Chronicles of the Elusive Angel:

Friendship (Volume 7)

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 1: Hypothesis

Morning trickled through the windows. The viscous light slowly crept into the room, seeping down the walls and oozing over a sleeping Stitch. Underneath their lids, his eyes twitched as they saw the bright blue gleam of his translucent skin, desperate to grasp his mind's attention, pleading for him to roll over.

But it was too late; the warm beam of sunlight was already working to wake him up, dissolving the murky fog of sleep. His eyes were right though—it was far too bright. He moved the covers that loosely lay upon his leg over his head, and opened his eyes to the softer, more tolerable lighting.

His jaw dropped into a yawn; strings of spit that reeked with morning breath escaped his mouth and fell onto the bed. He didn't bother to smear the thick puddles of drool to dry them; instead he sat upright on his knees and covered the area with the sheets, pretending the saliva wasn't there.

The light was much less bright, now that his eyes were used to it, but it made him yawn again, and then it tickled his nose, making him sneeze. He glanced around to make sure he didn't disturb the other two occupants of the room.

Lilo wasn't bothered; she remained sleeping, facing away from him with her hair racing across her pillow in a million different directions. Angel, however, he didn't find in her bed. He figured she had already woken up, and was probably making breakfast, but then he saw her on the floor, lying on her back. He remembered faintly about waking up for only a few seconds when his sleep was disturbed by an odd thump that he thought he heard. His proof of the noise lay before him, still sleeping, and occasionally twitching an ear.

He wasn't surprised she didn't wake up from her fall. They were all so tired, drained of energy. The excitement and enthusiasm they had put into the performance did a number on their endurance. It tired him enough to make him fall asleep without dreaming.

He could still hear the crowd cheering en masse and the blaring of the music; could feel the rumble of the stage as Richter beat the life out of his drums and as the performers pounded against the stage floor with their feet; could still remember how amazing it was to pull of a such performance with such quick practice. The pads of his fingers were still very coarse from cutting loose on the guitar—it was a lot more work when he couldn't use his other two arms to help.

He was tired, but he was far too awake now. Rolling out of his bed and slinking to the ground, he quietly stepped across the room to the elevator pad, and let it take him down. Lilo and Angel could have all the time they wanted to wake up; he wasn't in any hurry to do anything productive yet. A feint smell of cinnamon met him as the elevator came to a jerky stop. Chances were Nani went to work already, and he was catching the remnants of her morning activity.

Stitch wandered to the bathroom, a little more awake, and stepped up to the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. He inspected his tongue, his teeth, his eyes, then his ears, and finally flattened the ruffle on his head, which aggressively stood back up. After a couple more attempts, he gave up on the recalcitrant cowlick and went back out into the hall, where he leaned against the wall, thinking.

"I wonder what we're going to do today. Hopefully something that won't require much activity…maybe if Jumba fixed his computer we can go looking for 600 again." 600. Remembering the experiment triggered a recollection of images from days ago. By chance she and he were held in the transport chamber on Gantu's ship. But before that it was foggy—there was a black gap between then, and earlier on when she ran into Angel near the shack.

He tried to remember more, but that was all there was. The next thing he knew, he woke up to her relieved voice. His blurry vision, immobility, and that feeling of incredible fatigue, were still vivid in his mind. She said that he had gone into some kind of "shock", and was mumbling something over and over.

"Pasha…Lilo…" His own voice dully spoke in his mind. They sent shivers down his back, and made his hair stand on end a little bit. He remembered saying that, a long while ago, while he was being taken over by those robots that were injected into him. But why would he say those words if he was in shock? Why was he even saying them at all?

Maybe there was some kind of connection—a subconscious link between those words and that strange state he was in. 600 said that he must have been thrown into it because of the fall, but he'd taken falls before and they didn't affect him—one being the fall he took off the roof, so high that he made a crater in the ground. It definitely wasn't caused by a fall.

A loud slam made him jump up onto the ceiling with a startle. Jumba's voice grumbled loudly from behind the closed door to his room. Stitch let himself down to the floor, and scurried over, pausing as he knocked at the door.

"A subconscious connection. Maybe a complete scan will find any anomalies in me. There might not be any robots, but I have a feeling they've got something to do with me being in 'shock'."

"Pleakley?" Jumba asked sharply at the knock. "That had better be you!"

"Uh…naga. Miga Stitch." He said through the door. "Can Stitch come in?"

"Well, yes, but must be moving some things out of way of door." Stitch heard him say back. There was a moment of clutter, fumbling of objects, and thumping of heavy weight being set onto the ground. Stitch tapped his foot as he waited, until finally the door abruptly swung open. "Aheh, am sorry, but am making big messes by looking for something."

"Egdaba." Stitch told him, stepping in. "Gaba ju scavoo-ga?" He asked curiously.

