Chapter 2

The Hawaiian sunshine was said to be the gods smiling down on the human race. The gods were smiling a little too brightly if you asked her. It pained her to dump her Kiki's coffee she missed for so many years, but hot coffee on a hot Hawaiian day was a little over the top. She settled for a chocolate-coffee smoothie, a covered picnic table and some boardwalk French fries.

"Ih!" a high squeaked voice caught Jenni's attention. Her new canine companion, which she named Luna, had her two paws on the new owner's leg wanting some of the hot crunchy snack. Luna, the name meaning the Moon; it just suite her perfectly. She was brightly white, had a soft personality (from what Jenni could tell) and the dog was mysterious. The name was just right. "Ih, Ih!" that noise was all Luna made, it was such an odd bark. Must be a breed trait, Jenni thought as she passed some scraps to the white canine.

"The weird animals always find me."

At that moment a blue Koala animal was sitting next to Luna. "What the…" Jenni grabbed onto her picnic bench for support, when did all of these exotic animals run loose in Kokawa town? This was not scientifically possible!

"Excuse me, Miss," A little native girl with long black hair and big brown eyes stood a few feet away from her. "Where did you find that dog?" Jenni had to shake her head, the little girl wearing a brightly red muumuu with leaf print was hard to digest. And she could have sworn both the koala and Luna were carrying out a conversation! "Was the dog doing anything bad?"

"Bad?" The older girl turned her full attention to the young local. "What do you mean bad?"

"Like," The little girl paused her response, making Jenni feel as there was more to this 'bad' notion than she was willing to tell. "Like, causing chaos and being a bad dog."

"No, no, Luna hasn't shown any sign of being destructive if that's what you mean. Her behavior is quite normal for a stray dog…" Jenni turned back quickly to see if both animals were really communicating with each other, but they sat next to each other, perfectly still. Both animals looking up hungrily at the French fries on the table in perfect silence. Boy, the Hawaiian heat was getting to her.

"I'm Lilo." The little girl extended her hand. "I'm a local dog catcher. We specialize in catching and tagging odd and strange looking dogs and cats all over the island." Lilo smiled as she described her "job." "My Uncle Jumba tags and releases dogs, he could identify what breed she is." Jenni turned her attention back to the little native girl. She was interested in knowing what breed Luna was.

"Nice to meet you Lilo, I'm Jenni." She took Lilo's hand giving her a gentle shake. "Let's go meet your Uncle…"

"Jumba." Lilo's smile became brighter.

"Jum-baa." She tried to pronounce the foreign name correctly. At this point, she did not want to ask questions, things were getting weirder by the minute. She was just going to roll with it.

All four participants started to make their way towards the Pelekai residence. Both Luna and the blue Koala which she later learned was named Stitch, had taken quite a liking towards one another. Jenni swore between their yapping the word "cousin" was spoken. Talking koalas and dogs? Again, she was not going to ask and just roll with this.

"Jenni, do you like shaved ice?" Lilo asked giving her a happy expression; the question had distracted her from the babbling animals.

"As long as there's Mango flavor." Jenni returned the glance to see Lilo's smile getting wider.

"You like Mango too!" Jenni gave a small laugh; Lilo was an odd but a typical 9 year old warm-hearted girl. "I like Lemon and Pineapple, too. And, and peanut butter!" the older girl tried very hard to not make a face. As they made their way up the last hill, Jenni noticed Lilo had stopped talking, looking at her dog. Stitch had paused in mid step, eyes adverted towards the nearby vegetation of bushes and tall trees.

"What is your dog doing?" Jenni tilted her head. Luna was now cowering behind her legs peering towards the same underbrush as Stitch.

"Stitch, what is it?" the little Hawaiian girl took a step towards Jenni, out of instinct. The blue koala dog growled with nostrils flared. Jenni caught the glimpse of something large and grey in her peripheral vision. She looked at it with her full attention and heart pounding. It was… nothing… But she could have sworn she saw something, something massive hidden in the trees. For a second, she felt eyes on her, watching her. It made her heart race; she felt as if she was prey for whatever predator stalking them. Stitch growled, breaking through her concentration. He puffed, turning towards the trio of females and continued walking up the hill. After her heart beat went down, Jenni could only infer it must have been a stray animal… a very large stray animal… dogs always growl at things for no reason…so should a koala dog?...Did koala's even growl? All this rationalizing was giving her a headache.

