Our Own O'hana-Set from chapter fourteen of What Could Have Been. An alternate choice of 626's leads him and his crew off Earth, with Lilo left to defend herself from the robot invasion. Now a year has past and 626 calls Lilo into space, making her question what she has in store for her.
Highlights Include: All of Jumba's experiments, a whole new group of experiment hunters and Cyber.
A/N: I'm sure you're all wondering what this is. Well when I was writing What Could Have Been, I put two points that I wanted to branch off of. This one is the first, an idea that I had for a while but didn't exactly know what I wanted for it. Now I finally figured that out, and you're gonna see a few changes in character because of this split. It'll mostly be involving Lilo, since -as you read from the description- Stitch abandons. So let's see how this plays out. I present, Our Own O'hana.
Chapter 1: What Has Happened -or- What Worse Will Be
KAUAI, HAWAII
Up the volcano, 626 and his crew -minus Angel- were preparing to leave Earth. While his crew was busy, 626 looked at the collar he kept in hand. Since the book was somewhere in the forest near Lilo's demolished house, this would serve as his last memento of Earth. He questioned his choice a last time, continuing his vicious cycle of doubt. 626 wished there was some way to have both, choosing was just too much to think about. It hurt too much no matter the choice, it hurt his supercomputer brain as well his now fragile heart.
It was funny, when given enough time to think about it. There were many things about 626 that made him amazing. He was indestructible, super strong, fast, incredibly smart. The things he's done in his short life already had outweighed what many people could accomplish in their life time. He conquered planets, been chased from those planets, ordered a much smaller fleet than the Galactic Armada with better tactics than the actual officers. He was 626, the most dangerous creature in the entire galaxy, for Pete's sake!
Through all his power, he still couldn't get what he wanted.
Did he know what he wanted? No. His mind was at a constant war with itself, starting when his crew arrived on the island. He was an uncontrollable one, his mind never stopped reminding him of that fact. Since Lilo came into the picture, he hadn't caused much damage. That could be due to having nothing of real value to destroy -other than sentimentalities-, though it could also be because of the little girl who took him into her O'hana.
That word, that blasted "O'hana" term! That made the pain even worse! Why did she have to be so caring to him? No one had ever been that caring to him, that was easy to see why. He hit her with pillows, barfed back her food that he took from her, sat back to watch her handle her own problems. She still never gave up on him, it used to irk him. Used to. Looking back on it, 626 was going to miss that feeling. The feeling of belonging, of being cared for and wanted.
The feeling that maybe somewhere deep down, he was good.
"We're ready to leave Captain," Ramthar informed the blue experiment.
"Oketaka," 626 sighed.
He'd never tell his thoughts to his crew, they'd find some way to take advantage of it. 627 could see that he was distressed, which made even him go quiet. 627, the one that would laugh at others' misfortunes. Things weren't going to be the same now, not with 626 hating himself and Angel set on living on Earth. 626 wished once more to know what he really wanted, not expecting his answer to come calling for him from behind. The answer sounded strangely like Lani.
"626!" Lani called out to him.
"Naga," 626 doubted she was actually there.
"626, I know you're around here somewhere!" Lani really was in the area.
626 was surprised at her arrival, not only was she here but she was wearing a suit with white lights one it. Ramthar and 621 greeted her in their own way, Ramthar holding her in the air by her back while 621 pointed his blaster.
"Naga!" 626 stopped them from hurting her. "Put saari japdelup."
Ramthar and 621 didn't want to, they only did because 626 glared at them. They were criminals, though they had enough respect and fear for their small leader to obey him. Sometimes one more than the other, the ladder being fear at most.
"We have a problem," Lani spoke to 626. "Those robots you made, they work. And they're surrounding the town."
"Don't attack, huh?" Ramthar smiled to 626.
"Meega naga..."
The robots lumbering out of the forest stopped 626 from continuing, the others even stood for another fight -if need be. These robots had different parts from his original which lead them, even size was varied amongst the small gathering of them. Ramthar and 621 were impressed, happier still now that they had a new army of robots to aid them. Lani, 626 and 627 seemed to be the only ones who saw the worse outcome of this situation. The robots were ready to receive orders, only from 626. So that left him with the control, which was swayed to stop them.
"Zaghdad Hakkiah, naga baaheth jihadi," 626 ordered. "Shut japdelup."