"Am trying to find genius invention for tonight's Science Academy meeting. Unfortunately, Pleakley decided to do some 'cleaning up' and now am stuck looking for it." Jumba said with a growl as he threw down an object he picked up off the counter into a pile of junk that looked oddly familiar to Stitch. "And what brings you here, my friend?" He asked, changing his mood.

"Um…kagaba chi-jooma ja?"

"Why? Robots no longer in system, of this Jumba is certain."

"Not for robots…something else." Stitch said, not sure how to explain.

"By all means you can have another scan, but," Jumba leaned over and put a hand under Stitch's chin, inspecting him, "are looking fine to me."

"Not body, shooka-shooka." He said, pointing at his forehead.

"A cerebral examination?" Jumba said raising an eyebrow. "You think you're getting funny in the brains or what?" He questioned, rotating a finger in a circle by his head.

"Nagga-nagga." Stitch said, throwing his arms into the air with frustration. "Stitch wants scan because Stitch had strange shock." He explained.

"A strange…shock?" Jumba repeated slowly, rubbing his chin.

"Eh." Stitch confirmed. Jumba's mind began recalling every detail about a certain incident when Lilo brought Stitch into his room.

"When did this happen?"

"When Stitch captured by Gantu." He replied. There was a click of logic in Jumba's thoughts.

"Strange…" He said aloud. "Tell me, would this 'shock' include such symptoms as…quick breathing? Increased pulse? Rapid temperature spike perhaps?" He inquired. Stitch gazed up at him, a little awestruck.

"Baga-ju?" He asked with a bit of an attitude, like Jumba had kept a secret from him.

"Well, it's just that," Jumba began, walking to the window and scratching his chin, "little girl brought 626 in here not long ago—just before your little switch, in fact—saying that you two were going to beach, and that Gantu showed up. A moment later, she explained, you began to act very peculiarly. She described those symptoms to me, and I have actually been wondering," He turned to face Stitch again, "what caused you to go into such a state." Stitch pursed his lips as if trying to think of an answer for him.

"Naga nota." He said, to interrupt the moment's silence.

"I think I might have an idea—there is a consistency with both your incidences…but let us save that for later; do not want to be jumping to conclusion. We will do scan as requested, be following me outside." He beckoned, walking out the door.

Stitch did as he was told, and followed the scientist out of his room, down the hall and the stairs, around the kitchen, and out the back door where the path to his ship could be found. All the while, until they arrived at the large, red vessel, Stitch pondered over what the "consistency" was that Jumba spoke of. Jumba paused at the ship, took out a remote control from his back pocket, and pushed a button. Two high-pitched beeps sounded, and the door to the ship opened with a whoosh.

"After you." Jumba said. Stitch climbed up the ramp into the body of the whale and stopped to hear further instructions. Jumba slowly strode in, much too slow for Stitch's patience, and closed the hatch behind him. He then proceeded to the rear section of the ship, past the passenger seats. Stitch followed eagerly, jumping atop the seats behind the scientist's pace.

There was a small door to the right behind all of the seats, which Jumba opened and proceeded through. Inside, Stitch observed that it was somewhat of an on-board medical station; a small bed was bolted into the floor; beside it, a wall full of instruments and gadgets, and on the other side, tucked neatly against the wall and out-of-place with the other surroundings, was a bedside table with a lamp and a small stack of books on top of it.

"Be getting comfortable, scan could take while." Jumba warned casually, retrieving a few suction-receptors. Stitch climbed onto the bed, which was barely big enough for him, and closed his eyes as Jumba attached the receptors to his scalp, neck, and chest. "Normally would be letting you read text, but in this scanning case…must run a few tests." Jumba said, holding a pair of what looked like virtual-reality goggles that Stitch saw at an arcade once.

Stitch allowed Jumba to fit them on without any fuss at all—he was a little excited and curious as to what they were for in this scan. His eyes were blinded by the darkness; there wasn't even a tiny seam of light where the goggles rested on his cheek. He heard Jumba's voice again.

"Try not to be falling asleep. Will be back in forty-five minutes to an hour. Goggles are also built-in satellite-enhanced television, if you'd like to occupy your time. The switch is on the right side." Jumba turned on a few of the machines, and quietly stepped out of the door. He scratched his chin, leaning against it after he closed it noiselessly, and whispered to himself. "Am sorry, but am needing to be doing this. Are hoping you understand—it may help you." He walked to the back of the ship, where another door was located, and opened it.

In the room were two rows of filing cabinets against the far wall. He proceeded to the nearest one and pulled it open, sifting through the folders that were inside until he found one that would be adequate. He lifted it out, and pulled from inside a small CD. He then turned to the opposite wall, which contained the rears of some of the machines that were connected to Stitch in the adjacent room implanted in it. He went to the machine that was connected with the goggles, and put the disk in the tray.

"Now we will see if my hypothesis is being correct." He said, as he slowly pushed the button that activated the visual on the CD.