The Pelekai residence was an older house at the top of the hill. Not super clean, but a normal living home with a layer of grim to add the livability to the home. Jenni adored it.

"Lilo!" A woman with shoulder length red hair wearing an orange muumuu called out to the little girl. What was with all the muumuus? The woman startled Jenni, her head was swollen and her body was…like a noodle! There was no other way to describe her! Jenni could not help but feel very uncomfortable; it appeared she had only one eye. "Find any experiments today?"

"Uh…" Lilo seemed to have stiffen by the woman's remark, from what Jenni observed. "Aunt Pleakley, you know we call experiments dogs right?" Lilo's aunt tilted her head as the child went on, "My friend Jenni here has a dog that needs to be seen by Uncle Jumba, ok Aunt Pleakley?" Her aunt gave a small wave to Jenni; it still crept her out, but the woman meant well. She gave a small wave back.

"I'll go tell your Uncle Jumba you brought another…dog," She turned to walk inside before twisting to ask, "Did you and your friend want fish sticks and lemonade?" The three females cringed while Stitch rubbed his stomach. Jenni swore the koala dog said "Yum." Well, Jenni pondered the thought around in her head, Lilo was an odd but typical 9 year old…and it seemed her relatives were the same. As she made her way up the staircase towards the Pelekai Home, Jenni stopped to take a breath. She did not have the slightest idea what on Earth was waiting for her with this "Uncle Jumba."

The room was cramped. For being a dog catching crew headquarters, the room was tiny with stacks of papers littering the floor, three computer monitors running, a large tube filled with green bubbling liquid, and two bunk beds. The overly large man bearing a heavy Russian accent sat on a bench typing away at one of the computer monitors. Jenni observed him pulling on Luna's ears and limbs, checking her temperature and inside of her mouth. Luna was obedient, for a stray dog she was soft tempered.

"V'ell done, E'speriment 259, v'ell done. You appear to be in very good health since re-hydration, and you've been good to evil genius creator… I mean, good doggie. Heh, heh…"

Yeah, family of dog catchers? Ok…

"Uncle Jumba, what does this dog do?" Lilo pulled her hair behind her ear. "She is Stitch's cousin and all."

"Oh yes," Jenni saw Uncle Jumba turn towards the group with a wide smile. "E'sper…Doggie number 259 is a… a special sleep doggie. Can help people dream…er…sweet dreams."

"Hmm, I wonder where her one true place will be…"

"So Luna causes dreams? That's absurd. " Jenni blurted out. All eyes were on here and she wished she never opened her mouth. Well, now she had to continue. "A dog causing someone to sleep and dream? I've heard of therapy dogs but not dream dogs. Lilo," Jenni tilted her head to the side with her arms crossed. "Is there something you want to tell me about your…dog catching job?" The little Hawaiian girl started to twiddle her thumbs as she glanced at her feet.

"Uh…well…"

The floor began to shake. Jenni felt the vibrations bounce her off the floor as the intensity increased. She experienced earthquakes before, but nothing such as bouncing shakes!

"Oh no! The big Dummy must've followed us!" Lilo exclaimed as she fell backwards on top of Stitch. The blue dog had pushed Lilo to the side and stood on his hind legs growling at the ceiling. Jenni felt Luna wrap her arms and tail around both her legs making terrified whimpers. "Jumba, we need to get 259 and Jenni out of here!"

The next thing she knew, Jenni was standing behind Lilo's Uncle Jumba and Aunt Pleakely who were both staring and cursing up at the ceiling. "Bigger girl," Uncle Jumba grabbed Jenni's arm, "You 'ave to take little girl out of 'ere, keep her safe, 626 will protect…" He was cut short by a loud crunching sound which rippled through Jenni's ear canal. All she understood was the roof had been ripped open and there was a massive toothed grin from a large grey creature.

"Hand over the experiment, abominations," a deep voice projected from the ceiling.

"No way, Gantu! Experiment 259 is ours!" Lilo yelled up towards the massive grey creature and stuck her tongue out blowing a raspberry. Stitch imitated her turning around sticking his tush out. Jenni swore Luna stand on her head wagging her tail and saying "Yoohoo~!"

"My patience grows thin, earthling, hand over the experiment now!" A large hand reached in towards Luna who was still standing by Jenni. The biology college grad could make no such movements, none of this was making any sense! There was no human hand on this planet that reached this size! She could not deny that fact; the hand was still reaching towards her and Luna.