"ERROR," the lead robot replied. "COMMAND NOT RECOGNIZED. RESTATE ORDER."
"Gaba," 626 got confused for a second. "Meega said shut japdelup."
"ERROR," the leader foced a sigh from 626. "VIOLATION OF CONQUEST DIRECTIVE."
"Conquest directive?" Lani turned to 626. "You were busy. Ever think this would happen?"
"Naga," 626 shook his head. "Why isa it naga working?"
"CONQUEST SEQUENCE INITIATING," the head robot informed.
Lani and the two experiments who cared backed away from the robots, Ramthar and 621 joining. In the town, the robots straightened even more than they had. They walked towards the people, forcing Mr. Bubbles and Angel to make everyone back away. A countdown from five started, signalling a danger no one was prepared for. Hearts beat fast, hands twitch, breathes heavy. Everyone waited anxiously for the robots to finish counting, the roar from a Tyranasaurus-looking robot was the que of the attack.
Everyone in the town ran away, which was about the safest thing they could do. Robots filled the streets with chaos, so Angel and Mr. Bubbles had a tough time rounding them up. There were too many of them to keep track of, even for the criminals found them hard to take on. Ramthar punched the larger robots, 621 and 626 shot at them with their blasters and Lani helped 627 fight the last of them. Destroying the head robot wasn't enough to stop the invasion, not by a long shot.
"Let's go!" Ramthar told the SBS crew. "The ship can get us off this planet before the robots..."
"Woah, woah, woah," Lani interrupted. "You can't just leave now. We need help with them. You created this mess, 626. The least you can do is clean it up."
"626 is a death machine," 621 rolled his eyes. "He doesn't clean up his messes."
"I think that should be his choice to make," Lani glared at 621. "Let him choose for himself."
"He has responsibilities," Ramthar joined the arguement. "Clearly he wouldn't throw that away to save some puny humans."
"Clearly you both only care for yourselves," Lani fought back. "And those 'puny humans' are my friends."
The three of them continued going back and forth, losing sight of the current life threatening issue. While 627 laughed in amusement, 626 pulled his ears in an attempt to have some quiet for a second. He didn't need long to sort out his priorities, though it would've helped if they weren't fighting over what he wanted. 626 growled and pulled Lani away from his crew, standing between them all to get a moment of silence. He just needed to think it through, he needed to choose once and for all.
626's attention was brought to the collar he held in one of his sub set of arms, he forgot he was still holding it. The wind blowing around him helped clear his mind, so he could come to terms with things. Ramthar and 621 saw this, both wanting 626 to get things back to the way they were. They didn't understand the point of being "good", not when it was way more fun being bad. Their leader now had to make a call on having that kind of life, they were outraged! He would never go good, would he?
Down in the town, Lilo ran for the hula studio. She wanted to go back for Nani, knowing she should have stayed with her to fight the robots. Nani wouldn't have it, she sent Lilo to hide while she helped take care of the attackers. Angel gave her blasters to work with, which made Nani a force to be challenged. Lilo felt left out, there had to be something she could do. Hiding wasn't really something she preferred, she would rather choose actually running away from danger than hiding from it. Unlike the girls in Kauai, Lilo seemed to be the only brave one.
"Weirdlo, stay quiet!" Mertle hissed the awful nickname at her. "Do you want them to find us?"
"They won't," Lilo assured her and the other scared girls in hiding. "We're safe in here. I can't believe Stitch made these. Why would he make them?"
"You mean your disconfigured dog made those," Mertle couldn't believe it. "How weird can you be?"
"Yeah," Yuki, Teresa and Elena stood by that comment.
"It's true," Lilo defended herself and 626. "Stitch really did make them. He's an alien and the robots are going to invade us."
They didn't believe her for a second, not even with the proof waiting right out the door. Where it usually wouldn't faze her, Lilo found herself slightly infuriated with their lack of trust in her. If they were to go outside, they would see an impending robot army attacking. In fact, wasn't that the reason they were hiding in the first place? More proof came as the roof of the building was torn off, the Tyrannosaurus robot reached in to grab the screaming girls. Lilo was the only one it could reach, which suited the machine just fine.
