Author's Note: The actual fun begins here. Also take it as some sort of weird crossover that I didn't want to fit in the crossover category because it doesn't entirely fits in... well, kind of. And sorry for taking too long but I've been having stressing weeks lately...

Reviews:

Meg: Oh mah goodness you're finally back aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! And no, they won't, that happens in an alternative universe a few years later lmfao. But oh well you already know how bad everything turns nyeh heh heh.

And from here goes worse :3

Disclaimer: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs belongs to Sony Pictures Animations.

The respective OC's belongs to me.

And I never meant to cause you trouble...
And I never meant to do you wrong...
And if I ever caused you trouble...
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm...

Trouble - Coldplay

...

He stood up under the rain for ten minutes before his father arrived for lunch and saw him staring to nowhere at all, getting worried for his injured and exposed arm and trying to talk to him about what happened, why he looked so shocked, he didn't get an answer in any moment, at least not until he asked about Alice, receiving a sniff and a hug from him to then start to sob out loud... Tim took him inside and got a towel to dry him up like when he was just a child, first cleaning up his hair and then covering him with it, to then take care of his wound... "Son? What happened? You look as if you were swimming away from sharks!"

"I-I was an idiot...!" He said sobbing, "A-Alice I-I... I'm so sorry...!" He barely found a way to make words have sense and give an answer, being completely messed up for what happened. He felt just... too guilty for having being so harsh at her, "I yelled at her so many things a-and... sh-she ran away...!" His father tried to calm him down as he seemed to become unable to actually breathe, getting into an attack once again, "I didn't mean to hurt her feelings...! I-I wasn't thinking straight..."

His father told him to calm down and breath, trying to ease him as much as possible at the same time he took care of the open wound of his son; a few minutes later that became possible as he looked down, feeling dizzy for the entire jolly ride of the day and the loss of blood that haven't killed him yet, "Tell me, what actually happened?"

His son just explained the entire thing without hiding a lot of details, how far everything went and how Alice saved him, despite his despair and stuff he hid some things that would've just made him more worried, but overall, why she left... "She saved me from them and I was a jerk to her..." It was so weird to open up about his feelings towards his father, he couldn't avoid it anymore either, he had to let it out... "I feel so stupid..." And it was the truth, besides he wasn't entirely thinking when he said all of those things to her. Yes, he was conscious but at the same time he wasn't... "I'm so sorry..."

"Flint I..." He tried to say, "When you... well, in a storm if... if your boat swings and... you're alone you–"

"I understand, dad..." Actually, he didn't, as usual, "I'm a horrible friend..." Without saying anything else he just stood up and went outside, it was still raining, he didn't care again, opening the sliding door he stopped for a moment to look back. His father tried to say something again, but he didn't, Flint just left under the soft rain again upstairs, feeling so... weak... "I'm so stupid..."

He closed the door of the elevator and sat down letting tears stream down his face as he whooshed up at top speed, once out he slowly walked through the pink hallway to the inside of his lab, first seeing Steve looking at him and then look away, hiding somewhere around so he wouldn't see his owner. Maybe he was a monkey, but he wasn't that stupid either, understanding everything that's been going on. The scientist understood his point, though.

It hurts a lot, yet it was what it was.

And what it was... is shit.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling right about to pass out, hunger and blood loss were a horrible combination and twice as worse after having wasted all his energies running away from his life... he still thought that the mayor paid them to torture him like that while he wasn't in the town because it never went that far either, and it was the only explanation he found for their amazingly reckless behavior. No one else hated him that much than him, that was completely for sure, if he didn't disappear yet was because he was waiting for the right moment to make him disappear... why? All because of... he covered his face to groan a long and loud cursing word at the same time his mood was going lower and lower and his energies were reaching a limit.

The room was spinning because of his dizzy head, he needed not just something to eat and produce some red cells before going into anemia (if it didn't happen already) and then die on his bed for a while, he wasn't going to be able to keep himself awake any longer, it was just matter of minutes or even seconds before he fell down unconscious in his lab, alone...

Alone again...

No! It wasn't the right moment for another breakdown! He had to keep up and take care of himself for a while before start a search for Alice – wherever she was, he wanted to apologize badly, and it didn't matter if she would push him away over and over again because of his stupidity... there he advanced a bit more, his stained coat hanging upon his rooking chair neatly, and next to his bed...

Literally, a broken crystal heart.

'If you need to talk, you can talk to me.' He told her the first night after she woke up. It made him want to hit his forehead against the wall all over again for being a damn idiot. She wanted to tell him the truth! When she told him to forget about what she said and how she needed to tell him something but how she wasn't feeling ready! And then she was going to explain her story but he didn't let her. The thoughts made him swear out loud once again out of anger...

Messed up and going worsening...

He wanted to rip off his heart and put it in a jar, just stop feeling like that and go back to how everything was before she came... but at the same time that was already impossible. He was still a human, they all make mistakes, he liked it or not.

Slowly and wobbling to the sides a bit he walked towards the smithereens of the crystal heart, falling on his knees and taking the remainings with his own heart about to jump out his mouth... his arms were trembling, at the same time he got the remaining, it shattered more than it already was, making him sniff and sob again... He felt, dumb, he felt stupid, he felt like the biggest asshole in the world at that moment even if he probably wasn't – he didn't even mean it! He didn't think, he was completely swallowed by fear when everything happened and– and...