"Egatta!" Stitch was perched on the wrist with his mouth biting the soft tissue between the thumb and index fingers. As fast as the giant creature's hand was reaching for her and Luna, it retracted taking Stitch with it. The roof fell back in place shaking every body in the house. Jenni steadied herself against Uncle Jumba, still in disbelief of the events which took place.

"Stitch!" Lilo had darted out of the room and outside the house. Jenni's parental instincts kicked in; a massive creature lurking around outside and little Lilo along with it? She raced out of the room shouting Lilo's name, her imagination placing horrific images in her head of the little girl's demise but what she saw when Jenni ran outside stopped her. In fact, it downright dumbfounded her! There was the dog… pulling a move the WWE would consider a classic Lou Thesz press… on a gigantic sharklike-whalelike creature with legs. This person she thought was human was nothing humanlike at all. This creature was scientifically impractical! The features of a shark and whale with a humanoid body structure and leg configuration resembling an elephant, the platypus made more sense! Even its tusks and sharp teeth on this animal were not registering with her. Jenni wished it was Bigfoot, at least the scientific community could explain the creature! What on Earth…?

The thought hit her… What on Earth… there was not anything like Him on this planet! Or even Stitch for that matter… or Luna… or Lilo's Aunt and Uncle on Earth… On Earth! As a Biology major, she should be open to the possibility of life among the stars… but really? This was not rational!

"Get off me, trog!" The shark creature smashed his fist towards his leg where Stitch was standing. The blue koala leapt in time before the fist hit the lower extremity. The walking shark yelped clutching his leg. "Ow!"

"Nah nah nah nah!"

"You go, Stitch!" Lilo jumped waving her arms. "Give Gantu an atomic wedgie!"

"Blitznak! Get back here, you worthless experiment!"

"Nuki pa tuki!" Stitch was jumping around from tree to tree to roof to porch back and forth with this Gantu character chasing him between his leaps. The charade went on until Jenni and Lilo's fear came true; Gantu caught Stitch in a clenched fist and slammed the little koala dog on the gravel. Jenni felt her blood run cold; the poor animal…there was no way Lilo's dog survived that blow. The whale creature extended his arm away from his body still holding Stitch. There was a grin on his face.

"That's right, you want a piece of Gantu, you got it, Punk!" Jenni held her breath, Stitch was shaking his head growling. How did he survive…?

"Impossible…" was the only word she could breathe.

"You mean indestructible." Uncle Jumba was standing next to her watching the brawl continue. "626 is made from da toughest materials in known universe. Bullet proof, fire proof, and definitely Gantu proof, heh heh."

That moment was like clockwork. At the phrase 'Gantu proof' Stitch was scurrying up the Gantu creature's arm towards his face. Jenni watched the fight continue, large arms swinging wildly, curses escaping both parties, and blue fur flying; it was something to watch a small creature battle someone 300 times its size. And then it happened. A loud howl rippled through the air, the howl drenched in anguish and pain. Jenni thought it was Stitch until the blue dog was thrown off this Gantu fellow landing in the bushes. The shark creature was holding the right side of his face, both hands covering the right eye and growling. Her stomach performed a somersault when she realized the violet reddish liquid oozing onto his hands was blood.

"Stop it!" Jenni stepped forward. She did not understand what compelled her speak, but Jenni knew she had to. There was no notion of her ever stepping in this fight between a supposed dog and a shark walking on two legs, but inflicted injuries forced her off the sidelines. "Stop it both of you!" She heard her voice shout over both opponents which in turn caught their attention. Great… two aggressive animals in the mist of fighting… one might having the testosterone levels of a Bull shark… what was a puny human such as herself going to do? Scold them?

"Just stop this fighting, both of you!" she held out her arms like a referee. Her breathing quickened. What if they both came at her, then what?

"Egabba?" Luna appeared between her legs staring at her intensely. Her focus shifted as Stitch entered the driveway from the bushes he was thrown into. The dog rubbing his head.

"You, Shark-man," Her attention was on the bipedal shark covering his right eye. Jenni's thoughts were racing, she stunned herself by asking, "How deep is the wound?"

Her heart stopped beating as the sharklike creature turned its full attention to her. Jenni wished she never opened her mouth.