[LEON]

“God damn…”

`I tried to take in the sight around me.

“It has been so long since I have been to a beach…”

Wonder if Red sent me here…

Looking over toward the island, I noticed a coconut falling from one of the trees. I walked over to pick it up and immediately started searching for something to crack it open. Finding nothing but more coconuts, I made a pile of them and sighed.

“Maybe I’ll find something to break it later… I’ve never tried coconut before…”

I turned back to the ocean.

“Guess I’ll go for a swim… might help me get over what happened this morning.”

I stripped my clothes off and placed them on the pile of coconuts. Shrugging I took my boxers off and left them on top of my clothes.

“Doesn’t really matter if I’m alone.”

I turned to the ocean and went full sprint into the water.

The ocean was cool but not uncomfortable. I laid back and floated with my eyes closed.

I just realized that I don’t have sunscreen… Really hope I don’t burn…

Thinking about how terrible a sunburn on my nether region would be, I rolled over to float on my stomach. I opened my eyes and see a crab scurrying around across the sand below me. I instinctively jerked back.

“Fucking shit! ”

Head now above the water, I looked back down at the crab. The tiny creature was quickly moving away from me.

It’s not that I don’t like crabs or anything… I just don’t like swimming around with something else in the water.

Feeling a little embarrassed that a crab scared me, I flipped back onto my back again and stared at the clouds.

Wonder if I can talk to Red…

Still floating I cupped my hands to my mouth and yelled.

“Hey Red you there!?”

No answer.

She did say I might not be able to talk to her…

A loud roar came from the island, startling me. I quickly got back to my feet and started searching for the source of the sound.

“What the hell is that?!”

I looked back toward the island and saw a humanoid shaped craft flying toward me.

I did select the ‘F’ timeline… Guess things like that are common around here.

I raised my hand to wave and attempt to draw its attention. The craft slowed and out of nowhere a beam passed through it. A massive explosion engulfed the craft and it started to fall to the ground.

I heard a loud crack in the distance. Looking toward the sound I noticed that all of the clouds had parted from the beams origin.

“Holy shit! What the fuck is going on?!”

The craft plummeted toward the beach and landed with a soft thunk.

If that thing had a pilot then there is no way they’re still alive…

I swam back to shore to check out the crash site, hoping that no one had been inside.

As soon as my feet touched the sand I noticed that it had landed on the pile of coconuts… and my clothes. I heard a soft continuous thunk coming from inside the wreckage and ran up to it.

“Don’t worry! I’ll help you!”

There was a faint whimper and a cough.

“Please hurry *cough* the air is getting thin in here…”

How the hell am I going to open this?!

Adrenaline pumping through me, I savagely searched for anything that might open the hatch. “

How do I get you out??”

No response…

“Fuck it!”

I grabbed one of the intact coconuts and started bashing it against the glass.

After smashing a few good coconuts against the glass it finally gave and smoke bellowed out from the opening. A girl with long read hair lay unconscious in the seat.

My heart stopped.

She looks just like Ashley… maybe a little shorter but…

I felt a knot starting to form in my throat. I reached down and took her in my arms. Making sure not to bump her head, I pulled her out of the wreckage. She hung limply in my arms.

Panic rising, I lowered her to the ground and prepared to perform CPR. A whimper escaped her lips as soon as I let go of her.

Thank God… or thank Red? Whatever… She is alive… I need to find somewhere for her to rest.

I slid my arms back under her and did my best to support her head . I turned and stated walking toward the inner part of the island, away from the wrecked ship.

I want to get away from that thing… Don’t know if it is going to blow up or something…Maybe I can find a cave…

She shuttered and leaned into to my chest. I felt her breath faintly on my bare skin. My face started to flush as I pulled her in close.

“You’ll be okay. I got you.”

This is one of those moments… I will never forget…

After fifteen minutes of walking I found a small cave and decided to make camp there. I gently sat the girl down and rested her head against the wall.

“Wait here I’ll go get something to make a fire.”

She hasn’t said a word the whole trip, but it makes me feel better talking to her…

I turned around and noticed a stark breeze. Embarrassment taking hold, my face turned a beet red. I quickly turned away from her and rushed out to find something to cover myself.

Maybe that craft didn’t land on my clothes…

I could already see the beach ahead of me. It had felt like I walked a mile into the island but it had only bee a couple hundred feet. I could see a dark smoke trail over the trees from the wrecked craft.

I ran up to it and realized that it had indeed landed on my clothes.

“Shit! Hey Red!”

Red didn’t reply earlier but it’s was worth a shot.

Nothing again… I took in a deep breath.

“Maybe my clothes are fine… if not I will have to use a leaf or something.”

I shuddered thinking about making something out of leaves to wrap around my manhood. I continued toward the beach holding faith that I could dig my cloths out, and that they weren’t burnt…

When I approached the craft I couldn’t see anything resembling my office attire. I really didn’t want to do the leaf thing…

Would there be another flight suit in this thing?

I started to dig around in the cockpit, avoiding the broken glass, and found a small box strapped to one of the walls. Thinking it might be important, I pulled it out and placed it to the side. I continued my search and found a compartment under the seat.