"Everything I touch just gets ruined..." He didn't mean it for God's sake, he completely regretted so much for yelling at her like that! But it was too late as well, and he couldn't think straight yet, he was too stressed to do something coherent, "I'm such a dick... I'm so sorry..." He mumbled, shaking and leaning against his bed feeling tired. Slowly he forced his legs to stand up and turn around to his desktop, slowly placing down the broken heart upon it... his head spinned once again as he almost fell backwards, "I'm sorry..."

He had an idea, which was compose the heart as a way to show her how serious he was being with his apologize... his mind then just told him, "You need to rest for now..." He shook it, he didn't want to, but his eyelids felt so heavy and the room was still spinning even if he wasn't moving now, only staring closely to the shattered bunch of glasses upon it... "Just go back to your bed, and it'll be alright," His head said again, like an automate he walked back to his bed, not saying a thing, unable to think, to then flop down upon his belly, resting his head on his pillow... "You'll be able to think properly later..."

At the moment he closed his eyes, everything went straight black.

Six hours later...

The sound of a thunder passing by was the first thing that came up to his ears in the moment he regained consciousness, he felt, again, very dizzy, unable to move an inch, probably with low pulse and other symptoms due blood lose and hunger. In a beginning he was confused, he didn't remember right the previous events before he passed – actually he thought about it more as a crazy and horrible nightmare... but if we're honest, he knew it wasn't.

He turned around upon his back and stared blankly to the infinite-like ceiling, just pondering about the last events once again... as much he wanted to go back to his previous self, the one that didn't care that much about people coming and leaving because it was something that used to happen a lot to him – well, kind of, of course. The ones who arrived were for too short, almost nothing, then they were gone by their own or because some external reason that wasn't himself, he used to feel bad for some days about it, then, he was back to be alright... kind of.

Nothing was alright now. He was a softy, almost always to be more honest, it wasn't like he was always alone and lacked of interaction with people. He did interact but in a very limited way, usually not going farther than a "hello" or whatever he needed, when someone arrives (which was incredibly rare) is where things used to change; still he used to be a bit retracted from interaction when it wasn't something he liked, but starting to release himself when it somehow came to that part...

Only one person showed up interest in his stuff after his mom and before Alice...

He turned to a side with tears streaming down his face, feeling his energies still drained from his body as he made an attempt to sit down, his arms felt wobbly like jelly and his body heavy, but somehow he managed to do it and sit on the verge of the bed, with shoulders low and his head looking to the metallic floor.

He felt...

Depressed...

It was the thing he hate from not being friendly – or someone who lacked a lot from social interaction, it was different handle the frustration of a failed invention from an actual relationship with another human being (the one with his father, for example, sometimes it was really frustrating, not only because Tim didn't understand him, because he didn't know nor understand how to approach to him either even if he knew what he liked – which weren't a lot of things either). It wasn't that hard to understand the way human behavior worked like, the problem was how dumb he was at the time to apply the theory of relations to practice... it was easier to remain lonely because of that...

Then his world is flipped upside down once again with the arrival of a little, shy alien girl (it was the only way he had to explain the many incognitos surrounding her like her healing ability or how she even had the chance to find him and apparently, by the way she snapped, he was right) who showed interest in him, cared about him genuinely and even risked her own integrity for him! Ah, once again the rage started to take over as he couldn't stop thinking about it, just hear her asking them to leave him alone and take his place in their teasing... no one in their right mind would've done that, that was for sure in his opinion, no one was that crazy and even less with whatever Henry and Alex had planned to do – this time Brent was out of discussion.

Maybe if she was a boy they'd probably done it, or maybe not, they weren't that heartless either to tease a kid in the way they would do to him... still he thought the mayor had something to do with the affair before, something involving a good bribe for a good 'teasing'.

Groaning out loud he slowly stood up, the world started to spin again as he felt very dizzy, once again wobbling to the sides a bit. For a moment he thought that unconsciousness would fall upon him again and make him flop onto his bed for another set of long hours trapped in the dark dream world, surprisingly enough, despite his tiredness, it didn't happen; remaining standing for a while...

Another grumble of a thunder passed by, as the sound of the heavy raindrops were clanking against the metallic ceiling of his laboratory. The rain has increased its rate while he was out indeed, having escalated to the point of a light storm and it could still go worse... slowly his body started to move towards his desktop, sitting on his rooking chair and starting to try to put all the pieces of the heart together, neglecting his health, his mental stability and everything related to his safety in order to fix the broken heart...

*crack!*

I can't believe I actually trusted you!

Only Steve could feel and witness the growing tension in the entire dome-like laboratory, the previous amount of tension created by the argument he had with Alice a few hours ago already wore off – not entirely of course, it was just getting refilled with the same, stressing sensation that made Steve peek at his owner for a moment with curious eyes, still quite angry for his behavior towards the girl, yet less than before, still keeping distance from him though.

The other thing to fill the ambient were the constant loud rambles from the stressed inventor, who spent around an hour and a half trying to put all the pieces together with glue non-stopping... it was hard to keep himself together, to keep his hands quiet from shaking due the anxiety rushing through his veins... it was hateful, it was horrible, he couldn't keep himself together and it really kept stressing him so much...

