Chronicles of the Elusive Angel (Vol. 4):

Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 1: Trauma

Lilo slowly stirred; suddenly alert that she had fallen asleep. She also noticed that Stitch was absent in her arm; where she had been scratching his head and hearing his purr earlier. She glanced at the clock, she had only dozed off for ten minutes or so, though it felt like it was a whole night's sleep to her. An uneasy feeling of false jetlag overcame her, but she ignored it.

As she did every day, she hopped out of bed and walked into the closet, picking out what she wanted to wear; all of her dresses were gone, those were the first things to be depleted, and often the fastest. She opened the right closet door and found a full set of dayclouths-shorts and T-shirts-which may as well have collected dust. Moo-moo's were more her taste, she didn't know why, but she scarcely wore her 'emergency' clothes, unless she knew she would be going somewhere rough and dangerous, like Mt. Wialeale.

In moments she walked out of the closet in green shorts and purple shirt, running a hand through her hair to get it out of the back of her shirt. She slipped on her sandals that were on the floor near the elevator. There were a few pairs, all of the same style, some of different colors, but mostly ranging from blue to blank, a pair or two were pink. Again she avoided the thing she didn't like; the infected pink sandals that she somehow seemed to despise, and fumbled to find a matching pair of right and left foot.

With a sigh she pressed the button, she was purposely taking her time. Though it was dull and boring; things were too quiet. Though she knew it was good to have a time of silence every now and then, to her now was not the time. She suddenly just wanted to scream erratically and break something, or just run around and be less destructive. But the elevator seemed to be too quiet too, and the mass of the silence was like an epidemic; making all within its muteness-and even an extended three-mile radius-as quiet as and as tranquil as a mime-house.

The hum that Lilo felt surrounding her from all sides finally stopped as the elevator jolted to a halt and opened the doors on the opposite side behind her. Lazily, she turned around and walked through, though it took a few seconds for her to take the first step. She strode slowly, but consistently down the hallway, listening to the creaking below her feet on the soft wood floor; the scuffle of her sandals as her feet shuffled below her; the sun even seemed to have a noise as it shined through the window of her bedroon, giving the hall a sort of calm and tranquil ambiance.

The heat of the sun tingled her face as she passed the ray of light. She paused and faced the source of it, closing her eyes and taking a calm breath in. Her back thumped against the wall as her body felt the need to bask for a few seconds; the light felt rejuvenating. She hadn't actually seen her own sun since she got back sometime last night, she remembered falling asleep while flying, and that was it. Perhaps that's why she halted here, she missed the feeling of the sun's warmth loosening the pressure of her skin, and relaxing her muscles as it seemed to relaxingly massage her.

She opened her eyes, almost falling asleep again, and stood up straight, and made her way again at a faster pace then before. The house seemed abandoned; no one was visible in the living room as she walked down the stairs. But, to her relief, as she came level with the kitchen she saw Stitch sitting down at the table. His head was bent over his arms, his palms pressed against his cheeks as he seemed to stare at something with great yet dull interest.

"Is anyone else up?" Lilo spoke, after waiting at the entrance for a few moments. Stitch hadn't even noticed her until she broke the silence. His faced turned to her.

"Naga nota." He said quietly. The sun casting through the window curtains passed his face, glimmering his eyes in Lilo's sight. She smiled.

"Want breakfast?"

"Mm...ok." He said, scooting the chair out. Even the wooden screech of the chair seemed quiet to Lilo in this dome of silent ambiance. Stitch hopped out of the chair and grabbed two bowls, while Lilo made her way to the cereal. He placed the bowls for her to pour as he got the sugar and the milk. Lilo carried the bowls to the table and went to the drawer to get spoons as Stitch poured the milk. She then placed a bit of sugar on each of their servings as Stitch put the milk into the fridge, and waited as he took his seat.

"What were you thinking about?" Lilo asked, after chewing a spoonful. "It seemed very important for you to not even hear me come down the stairs."

"Stitch thinking..." He began, swallowing his spoonful; a smile crossed his face. "About yesterday."

"What about it?" She munched.

"Lot's...Angel, Lilo saving Stitch...and Stitch's anger..." He lowered his voice on the last mentioned, as if he was ashamed for some reason. "Stitch doesn't understand though..."

"Understand?" Lilo asked rhetorically. He seemed to be slipping back in to a pondering state again.

"Naga understand anger." He said, thumping his head. "Naga remember." Lilo reached over and patted him.

"Maybe I can help." She said optimistically. Stitch took in a sigh. "Needs an explanation?" Lilo asked, translating what his sigh was saying.

"Eh." He responded.

"All ears." She smiled, putting her spoon down and laying her hands on the table. She almost wanted to play 'psychologist' and have Stitch lay down on the sofa, but she figured that would be too extreme.

