“Can't believe you convinced me to come out here,” Shaoshao Li said, wiping sweat off her forehead. “It’s so hot I might have a fever.” 

 

“It’s summer, Lily. Every day is burning hot,” Melissa Faireborn replied, frail hands on the grey backpack straps. 

 

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me Lily? It’s Li, as in Lee!” The eastern beauty complained, angrily gritting her teeth. 

 

“But you’re such a cutie, Lily,” Melissa, another brunette beauty, teased her friend. “Especially when you’re embarrassed~.” 

 

“I’m not embarrassed, dummy! I’m sweating my ass off cause you asked me to come here,” Shashao gestured to the wilderness around them, lush with green vegetation and grown flowers. “I shouldn't even be here.”

 

“What’s wrong with taking a little break?” The gorgeous brunette asked. “Worried about the family business?” 

 

“It’s not the restaurant I’m afraid of. My parents are okay with me not taking over, if you can believe it. Just….” Shaoshao trailed off. 

 

Melissa wore a look of concern, her green eyes soft in their gaze. “Yeah?”

 

“Just…..” Shaoshao repeated herself, pondering on recent events in her life. Very unfortunate events in her life. “It’s nothing. Let’s keep going, I don’t wanna stay out here till dark.”  

 

“Uh…okay.” Melissa wanted to ask more, but realized the insensitivity it might cause. However curious she was, pressuring someone to speak wasn’t nice.

 

The two of them were college students, attending the same University of Oregon. They meet during lunch in between classes, becoming instant friends. Melissa Faireborn was an outgoing, excitable brunette coming from a military family. With sparkling green eyes and toned athletic form, she could easily enthrall many into her circle. Today, she wears denim jean shorts, an orange T-shirt with ‘It never ends’ written in blue, and a baseball cap belonging to the Oregon Divers basketball team.

 

Shaoshao Li, meanwhile, was somewhat introverted. While she can hold conversations with people, she typically reserved her time for herself. Smart, intelligent, and a supermodel-ish body, Shaoshao definitely stands out amongst the crowd despite her personality. For today’s hiking trip, her attire contained white elastic shorts, blue crop top, and a beige sun hat held by strings.  

 

The two of them had traveled to a mountain park near Mount St. Helens, a park mainly visited by campers or tourists. Luckily for them, it wasn’t as cold as it usually is. Instead, in a rare moment for the weather, today was rather scorching. Though a slight breeze occasionally seeped in. 

 

Eventually, gray clouds gathered above them, which meant the inevitability of rain. Melissa and Shaoshao instantly noticed, a sense of worry swarming them.

 

“Rain already? It’s not even Fall!” Shaoshao commented on the incoming storm.

 

“It’s Oregon, sweetie. Come on, let’s take cover,” Melissa led her friend into the forest, searching for a suitable tree for shelter. “Maybe we’ll find a cave or something!” 

 

“You say that like it’s a good thing!” Shaoshao said, running alongside Melissa while feeling the initial raindrops. 

 

Melissa smiled, not worried one bit. “It makes things more fun, yeah!” 

 

Eventually, the duo found a tree for cover, hiding under its large branches and multiple leaves as the rain now began pouring down. Standing near each other under a darkening sky, freezing in wet conditions. Perhaps they should have considered an umbrella. 

 

Then again, why do so on such a nice day?

 

“How long do you think it’ll last?” Shaoshao asked. 

 

“Not sure. Maybe thirty minutes or an hour,” Melissa shrugged her shoulders. “Hard to tell when you can’t see the sky.”

 

"Really?" The eastern beauty blinked twice, sitting down. "Is that actually a thing or are you, like, bullshitting me?"

 

"Yeah, no. See, my dad has this thing where you can tell if it'll rain by cloud movements," Melissa explained, setting her backpack down. "It's a habit from his military days."

 

"Oh...okay. Is he, like, one of those super strict drill sergeants or something?"

 

"No, he's pretty nice. My mom was in the army too, so the two just clicked with each other," the brunette elaborated on, raising an eyebrow. "Are you into guys like that?"

 

"H-HUH!? N-No, I'm not-!"