The thought of all the stupid things he said...

And finally he was done... it... well... it took a very good while indeed, but he kinda managed to fix it... he held it between his hands once again, shaking terribly and with the things he said roaming his head... "Come on... put yourself together Lockwood...!" He yelped, swallowing hard as his eyes didn't drift away from the heart. It was becoming worse... could he now go out and seek out for her forgiveness after that? Maybe...

I fucking hate you! You're a fucking idiot!

The sound of broken glass was heard again as he accidentally dropped it back on the desktop, breaking back into pieces... was he actually that sensible? Really? "She won't forgive me... will she...?" He wondered as the tears were still uncontrollably falling down his cheeks, his arms fell to his sides heavily, he couldn't take it anymore, it was too much for him to handle. It was so different to commit mistakes in science compared to make mistakes with another human being, because both sides were always hurt in the process. "It was a mistake to befriend me then... you wanted to avoid this pain... this is why you asked me to not get attached to you..."

Because she was really afraid of his thoughts about her real provenance...

She wanted to tell him the truth about everything but he didn't give her a chance, and the worse part is that he hurt her feelings without wanting to do that. He grew attached to her, too, and that was the toughest part of all... he was lost, he didn't know what to do anymore, it felt like an overwhelming situation... he never meant to cause her trouble, neither never meant to do her wrong...

Without saying a word he stood up, taking his stained coat and going downstairs under the rain; the backyard was filled with water, he didn't bring an umbrella, he didn't give a shit anymore. Crossing the house, completely ignoring his father's questions about where he was going, he got out to the front side and started to walk down the street towards the docks and go down the lane towards his favorite hiding spot from whenever he needed to ponder about life... he didn't care about the lightnings, neither how the rain heavily fell upon him, he didn't care a shit about the world anymore either, he was... lost...? Yeah, maybe that was the right word.

The sea clashed furiously against the shore as he walked by, the wind was cold and the tides were probably high due the long, non-stopping rainy day they were having; it was a good way though to hide his tears and clean up his stained coat a bit. On his way down he reminded the day he went back to his home crying and sobbing after he got his irremovable Spray-on Shoes around his feet and how he made a complete fool of himself in front of his third-grade class, when Brent pointed out about how he would take them off... come on! H w in the world he didn't think about it?! On the bright side, it would wear off by itself after some time (1), so he wasn't entirely doomed to wear it for the rest of his life...

"My beautiful little inventor," Her sweet voice filled his ears, speaking to him from the back of his mind, "Let this lab coat be a reminder of my never-ending support and love for you," He could feel her hand caressing his face in that moment, despite the cold, his cheek felt warm, "Let it be a source of validation that inspires you to create amazing things, to make this world a better place. So, as long as you wear it, you'll always have a bit of me with you... (2)" The sensation then wore off, as he whimpered softly, unable to think what would've his mother said if she was still alive...

There he felt unable to walk any more, sitting down upon a bench and still not caring a flying fuck about the weather. A lightning could strike him in that right moment and he wouldn't even give a care, besides, no one would care anyways, right? It was still better if the outcast died or disappeared... right...? His mind flew away as it made a throwback to the last days and the many upside downs he was already having in such a short amount of time, it stressed him out too much, even much more than other times and it was completely outraging...

He wanted to scream so badly to nowhere and swear to God for letting a rush of blood to the head cloud his mind and yell stuff he didn't mean about, having using his slight knowledge about her against her, hurting her feelings and making his only friend in years run away... he should stop giving so many loops to the affair though...

It took a while, but then he realized that suddenly rain stopped falling upon his body, realizing that someone was covering him with an umbrella... he turned to a side, and saw an old man that was in his 70's holding a white umbrella upon him, what kind of called his attention for a reason were the white details in his clothes, seeming completely formal... weird, "What's doing a young man under the rain like this?" He asked, his accent was telling that he was from somewhere in Latin America and definitely not from the island, he'd never seen him in his life, "Can I sit with you?" He asked, the young inventor seemed to think about it for a moment and then give the man some space to sit, both of then now under the safety of the umbrella, "Now, why don't you tell me what are you doing here? You seem really upset for something... sometimes is good to pour down your feelings with strangers, you know?"

There was hesitation for a while, a silence broken by the rain and another grumble from a thunder, "I was a dick to a friend..." He said hoarse, swallowing hard, "I said things I didn't mean to say... because I wasn't feeling... right..." Pour down his feelings about everything felt like a stress reliever, explain what happened earlier and why he reacted so harsh to her to give better context to the situation, explain some things were starting to make his chest feel a bit lighter, "And that's what happened... now she hates me..."

"But you didn't know about any of it, right?" The man asked, he shook his head in response, "I see..." There was a pause for a moment, the rain seemed to start to decrease in its intensity, "She doesn't hates you," He finally said, "Yes, she maybe got angry when you yelled at her, but that's how friendship works: friends can be close people, they can share everything, but as any human being, they also have their upside downs and you have to learn to cope about it... she might be angry now, and if she ran away is because of her pride. We say things we don't really mean to, and it's alright, too, because we're all just human, understand?" He was kind of getting a grasp from the speech of the old man, for moments he couldn't understand, in others he managed, somehow to do it, "I'm sure you'll be able to solve this, kid; it's time for you two to learn about it and how it works."

