Disclaimer: The characters of Lilo & Stitch are copyright Disney and used without permission.
A little Polynesian girl made a face. "I can't wear that! It makes me look like a pink frosted cupcake!"
Her older sister sighed and tossed the pink dress onto her bed and picked up another one. A navy blue and white sailor dress. "Then wear this. I'll iron it for you while you give Stitch his..." Her voice raised. "Bath!"
Lilo groaned but resigned. "Fair enough."
Upstairs, Stitch bolted upright in his bed, tossed the covers aside, and dove into Lilo's toybox.
"Stitch!" called Lilo. "Come on. This is a special occasion." She glanced around their room looking for the fluffy blue alien. "I'll let you have coconut cake."
"With coffee?" Experiment 626 piped up.
"OK, with coffee." Lilo secretly hoped she wouldn't regret it. "We're meeting my cousins today."
"Cousins?"
"My real cousins. Villefort and Maharene. They live in New York." The girl knew basic geography. She knew that her home island of Kauai was part of a state called Hawaii, and Hawaii was part of a bigger country. But the other states, especially New York, seemed so far away. Far from the shelter of O'hana. She hadn't seen her cousins in a long time.
In the other bedroom, a skinny alien in an orange muumuu was holding up two dresses. "Which one should I wear to the airport?" In one hand was a blue and white gingham. The other was red and white striped.
Jumba Jookiba, in usual shorts and Hawaiian shirt, looked pointedly at Pleakley. "One is making you look like Dorothy of Oz and other is making you look like candy cane. Though you should never wear horizontal stripes."
"What, they make me look fat?"
"No, shorter."
Pleakley stuck out his two tongues. "You're just jealous of my fashion sense!"
"I am not seeing what big fuss is about."
"On Earth, having relatives over is cause for celebration. They pull out of the really breakable dishes, clean the house, and act totally fake. It's fascinating!"
"Whatever."
At the same time, workers in the local pineapple cannery were processing the crop.
Nobody noticed a small yellow sphere with the number 451 on the conveyer belt. The experiment pod fell off the belt and landed in a can, which was filled partway with syrup. There was a golden glow...
"Gantu!" Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel's face appeared on the videophone. "What reports of failure have you brought me this morning?"
"Uh...none," replied the former captain.
"What, you finally caught an experiment?"
"None have been activated--"
He was interrupted by the container computer beeping. "Warning. Experiment 451 activated. Primary function: Printed alteration."
The hamster-like alien smirked. "Normally I'd tell you to get going, but I won't get my hopes up."
"Yeah, your chances of actually getting it are one in a googol," piped up Experiment 625.
"Nobody asked you," growled Gantu.
"Stop with all the not paying attention to me!" cried Hamsterviel. "Don't make me come over there and bite your kneecaps, you idiotic belugan biped!"
"You heard Hamster-wheel," snickered 625.
Gantu groaned and snatched 625's sandwich. He popped it in his mouth. The yellow experiment glared.
"HAMSTERVIEL! HAMSTERVIEL! VIEL, NOT WHEEL!" shouted the little white alien in a voice that could shatter glass.
At the airport, Nani pointed two figures exiting the terminal. "There they are!"
Villefort and Maharene Pelekai had noticed Nani as well, and were walking toward them. They were fraternal twins who had recently celebrated their twenty-first birthday.
Villefort, the older, was a tall, medium weight man dressed in gray slacks and jacket. A blue ascot and black Italian leather loafers completed his ensemble. Gleaming from his wrist was a gold Rolex watch. A glass monocle was in his left eye. He didn't need the eyewear, but wore it because he thought it made him look distinguished.
His sister was slightly shorter. She wore a simple black dress with platinum necklace and bracelet. Expensive-looking platinum and ruby earrings dangled from her ears. Thin and willowy, she looked like a slight breeze would knock her over. "Nani!" She threw her arms around her cousin, nearly suffocating Nani in her expensive perfume.
Villefort was silent, calculating. His gaze fell on Jumba and Pleakley. "And who are these companions of yours?"
Nani laughed nervously. "Uh, this is my Uncle Jumba and Aunt Pleakley."
