Prologue to Afterlife in Holly's POV

I sit here, remembering when I knew you. When you were with me. And how happy we were, just traveling around, trying to find the Pheonix. Sure, it was hard sometimes, but you were with me. Everyone else is happy now. Hare has a family. Trigger is all grown up and has a family of his own. Golem, Mocchi and Seuzo live with me. Why can't I be happy too? Because I can't be happy without you. I didn't care for anyone else like I did you. I wish you were here with me again. Then again, I don't. Because, I realize that where you are, you must be happy. You can't possibly be happier here then you are home. I wish I could've said good-bye. Even that would have made me feel better. Your name may have faded from peoples minds, but I will remember you forever. You brought me a happiness that I had long since forgotten. I hope you can hear me. Wherever you are.....


Chapter 1

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!!! The boy threw his alarm across his room as he quietly cursed under his breath. The alarm clock would have shattered into several pieces as it hit the wall, but because it was made of metal, it just made a clunk noise. After taking off his blankets and getting out of bed, he slowly opened his eyes so that they would adjust to the blinding sun. He yawned and stretched before he went into his bathroom. Once he brushed his teeth, combed his hair and all that other morning stuff, he went to his closet and put on his normal outfit. This consisted of a light blue shirt, an orange cap, khaki shorts and blue shoes. He would normally be hurrying to do all this to get to school, but, spring break had just started a week ago so there was no need. He then picked up his clock and set it back on his table.

Woman: "Genki, breakfast is ready!"

Genki: "Coming."

After plugging his clock back in, Genki went downstairs to the kitchen, where his mother waited. He then pulled a chair out and sat down. His mother put two eggs, two pieces of bacon and a piece of toast. Before sitting dow, she puts the same on her own plate, only without the bacon. She didn't care for it. About halfway through breakfast, the phones rings.

Genki: "I'll get it."

Genki get's up and pick's up the phone wich hangs on the wall next to him.

Genki: "Hello? Yes. It is? Okay, I'll be right there."

Then Genki put's the phone back on the hook.

Genki: "Gotta go mom."

Mother: "Okay, but be back by seven."

Genki: "Okay."

After kissing his mom goodbye, Genki runs out the door. Then he hops on his bike. He would have a car, but he's one year too young. He pedals as hard as he can toward his destination, nearly hitting a few people. After about ten minutes of riding, he reaches his destination. The T.I.S.T., The Tokyo Institute of Science and Technology. Genki get's off his bike and put's it in the rack. After locking his bike down, he then walks up to the door and shows his I.D. to the guard. The guard moves, letting Genki pass. Genki opens the doors ot the main room and walks in. He then walks up to the woman sitting behind the counter.

Genki: "Excuse me. I'm looking for Dr. Kadowaki."

Woman at Counter: "You must be Genki."

Genki: "Right."

Woman at Counter: "Go to the second floor, third door on the left. Mr. Kadowaki will bring you too her lab."

Genki: "Thanks."

Genki walks over to the left side of the huge room, where the elevator was. When the lighted sign above it showed that it was two floors above Genki, he pushes the down button and waits. When the elevator reaches his floor, Genki moves to let the people get off. When the crowd cleared, he walked into the elvator and pushes the 2F button. The doors jerkily closed, showing that they needed oil. After reaching the third floor and after the doors open, Genki walks out and counts the doors to his left.

Genki: "One...... two..... three."

Genki opens the door, revealing a very neat looking office with one of the senior scientists sitting in a chair in the center of the room.

Scientist: "Ah, you must be Genki."

Genki: "Ah-huh."

Mr. Kadowaki: "My name is Mister Kadowaki, but, just call me John. Pleased to meet you."

John holds out his hand. Genki does the same and shakes Joh'ns.

John: "Come. My sister is waiting for you."

John leads Genki out of the room and down the hall that Genki just came out of. After taking a right then a left at the turns, they reach a dead end with a single door in it. Mr. Kadowaki opens it to reveal a very large lab with a large computer on the left side of the room wich was connected to a large, clear, dome like object by hundreds of cables. Many people were in this room, mostly working controls on the computer. One of them however was sitting in a chair supervising the rest of the people.

John: "Hey sis, this is Genki."

The woman supervising the rest of them walked over to Genki and John looking very excited. She was middle aged, somewhere in her thirties. And, just like the others, was wearing a white lab coat and white pants.

Genki: "Hello."

Dr. Kadowaki: "Hello Genki! Are you ready?"

