"When a spark is lost there is great sadness. The loss of a friend is greater still."

It's hard to keep listening. He isn't even sure who the body is. And he thinks he can tell me what it's like to lose a friend? Besides, I don't like funerals much. It seems so real it makes the rest of your life seem like a dream. It can be hard to wake up.

"But we can take comfort in the knowlage that they have left this life to join others lost, where all are one."

This is just like every other funeral. The same boring priest, the same pointless words of comfort, the same throng of people I've never met. All window dressing to help you say goodbye to a friend for the last time. Yeah right.

You never really say goodbye. You just get past it and add the name to the list of friends you'll never see again. Like Surge.

We were in the Revers together. Shock, he got me in. He was a 'con, but that didn't matter in the Revers. He taught me how to fight. Gave me friends, a place to belong, and a life. Then that life took him away.

Must have been 11 megacycles ago. That cycle we were hanging out in the 30 block arcade in green sector. We were always there. It was just about the only interesting place in Rever territory. Blue and I were playing Rexad while Surge hit the game machines. Cydex, Magnacon and a few others were around. There were 15 of us in there when Counterstrike came running in.

"Hey, What's the haps?", asked Cydex.

Counterstrike practically smashed into the game Strider was playing and huffed out, "Valkries! On the west side of 40 level!"

"Hey! Watch it!", yelled Strider. "I've almost beaten this stupid machine!"

"We've got better things to do, Strider." Cydex stood up to get everyones attention. "We've got to go teach the Valkries a lesson!"

We all cheered. The Valkries jumped a couple of Revers a few cycles back and we were itching for an excuse to get them back. There had been a time when the gangs didn't hurt each other, when a turf war was a lot of posturing 'til one side backed down, but that was long past. No one backed down and it was only a matter of time till someone got hurt. And everyone was sure it wouldn't be them. Someone had to be wrong.

We all transformed and ripped off to the place Counterstike had seen the Valkries. We looked around for about 40 mili's before we found them. 8 of them coming out of the 50 block theater. We all lined up on the edge of the skywalk so they could see us. We wanted them scared. We could chase them out without getting our hands dirty. We should've known something was wrong when they strolled up to us, outnumbered 2 to 1. But it didn't matter.

Cydex stepped out in front. "You must be lost.", he said. "This is 50 block."

The Valkrie leader walked over and replied, "We're not lost, we're just getting to know our new territory.", and smiled.

"Your Turf?!" cried Counterstrike. "This's been Rever turf since before you were a glitch in the system!" We all shouted support for the little hothead. If we had any sense though, we would've kept him on a leash.

"Well, things chance.", she said. "This is Valkrie turf now so get off!", and she finished with an evil grin. She was spoiling for a fight, and we weren't going to dissapoint.

Counterstrike couldn't contain himself anymore and leapt at the Valkrie leader, fists waving wildly. We all took that as our cue and grabbed the first Valkrie we could get our hands on. They pulled weapons so we pulled ours. Knives, staves, stunwands, all short range but effective.

The fight was practically over when four more Valkries came out of the surrounding shops. We laughed it off and Strider and Limelight started towards them. That's when the Valkries pulled out plasma pistols. Gun permits are nearly impossible to get since nobody needs them for anything and the government doesn't like them on the street. So we didn't have any defense against them. The gunners took up positions and took down Strider and Limelight with the first shot. Next, Cydex took one in the shoulder and went down. They were taking careful aim so as not to hit their own people, but we were still taking heavy damage.

Then Blue started running for the gunners. He dodged left and right and finally threw his dagger while taking a shot in the leg. The dagger caught one gunner in the hand and she dropped her weapon. Just then a Valkrie came charging up behind him with a knife. I was about to shout when Surge leapt out of nowhere and caught the Valkrie in the chest.

Time slowed. He had hit her hard and they were too close to the edge. They tumbled onto the skywalk railing. Surge took the knife in his chest, pushed deeper by the collision. In shock he kept pushing. They both went over the side. It was a clear drop, 20 levels strait down. I ran to catch him and arrived in time to see a falling mass of arms and legs. Everything stopped. The entire sector went silent except for the sound of two screams. Then the screams stopped. Anyone who wasn't too shocked to move ran. I just stood there, looking over the edge.

