Beautiful Machine
Wind blew into Leo's face as he treks through the vast desert in search of his next opponent. His feet scuffles through the dirt tiredly and he wonders how long he had been walking. The desert seemed to stretch on infinitely and all Leo could see was dirt, cactuses, and more dirt. He wishes he were back at that decaying city where he fought against Julia Chang. At least that place had water. He surprised himself at making it as far as defeating six opponents in the tournament. He already fought Bryan Fury, Christie Montero, Ling Xiaoyu, Roger Jr., Anna Williams, and Julia Chang. But there were stronger fighters to come and he was prepared for them.
Eventually he reached a forest that had a river. He drank from the river, relieving his dry throat. He glanced at his surroundings. The endless dessert just stood a bit away from where he came crouched. Trees and more trees lay overhead, shielding Leo from the scorching heat. Hopefully this forest will lead him to his next opponent. He begins moving through the forest after having enough to drink. The forest was really dense and wet as if rainfall had recently happened here. For that, Leo was grateful. He'd rather be a bit chilly than to sweat like a waterfall.
Leo came to an abrupt stop when he heard the sound of footsteps in the distance heading toward him. He turns to his right to see a figure walking towards him not to far away. The person was a girl. She had short, pink hair that went just above her to shoulders. Leo didn't recognize this girl. Her facial features were so innocent and soft, like she could do no possible harm to anyone. Leo wasn't sure if he would be able to hit her. He can see why she made it this far into the tournament.
The girl stops when she's only standing five feet away from him. Half of her face was lit up from by sunlight that peaked between the trees while the other side remained shaded. One of her eyes glint in the sunlight. Leo takes in her outfit. A pair of white boots fitted on her feet nicely and this white and light purple dress in an odd pattern exposed her whole left shoulder. Two flat, white flowers were stuck in her hair in a stylish fashion and smooth, white gloves were fitted on her hands. She was beautiful.
Leo gulps quietly. "Hello." He says. Maybe that sounded stupid. Why would he greet someone right before fighting?
The girl doesn't say anything and gets into what Leo thinks is her fighting stance. He's not sure. Her arms are at her sides and she's just staring at him with those large green eyes of hers.
Leo scratches the back of his head casually. "So...um..." He begins hesitantly. "I'm Leo. What's your name?"
The girl stares at him a moment longer. Her head tilts to the side slightly. Confusion maybe? She's probably wondering why Leo was even speaking to her and he feels embarrassed. After a few long seconds her lips part and she speaks, "Alisa."
The name escaped her lips easily and flawlessly. Her voice was like bird songs in the mornings and soft jazz music he listens to on the radio. Her voice is literally soothing to his ears and he wants her to say more. He was never really good with talking with girls. They made him nervous and embarrassed.
"Cool..." He says awkwardly. He didn't know what else to say.
"Must we have to fight...?" She asks, almost innocently. She didn't sound as though she were trying to fool him with the little girl act. He wasn't sure what she was pulling but he was falling for it.
"N-No..." Leo stammers. He scratches the back of his head again. "I mean...if you don't want to..." Of course they had to fight each other but why did he say no?
The pink haired girl seems hesitant. "...Really?" Her eyes grow hopeful.
"W-well...yeah...I mean, um...I don't think..." Leo feels his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He was thinking too much, stammering too much. Alisa was staring at him expectantly, patiently. "Um...I do think we have to...fight." Leo says finally.
Alisa stares at him, unblinkingly for a moment. Her expression is blank, normal, unfeeling. Then she blinks after a long silence. "Fine." And surprisingly robotic wings come straight from her back and she flies towards him at lightning speed.
Leo almost didn't get out of the way in time. He rolls out of the way at the last second, eyes wild in surprise. "Whoa!" He exclaims. He stood to his feet and spun to face her. "Oh, oh, okay." He says nervously. He wasn't expecting that but luckily he had quick reflexes. Where the heck did those wings come from though?
Alisa flies towards him again and this time he doesn't move in time. She throws a hard punch to his right cheek that sends him flying towards a tree. Leo slides to the ground after his back made hard impact with the tree. That was a real painful blow. That didn't even feel like a human's punch. He didn't know what this girl was but she sure wasn't human. He's on his feet again in an instant as Alisa flies towards him again. He expects her to go for his face again but she faints up and goes low. She slides on her side right towards his legs. Surprisingly, he jumps up just in time as Alisa slides passed him.
Holy crap! He thought.
Leo spins around to see the girl charging towards him again. Does she not take a break? She throws multiple punches at his face as he struggles to dodge them all. He manages to get a punch in on her left rib. As soon as his fist made contact with her body, a pain shot through him all the way up to his head. It felt like he just hit hard metal. He ducks away from her and quickly examines the damage on his knuckles. They were bleeding and throbbing painfully. This girl was definitely not human for sure.
Dammit. He thought as he shakes his painful wrist. How can I fight her if she's a machine? It's no wonder she made it this far.
Leo looks to Alisa again to see her hovering above the ground a bit. Her shoes are like hover boots. Her hands are extended at him but she's too far away to attack. Right before his eyes, one of her hands begin to morph into what looked like some kind of weapon. Leo jumps out of the way as a large bullet comes out of the hole in her hand and heads straight for him. His body flops clumsily next to a pile of rocks where his head nearly clashes at.
This isn't a fair fight. I bet she killed the other fighters she fought. Leo thought as he stands to his feet.