"Maybe it is..." He mumbled quietly, looking down to a puddle under his feet and his reflex, "Maybe I just became afraid of repeating the same darn story once again... and unconsciously tried to push her away so I wouldn't have to see her leaving me and lesser the pain of it but... all I did was worsen it..." He was just trying to defend himself somehow, defend his feelings and his mental stability somehow, "But... I guess... I can't keep doing this forever... right...?" The man shook his head with a patient smile, "I've been alone for so long... I normally don't care... but sometimes I wish I wasn't alone... and had someone with me... because it feels... good..." It was interesting how a few trails of kindness could make a big change of mind and heart to someone, that's why he became attached to her in some way even if they had a few days of knowing each other, "I do love her so much... and I don't want her to leave me alone..." Was he being... selfish with those thoughts? "I have to talk to her... even if she doesn't wants to... there is still something important I need her to know... and I couldn't tell her because I was... afraid..."

"I see a life that was marked with death..." He couldn't avoid giving a glance to the old man when he said that, because, it was true, "You saw important people leave this world without being able to do something to prevent that... right?" He just looked away as he made a grimace, whimpering softly and covering his face with his hands, sniffing hard trying to not break down into tears, he avoided talk about his mom this time, and also avoid to talk about Mar and how he was involved in her death, "I understand your fears, then... but you also have to open up a bit to people who comes..." He patted his back for a moment, "This being human is a guest house, every morning a new arrival: a joy, a depression, a meanness; some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome, and entertain them all, be grateful for whoever comes; because each has been sent as a guide from beyond (3)."

That was a deep speech, indeed; but it actually, somehow made sense... there he finally cracked a smile with the tears streaming down his face, like having found the calm in the storm as he felt determination. Indeed he needed some wisdom, and maybe that's what his dad tried to tell him with a fishing metaphor... sighing deeply he thanked the man for his time as he ran away under the rain, to then come back. "I'm sorry sir, uh... what's your name...?"

"You can just call me John, Flint," He said, wait a second, how did he know his name? "If you can excuse me, I gotta leave, I don't have much time left now..." He said and stood up, starting to walk away, "Also, tell Alicia that I said hello." There he left, the inventor had so many questions in that moment that he wanted to ask but he didn't know how, besides he still had something else to do which was find his friend.

There he ran back to his lab, when Tim just asked by calling out his name he just said, "Sorry dad I'm in a rush!" to storm upstairs again, God he expected this time to not get struck by a lightning because he went to look for Alice's sword, once there he took it and attached it to his back and jeez he felt powerful again! Was it a actual magical sword and she was a magical girl with a magical weapon? Nah, that was even crazier than the possibility of having lived with an alien, then he rushed downstairs again with a, "Bye dad!" like a thunder.

Now he was back outside... where to go?

Well she left to the grasslands, right? Then he should get himself there...! Wherever she was because even if the island wasn't that big, it still would take a while to find her alone... "Meatballs..." He still had to think better in his plans instead of only following his emotions once in his entire life, right? He groaned hard at that, "Alright she couldn't have gone that far either..." He said, "Come on Lockwood, think!" Well he could build something like a helicopter to clean up the island easier, then... what if she already left the island? No, she had to be around. He didn't know why but...

He heard then something zooming (?) in the sky, it wasn't an airplane but rather like a jet? Then he saw the sky opening in the middle of the downtown in a perfect circle letting the sun peek in from the distance as the sound of something having crashed was heard. With the curiosity filling his senses (just like the first time he met her) he ran towards the... landing zone as fast as he could, everyone got out from their houses too to go and check whatever arrived. The first to arrive already was the police, blocking the open streets as they were apparently pointing towards something/someone, he managed to make himself a place as he saw something he'd never thought to see in his entire life.

There was a man standing in the middle of the street, with a deep, messy and quite long jet black hair similar to his but covering his ears, pale skin, a normal physical complexion, using what looked like a leather jacket, black pants and combat boots and this big, long and thick zanbatō (4) sword upon his back that was almost his same height; his hands were in his pockets. As he was giving his back from the point where the inventor was standing, all he could see were those details and the fact that he was taller, around 6ft and 2in, and the traits that really called out his attention were a strange tail that looked like a cat's or even a panther's also, the cat ears upon his head... wait a second, was he actually a...

"Oh, you all shouldn't have bothered in coming to greet me!" The man said with a deep voice, taking out his hands he saw him wearing combat gloves to match up the outfit he was wearing, then he turned around towards his direction, showing up a couple of bright yellow eyes and a snub nose that quite made him resemble more to an actual animal, and his set of teeth: white, with sharp upper fangs, "Anyways, now I have your attention, my name is Maximus Panther, and I came up looking for someone..." He gulped and stepped back in response, yet he tried to keep his composure, "A small little brat with brown curly hair," Oh no, it had to be a casualty, "Brown eyes, around this size," He showed the size with his hand at the height of his waist, which was around the size of the belly of the inventor, "Pale skin, the last time I've seen her she was using a dark blue t-shirt with pants and her clothes were already tattered," He was looking for her, "Carrying a sword in her back," Fuck, no! "Just like the one that the boy over there is carrying right now..."

