Retrieval Saga
Dragon's Temptation
Chapter 2: Reckless Gift
The next morning, Matt woke up with a groggy feeling. He could remember everything up to the point he'd been challenged by Chris to a drinking contest, then everything had gone dark. The thing that had woke him up was the communicator beeping. "Yes? This had better be good, I feel like I've went three rounds with Hyena," he said, clicking the connect button. Nani's voice came through the communicator. "Matt, do you think you could drop Lilo off at hula class? I have too much work today." "Ok, fine, I'll be along, as soon as I've drank the ship's supply of coffee," said Matt. He hung up and hit the room's dispenser to give him black coffee. As he walked down the hallway, he said to himself, "I wonder who won that contest?" Matt walked passed Chris's room, where he was snoring like a sawmill. Draco was currently trying to wake him up with several slaps to the face, but no results so far. "I guess that answers that."
Matt got into the modified 4x4 they'd bought on the same trip to get Lilo's 'present' and drove down the ramp towards the Pelekai house before parking and pressing the horn. "Ok, no more horn," he said as his head throbbed. 'Oh dear lord, what hit this place?' moaned V-627 as Lilo and Stitch came out of the house. Lilo looked annoyed and was wearing the amulet. "Morning birthday girl," Matt said as she got in before looking at Stitch, who was eyeing the dashboard of buttons. "No touchy, much," he said. Matt noticed Lilo wasn't as cheery as usual. "Is something wrong?" he said. "I'm just in a bad mood right now," said Lilo. "Really, why's that?" "I just am, OK!" Matt winced, partly from shock, mostly from the demonic hangover he had.
The trip into town wasn't any better, especially when Matt missed the turning point due to his hangover and had to circle around. "Look, just calm down. You're not late. I'm glad I didn't give the blaster now; I don't think you're in the right mind to be given a weapon," he said as they pulled up, "Your inhibitor all charged?" "Yes it is, you don't have to keep reminding me. You're not my father." "Whoa, now that is a lot of disrespect, young lady," said Matt, "Even if I'm not your father, I am responsible for you and I want to make sure you're okay." "Just leave me alone!" snapped Lilo. Matt wasn't sure, but he could have sworn her eyes just flashed red.
Matt wasn't taking any chances, especially since the inhibitors weren't 100 percent effective. "Keep an eye on her, ok?" said Matt to Stitch before starting the drive back. The car's computer beeped, "Priority transmission coming. Matt hit the connection, it was Frostbite. "Hey Frosty. What can I do for ya?" he said with a grin. "I think there's a problem," said Frostbite. "Ghoulwyrm's on the loose again?" asked Matt. "I believe he's still in the Ghost Zone. The problem is I believe there is a mix-up regarding the Amulets." Matt almost crashed then and there. "Mix-up?" he said weakly, "This isn't the 'accidentally teamed up with the enemy' type mix-up, is it?" "Er, not quite, I believe the duplicate Amulet you brought back is actually the Anarchic Amulet. I would come to retrieve it myself, but there aren't any ghost portals in Hawaii and apparently only resident spirits can materialize there." "Matt stared. "Tell me you're kidding. I dropped her off near the only people who upset her… I'll call you back," he said, cutting the connection and calling the ship.
The alarm on the North Star began to wail. "Now hear this. All personnel to combat ready. Stun guns and cryogas grenades only. Meet me in town. NOW!" said Matt's voice over the PA system. The crew didn't need telling twice and were in various vehicles in minutes, surprising Draco, Chip, and Morph when they saw the group heading from the ship. "Where do you think they're all going?" asked Draco. "I don't know, but it looks important, and it's for catching something alive." Morph was looking elsewhere and said, "Ooh, look at the dancing monkey." "Now's not the time to act goofy again," said Draco. Neither he nor Chip realize or notice Morph was right for once, and the monkey in question was wearing a gold-colored tracking suit.
