"Mom, why can't I go to showdown?! "

The red haired girl said with upset face. She was wearing yellow clothes, brown cap and a school bag on her back, while holding her electric gun.

It was Jessie, standing right in front of her workshop. She was one of the youngest brawler in the battle, yet one of the most smartest. No one could best her engineering except her mother.

She tapped her scrappy, which was her turret like a dog. It made beeping sound as if it agreed to her.

"One, you're too young to go alone. Two, electric gun isn't good weapon to use in showdown. And three, there's culture called 'teaming' in showdown, and you'll get smacked if you don't have any brawler you know."

But her mother, Pam, didn't allowed. And she sounded like she was very determined. Jessie said right back.

"But going to showdown is like one of my dream! I want to show them my genius work!"

"All right. You can go duo showdown. But you need to get your teammate."

And then Pam went away. Jessie could understand this, since if she ever plays with randoms, everything messed up. They didn't seem to understand single thing.

But anyways... who was she going to team with? She knew Colt, but he's been hanging out with Shelly recently. The robots? Well... she was genius at making robots, but not at keeping good relation with them. If machine rebellion ever happens, it's most likely because of her.

Penny? She looked perfect, since she's one of her best friend who appreciates the value of building. But Jessie just remembered, she was currently on a journey to finding sunk treasures. She said she was gonna find 'real gold, not fools gold'.

That left her no choice. She packed up her breakfast, and stored scrappy in the bag. And for emergency situation, a sharp metal scrap to stab something. The only way left was to go to desert, find spike or crow or someone like that, and maybe get about 100 spikes paled in the body. But anyways, she headed to the desert.

Not after 5 minutes, the red haired girl already got out of the No Violence Zone.

The red-yellow desert was in sight, not that far from town. Even if she wasn't genius, she could have known that showdown just ended in this very place. Several rocks were blown up from dynamites and rockets, The wooden pieces of power cube box lay all over the place.

The red haired girl looked around. Despite this mess, no one seemed to be around. Not a single one celebrating their victory or preparing next match.

"Why is no one here?" said Jessie, frustrated. She was always unlucky. She just kicked off a cactus right beside her out of anger.

"Gah, This is my fate. I can't get a single teammate." Her face remained frowned, while she still resumed her search.

If she finds one but they do not want to team with her, she was planning to just shoot them with her electric gun and take their fainted body. Her temper was still like a teenager, though she was engineer and everyone thought she was shy.

Thoughts passed on her head, as she still complained. But all of a sudden, she heard a noise.

The girl shut her mouth for some kind of sneaking, and began to approach to the source of the noise. she held out her electric gun, and listened more carefully.

It was not just noise, it was quiet sobbing, actually.

And that meant he was some kind of coward. So there was no reason to be afraid. As soon as she found the clear source, Jessie jumped in, and aimed her electric gun.

"Aha!"

There was a boy. A boy with dark skin, who was actually a little smaller than her. On his green hood, there were blue buttons on his head, with chameleon tail on his back. It was quite strange fashion, since she couldn't even see his eyes. Is that even possible to see with that hoodie? Jessie wondered.

But one thing sure was that he was sobbing like a coward kid, crouching behind rock. Jessie just tapped his shoulders.

"Hey, hey! Stop crying!"

"P...Please don't hurt me... I'm sorry..." But the kid repeated his words while shivering, as if he was traumized.

"You're an idiot. What, crying like a silly cake because you lost one match?" She said to him. But the green hoodie didn't seem to listen, still sobbing.

Jessie stumbled. She thought of shooting him, but at least she was not a fowl that would shoot insecure, scared kid that was crying.

So she just put her electric gun away, and sat right aside him. Looking closely, she could see his mouth trembling like a baby. That made her feel a little pity.

After about a minute, that felt like an hour, the kid's sobbing slowly decreased. Seeing him not crying anymore, Jessie immediately talked to him.

"So, why were you crying in the middle of the desert?"