Genki: "As ready as I'll ever be."

Dr. Kadowaki: "Good."

You see, when Genki got back from the monster world, noone would believe his story. They all thought he was insane. His mother though thought he played too many video games. Only scientist would believe his story because he had proof. Such as plants that noone ever heard of, water with minerals in it that were not known to man. He then heard of a Dr. Kadowai. After telling her his story, she's been helping him to find a way to get back to the monster world with a way to get back home at will.

Dr Kadowaki: "Now, I want to explain to you exactly what we've been doing. At first, we managed to make fruits dissappear. But, with no knowledge of where they went. Then we made a life sized human doll too dissappear. Then we made an armlet that would bring back what ever we sent to this monster world. We tested it on another life sized doll, with the armlet programed to bring it back after ten minutes, and it worked. Then, we made a robot that could grab things. We programed that robot to randomly grab things and put them in a box. We sent that to the monster world and waited a few minutes. After bringing it back, we found plants in that box. When we examined those plants, one of them was the exact same species that you showed us. So, we believ that we have succedeed."

Genki: "Cool."

Dr. Kadowaki: "Now, we just need to test it with a real human. Will you do that Genki?"

Genki: "You bet I am."

Dr. Kadowaki: "Alright."

Dr Kadowaki leads Genki to the large dome like object, opens a door in it and leads Genki inside. She then put's Genki in a chair in the middle of the dome.

Dr. Kadowaki: "Now, a gas will fill up the room, but, it's perfectly breathable. So, don't worry. When your sure your in the monster world, use this armlet to get back."

Dr Kadowaki gives Genki an armlet with a single button on it. It's quite big and looks heavy, but, when Genki put's it on it's actually light for it's size.

Dr. Kadowaki: "Good luck Genki: "

Genki: "Thanks."

Dr. Kadowaki walks out of the dome, closing the door behind her. She then walks over to the computer.

Dr. Kadowaki: "Alright, start it up."

The other scientists push buttons, click mouses and read screens. Then, just like Dr. Kadowaki said, the dome fills up with a pinkish gas. The gas then swirls around Genki like he was in a pink tornado. He then sees everything slowly fade away. Even the pink gas. But, as it was, he saw a younger scientist knock over an empty vile. But before it hit the ground, everything turned dark. Nothing was making any noise inside the dome, so he could hear the scientist curse but he didn't hear the vile shatter. Genki felt like his stomach was being twisted in a knot, but it didn't burt. It was just unpleasant. After what seemed like forever, Genki felt the grass beneath him, But, because he was still in a seating position, he fell over.

Genki: "Uhhhhhh. Did it work?"

Genki got back up and starts to look around, seeing that he's at the edge of a clearing. He smells the air. It smelled just like before. Clean. Unlike the city. But then, Genki had the sudden urge to go to sleep. He started to feel so tired. He struggled to stay awake.

Genki: "What's happening?"

Try as he might to stay awake, he failed. He slumped over and fell asleep. Meanwhile, far far away, in the freezing cold mountains, lived a demon. A terrible being that knew no mercy. His name was Tombstone. Like his name suggested, he was a Joker with a Golem sub-breed. He was the leader of an evil cult that was sucking people in like a vacuum. All of his followers would rather die then him even get his cloak ruffled. He took his followers and made them his cronies. They were his zombies, more then willing to kill even they're own families if they opposed him. They wore now visible proof that they even heard of him wich made them look just like and oridary person or monster. The proof was in they're blood. After joining, a chemical was injected into them. This chemical could be sensed by Tombstone's guards that were trained to recognize someone with this chemical in them. Tombstone didn't just take monsters. He had many humans with him too. Every one of them patroled the area daily for people to rob and convince to come with them to Tombstone's waiting clutches while the monsters stayed at the mountains and did whatever Tombstone wished. And Genki just happened to be in the area that one of them was patrolling. His name was Alan. As he got nearer and nearer to Genki's location, Alan could sence the presence of someone he didn't recognize. When he got to him, he found Genki asleep in the clearing.

Alan: "This one's not even worth waking up. I'll just take his things."

He searched Genki for things that he thought were valuable and found none. But then he looked at Genki's left arm. He saw the one valuable thing Genki had with him. The armlet that would bring him home. He quickly snatched off of Genki's arm and ran back to his headquarters. Genki squirmed, but did not wake up. He didn't realise that he wouldn't get home for a long time.