Lilo struggled to get free, screaming at the top of her lungs for help. Nani was quick to draw the plasma blasters at her, only to be stopped by Mr. Bubble. He was right to do so and she knew it, if she shot Lilo could have gotten hit with a stray plasma blast. Lilo pulled against the robot and got one hand free, using it to dig through her pocket. There was something she kept on her in just in case, which she didn't think she'd use. From her pocket, Lilo pulled out a silver dog whistle. She could remember when she got it, specifically what was said.
"Lilo, catch!" Lani called.
Lilo stopped to face Lani, catching the object before it hit the ground. She analyzed it and saw that it was a whistle, blowing it didn't release any sound -at least to her. She blew it again and 626 sprawled the ground like he was getting water out of his eyes.
"Did I do that?!" Lilo asked Lani.
"Yes!" Lani yelled as they got further. "You may need it!"
"Lani, you were right," Lilo said to herself. "I need it now."
Lilo blew the low frequency whistle, only loud enough for the experiments on the mountain to hear. When their ears shot up, Lani smiled to herself. Finally, something good came out of her medaling. Seeing this, Ramthar grew worried of mutiny.
"6-626?" Ramthar stammered for once. "Surely you wouldn't choose some human over your own team. You don't need that little girl!"
"Ih," 626 nodded -sure of himself. "Goobaja crew. We leaving."
"What?!" Lani's smile faded.
"Yuuga can handle it," 626 turned back to the SBS. "Lilo naga need meega."
"Stitch, that's not the way it works," Lani shook her head.
"Naga Stitch," 626 couldn't bare to look back. "Meega kaphong."
"You're not a monster, Stitch," Lani tried to reason with him.
"Aggaba calling meega injibay," 626 growled at her.
"Al...Alright, 626," Lani stepped back. "It's your choice, and -although I think it's a horrible one- I respect it."
"Takka, Lani," 626 sighed.
"But if you are going to leave, you may need this," Lani threw him a blue and black flashdrive. "So you don't forget about us. O'hana."
626 did everything in his power not to overthink that word again, he wouldn't need it anymore. He dipped his head to Lani, in gratitude for everything she's done for him. Ramthar and 621 were quick to leave for the ship, though not without sending a devious smile to Lani. She glared at them with nothing but anger, finding it almost impossible to find even a spark of goodness between the both of them. She hoped in time that would change, it was a long shot assumption but not a completely farfetched one.
On the ship, 628 was surprised to see 626 completely walk past her. At the very least she was expecting a shocked reaction from him, the thought of him not paying attention to her didn't cross her imagination. Had it not been from the successful grins of 621 and Ramthar, she would have spoken to him. The way these two carried themselves gave her the idea that they wouldn't be in need of the second plan, though it would have been a lot more fun to 628.
627 was the only one Lani could see from the ship, he looked like he didn't really want to go. She guessed he would really miss Angel, he didn't seem to want her. Likewise for Angel, since the pink experiment seemed upset about her choice for him to watch 626. Angel wasn't going to like this one bit, she would miss 627 too. Lani's feeling about Ramthar and 621 leaving, good riddance. She hoped she'd never see them, though she would miss 626. Lilo, Lilo was not going to like this at...
"Lilo," Lani gasped.
Lani disappeared into the trees, not looking back as 626 took off. If 626 wasn't going to help Lilo, someone was going to have to. This was wrong, the whole situation didn't make any sense to Lani. Even if 626 was badly influenced or pressured, Lilo was important to him. Even if he wanted to protect her from his crew, surely there was another way. It didn't look like there was, as Lani and the SBS went seperate ways. Lani felt that she didn't do enough, this wasn't supposed to happen.
Things weren't going to be the same now.
A/N: This may be going against everything this franchise stands for, but aren't you readers just a tiny bit curious where this is going? Updates will be every other Friday, so I still have time to work on A New O'hana -which will be two chapters every other Thursday now. This will have little to nothing to do with the main timeline I set up in What Could Have Been, but I won't say which parts because the fun is in the surprise. Just because it's important, here's another chapter to hold you all until two weeks.
Disclaimer: In the name of his majesty -King Elvis Presley-, I doth declare Dibsies on a miss Lani Alaula and a miss experiment number six hundred and twenty-eight. So says the king, "Thank ya. Thank ya very much".
Next Time: While in the theater, everyone becomes panicked at the new development.