Then the green hoodie nervously looked around. As soon as he saw Jessie, he put his hands in his pocket.

"W...who are you?" And he finally opened his mouth, revealing rather low voice.

"I'm Jessie. Who are you and why were you crying?"

"Damn it... consider you didn't see this..." said the boy.

"No, that's okay. You must have a reason to cry, right?" said Jessie, casually. But the boy remained silent after that.

He seemed to be in bad mood. So she searched for a solution with her brain. In a second, she could see the candy bar in his pocket. Jessie put her hand on his pocket, picked up the candy, and offered it to the boy.

"Here, I think you like candies. Just relieve yourself with it." She said with rather tough tonne. Well, trying-to-be tough tonne. But it was enough for the boy to be surprised.

The boy's face immediately blushed. He took the candy, with his hand hot as campfire. His cheek was red like carrot. His mouth seemed to say something, but it didn't open.

Then all of a sudden, he went invisible. Jessie panicked for a moment and picked up her electric gun.

"Wait, you can use invisibility?"

Only her voice spreaded through the desert. The boy with green hoodie went nowhere.

Jessie began collecting informations, after this rather special encounter. Firstly she met Colt, a gunman with pink hair.

"Hey, do you know a kid with green hoodie?"

"Uh... I think I met him once, but I don't know exactly."

"I don't like him." Shelly replied next to him. "His invisibility is ridiculous. I almost lost showdown because of him."

"You actually lost." said Colt.

"No, that's not true!" Shelly shouted.

"Anyways... you know his name?"

Jessie asked again.

"Not actually. He rarely talks." said Shelly.

Jessie just stood there, not satisfied from their answer. Colt thought for a while.

"Oh, Poco might know! He knows everyone."

So she went to Poco, the undead guitarist. Sitting on a log, he was playing guitar like usual.

"Hey, Poco!"

"What's it, pretty girl?" He replied.

"Do you know the boy with green hoodie?"

Poco thought for a while, then answered.

"Yeah. His name is Leon. He sometimes sneaks in to listen to my concert."

"That's creepy."

"No... Actually, he's kinda shy. Are you planning on meeting him?"

"N...no. No plans yet." She said awkwardly. "And any other informations?"

"Not that much. He doesn't like to show himself. The only thing I know is that he likes candies."

"Thanks." Then Jessie walked away.

Arriving at her workshop again, thoughts crossed in her mind. Should she meet him? That coward boy? If he's always like that, there was no doubt that she would always lose with him. But Colt said he defeated Shelly... This was getting more mysterious.

But, she has never seen that kind of boy in the brawl. Everyone she met, was tough brawler and robot that was always older than her. It felt was kinda different.

Jessie just sighed. Then she just decided to continue on her work.

She bolted the scraps, polished her scrappy, and experimented some circuits. Oddly for today, the bush shrub sound disturbed her more.

When she was about to bolt the last one, she could see that there was no bolt nut left. So she stood up, and started searching in the mess. She rarely cleared up, so... this may be a little hard.

"Why is the bolt always gone..." Jessie said to herself. Partly because she felt a little awkward. She rolled her eyes, and suddenly...

"I think this is what you need."

"AHHH!"

The chameleon costumed boy appeared right behind her, out of nowhere. Jessie startled and fell down to the mess of scraps. She almost felt her heart dropping down, more scarier than when she met a bull in the bush.

The little kid showed up with a bolt and nut in his hand, with his cheeks became far reddish than the hand.

"How the hell did you know I'm here?!"

"The sign said apparently."

That was right, she had put a large sign in front of the entrance with 'Jessie's workshop' written. Thinking again, it was not that good idea.

"Then why the hell are you here?"

"I... I" He stuttered, as he looked at the floor like he was guilty. "I just came to say thank you."

Jessie dusted her knees, and got up. The little hoodie was slightly lower at her eye level.

"Y... You comforted me when I was crying. Thank you for that."