His heart skipped a beat out of the surprise when he got addressed by the alien, even more when he pointed him out and got the surprised glares from everyone, and squared to see him walking towards his direction, "Wh-what...?" He asked with a trembling voice, feeling his body heavy now it wasn't raining around anymore, the aura coming from the now known as Maximus was a heavy one, like telling him that he was going to die if he wasn't careful enough as he should.

"Where did you get that sword?" He asked in a growling-like manner, getting closer and closer as he looked straight to his blue eyes.

"I-I fo-found it b-by the oc-ocean..." He stuttered caught by the fear of facing such kind of beast, "W-why...?" Something told him that the man already knew he was lying.

Then the stranger was suddenly in front of him, feeling a grip around his neck as his feet stopped touching the ground, thrashing the air becoming more and more scared for the situation, at the same time, again, the group of people stepped back from them afraid, "One more time: I am looking for a girl, where the fucking hell is she?" His yellow eyes now got this glint of madness that made him get shivers down his spine, "I know you know who I'm talking about! You're hiding her!" The grip tightened as breathing was becoming harder, then he groaned, "Whatever, I'll just do... this!"

With the superhuman strength the invader had, he got tossed high into the sky, his body spinned several times until he found stability, finding himself upon the town... wait how high he actually was? Well, the view was wonderful, that's for sure; everyone looked like tiny ants and then disappear from view as his way up kept going, with the wind behind his back... then something shiny went towards his direction, it looked like... a plasma ball? No, was it... an energy ball? His first instinct was cross his arms to protect himself, hiding his face behind them even if he knew it'd be futile and a stupidity, like knowing that the intention was have him dead.

It couldn't end like that... right?

It couldn't... it just couldn't...

He heard grip from his back at the same time there was a explosion, uncovering his face he saw that he was flying down as something – someone seemed to be carrying down to a safer place, making him land on a street. He turned around to meet the person even if he already knew who it was, there was a knot in his throat he wanted to swallow so much and say so many things, but he couldn't; he saw a girl with blond, spiked up hair floating a few inches from the ground, getting to his height and staring with cold blue eyes, the thing added to her appearance was what looked like a light brown-kinda blond-ish monkey tail hanging from her back...

She looked so different now... before he could say a single word, she extended her arm to him like asking him to give her something, he didn't understand at first, even less with the cold stare she was giving to him, to then understand she was asking for the sword. In a sudden movement she tackled him away from where they were, as his view was upon her shoulder, he saw how the buildings were they were hiding exploded as a shadow emerged from the dust: she just avoided another attack from the panther man... it was still way too crazy to actually understand what was even happening, but all he saw and understood is that the panther man looked at them with a very wide smile with his sharp-like teeth. There he landed by placing a foot at his side, sliding a bit as he looked at them...

"My, my... you really made a good job hiding this time!" He exclaimed in a mocking-like tone, "It just looks... huh... much less than something I'd expect from you, princess," Wait, what? "This place indeed is pity, I suppose you remained here because of that..."

There was no response from her, who was just floating in front of Flint in a protective way, he could feel the tension between the girl and the man, he even swore he could hear the sound of soft growling coming from Max, which was already a new thing to add to the list of scary things; slowly he had the intention to remove the belt of the scabbard of the sword hanging behind his back, completely trying to not freeze in his place and be a complete burden for her during the fight that was coming up. At the same time, it was hard to not freeze with the scary and overwhelming situation.

"Run..." He heard her saying without turning around to him, then extend her hand from behind asking for her sword again, "Now." She sounded so cold, then she turned around to him and looked straight to his eyes with anger, he quickly took off the sword and gave it to her, "Now run!"

His heart sunk for a moment, but without hesitating he turned around and fled the place as fast as he could. With the adrenaline rushing his veins he could compensate his lack of energy because of the stupid jolly ride from earlier, then... BROOOOOOOM, the earth quaked making him stop and fall... that wasn't a normal earthquake, everything shook again forcing him to remain low, wondering what was happening...

No, it couldn't actually be... they had to be ridiculously strong to make the earth shake like that, they maybe were aliens but– "What the–?!" He couldn't end the sentence as this great shockwave-like explosion made him fly backwards and destroying nearby buildings... it felt like two titans were clashing against each other, even more, when the view cleared and made him see that the pair of fighters were clashing fists... how damn powerful were actually they? Actually, he thought that the entire scene was taken out of those japanese cartoons – anime things...

The earth shook once again as the two fighters started to clash punches and fists one by one, first slowly, then they started to go fast as the tension released became louder and stronger at the point the planet itself couldn't handle, this big crater that formed under the weight of their power was becoming deeper and deeper like trying to run away from all the power released from them, at that point the inventor became unable to move, completely lost looking towards the alien fighters. They started to go faster, so fast at the point he became unable to follow their movements, to then disappear from their spot...

Amazing...

He looked up trying to find them again, the sky was clear, the storm clouds were around the town but not above, for now it felt like the peace came back, as if they teleported away to somewhere else... before he could sigh in relief as he thought the battle was taken away, he heard explosion-like sounds in the air, but he couldn't see them. And he didn't hear it just once but many at the same time surfing the air: one moment it was behind, then above his head, left, right, everywhere... his head was taking a long while to understand what was going on, to then fall in the realization of two beings moving faster than he could see...