The human like girl is aimed to shoot at him again. A bullet comes out and he's nearly shot. He jumps out of the way and falls onto his face in the dirt.
I can't beat her. Leo spits out a clump of dirt.
She shot at him again. He dodges.
Soon I'll be too tired to move out of the way and she'll eventually kill me. I have to get closer somehow. He thought again. Maybe if I can use my feet instead of my fists my blows will be less painful.
Alisa gets closer for him by flying right towards him. He's ready this time. Just when she was close enough he throws a thrust kick to her belly and she falls backwards. His foot throbbed but it wasn't as painful as the punch he threw at her before. He couldn't believe this girl was just so innocent a few moments ago. Now she's a freaking killer.
Alisa hovers to her feet immediately after she fell. She throws a punch at his face and it hits him right on the cheek. She keeps attacking him as he tries to block. Hard metal contacted his cheeks, his nose, his ribs, his legs, his chest, every part of his body. When she stopped, Leo is on the ground now moaning in pain. She's not attacking anymore but peering down at him curiously now.
"Are you okay?" She asks. She sounded genuinely concern.
She may be a machine but at least she had a heart. Leo came to his feet weakly. His knees were shaking uncontrollably after taking so many hard blows there. He was surprised they weren't broken. "No...but I'm not through." He says spitting out blood.
"I don't want to fight anymore. Please give up." She says in that melodic voice of hers.
Leo shakes his head putting up his dukes. He came to this tournament for a reason and he wasn't just going to give up now.
"Why must you persist on hurting yourself?" She asks. "Give up."
Leo tries to hit her with his slow moving leg but she sidesteps and kicks him in the shin. He grunts and falls to the ground. His whole shin was ringing painfully, boiling his blood. Alisa bends her head to match eye level with him.
"Your human form cannot stand a chance against my metallic built body," she says. "Please stop trying to fight me. You won't win in your condition." She sounds desperate.
Leo can't give up now but her look is so pleading he can't disobey. He slowly nods his head, letting himself fall to his side tiredly. "Okay..." He sighs and closes his eyes.
Alisa crouches down in front of, her gloved hands resting on her knees. Leo felt her poke his cheek and he opens his eyes. "Thank you. I will repay you when this is over." She says before standing up straight. The robotic wings pop out of her back and she moves away from him. Then in seconds…she's gone.
The next thing Leo knew he was someplace else. He is sitting on a seat in a bus just outside of town. Not many people were on the bus, just a few sat here and there. Leo stares out the window as the vehicle moves at a steady pace along the street. His mind wanders to when he was at the tournament a few days ago. Turns out some guy named Lars won the entire tournament and not Alisa like Leo expected. He wondered how Lars was able to defeat such a powerful machine.
She was certainly a pretty robot... Leo thought, getting embarrassed by his own thoughts. He rubs his hands together with a stupid grin on his face. He wonders if he'll ever see her again before he leaves for the airport in a few hours.
His phone suddenly vibrates in his pocket. He pulls out his phone to see that he received a text. It was from Lily.
See u at the party tonite? Be there ;)
Leo sighs. He wasn't exactly Lily's friend but he gave her his phone number because she asked. They met before the tournament began. She was pretty nice to him but not exactly his type. They were going to fight, he believed, in the tournament but he lost against Alisa. Lily went up against Alisa next and lost. Not a surprise.
Anyway, Lily was having this party tonight at this building she rented out for the night. The girl is filthy rich and can do whatever she wants with the money. Her parents didn't care. She invited everyone from the tournament to the party, including the Mishima family. There was no way the Mishimas would come though. Leo wasn't sure if he was going to go. He never liked parties. Too many drunk crazy people.
He doesn't bother texting Lily back. He'll text her an apology later.
Right now he just wanted to enjoy the sights here before he leaves.
The bus comes to a stop to let a few people on and off. This wasn't Leo's stop though so he stayed where he was, eyes glued to the window. The bus begins to move again. Someone unexpectedly slides into the seat beside him. He turns to see a familiar pretty face.
"Alisa...?" He says.
She stares down at him with unblinkingly eyes. She wore a different outfit this time. A red dress with a sleeved white shirt underneath and a pair of brown boots. Before he knew what he was doing, Leo embraces her.
"I thought I wouldn't see you again..." He says. He feels Alisa hesitantly wrap her arms around his back.
Leo pulls away from her in embarrassment. He knows his cheeks are as red as a tomato. "What are you doing here?" He asks awkwardly, scooting away from her a bit to give her some space.
"...to repay you. Remember?" She replies.
"Oh." Leo says dumbly. "So uh...what do you have in mind?"
"We can do anything you want." She says quietly, hands resting on her lap.
"Okay then…"Leo says thoughtfully. He looks out the window as the bus passes by a restaurant. He turns back to Alisa. "We can go eat somewhere." he suggests. Then he instantly regrets his words. Robots can't eat. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."
Alisa didn't appear offended at all. Her lips turn up into a small, cute smile. "I have been built to consume human foods. I like eating." She says.
Leo stares at her smile. Her lips were a pink, strawberry color and the skin on her face was glowing; radiant. Her eyes are sparkling and she looks very genuine. Leo gulps at her beauty and nods like an idiot. "Okay…we'll…we'll get off at the next stop."
Alisa smiles at him again. She reaches for his hand and laces her fingers with his.
Leo finds the courage within himself to smile back. This was his last day in this country and it'll be worth it.
THE END
