“Did you really have to be so sinister? I said just distract him for a few minutes.” Kyle frowned as he looked at Semantha. Veins were popping out of his neck.

“What was I suppose to do?! He didn’t take the initial bait!!” Semantha roared in dissatisfaction. Her earlier enchanting demeanor was gone and she had totally turned rogue.

“Besides, explain to me whats going on!!! Where is Leo?!! And who is this milky white guy!! Just look at him, what kind of sissy is he…” Semantha said pointing at Leo walking by their side wearing shades , a mask and a hoody which they had just brought from as store.

“Like your the one too talk!” Leo couldn’t help but retort with a frown, “A tomb boy with a foul mouth..”

“What did you say you b*stard?! Why don’t you say it to my face?!” Semantha grabbed Leo’s color ready to punch him at any time.

“Stop it! Leave him!” Kyle dragged the unruly girl away while she continued to curse at Leo, “Don’t look at me like that you piece of sh*t! I will gouge your eyes out!”

Leo shook his head. He was already used to it, but it had been a while since he had been her target of bullying.

Anyway, he would let it go. She had helped him running away.

Earlier, when Semantha had caused a commotion and gathered a crowd, Leo had quietly sneaked out of the VR pod and when people ran away in fear, he too had followed behind mixing among the crowd and sneaking out.

“Lets go to your apartment and we will continue it there..” Kyle said as he began dragging her towards her house.

“Why in hell do I have bring this bean sprout to my house? Besides, we were supposed to save Leo! Where is he?!” Kyle really wanted to tap her mouth. “You will know everything when we get there! So calm down…”

….

Semantha’s Apartment, Sector- 4, Aine City.

Leo and Kyle weren’t surprised in a least bit to see her house filled with video games, Mech figures, posters, weight machines for working out.

She didn’t have any family here because she was a run away. Yup, she had runway from home because she wanted to become a pro gamer but her her family didn’t supported her.

She had been going around participating in competition, streaming her game play to gather money for her studies and living expenses. And that was how she was making her ends meet for now.

Apparently, she was from some very well off family and was treated like a princess from a young age. But looking at her behavior, Leo and Kyle highly doubted it.

“We are here now. Tell me what’s going on?”

Kyle and Leo exchanged a look as they took a seat.

“He is Leo..” Kyle said massaging his head. He was already having a headache thinking of the storm which was about to come/

“Leo here…” Leo raised his hand with an awkward smile.

The two then explained to her what was going on.

“So, you are saying me that this guy even though looks different, sounds different and is from a totally different race is…..Leo.”

“Yes!” Kyle replied and Leo nodded as well.

“You two pieces of sh*t!! You are trying to play with me!! You think I am a fool!” She roared in anger and before the two could react, they were already on the ground. Kyle was being choked under hear arm while her thighs clenched on Leo’s neck pinning the two to the ground.

“I am not lying! Its really me Semantha!!” Leo said while tapping out, his face had turned red and he knew he was going to be out of breath soon.

“I don’t know what kind of prank is this, but to think you will use Leo’s identity like this when he is no more. You really have fallen low Kyle!” Semantha’s expression turned sour and her eyes glistened. She was really furious at their actions.

Kyle didn’t whether to laugh or cry. He hadn’t done anything low. It was just that this impossible thing was true. He tried to get Leo to convince her like he did to him.

But who would have thought that she would turn even more furious thinking that it was Kyle who had given him those information about her to successfully fool her.

“Get out the MechField! He will prove it now!” Kyle suddenly realized a way. Games were the only thing which she took more seriously than her own life. “We will use the Assembly Garage to prove it!”

Semantha looked at Kyle.

“Do you really think I will fool you like this?” Kyle couldn’t help but ask with a sigh.

She stared at him for a good while but really found it hard to believe. First of all what he was saying was absurd, but he wasn’t a gut o play such pranks too.

In the end, Semantha finally let them go. But they still had to prove it to her and if they failed, she promised to never talk to Kyle again and beat the sh*t out of fake Leo.