Um…I guess I did find a flight suit… but how am I going to fit in this thing?…

It appearedto be fitted to size that would even be small on the girl I pulled out of the thing. I held it up and started to stretch it, checking if I could make use of it.

“*Cough* *Cough* What exactly do you think you are doing with my clothes?”

I froze still holding up the suit in my hands. I slowly turned to see the girl standing there looking away from me.

I felt a sudden wave of embarrassment wash over me and dropped the suit to the ground. I quickly tried to explain myself.

“I’m… I’m so sorry. I was just looking for some clothes because your craft crashed on top of mine.”

She wouldn’t look at me but I noticed a flush on her cheeks. She sighed.

“That one you dropped should fit… It stretches to fit your body.”

I bent over to pick it back up and attempted to slip my legs into it. I did not want to be naked in front of her for longer than I had to be…

“Not like that! you’re going to rip it!”

She rushed over and snatched the suit from me.

I stood there… frozen in place.

This seems really similar to what happened with Ashley back on my earth… She even looks like her… if not a bit shorter… and more aggravated…

I slowly glance down to see her holding the suit in one hand and staring at my plonker. Her eyes grew big and her face turned a deep scarlet. She leaped back and pulled the suit over her face.She peaked over the suit for a second and quickly moved to hide behind it again.

She abruptly thrust the suit into my chest and stared directly into my eyes. Embarrassment painted her face, but all I noticed was her eye color.

Her eyes are even green… just like Ashleys were…

She pressed a button on the suit and with a click the suit began to wrap around me and connected in the back.

“What the hell is this?”

I looked down at the fabric, watching it move around me to cover my body.

She kept staring at me and sighed.

“You’re not from around here are you?”

She took a couple steps back and looked me over.

“Who are you? What are you doing on this island?”

The suit was extremely tight in all the wrong places. I started to pull at the crotch and the suit grew another size.

“This suit is amazing! To answer your question, No. I was kind of just… dropped here. My name is Leon.”

She put her hand on her hip and looked toward the beach. She was obviously still flustered but trying to look unfazed.

“Thanks Leon… for saving me… I’ll have to call in another mech to get both of us off here… You can fly right?”

“Um… no… I have never flown anything in my life.”

I scratched the back of my head and smiled at her.

“Never flow… never mind. I’ll get the double seater then.”

She pulled out a device from her hip.

She clicked a button and a screen popped up in front of her. She started tapping icons on the screen and turned back to face me.

“What?”

“I told you my name, but I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t give me your name.”

I was feeling a bit more confident with clothes, so I tried to talk to her. She looked back to the screen and continued to navigate menus.

“My friends call me Ash. Something about how my hair reminds them of fire. I’m also the one who normally fires that laser instead of getting hit by it. So maybe it’s about me turning things to ash? Not really sure…”

Ash… that is way too close to Ashley for it to be just a coincidence… but this is a future time line right? There’s no way they could be the same person…

“Ash…Thats an interesting name. What was that laser by the way? I saw it knock you out of the sky.”

“It’s a proton cannon. They are standard equipment on those mechs like the one behind you. The pilot that shot me down must be an amateur. It should have vaporized me on impact. Instead it hit my fuel container and the hull protected me from the explosion.”

The screen disappeared and Ash slipped the device back on her hip.

“Looks like our ride is here.”

I looked behind me and saw a plus sized version of the mech from before flying toward us.

"That one looks a bit different than the one you were piloting.”

I pulled up my hand to shade my eyes from the sun while the beast came in for a landing.

“Yeah thats a Vanguard model. It’s normally used for defense and has triple layered plate steel protecting the hull. Shouldn’t be shot down by proton cannons, but it’s much slower than the Striker model I was flying.”

She walked out in front of me and held up a hand. The Vanguard mech changed course and came crashing toward the beach.

Sand melted into glass beneath the boosters while the mech extended its arm to Ash. She turned back to me and gestures to the massive machine.

“You coming or what?”

“Hell yeah I’m coming! This this is fucking insane!”

I rushed over to the mech and climbed into its hand. I reached back to help Ash up. She reluctantly accepted my hand and pulled herself up beside me. The mech lifted us up to the cockpit and popped open. Ash climbed in front seat and pointed to a seat behind her.

“Wait I forgot something!”

I had to yell over the sound of the boosters.

“What? There is nothing else here!”

Ash looked aggravated like I was wasting her time. and gestured to the island.

“Just let me down! It’ll only take a second!”

I looked back to the wreckage of the old Striker mech.

Ash rolled her eyes and moved the mechs arm back down to the beach. I ran back over to the Striker and crossed my fingers. I started shifting through the coconuts and saw the edge of my jacket. Digging through the inside pocket I found the bottle of perfume unharmed.

“Yes!”

I slipped it into one of the many pockets on my new suit and patted it.

If nothing else I can carry it with me to remind myself of my original world…

That done I turned back to the mech and stoped again. Ash threw up her hands in confusion. I turned back and grabbed the box I had found earlier. I made my way back to the Vanguard’s hand and climbed up.