Everything was absolutely beyond his comprehension... or maybe it was still too crazy to process and understand propperly. But at that step they'd destroy the island...

Well on the bright side maybe, it wouldn't be his fault... right? Oh well that wasn't the point there.

At the same time the fight was going on somewhere else in the air, the people of the island were running to what uses to be the shelters in case of natural disasters – mostly the strong storms in some ocassions... or at least, kind of what it should be: the place was big enough for them, yet, it wasn't as safe as it should due some lack of mantainance. Unknowingly for them, the same person they despised the most (with the surname Lockwood) was the one who used to take care of the place annonimously by fixing some major issues (some things were easier for him than others in his defense) and making the place, ironically safe enough to handle something like earthquakes.

Tim Lockwood was already there, looking out for his son in the sea of faces to then realize he was still out there, he found pretty much everyone already, but he was the only one missing... another quake made them get down for a moment, being a very strong one this time, unknowingly to them that meant the two titans were fighting near, yet at least they went away for the moment. So many people inside yet where was his son?

And among the many people inside there, he spotted two unwanted faces: one from called Henry and the other called Alex, both of them showing some bandages in some parts; the first one had a neck-thing holding his jaw showing that he got it broken, his nose had a gauze as well as if something hard made its thing; his friend also had a broken nose and a bandage around his left arm, almost at the size of the wound of his son. If he didn't know that the one of Flint in the same place was made accidentally in his own lab he'd lost it against them after everything that's been happening during the first second quarter of the day. As much as he could tell they didn't realize his presence, and that was enough for him to get close and do his famous Lockwood stare.

It was kinda late when they realized, turning slowly towards him when they felt their lives being threatened – something like that... of course he was angry, when they finally repaired in his presence, the one who didn't had his head restrained yelped out loud and hugged his friend, both looking at him nervously, "M-mister Lockwood!" Alex exclamed close to wet his pants out of surprise, "H-how's your–" He didn't have the chance of ending the sentence as the adult snapped.

"Don't you even dare to ask what you know, Lancaster!" He exclaimed angrily calling out the attention of all the others around, "What in the entire Earth were you two thinking when you stalked my son like sharks?!" An awkward relationship didn't mean he didn't care about him, it was exactly the opposite: he cared deeply about him, he just didn't know how to approach, and this was a thing he wouldn't stand due the severity of the event, "You two hear me right now, I won't tolerate this any longer! If I hear one more time about you doing something to my son, I won't hesitate not just having a long talk to your parents but taking care of you two myself!" Both teenagers were shaking, they never saw him raging like that, and probably he was being soft now, "Tell me what were you even doing, because you were going to involve a 10-years-old girl!" That was the other thing he wouldn't tolerate: the fact they almost dragged Alice in made him steam more as he considered her like a daughter too. He didn't add anything else asides of his raised eyebrow stare, which was way terrifying than looking at his eyebrows.

It was easy to tell how nervous they actually were, even more because the entire town had their attention upon them, they knew the fisherman wanted and needed an actual explanation for their reckless acts towards the inventor, but none of them seemed to going to reply feeling either fear of his reaction if they gave an actual answer or complete shame for their behavior, actually, Alex couldn't stop looking down as his friend couldn't because of the neck holder, he was too ashamed to say something about it, "Shelbourne paid them to do it..." Tim turned around when he heard the voice of Brent coming, with hands in his pockets also looking down, "I'm not excusing their behavior, Mr. Lockwood, but as usual if there's anyone there to blame about it's the mayor..." He didn't know what he asked them to do, but of course it went too far this time, he looked at his friends for a moment, seeing them still looking down in utter shame.

"I'll give you one single chance to redeem yourselves about this," Tim said covering his face with a serious tone, "Please, find my son and bring him back here..." It felt very ironic to hear him asking to retrieve the inventor after they royally fucked it up, but at the same time it was the way they had to redeem themselves from their stupidity – for all of them. The three looked to each other unsure about and even more knowing that even after they heard how the girl and her friend had a strong argument, she still could beat the heck out of them for earlier; then Alex and Brent nodded as their last friend wasn't in conditions to actually help.

Even if the two friends weren't sure about it, it was the least they could do now to not get their asses kicked for any reason, and besides if she knew about it, maybe she would forget about the affair that happened before; they were aware of how reckless they were, and now they had a chance to redeem themselves at least for a few weeks before going back to the same old ways... or maybe they wouldn't with the little yet brutal rottweiler he had around him... anyways, the reason in the end of why he asked them to do it, it was because they were fast enough to find him.

Without hesitating any longer the two friends got out the shelter just to see how half of the city turned down to mere shambles, leaving them speechless... "Do you think Lockwood's even alive?" It was hard to not make that question honestly, the entire town was there hiding minus the inventor and now both of them, so if he was alive or not was actually a good incognito. Funny enough he got a glance from his fat friend with the question, only to receive a nervous smile in response, "Yeah, I got it..."