The L.E.A. arrived. They asked us what happened but no one could speak yet. All I managed to stammer out was," They....... went over." 10 cycles in confinement helped me clear my thoughts. Then was Surge's funeral. So much like this one. Then, a couple cycles later, I got my pistol through the same loophole the Valkries found. Blue refused to get one and had all his other weapons removed too. He thought it was his fault. Surge died saving his life and he couldn't take it.

But it wasn't his fault. Not like this. If I hadn't been there none of this would have happened! But it did.

We were coming out of Skyclear. Blue was turning on the charm for Whisper. He made some comment about the moons so I said, "You know Blue, the moons coming together is supposed to be a bad sign."

Then a voice came from the ally behind us. "I think he's right, don't you Kurgan?"

We turned around and my fluid went cold. "I believe so, Transmutor." This monolith of a bot stood in front of us. A Binair. They use sync suits to let any two combine without any modifications. Enhanced reactions, strength, and attitude. And he brought a friend. Kurgan he said. His name and voice are burned into my read only. He was wearing a sneak suit to disguise himself and carrying a wicked looking sword.

"We don't want any trouble.", Blue said. Not that it mattered. These two were trouble looking for me.

"Well your friend Randis here seems to disagree.", replied Kurgan. "You see, the games are for 'cons. Bot's aren't welcome. And we've been elected to help him decide on a career change." He smiled and laughed. Then Transmutor joined in.

I've been jumped before. Some people don't like the idea of an Autobot fighter. I can take care of myself. But I was alone then. No one to worry about except me. which is what made this different. The idea of dragging my friends into a fight didn't scared me to the core. But they were here and there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Then I heard a low growl from beside me and Whisper leapt at Transmutor. She caught hold of his shoulder and swung onto his back. Then she extended some claws from her fingertips and started shredding his back. I popped my dagger and started towards Kurgan, but then whisper came sailing past me. I turned around and attacked Transmutor, working joints and connections where he was the weakest. Whisper got up and joined me. I saw Blue out of the corner of my optics, holding his own against Kurgan. Kicking and punching, he hadn't lost it. He could've been great fighter if he didn't have that thing about fighting.

Transmutor landed a punch and brought me back to my own situation. I had to worry about this behemoth now and Kurgan later. He made a grab for me. I sidestepped and sliced open his wrist. Whisper jumped on his back again and severed one of his neck actuators. "OWWW! Oh, you'll pay for that, girly!", he yelled and grabbed her by the tail. He pulled Whisper off his back and swung her at me like a mace. I managed to dodge but he threw her into the wall again.

Just then there was a piecing scream and the sound of grating metal. I stopped and looked over to see Blue impaled on Kurgan's sword. Kurgan twisted it, making Blue scream again, and dropped him to the ground. Kurgan laughed. He turned to me and said, "Next time it's your turn,kid!". Then he ran. Transmutor followed him. Angry, I pulled my pistol and fired blindly! I hit Transmutor's exposed wiring by luck and shocked him unconscious. I ran to Blue, lying in the ally. He was hurt bad. I've never seen anyone hurt so bad except Whisper. He couldn't have long.

Windsong walked out of Skyclear and I told her to call the Medcenter. Whisper and I sat there with blue hoping our presence could somehow keep him alive. Someone had seen the fighting and called the L.E.A. already so they arrived first. They started asking questions. Whisper couldn't answer and I was to distracted to listen. Blue lay dying in my hands and nothing I could do would help. Then finally he woke up. He was weak and had trouble speaking. He said, "I think I finally got what was commin' to me. Don't worry, I'll be with Surge." And then he went silent for the last time.

The Medtechs arrived a few mili's later. For all the good that did. They couldn't do anything for Blue. They said his injuries were a lot worse than they looked. The L.E.A. took Transmutor into custody. They couldn't find Kurgan. And the local scanners never picked either one of them up. They had some kind of ECM gear that blocked them out, so we had to testify at the trial.

"And till that day, we must all walk in the light of Primus,"

The next day it took both Blackzone and Whisper to get me to leave the apartment. We saw BZ's friend and got Whisper registered. The day after that was the trial. Transmutor, actualy their names were Meanstreak and Blitzkrieg, were banished to the wastelands, despite pleas that they didn't have anything to do with it. Far too good for them.

And now, Blue's Funeral. The hollow mockery that it is.

"till the day when our time is up and we make the journey to the final place,"

But like I said before. You never say goodbye. You just add the name to the list and move on

"where all are one."

-end