"Then why do you have to sneak in like that?" replied Jessie.

"...I'm sorry." said Leon.

Jessie took the bolt from his hand, and turned around. It was going easy. If it was for anyone else, she would shout and destroy them. But she didn't know something like this would happen.

About a minute after, she bolted last thingy and finished her work. Turnjng tound, she could see that Leon wasn't still gone. As if he did major crime, he was looking at the floor still.

"So, are you gonna stand there like an idiot all day long?"

"I... got candies. Want to have some?" This time, he offered first.

She turned around, and took the wrapped candies from his hand. The red haired girl unwrapped it, and put the sweet in her mouth.

"Hmm... Let me ask you this one thing. How old are you?"

"Lower than you. Just remember this." said Leon.

That meant he was the youngest brawler. Actually, she had some kind of confidence for being the youngest brawler - and that just got destroyed.

"That's impossible. I became brawler at 14, and you're lower than me?"

"Impossible is possible when the only choice is impossible." Leon answered like an edgy teenager.

"And where do you live?" She asked, more puzzled.

"You said one question only." but the green hoodie didn't seem to be that easy. Jessie crossed her arms, and thought for something to tackle. She didn't wanted to let him leave with this.

She looked at his face. Though half of his head was hidden, the mouth, and blushing skin was enough to tell that he was edgy, but shy. In addition, that made some kind of... adorableness. She hated to admit, but her face was slightly reddening.

"So, is this all? Now get out." But despite her mind, Jessie just uttered thoughly. It came out so quickly that she had no idea what she just said.

Leon immediately put his hand in his pocket, and went invisible.

"I...m sorry to interrupt your work." And Leon apologized countless times, while being invisible like the air.

Leon walked through the mess, while Jessie just watched the invisible dude leaving. But wait, why did she met him after all? The thought flashed on her right in.

That was right. She had to grab him before he leave. So Jessie just picked up the electric gun right on her desk, and aimed for the exit.

"Wait!" And she pulled the trigger. In her brain, there was no time to think of consequences.

A moment later, the air zapped. The electricity shook his body, and the green hoodie fell down like a piece of leaf.

"Ouch." said Leon, with his body burnt from current. He tried to raise his hands, only to fail.

Seeing chameleon costume fell down, Jessie put the gun aside and ran right to him. She put her hand on the hood and examined his body, which smelled a little like a burned flesh. Fortunately, he was still breathing.

"Are you okay?"

"You shouldn't say that if you're the one who shoot." He replied in low tonne, quite upset.

"I'm sorry, heh... I didn't know how to call you back."

"Just say with words. I'm not idiot." answered Leon.

"All right... maybe next time." answered Jessie. "Anyways, I got reason why I want you."

"You want me?"

"Yeah. I need a teammate for duo showdown. Mom said solo showdown was totally ruined now..."

"I absolutely agree with it."

"Anyways. So you wanna come?"

Leon seemed to smile. However, that didn't last long. Strangely, his face went from smiling to frowning all of a sudden.

"...No. we won't be able to do that."

"What? I'm the best engineer in the city, and I can fight too! You tasted my electric gun!" She said, upset.

"No, I mean I won't be able to do that."

And then he sighed deeply. But Jessie, was even more upset.

"Really, because you lost one time in that stupid showdown? Losing happens like all the time. And you're just being a coward."

She said toughly, hoping for him to overcome. But hearing this, Leon immediately stood up.

"I must say the crying wasn't because of the showdown. And second of all -"

Then Leon sat by a rock nearby. "...everyone hates me. And you'll be no exception."

Jessie stuttered a little bit, as it wasn't something what she expected. The red haired girl shouted again.

"But I need you anyways! Come if you are not coward!"

Leon sighed again as if it was a tough decision. But finally, the boy answered.

"Fine. But you shouldn't punch me in the face for losing."

"What, why would I punch you?" She chuckled. But Leon remained silent