How long's been since the fight started? The colossal fight happening between the two strong energies lasted a good while already, for some reason he's been having the feeling of them holding brand more only as a consideration of the town or even the planet itself. It was hard to tell due the many thrills rushing over, but he could say... an hour already? He actually expected the fight to reach an end before sunset for some reason, it could be like the end and epilogue of their war or something like that – kind of; the duo was still out of view due their supersonic speed, on a side way his head was trying to make calculations about the amount of power released and the approximation of their speed in-battle.

Then again in another side, he wondered how'd been if he allowed her to explain her backstory and show how it worked, if he didn't just yell at her... he was making contact with intelligent life from the outer space, if he just gave her a chance to explain everything he would've probably even gotten access to higher knowledge about the universe itself, so many questions in his head formed when the panther man showed up and he needed and wanted the answers... he shook his head trying to forget the sadness of his stupidity and focus back in their fight, to then feel the earth shaking terribly as he realized one of them hit the ground furiously, sliding and breaking the pavement until it ended raising up some dust.

He covered behind debris and looked to see who fell, then the earth quaked again as a large wall of dust was lifted up again for a few seconds, to then see the girl leaning her hands against her knees and panting heavily, while a few meters at the front there was the panther man cleaning his arms and hands from the dust, both of them with considerable injuries, but maybe in the worse shape possible was her... the inventor gulped softly. "You've became considerably stronger than the last time I've seen you, princess," He heard Max saying, "But you're still behind me so, your improvement is... nothing," So, he wasn't doing an actual effort then? Did that mean she was reaching a limit too? Oh no... no it couldn't be...

Out if sudden Flint saw her giving a backflip as another wall of dust raised up, realizing how the panther hammered the hard pavement with both arms wanting to smash her, looking at her with a wide feline grin and his yellow eyes with a glint of madness flickering there, even if their movements were fast he managed to see their hands going to the handles of their sword, to then see how the panther man raised up his gigantic sword. His heart dropped to the ground when he saw him lifting up such a heavy weapon, becoming amazingly worried for her and how maybe she wouldn't even be able to hold it back, being the only option dodging, but would she be able to do it?

The earth quaked slightly when the sword of the panther man lowered with fierce and power against her in a vertical slice, even more because the girl landed heavily making the inventor wonder if she was dead or not, only to see how she was defending herself by placing her sword up in horizontal position with all her strenght; the soil under her feet was cracking and giving in due the pressure against, and at that point she wouldn't be able to handle it any longer either. Growling and struggling she tried to fight back and pull him away, the other and harder option was move away...

"Come on you can do it..." He mumbled looking at the scene worriedly, "Pull him away... please..." A few tears were rolling down his cheeks as he cleaned them up, his fears were coming back and he was hating it so much, "I know you can do it just... do it..."

He looked closely and saw her moving the fingers of her left hand in a series of patterns, repeating the process once as she took a deep breath, in just a little moment the man jumped away with his gigantic weapon at the same time a big fireball came out from her mouth as a way to make him take distance, succeeding on it. The man was meters away from her now giving her a short break, sheathing back her sword and doing some signs with both hands, charging air in her lungs and letting out a series of fireballs fly towards her opponent. Flint was amazed...

The fireballs seemed like quick lights surfing the air, exploding once they hit some surface while the alien panther defended himself behind his sword or dodged – even both of them, attempting to get back towards the girl somehow, one way or another; raising up his weapon he swung it with such kind of force at the point an energy wave traveled towards her, managing to cut the front part of her shirt at the height of the stomach and giving her a light cut as she managed to barely avoid the attack. Suddenly a sharp pain crossed her face as she got a powerful blow on her left cheek, not stopping there he started a chain of combos as much the young inventor saw it, to then see how he was now upon her with both hands around her neck...

"You are still worthless trash, little princess!" He growled, "I thought you'd be better now but I think I was wrong, you'll never be better than me and you'll be finding your death here!" His grip around her neck tightened as she started to choke for air, "Why are you still alive and fighting me?! Don't you still have the answer?! You are just a pathetic who deserves to die!"

The inventor was losing it, shaking his head as the tears started to fall down his cheeks and anxiety started to take over again, the grip around her neck was firm and tight, and it didn't matter she tried to make him let go by grabbing his wrist, her forces were fading away already... he was seeing it from his place, at the same time he tried to remain shut, he wanted to go and help her but... it wouldn't be enough, "No..." He mumbled softly, "No... please... don't leave..." Something was at the top of his throat needing to get out, something powerful – a loud scream he needed to let out that came out after seeing her hands releasing the wrists of the panther man, "Alice please don't die!"

His voice felt like echoing across the entire town, and it was even heard by the townsfolk who all went silent to hear that. The heart of Tim felt like sinking deep down as that girl he considered his own daughter was in great danger, he didn't want to lose somebody under his care again, and he knew neither he nor his son would be able to handle another loss, even less the inventor with everything he's been through...

Alice!

"Flint..." She silently mumbled, his screams were distant from her perspective, she could barely hear anything asides of him screaming her name, but another thing she heard...

"So he's your friend then... after you die then I'll kill him, because he's watching you dying now..."

