"

"Yup. Death, Grim Reaper, El Diablo... actually, I never did like that name. Anyway, you
can just call me Botan."

"Okay, Botan, am I really dead?"

"Yup. Dead as a doornail. It's my job to take dead people wherever they need to go."

"So... where do I need to go?"

Botan blushed embarrassingly. "Uh... well... you see, there's kind of a little problem."

"What kind of a problem?" Rad asked, wondering if things could get any worse.

"You see, you... we weren't... uh... you're not suppose to be dead."

It just got worse.

"What?!" Rad almost fell into Smokescreen. "You mean... I wasn't suppose to die?!"

"That's right."

"But... Megatron was aiming the Requiem Blaster at me! There was no way I could've
dodged that! And you're telling me I wasn't suppose to die."

"Well, you know that panel thing you were looking for? Well you weren't suppose to
look for it."

"I... I wasn't?"

"Nope. That yellow thing..." Botan pointed to Laserbeak, "Wasn't suppose to go off. You
weren't supposed to go to look for it. And besides, the panel was useless. Had you not
go looking for it, you wouldn't had attracted the attention of the big purple guy.
So basically... you died for nothing."

When Botan told Yusuke that his death was a total waste, Yusuke got upset and yelled, an
action which Botan learned was pretty normal from Yusuke. But Rad reacted differently.
He felt like he just been betrayed by his best friend. He turned and walked (he probably
forgot he could fly) away.

Botan humphed. "I've got to learn to keep my big mouth shut."

Rad sat on a cliffside, near where they first found Sparkplug. He stared up at the setting
sky and pondered his situation. Not only was he dead, but his death was all for nothing,
just a blank Minicon pannel and Megatron's personal amusement.

"Don't feel too bad," Botan said. "You're not the first one who died needlessly."

"All I wanted to do was be usefull to the Autobots," Rad said. "And the one time I actually
tried, I blew it big time."

"Um... Rad, I didn't tell you this earlier because you didn't give me a chance, but...
well... there is a way to get you your life back."

Rad's head shot up. "What? You mean there's a chance I can come back to life. How?"

Again, Botan wished she kept her mouth shut. Koenma didn't exactly give any details on how
this resurrection thing was suppose to take place. Perhaps it was time to do what she
originally came here to do: bring Rad to see Koenma. "Well, I don't know, but I can take you
to someone who does know. But it'll mean that you'll be gone a while."

"How long?" Botan shrugged. "All right. But... Botan, can we do something before we leave?"

"Sure, dear, what do you want to do?"

Rad and Botan materialized inside Alexis' bedroom. Highwire and Sureshock seemed to be shut
off. Alexis herself was sleeping in her bed although it was far from sound.

"You know, I've only been in here once," Rad commented. "We were studying for finals last year,
before we met the Autobots. She ended up getting an A as always, I only got a C+."

Rad approached Alexis' bed. "Hey, Alexis," he said like he was talking to her at school during
class. "I've gotta go on a little trip. Make sure you kick the Decepticons' butts for me." He
already repeated this message (with several variations) to Carlos, Billy, Fred, the Autobots and
his parents. But for some reason, saying good-bye to Alexis was the hardest. "Alexis... don't
feel sad for me. I'm glad to have met you, met everyone. You've all been like family to me.
Especially you, Alexis. Thanks for everything."

As Rad turned to leave, a faint voice came from Alexis' bed. "Rad..." Rad turned. Alexis still
looked asleep although her eyes had began dispensing a fresh wave of tears. "Rad... please...
don't leave me."

"Botan, can she hear me?" Rad asked.

"I doubt it," Botan said. "Most likely she's just dreaming."

"Maybe..." Rad trailed off. He went up to her again. "Good-bye, Alexis. I... I love you."

He then noticed Highwire. He was online and staring right at him. "Botan, Highwire... he's looking
right at me! Can robots see ghosts?"

"I don't think so," Botan said. "But he might be able to sense the energy that we're emitting.
Ghosts emitt a certain energy signal that can be picked up but only briefly. Anyway, we should
get going before he gets suspicious. Rad and Botan floated away. Sureshock woke up and saw
Highwire staring at the window. The two Minicons had a brief conversation which ended with a
shrug from Highwire and the two shut down again.

Rad stared at Alexis' house from the back of Botan's oar. He was beginning to wonder if this was the
right thing to do.

"We're going to the Spirit World," Botan explained. "The ruler there, Koenma, will explain what you
need to do to get your life back."

"I won't have to do anything bad like sacrifice a virgin or something?"

"You've been watching too much television. I don't think it'll be anything as bad as that."

Ten minutes after take off, Botan and Rad were already cruising through the Spirit World. All the
new sights were overwhelming to Rad. He probably would've fainted if he was still alive. They
arrived at Koenma's pallace and shown into his office.

"Now Koenma may look a little strange, but don't let that fool you," Botan said as they walked the
long hallway to Koenma's office. "He's very wise and very powerful. Even his enemies treat him with
integrity and formality."

Rad nodded.

"Well, here we are," Botan announced. The doors opened and Botan was surprised to see Kurama there.
"Rad, may I present Koenma Jr., ruler of the Spirit World."

It took all of Rad's will not to burst into laughter upon seeing the child-like ruler of Spirit
World. Fortunately for Rad, Koenma has gotten so used to Yusuke's taunts that now, he just tunes them
out. "Pleased to meet you, Rad, please, come in." Rad looked around Koenma's luscious office (noting
with particular curiosity the giant blue monster standing erect at the side of Koenma's chair).

Koenma sat in his chair. "So, in case you don't know the particular situation you're in, let me fill you
in. You died, but you weren't supposed to, so it looks like we'll have to rectify that situation."

"But how, Mister Koenma?" Rad asked. "My body was disintegrated, wasn't it?"

"Yes it was and in that lies the difficulty. A body resurrection is very delicate. Could take days,
even weeks."

"It can be done."

"Of course it can. For someone like me, a body resurrection is easy. Tricky, but easy. The question
is, do you want me to do it?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course I do."

"You sure? It would be much easier to give you a new life, a chance to start anew." Koenma stared at
him questionly.

Rad didn't even consider it for a second. "A life without the Autobots? A life where I never met
Alexis or Carlos? A normal life? No way! I enjoyed the life I'm living... er... was living. I
wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Mister Koenma, please, give me my life back."

Koenma stared hard into Rad's eyes. He never saw such a fusion of compassion and bravery in this boy
before. Even Yusuke didn't possess such traits the firts time they met.

"Very well, Rad, I'll get started on the resurrection spell right away."

It was then that a red version of Ogre came running in. "Koenma, sir, we're under attack!"