A/N: Thanks for reviewing. Have a Happy Holiday, everyone!


Chapter 3

"We Meet Again"

After Jack Landors finished giving the last bits of food and clothes stored in the white van to the poor, he begins calling it a day and cleaning up boxes and wrappers from off the ground. Moments later, an unattractive-looking alien creature by the name of Piggy appeared from behind the van as he makes his way over to Jack, hoping he has something left for him. "Hey, Jack. You got anything for me?" He asks eagerly, sniffing around and using his senses.

Jack turns to him with a rather guilty expression on his face. "Oh no, Piggy. I'm sorry. I gave everything out." He looks around and spotted a trash can nearby. "Wait, maybe you'll find something in there." Jack points out as Piggy went ahead and begins digging out the trash.

"Oh yes." Piggy takes out a rotten apple, almost completely black from the trash can and held it up to his nose in satisfaction. Then grabbed a handful of banana peelings and soda cans with his other hand, enjoying the appalling smell in which Jack is trying so hard to avoid. "This is heaven." Piggy muttered quite enjoyably as he stuffed whatever is in the trash can into his mouth. Jack looks on in disgust holding back the taste of vomit in his mouth. "Say, Jack…" Piggy trails off while putting more food into his mouth, "where is your partner in crime?" He asks curiously while enjoying his meal from out of the trash.

Jack pathetically shrugged his shoulders in response. "Who knows? She's probably searching for something bigger," he stated in a mocking tone as he looks away from his gaze and sighs.


Meanwhile, Sky Tate wandered back in the busy streets of New Tech City. As soon as he reached the area where he was the previous day, Sky immediately spotted who he believes was the same woman he saved from the Krybots as he squint his eyes to look carefully. Once he convinced himself that it was her, he watches on as she exits the store cautiously hiding something under her black leather jacket. Sky's blue eyes widens as he began running towards her direction. "Hey!" He yells out, struggling to get pass through a crowd of people walking in different directions and jumping over small bushes and benches. "Stop!"

There was a huge distance gaping between them as the female grew smaller and smaller each step he takes. Sky finally reached the front door of the store she ran off from as he stops and watch her disappear at the corner. He bends over to catch his breath and decides to go to the opposite direction, hoping he'd catch her from the back. Without wasting any more time Sky turns around, and to his surprise, finds her standing before him. "Z?"

She stood back, furrowing her eyebrows. "Sky?"

Bewildered, Sky shifts his gaze over to the opposite direction where he assumed she headed off to. He looks back at Z and finds that nothing was on her; no stolen goods or anything. "I swear I thought I saw you run off." Sky breathes heavily.

There was no response as silence filled the air. "Well I'm right here." Z replies awkwardly as he continues to stare at her in disbelief. The look was starting to annoy her after awhile. "You can stop staring at me like that." She retorts irritably. Sky lowers his eyes down thinking he was beginning to lose it while shaking his head. He looks back up and sees that Z is no longer standing in front of him as she started walking off to the opposite direction. Groaning, Sky makes a move and follows her.

"Wait up."

Z grunted as he walks along with her down the sidewalk. "What are you stalking me?" She retorts coldly.

"No, I wanted to make sure you're alright."

"Well I'm perfectly fine."

"But I swore I thought I saw you run off."

She stops and glares at him. "Well you thought wrong because I'm here." She says with her arms crossed, Sky not responding. "You must be really losing it." Z remarks as she turns around and keeps walking.

Sky groans and follows her. "Something is bothering you."

"What makes you think that?" They stopped at an intersection and waited for the signal to light up before they could cross the street. Sky kneels against the post and looks at her.

"Yesterday you were fine."

She follows his glance with irritation plastered all over her face. "What do you want from me, Sky?" Z questions in a rather abrupt tone. "I already repaid you for helping me. Thank you very much."

"Wait," he took her by the shoulder as other people begin walking across the street at the sight of the signal. Z brushes his hand off and groans.

"What!"

Sky stood back defensively due to her odd, moody behavior. "I just want to talk."

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" She snaps. There was a moment of silence. Z's eyes revealed resentment as Sky's expressed a longing for answers. She remains a mystery to him and he yearns to know more about her. Z broke from his gaze and sighs. Without paying attention to the signs, the light turned red as she begins walking stubbornly across the intersection. Sky's eyes widens when suddenly a vehicle, driving about 40 miles per hour, speeds up towards her direction. Z just kept walking with her eyes fixed on the ground with no knowledge of the horn honking towards her. Sky gasps and before the vehicle could reach her, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled Z towards him as they fell back on the ground.

Horrified at the thought of almost getting run over by a huge van, Z shuffles to her feet and surprisingly, helps Sky up. He brushes himself off and looks at her with mere concern. "You alright?" He breathed heavily. "You okay?" He asks again to make sure.

Z nods her head, still in shock by what just happened. "Yeah…" She whispers breathlessly with her eyes fixed on the spot where she nearly got killed. Z then shook her head and looks up at him. "You saved me again." A weak smile crept over her face. "Thank you."

Sky smiles back in return. "You're welcome."

There was a moment of silence. Z suddenly felt guilty for the way she behaved around him. It's not that she didn't like him because she's grateful that he is always there willing to help and save her. But because he was a complete stranger to her it was difficult for Z to even trust him. And then a thought came across her as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Strange how that every time I'm around you I always find myself in trouble." She stares at him suspiciously. "Next time stay away for good." Z tells her male companion seriously. "And I mean it."

"Oh so it's my fault?" He scoffs, followed by a chuckle. "Ever stop to think that maybe it's you with bad luck? I'm the one saving you all the time and you're never grateful for it."

She glares at him, feeling rather offensive by his comment because it happens to be the truth in which Z could no longer avoid. "You're right." She shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "It's me. That explains why my life is so crappy then huh?" Her voiced cracked as tears came streaming down her cheeks. "I'm just bad luck."

Sky stares at her carefully with genuine concern. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Well it's the sorry truth. I don't have a family, I don't have any friends! I hate this city, I hate my life!" She screamed furiously. "You know, Sky…" she broke off and says, "next time when a car is about to run over me, don't even think about stopping it."

"Z, you don't mean that." He gently wipes her tears away with a brush of his thumb. There was a small pause as their eyes met. "Besides, if that's the case, I'll be sticking around more often saving your life then eh?"

Z looks away and chuckles at the thought. He too chuckled. "You're definitely something, Sky." Her gaze remains fixated on him in amazement. "You know, I never met anyone like you before."

He smirks. "Well that's because you lock yourself up from the city world and never give it much of a chance." She looks at him and could see the innocence and goodness deep within his eyes. And it was true. Z always isolated herself from the city life and didn't want anything to do with it. Part of it had to do with how she was brought up as a child. Z never had the riches and because she lived on necessities and what is enough, she resented the city dwellers that just throw away money and never thought about how grateful it is to be well off in life and always having extras when needed. It also had to do with her friend Jack. They've found each other and made a pact that they would only trust each other and only each other. They both share a lot of similarities coming from unfortunate families and no friends at all growing up. However she begins to see differently with Sky, allowing her to have a change of heart and finally open up.

"Maybe I should give it a chance." Z says after thinking about it thoroughly as she looks at him with a smile. "Besides, you're alright so far."


A/N: Review please. I like to know what you guys think.