Her conscience then started to come back as she then gave a fierce look to her enemy, to then decompose her face into pure anger... Amazingly enough she managed to push him away with a strong energy wave coming out from the palm of her hands making him slide backwards, once his hands were away from her neck she tried to recover her breath with big gulps, to then straighten up with utter pride as a golden aura surrounded her again, the only difference was that her hair spiked up a bit more, and some sky-blue electric sparks were detaching as well, "You ain't touching him bitch!" She roared out loud surprising the inventor, who started to tear up more in response...

Yes, he actually couldn't believe it. He just had in count her attitude at the beginning, the cold way she was behaving... but she actually considered him as a friend even if he was a dick to her earlier... he cleaned up his face as he tried to curve a smile. "Beat his arse Alice!" He shouted again, "I know you can do it!"

Separating her legs and with superhuman strenght she sprinted towards Maximus, even if Flint couldn't actually see what was going on due their speed, he knew she was actually beating mainly his face in response of his previous actions, the most he could see was a shiny golden light moving at full speed (still his calculations couldn't sort out how fast she was actually moving, but it was above the speed of sound).

The panther then found a way to cross his arms in front of his face to defend himself from a powerful blow that once it landed, whatever was behind became dust and made a large path of open earth, she launched another blow, harder than the last one that had the same result in a brand destructive way, the third one, finally was the one that broke his defense and sent him flying backwards straight towards the cannery, breaking down the outside wall and traveling all the way to the other side until there was an explosion from an unharmed yet old gas container.

It was the bell for a break...

"Alice!" She heard as her aura faded away and her hair remained the same, seeing how the inventor ran towards her worriedly, to then grab her face gently, "Oh my God..." She was so bruised: fractured nose, several bruises around her face, a swollen eye, cut lip and cheeks, an open wound on her forehead and a little trail down her nose, to not mention the marks of hands around her neck. "Alice I–"

"What are you doing here?!" She roared out loud, "You should be hiding somewhere safe now!" Her voice wasn't one of anger, actually it sounded distressed, like she was still worried or something.

"But why? You already won..." He said, she started to shake his head slowly.

The sound of a explosion was heard again as they looked towards the cannery again, seeing how the panther raised up to the sky with a wide as hell grin; Flint fell down on his butt as he couldn't look away from Maximus, thinking that he was already invencible even if he already show signs of tiredness... "I've been waiting so long to see you fighting like this!" He shouted, "Of course you are soft for a pity person like that boy, because both of you are pathetic as hell!" He raised up an arm at the height of his chest as a... well, humongous energy ball formed, and with big... around the size of a meteor, "Okay, now you're worthy to be killed!"

"Son of a bitch..." She mumbled, "Flint... leave... please make me a favor and leave this place right now..." One glance of her still blue eyes was enough to make him understand why even if he actually didn't want to. She was feeling him grabbing her arm tightly, using it to stand up but genuinly not wanting to let go, "It'll be okay..." He bit his lower lip unsure about believing her, frowning he just nodded.

"Al... please... be safe..." He sniffed a bit, "I'm begging it to you..."

She looked at him surprised, starting to tear up a bit, cleaning them with the other arm she nodded in response as released his grip and started to go away and she started to float up, but he stopped when he heard another explosion of energy; turning around he saw her trying to catch up more power, the earth started to shake and the sea started to go away from the shore in response, like trying to run away again from the big energy emanating from someone so small like her, then he saw her hair becoming longer at the size of her waist and more spiky, the electric sparks became more pronnunciated as well, revealing she was indeed releasing much more energy than before.

Quickly the girl went up extending her arms to the front at the same time Max launched his big energy ball with the intention of vanishing everything... then all just became white...

The inventor was unsure about what happened, if he lost his conscience for a brief moment or something else, when he opened up his eyes again he saw most part of the town down in shambles and he was covered with some debris, again unsure of what just happened... looking up he then searched up for Alice completely worried, of course starting to get rushed and anxious about the idea of losing her... he called out her name and coughed a bit, unable to find her around.

Then... the sound of something moving around, a few rocks or something, quickly he moved there and started to remove the debris, there he found her: back to normal with the dark brown hair and way more worn out than she already was, pretty much like the first time he found her back in the ocean, quickly he first removed her sword to wear it himself, then moved her trying to wake her up; she was motionless, apparently having wasted all her energy already... "Flint..." She mumbled almost silently.

"Alice...!" He hugged her and placed his chin upon her head, like trying to grip her soul from leaving her body, "What happened...?"

BOOM! The panther man landed a few metters away from them, the inventor hugged his friend more now feeling fear again, "How cute, she used all her might to save you all from my vanisher..."

"Flint..." She smiled at him even if he couldn't see it, a few tears started to fall down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry... I never meant to cause you trouble..." Again she closed her eyes with those words... she was defeated, tired, unable to keep going any longer and needing already a break...

"Alice..." He mumbled unable to look away from the man, "Please... don't die..."

(1): Actually this was hinted in the second movie, when Flint was renewing his Spray-on Shoes to get ready to go to his first day at Live Corp.

(2): This speech is the version of the series. I think it was both more sweet and heart-touching than the movie version.

(3): Kaleidoscope - Coldplay (I'm an effing fan it's already too obvious ayy)

(4) Zanbatō: An especially large, single-edged sword dating to the Heian period of historical Japan. The name zanbatō translates to "horse-slaying sword" or "horse-chopping saber".