“You two better not fail..” She said with a menacing look on her face before sitting on the couch and glaring at them.

Kyle was still relieved though. They had a chance but when he looked at Leo, his eyes widened.

Leo’s eyes had turned white and he was knocked out cold.

“Leo!!”

He shook him but there was no response at all. “You can’t die like this again!!”

Semantha looked at the two acting all dramatic and got up before going to the kitchen and bringing a glass of water and splashing it on Leo’s face.

“Haaafff!!”

Leo immediately woke up with a heavy breath, “White light! I saw a white light! Where is this?!”

“What white light are you talking about? We area at Semantha’s apartment…” Kyle reminded and tried to calm him down.

“Hurry up! I have already opened the assembly garage…prove it to me..” Semantha said pointing at the screen.

Kyle explained to Leo what was going on.

Leo was the one who had always customized her Mechs for her gameplay. So, only Semantha and Leo should be aware of the correct parts and their arrangements. After all, one couldn’t guess the parts of Mech just from looking it from outside. Now all Leo had to do was create the Mech from a scratch in the Assembly garage using the same parts and that would definitely serve as an adequate proof.

Leo looked at Semantha and smiled. He was not good as her in terms of actual maneuver of Mechs in the game. But when it came to assembling one, no could challenge his speed.

He confidently entered her VR pod and when his eyes fell on the screen, he couldn’t help but smile.

He really loved this.

Either side of the screen was showing the types of part that he could use and the above bars were showing the blue prints of basic structure of different Mechas. There were different kind of Mechs and everyone had their favorite choices which they were comfortable with.

Beast type Mechs were good for forest and cavern areas. Knight type Mechs were most people’s favorites and could be considered an all rounder. Aside from these, their were dozen of other types like Water, Fire, Space etc. And there name pretty much suggested in what situations they could utilize themselves to their best ability.

Apart from this, there was also a kind of Commercial Mechs which were available for general public. It didn’t have any fighting power but was capable of doing heavy lifting and hard labor.

Leo clicked on the Fire type Mechs which was Semantha’s territory and its rough lay out appeared in front of him, His hands moved at the speed of light as he dragged an Arora core to the middle and then began to use the thin conducting fibers to map its body and form connections with every part and the core.

Even though it was a game and had an assisting system, Leo loved the fact that they didn’t just made it complete childish and trashy.

The designing system even though wasn’t very detailed and lacked the use of heavy technical knowledge, it was still very close to reality when it came to part design and rough arrangement as well fine tuning of parts to determine flexibility and strength.

A person without knowledge of Mechs would be doomed if he were asked to customize a Mech for himself even if it was a game. At best they could put out a half baked product. But people like Semantha who were aiming for professional league couldn’t perform best with half baked products while standard and ready made Mechs might not perfectly suit their taste.

Semantha’s eyes slowly lit up when she saw Leo’s hand move at the speed of light, he brought over the Blaze Alloy to make a fire resistant skeleton and then used Strong stretchable V2 type fibers to form connections all over the joint’s. Soon the pilot cabin and the support system were inserted inside before he finally began to move onto its outer body.

The process was very smooth and fast as if he had been doing it everyday to the point where he could do it with his eyes closed. He didn’t make a single mistake in terms of the material and even the skin he placed on the Mech was her favorite one. From the beginning to the end, only a minute or two seemed to have passed when Leo stopped. He then opened the VR pod and came out with a smile on his face.

He was really excited actually. He had beaten his precious records by a huge margin. It meant that his current bodies capabilities were definitely above his earlier ones.

“Do you believe me now?” Leo asked as he looked at Semantha and she finally threw herself at him hugging him tightly.

Leo was surprised for a second but when he noticed her quivering body realizing that she was crying, he sighed and looked at Kyle who had the same expression as him.

Who would be happy at a friend’s death?

Kyle didn’t feel any less miserable when they canceled the search claiming that Leo and the rest were dead. And they were reasonable, as it wasn’t possible for someone to survive in space like this for such a long time.

But luckily, Leo was an exception.

Leo looked at Semantha and patted her back, “I am alive…”