 

"Okay, okay. Relax, I'm just joking around," Melissa chuckled. "You really gotta lighten up, Lily."

 

"For the last time, it's not 'Lily'. Damn it," Shaoshao blushed, curling into a ball.

 

"Hey, come on. I was only kidding. I don't actually think you're into older guys," Melissa said. "And if you are, I'm cool with it."

 

"Thanks for the encouragement, I guess," Shaoshao retorted, perking up. "You sure you're not talking about yourself instead?" 

 

"Eh?" Shaoshao's words caused a slight reddening on Melissa's face. "Uh.....Well....."

 

"Bullseye on the market," the eastern beauty smiled. 

 

"I-I'm not, well....." Melissa replied, covering her face with both hands. "Lily, you jerk."

 

"STOP CALLING ME 'LILY'!"

 

Time passed on as the rain poured on, making the ground damper with every drop. Leaves dripped with clear liquid, forest animals hid away from the storm, and cold winds gradually increased. The duo sat in silence while they waited, pondering on their individual thoughts. Melissa kept looking at the sky, watching the rain falling like endless tears. Shaoshao, however, just wanted to leave, change clothes, and continue her studies. 

 

As Melissa waited peacefully for sunny skies, her eyes briefly gazed down onto a tree, one which has its bottom hollowed out. Upon doing so, she spotted a glint of light. With one squint, a small piece of metal was found. A strangely shaped piece of metal....

 

"Hey, Lily?" Melissa said, tapping her friend's shoulder. 

 

"Yeah, what is it? Can't you see I'm freezing to death?" Shaoshao replied, swatting the hand away. 

 

"Let's move into that tree over there," Melissa pointed to the hollow tree. "Better than staying out here, right?"

 

"Huh?" The eastern beauty looked in her direction, finding the tree as well. "Oh. Wow, I must be blind."

 

"Yes, our eyes are truly blind. Come on," Melissa grabbed her backpack then quickly led her friend towards the tree, leaving deep footprints across the wet ground. Once there, they squeezed into the circular space, sitting on dry ground and ingrained roots. 

 

"So, what now?" Shaoshao asked, panting small breaths. 

 

"Wait like before while our clothes dry," The gorgeous brunette suggested, setting her stuff down. "You don't want hypothermia, right?"

 

Shaoshao once again flushed red, covering herself angrily. "I-I-I-I'm not undressing in front of anyone, dummy!"

 

"Don't be so embarrassed, Lily," Melissa raised an eyebrow, first removing her baseball cap then unbuckling her shorts. "We're both girls here."

 

"T-T-Then turn around," Shaoshao shifted her form towards the wooden wall, doing exactly what she demands. "A-A-A-And don't look at me till it's over." 

 

"Alright," Melissa replied, wearing a warm smile for her friend. Slowly, she began to disrobe. 

 

First, she untied her hiking boots then removed her white socks. Next, her hands grasped the waist band on each side, carefully pushing it down to reveal yellow cheeky panties. After setting the shorts on her backpack, she took her T-shirt and pulling it upwards, also revealing yellow undergarments, now a sports bra. 

 

While Melissa confidently unclothed herself, Shaoshao had a harder time. With a face redder than strawberries, her trembling hands barely removed the shorts, knowingly unveiling red Hi-waisted panties. Then, her sun hat came off her head, being set on a root. Finally, the crop top was hesitantly discarded, both eyes shut from absolute humiliation.  

“This is ridiculous,” Shaoshao commented, sitting down on the ground while covering her near-barren form. “Someone might see us, you know.”

“Not many people come around these parts, so I think we’re fine. Here,” Melissa produced a blanket from her backpack, wrapping it on herself and a surprised Shaoshao. 

“Sorry, I only had one. Is this okay,” the brunette asked her friend, now looking away in greater bashfulness.

“Whatever helps, I guess,” Shaoshao replied, face redder than tomatoes. “Thanks.”

Now both of them sat close to each other, warmth emerging from their bodies’ touch. Outside, the rain poured on harder, pelting with extreme speed. This might take a while longer, and there’s not enough food and water to last a day. Of course they could call for help, but reception is terrible in these woods. Plus, they’d just get static and vague words.

At least they can drink the rainwater, so that’s a plus.

