avatar: sorry it's a bit late, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Besides, my great new beta is having some email issues. Hope you're looking for more action, because you're getting more action today.

Maverick: avatarjk137 does not own Lilo and Stitch. However, he does own me and the contents of this story. Now, I demand you read this story with me in it!

avatar: those who want to see Maverick beaten will get their wishes, but not until later in the story.

Chapter 2

Battle Frenzied

Maverick landed on Kixx's chest feet-first and bounced off, cushioning his fall. He then landed lightly on his steel paws and looked at Kixx. "Thanks for your help," he spat as he began to walk away.

"Why did you attack my cousin?!" Maverick's head snapped around at the shrill voice. Slushy had just been packing up his snow-cone stand for the night when he'd seen Kixx topple off his dojo's roof, followed by the strange Experiment. "You won't get away with that!" Slushy blew a freezing gust at Maverick, who jumped away in time to avoid being frozen solid.

"I have to fight more of you?!" Maverick's spines glowed red again. "Fine then! I'm good and pissed off now, and I'll be happy to get you!" His claws, mechanical and otherwise, crackled with energy as he ran at Slushy, sparks dancing around him. Slushy breathed a blast of ice at him, but he jumped over it. Slushy then conjured up a massive sword of ice and swung it, yet Maverick parried with his claws, the electric charge melting quickly through the ice. The sword then melted in half, but Slushy slashed again with the blunted end, forcing Maverick back.

Slushy was an incredibly strong fighter in his own right, and considered himself to be arguably the strongest 500-series Experiment. He threw the broken sword he held, and conjured two smaller weighted staves. "I won't let you go around hurting my ohana!" Maverick smashed the sword and charged forward again, but Slushy blocked his four claws with the four weights of the staff and blew ice shards at Maverick's face. Maverick ducked his body back, letting the shards pass right over him, and kicked Slushy in the chest, knocking the blue Experiment away.

"What's an ohana? Is that where I just kicked you?" Maverick charged up more electricity, but this time he pointed his finger at Slushy and fired it in a bolt. Slushy dodged out of the way and responded by blowing himself a baseball bat. He created some iceballs and began cracking them toward Maverick.

"Ohana means family," Slushy recited as Maverick ducked under an iceball, dodged a second, and shocked two more with lightning bolts. "Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

"That's so cute," Maverick sneered. "But take it from me, fool…" he zapped Slushy's bat, causing it to explode and knocking Slushy down, "families don't always work that way." He ran toward Slushy, who whipped up a new bat and swung it at Maverick. Maverick grabbed the bat and pulled it away. "There are some families you want to leave behind, to forget." He slammed the bat into Slushy's chest, smashing his icy body to pieces. "Did I just kill him?" Maverick wondered.

"Not even close!" Slushy replied, reforming behind Maverick and blowing more ice shards. Maverick dropped the bat and dodged them. Slushy then grabbed the bat once more. He jumped into the air and created an ice slide, sliding toward Maverick at a high speed. "I don't know about you, but around here, ohana means a lot!" He swung the bat, and Maverick jumped over it and fired a bolt. Slushy blocked with the bat, destroying it, but he simply conjured a bigger one with spikes. "You can't beat us!" Maverick dodged again, and tackled Slushy, knocking him off the slide. Slushy rolled to his feet, and Maverick threw a punch, which he dodged.

"I'm the only one who decides who I can and can't beat!" Maverick yelled. "Now go away, freak!" He fired a quick series of bolts, which Slushy dodged. Slushy growled and created a huge horned plow of ice and threw it at Maverick. The large construct created a large grinding noise as it slid down the sidewalk toward Maverick. The white Experiment took a deep breath, gathering energy, and fired a large bolt into the plow, melting a steaming hole through it.

"Eep!" Slushy jumped away from the bolt, and landed hard on his side. Maverick jumped through the widening hole in Slushy's attack and grabbed the ice-generating Experiment by the neck. He then poured electricity into Slushy's body, partially melting him and causing him to go limp.

"Good riddance." Maverick dropped Slushy into the steaming puddle that had fallen from his body and continued on his way.

"Ughh…"

"Hey, Kixx, wake up!

"Go… away… my head…" Kixx muttered in Turian.

"Open your eyes, sleepyhead!"

"Nosy?" Kixx's eyes shot open to see Nosy's enormous shnozz hovering right above his head.

"How long have I been out?" Although Nosy was talking in English as usual, Kixx had switched to his more comfortable Turian.

"A few minutes. Who's the new guy? I wanna know everything, so spill!"

"Not the time, Nosy. He's after Jumba, and he's really tough!"

"I saw. He really messed Slushy up. I hope the little blue guy's alright."