"Stitch thinking back to Achie-baba Kino. Remembers everything, but remembers being angry vividly. Everything else is...blurry, with exception of anger." He paused. "Remembers how anger felt...Stitch didn't like, but had to use in order to get strong. Otherwise, not beat Achie-baba Kino." He turned in his chair and faced her, thinking of what else to say, he was half-thinking as he spoke. "Since Lilo made Stitch promise not to be angry, Stitch tries hard. Knows anger scares Lilo, but somehow always seems to happen...wasn't brought to Stitch's attention until Lilo saved him from robots yesterday."

"Everyone gets a little angry now and then...and plus yesterday wasn't really anger, you were under hamsterveil's control. But...even though I was scared because you were freighting, I was more scared that I would lose you. That's what happens every time you get angry; you change and become viscous, like you're a different person. Whenever that happens, I just feel like I'm alone."

"Eh...that's why Stitch wants to stop anger...but doesn't know how." He sulked, slumping his shoulders. "Stitch doesn't want to scare Lilo anymore...wants to do things without anger. But Stitch already tried, when fighting 625...and it didn't work." Lilo looked empathetically at him.

"Let's go the beach." She said suddenly, hopping out of the chair.

"Huh?" Stitch looked at her curiously.

"I'm going to try and help you, but to do that, I need you to be cheerful. If you're not cheerful and yourself, I can't do anything." Stitch smiled. She was really intent on helping him, something in the tone of her voice said that she was, despite the attitude she said it with, being serious about the matter.

"Ok...kowa bunga!" He exclaimed, running to the door.

"Hey hold up! I got to get my swimsuit on first!" She shouted running up to the elevator. Stitch waited patiently, tapping his foot on the ground. A minute passed by...nothing. He check his wrist and pretended to look at the time. Another few moments passed. He began to smirk, amusing himself by pretending to be impatient, but soon it seemed like she had been gone for an eternity.

"Lilo!" He hollered.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" She panted down the stairs, carrying a pail with shovels and two towels. He opened the door and bowed as she bolted out. "Thankyouverymuch." She said as one word, as he paused for a moment and then followed her out the door.

"And there you have it." Said Gantu, tossing the white ball with gray numbers on it. "Gantu-1, Little girl and the trog-0."

"I'm actually surprised." 625 said with convincing sarcasm. "You managed to catch a stationary ball that was completely harmless...and even though you still had a hard time getting it, it's a very commendable feat." Gantu smiled, not understanding he was being insulted. "I'd give you a merit but..."

"C'mon Stitch only a little farther!" Gantu heard Lilo's voice over the hill, and immediately froze.

"No...it can't be..." He gawked skeptically.

"Iga chookaba!" He heard the experiments voice reply.

"625, hide, we'll ambush them!" Gantu ordered, and he shoved his companion into the bushes as Lilo and Stitch came into site.

"Beating me in a race will be an essential part in my plan to cheer you up, but I'm not going to make it easy on you-"

"Freeze!" Gantu ordered, jumping from behind the bush.

"Big dummy!" Lilo screamed, as she tried to turn around, skidding on the floor. Stitch tumbled over her and turned around, skidding on the floor. Quickly he sprang up, and helped his friend to her feet. "Stitch, Gantu's here, we have to do something."

"Eh!" Stitch said turning around; the barrel of Gantu's blaster was aimed right at Stitch's eyes, blocking the whales face from his view. Stitch moved more in front of Lilo and extended his other two arms to help buffer her a bit more effectively should Gantu fire.

"You're always getting in my way." Gantu sneered, lowering the gun to gaze upon his quarry.

"Ju kaba choobita soupa!" Stitch retorted, as he gazed into Gantu's eyes. "Miga arootaba...soku...chisi..." Stitch heard a high-pitched ringing in his ears. His body suddenly turned to mush as he felt his heart pounding in his chest. The memory of being inside the holding cell while Gantu loomed over him flickered back vividly into his mind. A sharp and continuous throbbing pain started to boil on the right of Stitch's neck. He clasped the spot bare of fur and tumbled to the floor.

"Stitch?" Lilo cried with sudden alarm. He curled up into a ball, breathing and crying with what seemed like utter suffering pain. A swell of panic came over her; she recalled when she had thought she heard Stitch just a few days ago. "Pasha...Lilo..." Echoed through her mind again as she saw Stitch writhe with horror on the ground. She lightly put a hand on him, he was burning to the touch, she could feel the blood rushing through his arteries, his body had snapped into some kind of overdrive-shock.

As if Gantu no longer existed to her, she picked Stitch up and hoisted him over her shoulder. A thing she was used to, and found she was doing it often. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew someone who would be able to figure out. She darted home as quickly as possible. Her destination: Jumba's room.