Matt, meanwhile had arrived back at the class. It looked like the class was late starting. The jeep's scanner detected only two humans and an experiment. Matt got to the door just in time to hear Myrtle speaking. Judging by the tone in her voice, it was apparently something quite nasty. "Uh oh," he said. Meanwhile, NegaMorph was walking past. He wasn't looking for Viral Clones this time, just carrying groceries. "I cannot wait until we get to leave this place," said NegaMorph. Then he heard some shouting and he looked through the window of a nearby building and saw Lilo and Myrtle having a loud argument. NegaMorph couldn't quite make out what they were yelling about, but he distinctly heard Myrtle call Lilo 'freak' and that apparently sent her over the edge. NegaMorph was actually starting to feel pity for her when she was suddenly surrounded in green light. Then he remembered he had somewhere to go and walked away, at a faster speed than before. Matt burst in at the same time and said, "Oh crap."
Techo and Chris had left the other members of the crew setting up a perimeter and arrived at the school in time to see Matt flung through the wall and into his car hard enough to flip it over and explode. "Holy-" began Techo as a dragon that looked a lot like Dora flew out the hole. "HEY YOU, HOLD IT!" yelled Chris and the dragon turned to stare, before launching a fireball at their vehicle. Techo and Chris only just got out in time, good thing it was too as the fireball blew their hardened vehicle to scrap. "Ok, this kinda sucks," said Techo. Matt stumbled upwards and said, "That thing's Lilo. That Amulet she's wearing was the Anarchic one. We have to get it off her before she tears apart the island. Oh, and Myrtle will need a mind-wipe." Techo shrugged, "I'll handle it, but how we gonna tell the crew." The sound of weapon fire was heard. "Like anything we have could hurt her at the moment," said Matt. The crew began shooting wildly as Dragon Lilo came around the corner, but they might as well have been throwing water balloons for all the good it did. The air blast as she flew overhead was enough to flip a few vehicles and to knock over the crew.
From a nearby tree, Bananas B was watching the action. "Hmm, that little girl can get pretty nasty. I told Chang I'd bring her the Amulet, but I don't think she'd mind if I bring her back a ghostly dragon instead."
Matt, Chris, and Techo arrived to see that some of the experiments had turned up to help the crew to get their vehicles upright again. Matt was prepared for Draco to chew him out over misuse of magical gear again like he had about the Fang Stone. However, Draco's attention was immediately preoccupied with the ghost dragon flying over town. "We've got to get her out of here. Some place where innocent people won't get hurt." An officer was holding a portable tracker. "Looks like you get your wish," he said, "She's heading for the old volcano. Wait, we're getting an ID, no way." Draco took the tracker from the officer and saw Lilo's ID on the screen. He turned and said, "Matt, an explanation please?" So Matt, with some reluctance, told Draco about the Amulet. Draco slapped his forehead and said, "Not again! I thought you said that Amulet was as magical as a corkscrew!" "That's what I thought too, until Frostbite called me." Draco paused, "Frostbite? How can he call you? I thought the Fentons lived in another world." "Actually, it turns out that it's actually a part of this planet we haven't visited yet. Strange, huh?" Matt looked Draco straight in the eye and said, "Look, I don't know how that Amulet ended up here, but we got it one time, we can do it again. The next stop after this will be Draco Island. I'll personally drop the Amulet off there."
Dragon Lilo flew onwards, over the forest until she landed at a large cave in the mountainside. She sniffed around the cave. It looked uninhabited, so she curled up in there to sleep. Going on a rampage like that can be rather exhausting. Chang landed at the cave mouth. "Aw, are you lost, little one?" she said, all fake concern. She knew how violent an amulet-user could be and how they were touchier than an ogre. Lilo sat up and growled, showing several sharp teeth and ghostly flames flickering between them. "Don't be alarmed," said Chang, "I'm here to help you with your powers. Think of me as your dragon godmother."
There's another chapter. Things do not look good for Lilo. Being trapped in ghost dragon form is one thing, but Chang is really bad news. Hopefully the gang will be able to find a way to solve this. To find out if they do, stay tuned for the next update. Please review.