When I saw Ash’s face I smiled. She just pointed at the seat behind her and waited for me to climb over her. I tried not to step on her as I climbed through the cockpit and plopped into the back seat. The door to the cockpit closed and everything turned silent.

“Damn… what happened? It’s so quiet in here now.”

Ash turned back to me with an eyebrow raised.

“You’re joking right?”

I looked up and noticed that this Vanguard model had displays where the Striker model had glass.

She did say this thing had layered steel plates… I’m an idiot.

“Sorry… this is the first time I’ve been in one of these things…”

I put on a cheeky grin and shrugged.

She rolled her eyes again and turned back to face the front.

“What did you go to get anyway?”

I put my hand over the pocket with the perfume in it.

“Nothing… Just a something precious to remember someone from a long time ago… Oh! And this box. I wasn’t sure if it was important or not. It was in the cockpit of that Striker.”

Ash looked back and laughed.

“Thanks, that’s mine. Nearly forgot about it. It has a couple of my things and a back up of the AI core for that downed mech. It’s not that important but good that no one else found it.”

“Can… Can I open it?”

I was really curious to see what this backup AI core looked like.

Ash took a second before she answered.

“Uh… sure? Don’t know why you would want to though.”

I look back to the box and snapped back the latch holding it shut. There were a few photos, a gun, and an orb…

“What the fuck…”

I started to reach out to the orb and Ash slammed the box shut nearly clamping my fingers inside.

“Don’t touch that. You’ll thank me later. Now hold on tight we are about to take off.”

She turned back to the screens and grabbed the controls. I felt the rumble of the boosters and started getting pushed back into the seat.

“I thought you said these things were slower than the Strikers!”

“They are! I was just flying mine slow because I saw you in the water earlier and wanted to snap a couple photos. It isn’t every day you see someone skinny dipping in the middle of a war zone!”

War zone huh… This is supposed to be the future… I wonder if it has anything to do with the war that engulfed my world… Maybe I can ask Red about it when I can talk to her again.

I looked up at the screen and watched the clouds rip past.

“Where are we going? I’m not really cracked out to be in a war.”

Ash burst out with uproarious laughter. “You don’t say? I’m taking you back to my base. We can find out what to do with you when we get there.”

“Okay sounds good.”

I leaned over Ash’s shoulder to watch her pilot the mech. She started to fidget and look uncomfortable.

“What?”

She turned away from the controls and stared at me.

“I just wanted to see how you fly this thing.”

I leaned back into my seat.

Don’t want to piss her off…

“You don’t have to do anything to fly. That’s almost entirely on the auto pilot. I’m just making sure there aren’t any enemies chasing after us. It wouldn’t take them long to catch us in this vanguard.”

She shifted and turned back to the monitors.

“Oh… thats a little sad. I wouldn’t mind flying one of these, but if it’s auto pilot then it doesn’t seem as fun.”

I fell back against the plush headrest and closed my eyes, exhaustion was hitting me hard.

“I might try to take a quick nap… been a long day for me.”

“That’s fine. We’re about two hours from the base. I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”

Ash clicked a button in front of her and the monitors around me turn off.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Letting out a yawn I fell back into the seat and passed out.

[RED]

She let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m so glad I made these mechs with a knockout gas for the passenger seat… I don’t think I could have kept that up much longer…”

She turned back to the screen and clicked a button. The mech teleported into a far off bunker. She turned back to Leon and blushed.

I cant believe he carried me around in the nude like that… I thought my heart was going to explode…

She made a motion and a screen popped up in front of her. She quickly tapped the Log Out button.

“Ash should be fine by herself for a little bit… I need a break.”

Red stood up and walked over to her bed. Heart still fluttering in her chest she flopped heavily onto the covers draped her arm across her face.

“This feeling is… agony… If I can’t get ahold of this, then I will never be able to interact with Leon.”

Red rolled over and looked at the clock. She set the timer for two hours and pulled the blanket over herself.

“Guess I’ll take a nap as well… maybe I’ll feel better when I wake up.”

Fifteen minutes later Red still laid awake wide eyed. She couldn’t get the image of Leon’s naked body out of her head. Throwing the blanket off her in frustration, she stormed off to the kitchen to get an early lunch.

There was a screen on the wall that had a search bar on the top and nothing else. Red tapped on the bar and a keyboard came up. She typed protein and several options showed up.

Her food options rotated daily but there was always one thing that she just couldn’t get enough of. She found her vice and selected it. That done, she cleared the search bar and typed sugar. Finding her second vice she selected it in a large and walked to the table in the middle of the room.

Before she had even sat dawn her meal was already done printing and appeared in front of her. A steaming lobster tail and a large vanilla milkshake beckoned her.

Not caring to get any silverware she tore into the lobster tail shamelessly. She was still very flustered with the whole Leon situation and it showed when she drank half the milkshake in one gulp.

Bliss falling over her, Red decided to lie back down on the bed and rolled back up in the blankets. Minutes later she was sound asleep.

An hour and a half later the alarm stated to blare in Red’s apartment, but she slept right through it. The alarm cut itself off, and Red stayed asleep for the next twelve hours.