“So, check this out,” Melissa pulled the piece of metal she saw earlier, giving it to Shaoshao. It turned out to be an insignia of sorts, a red blank expression with two hollow eyes and blocky nose. Like a square had a face, to make an analogy.

“Where’d you find this?” Shaoshao asked, examining it closely.

“Caught a glimpse of it before we moved here,” Melissa explained. “Kinda convenient to find it here, if you ask me. What do you think it is?”

“Probably some random symbol a gang uses,” the eastern beauty assumed, suddenly remembering a past conversation. “Hang on.”

“What is it?”

“I think I saw this symbol before,” Shaoshao gave it back to Melissa, carefully not to drop it. “Remember that recent news story from Japan?”

“Which one?” Melissa rubbed her thumb across the symbol, gazing into its empty orbs.

“The one about a line of cars holding strange markings possibly from the Yakuza. But it turns out none of them used it, so people assumed it was foreign,” Shaoshao elaborated, squeezing closer to her friend. “Until they found out nobody ever used it before, which probably meant aliens came here once upon a time.”

“Isn’t that a dead meme from conspiracy weirdos?” Melissa chuckled a little, shaking her head at the stupidity of it.

“Memes are reflections of reality, Melissa. It sounds crazy, but humanity hasn’t been alive long enough to understand our own home. Hell, we’ve barely explored the ocean,” Shaoshao said confidently. “If you ask me, that symbol means much more than we think.”

“If it is, then I hope we don’t get hooked in weird crazy stuff,” Melissa said. “I’d like to live a normal life, thank you.”

(Meanwhile in Japan….)

In the sand dunes of Tottori, people were gradually returning home after a long day under the hot sun. Nighttime struck its darkest hour, blanketing the land in pristine blackness. Soon, nobody remained in the dunes’ near infinite sandy grounds.

Well, almost nobody.

For when all is truly quiet, a giant robotic hand bursts out of the beige land, reaching for dark skies. Another arose from below, both palms planting themselves on unstable soil to lift their owner up. Slowly, the mysterious machine unveiled itself out of its beige prison, light green orbs illuminating the darkness all around. Streams of khaki soil trilled downward, landing on self-created piles which quickly drooped in their stability.

The unknown giant patted his arms and feet for sandy remnants, some of it stuck in his joints. 

“Never doing this again,” the giant muttered to himself. “Now where am I?”

He looked around the area, finding only khaki terrain and no plants. Nobody being here meant he was alone. Good.

“This must be that organic planet Megatron led us to,” he surmised, recalling events from eons ago. “If that’s the case, Optimus Prime could still be here.”

He didn’t have a mouth under that metallic faceplate, but his eyes certainly indicated a malevolent smile. “Guess it’s time for me to stretch my wings again. After all, who can ever escape Skyquake?”

His form shifted into an alien jet, blasting off towards blackened skies.

(Oregon, one hour later)

The rain had finally cleared, and the duo quickly redressed themselves. Shaoshao came out looking very humiliated, her face bearing a most furious expression.

“Melissa,” her lowered voice spoke, frightening the brunette. 

“W-What’s up, lily?” The brunette replied, getting somewhat defensive.

“We don’t spoke of today ever again. Nothing happened in that tree. Got it?” Shaoshao said.

“Uh…….” Melissa wasn’t sure how to respond, but soon thought of an answer. “Yeah, sure, got it. My lips are sealed, nothing happened in there.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, honest. Cross my heart and hope to die,” the brunette used the oldest vow ever spoken. “Thought was it really that embarrassing?”

Shaoshao raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

“I think maybe you’re too agitated over what happened today. Why don’t we go home and watch some TV? Heck, I’m pretty sure your favorite show’s on tonight.”

The eastern beauty relented, her fury slowly easing off. “Can we have apple pie instead of popcorn?”

“Absolutely,” Melissa replied, grabbing her friend’s hand. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go before it gets dark. We don’t wanna miss that show.”

Thus, the two went on home, leaving behind a day of sodden troubles. Now, they shall return to enjoy each other’s company as they’ve done for months since enrollment.

And they’ll do so possibly for the last time.

(To be continued…..)