Villefort was not convinced, but decided to keep his mouth shut. His cell phone rang. "Excuse me."
"So, where are you from?" Maharene asked, more out of politeness than curiosity.
"We're from Swizzleland," Jumba said quickly. "It is a little country with hills. Europe, I am believing."
Villefort held his phone away from his ear. "I can't understand a word this guy is saying. Do any of you speak French?"
"No," Pleakley quickly interjected. "We speak Swiss."
Maharene grabbed her brother's arm. "Come on, Vill. We'll pick up our luggage and meet you back at the front lobby." The twins walked toward the baggage claim, but ducked behind a potted palm.
"Do not be trusting them," they overheard Jumba say. "They seem too geek-bearing-giftish."
"Be nice," scolded Nani. "They were my friends growing up."
"They are part of our o'hana," Lilo added.
"Ih," agreed Stitch.
The ground began to shake. Part of a wall collapsed, revealing Gantu. "Come back here, you abomination!"
The prey, Experiment 451, giggled. He was an octopus-like creature, only with twelve tentacles instead of eight. He stood on four tentacles. Each one was black tipped and ended in a sharp point. The rest of his body was a soft ivory. His big black eyes gleamed.
Jumba laughed. "Oh, Experiment 451. Produces ink and squirts it. Can also erase ink and rewrite. I had him change amounts on checks, fudge blueprints, and oh yeah. Alter my mother's will to make me sole benefactor."
Stitch, extra pair of arms, spikes, and antennae emerging, ran to the experiment and clutched the tentacles. He squeezed. Thick, black ink sprayed, splattering in Gantu's face. Some of it got into the shark-like alien's blue eyes. Gantu slunk away in search of water.
Lilo looked at the creature. "I think I'll call you Inky. Now, to find the one place you belong. Hmm...the newspaper office had a 'help wanted' sign in the window. He'd be perfect."
Behind the plant, the twins looked at each other.
"That so-called dog is an alien," hissed Villefort quietly. "And I bet those two are too. We can blackmail them."
"You are so uncreative," snapped Maharene. She glanced down at the pot. Two small balls, one green and the other blue, were nestled in the dirt. One read '611', and the other read '079'. She picked the pods up and tucked them in her purse. "We're waiting for something better to come up."
Ten minutes later, Stitch was carrying all the luggage to the green jeep. He tossed them all in the backseat.
"My, what a well-trained dog you have, Lilo," Maharene commented.
Villefort rolled his eyes so hard, his monocle fell off.
Everyone haphazardly piled into the vehicle, and Nani drove off.
The jeep bounced when it hit a speedbump. Stitch was jostled into Villefort's lap.
"Get him off me!" The man squeaked. "What if he has fleas?"
"Stitch does not have fleas," Lilo said defensively, taking the dog-like creature back into her lap.
The blue alien extended his claws and prepared to attack Villefort, but thought better of it. Instinctively, he didn't like the twins. There was something about them. Something sinister. But like them or not, they were still part of Lilo's family. He retracted his claws and sighed.
"Nani," Maharene began. "My brother and I would like to take a walk by ourselves. Reacquaint ourselves with the island, see how it's changed. And I'm sure you have to go to work."
"Well, Mr. Jameson did say I could take the day off but it's tourist season--"
"Wonderful!" Villefort supplied. "We'll just get off here."
"Okay," Nani agreed. "You do remember where our house is?"
"As if it were yesterday," replied Maharene.
The older sister pulled over, and let her guests get off.
Once the jeep was gone, Villefort turned his sister. "What exactly did you want to wait for?"
Maharene pointed towards the airport. "The big guy."
"He definitely wanted that octopus. And Lilo's 'dog' seemed to know him. And the others didn't seem all that surprised to see him."
"Right. So we find him, we find answers."
"But, Renie, where are we going to find him?"
"Where can an eight-foot shark-headed monster hide?" Maharene retorted as they headed through the woods.
An hour passed by as the twins wandered through the woods. Finally they came to a waterfall. A black spaceship had crashed next to it.
Villefort shrugged. "I guess there."
TBC