"What? He's hurt?" Kixx turned to see Slushy lying in the puddle, unmoving. "Blitznack!" He turned back to Nosy. "Nosy, gather up any Experiments you can find. I'm going to see if Slushy's alright, and then I'm going to have Yaarp raise the alarm."

"Good idea. I can't wait to go tell everyone there's a new Experiment on the loose."

Maverick ran along the dirt road, his stubby legs and metal feet surprisingly fast and quiet. The purple creature had given him a beeline path, and Maverick didn't mind cutting through the occasional strand of trees. He did have his doubts as to whether this was the correct direction, but he had a hunch the four-armed brawler had been honest, and he hadn't gotten one incorrect hunch since…

"Where are you running off to, buddy?" Maverick stopped and turned. Two more of the creatures were right next to him. One was a red male with a long, skinny torso. He had three orifices along his back that were wafting smoke. The other creature was female, and a greenish-cyan color. Where the other creatures he'd seen were mammalian, she had more of a decidedly squid-like appearance. The red one had spoken. "We were on a nice little romantic moonlight stroll when we got word that you've been causing a bit of a ruckus," he growled. "You hurt our cousins, and we can't forgive that kind of thing."

"One big happy family, eh?" Maverick responded. "Well, you guys keep on confronting me, and I keep on knocking you down. I suppose that's how you idiots do it on this primitive planet?"

"You can't mouth off to me like that!" Yang growled. He dug into the ground on all fours, and the smoke streaming from the holes on his back increased. Finally, globs of lava shot from them, streaming right at Maverick.

"What? Lava?" Maverick jumped away. That lava looks pretty avoidable, but if he hits me with that, I'll be in trouble. He zapped Yang, and was overjoyed when Yang was too dug in to avoid the attack and took the hit. "Is that all?" Maverick sneered.

"Don't turn your back on your opponents," a voice said behind him. He turned in time to be sprayed in the face by a high-velocity jet of water. "You should pay a bit more attention," Yin scolded as she plugged one tentacle into a fire hydrant.

"Meh, it's just water," Maverick said. "Big deal. I let you hit me." He threw a lightning bolt at Yin; however, the cephalopod Experiment ducked the bolt and blasted more water at him. Harmless, refreshing water, Maverick thought. I can let it hit me. "AHHHH!" The water sprayed up, and the electrical charge in his own body quickly short-circuited, leaving him smoking and spluttering in the water. "Damn. I can't touch water when I'm charged; I should've known that." He jumped out of the puddle. "Now I'm too wet to charge again without shocking myself. I guess I'll have to go physical."

"Guess who!?" Maverick turned and dodged several more spheres of lava. "Pay attention when you're being teamed up on, man!" Yang snickered, shooting more lava into the air. The globs separated into smaller projectiles and rained down toward Maverick. Maverick closed his eyes, took a breath, and dodged every smoking bullet. "How'd you do that?" Yang muttered.

"Trade secret!" Maverick yelled as he slammed his fist into Yang's snout, knocking him back. Yang recovered and launched more lava at him, but Maverick ducked underneath the shot and grabbed Yang by the neck. He tore Yang loose from his position, and tossed him over to Yin. "I bet you can't make hot lava without staying on the ground, right?" Yang landed on his back legs, and Yin shot a stream of water at Maverick. "And YOU can't hurt me unless I'm juiced up. No problem."

"I can't hurt you with just water, you say?" Yin was now completely inflated with water. "Let me correct that theory!" She sprayed a concentrated jet of high pressured water at Maverick, who dodged out of the way just in time as the blast struck a tree, peeling off all the bark.

"Wow, that is forceful," Maverick shrugged. "But I can still just beat the stuffing out of you." He ran at Yin and Yang. Yang concentrated, and sprayed a steady stream of lava at a low velocity down onto the ground in front of him. Yin then sprayed it with lava, flash-forming a solid wall of black volcanic rock between them and Maverick. "Nice trick, but I 'm a good jumper!" Maverick vaulted over the wall, only to get hit with the same jet of high-force water. "Oof!" He was forced back over the wall, and landed on the far side hard on his back.

"You done underestimating us?" Yang called from over the wall.

"Yeah, I think so," Maverick said as he struggled to his feet. He coughed up some water. "Of course, I do have one trick left…." He pushed as hard as he could against the rock wall, and it tipped over, falling on Yin and Yang. He was rewarded with their cries of surprise and pain. "Yeah! Take that!" Maverick laughed. He shook himself off, leaving his fur fluffy. I should be dry and ready to shock again in a minute or two. He ran off, his spines fading back to orange, then yellow. Now to find Jumba Jookiba.

End of Chapter

Naturally, italics represent thought.

Next chapter: The Experiments set up an ambush, and Maverick walks right into it. Also, we finally begin to learn the true nature of Experiment 628.