So, yeah, I got a little lazy with uploading this chapter. I told myself that I was holding it for editing and eventually I almost forgot its existence as a result.
Anyway, now that I'm done editing this thing after rewriting the original I don't know how many times, it's finally out.
Also, this chapter may come off as a little cheesy with Jake's backstory, but please bare with it.
"All right, let's talk ground rules" Nani said, pacing as I was sitting on the couch in the living room. The rules were pretty basic, just don't make Nani mad and everything was smooth sailing from there. It wasn't too strict, but not too lenient either.
After Nani left to go to work, I decided to grab my Q-laptop and started it up. It looked almost the same as any average 2014 asus brand laptop, other than it having no branding whatsoever and a few proprietary ports on the back used to connect to my other machines.
Halfway done writing down an idea for a new project that used holograms and sound, I heard someone cough. Blinking, I turned to the left and saw Lilo with Stitch next to her.
"So do you wanna see the rest of the house?" Lilo asked.
"Yeah, it's better than just sittingon the couch all day." Stitch added.
I couldn't say no, I needed to get familiar with my new surroundings. "sure, lemme just put this thing away." I said as I saved the project and stuffed the laptop back into my bag.
For some reason, the general layout of the house was familiar to me, Almost as if I knew the rooms themselves. It was almost like I already had the pieces to a near complete puzzle.
The final thing Lilo and Stitch wanted to show me was Jumba's ship. "Come on, it's over this way!" Lilo shouted excitedly as I was trying to catch up to her.
"Wait -wheeze- up, I don't have that kind of -heave- stamina." I struggle to get out. The ship was in sight. A red, two-winged design with a bulbous bridge section. The ramp was down, typical but effective.
I took a second to try to catch my breath, only for Lilo to grab my wrist and say "Come on!" to me, then called into the ship "Jumba? You in there?"
From the ship, the metallic and muffled voice of Jumba answered "Ah, Little girl! Jumba is in lab upgrading plasma pistol, will be out in a second."
"Okay!" Lilo replied to Jumba, to me "he likes to tinker with things, one time he accidentally caused the garbage disposal to eat the neighbor's palm-tree! It's pretty funny to think about now, but at the time Nani got really mad. The worst part was when she had to pay for it." Lilo explained.
I started to chuckle at the mental image.
"Yeah, and Jumba wanted to mess with Nani'salarm clocka couple of weekslater!" Stitch added, trying to hide his own chuckles.
"I wonder what kind of horrible screech it would make if he did that!" I said through the mirth.
Stitch was going to say something, but that's when the door to Jumba's lab opened with a whoosh. "What is being so funny?" Jumba asked.
"Oh nothing, Lilo was just telling me about the garbage disposal incident." I said.
"Ah, yes, Jumba remembers he had to stay away from bigger girl for a couple of days after that. Though, now that I think about it, it is funny afterthought. Anyway, what is Little girl, 626, and time-space travel boy wanting from Jumba?" he asked.
"Stitch and I were just showing Jake around the place." Lilo answered "I was wondering if you'd let him look at some of your machines." She continued.
"Ah, of course, though Time-space travel boy is to be promising not to mess with Jumba's more important equipment." Jumba said, allowing us to enter. A few of the things I saw were actually trivial and rather simple to understand, though a few other devices were really complex. A couple of examples are the thing that created Stitch and his six-hundred n' thirty cousins in the first place, or the various tools that let Jumba edit existing experiments.
Starting to have a few questions pop into my head, I asked "Hey, Jumba, after creating an experiment, how do they generally react to their sudden existence? Is it awkward for them, or do they act like an amnesiac?"
"Hmm, that is.. difficult question… some act different than others, like newborn, or like a robot that is activating for first time. Some even get violent, Like 626 here." Jumba answered, gesturing to Stitch.
"Hmm, Stitch, can you remember? What was your first memory?" I asked the blue koala.
Stitch hesitated, then said "When I woke up, I-I had the strongest urge to, to breakeverything. I wanted nothing more than to see the p-pain of o-others." Stitch was looking down and seemed tense.
"Oh, I'm.. sorry for.. bringing up bad memories." I started as Lilo moved to comfort him. "I'm sorry, it's my fault, my curiosity can get the better of me and it almost always does. I guess I'll be on the ramp when all of you are ready to go back to the house, I'll understand if you don't wanna talk to me 'till tomorrow." I finished. Out of the corner of my eye, Stitch held out his paw to stop me.
I had just about made it to the door before a mechanical voice announced "Warning, anomaly detected on board, lock-down initiated."
the door nearly sliced me in two before I was tackled by Stitch, effectively separating the both of us from Jumba and Lilo.
"Great." I said sarcastically while sitting up. "one fault and suddenly the ship goes berserk. This is why I don't talk to other people, it always goes wrong one way or another." I continued while groaning with my foot hitting the metallic floor. "-sigh- I guess we'll just have to wait for Jumba to fix this mess, nothing to do but sit tight for now." Finishing while sitting in the corner with my knees against my torso.
"Wait, did you have a bad time as a kid?" Stitch asked.
I sighed "I guess it's only fair to tell you that much. You want the tiny version, short version, or do you want the whole thing?" I asked.
"Um, short." Stitch chose.
"Alright, first I was bullied as a kid for being such a big nerd and never really had a friend growing up. My dad always wanted me to be an artist but I turned out to be the last thing he wanted me to be, so he ditched Mom and I and became a madman from his hatred. Dad came back later but he tried to kill me, only, he ended up killing the only one that accepted me for who I am. He's in prison for the rest of his life after he got caught not too far from the crime scene. Lastly, I built an artificial intelligence to finally have a friend. After years of that, he tried to destroy me and take over my version of earth." I struck the wall as hard as I could with my fist, which wasn't really smart due to the pain now shooting through my hand. I then tried to make myself as small as possible. "I just wish I knew what I did to deserve this kind of torture." It was like a dam had just failed in my tear ducts as my face was soaking with tears, ones that I had thought were shed long, long ago.
Stitch blinked, then muttered "Wow…" I didn't notice what Stitch was doing before I was squeezed by the experiment. I didn't know why I cared, but Stitch was… soft.
"I.. didn't know. I expected something, but nothing like this. In a lot of ways, you're like Lilo before Myrtle apologized and became her friend again. Though, now that I think about it, maybe I can help you like I helped Lilo with her loneliness in the first place!" Stitch said, gaining enthusiasm near the end.
"you'd.. do that? -snif- Even for the complete social wreck that I am?" All I got as an answer was Stitch adding in his secondary arms to the squeeze.
Around two hours later, Jumba overrode the control to the door. Stitch was telling me about a few of his many cousins after my breakdown.
"Stitch, Jake, are you two okay?" Lilo asked.
"I am, I- I don't know about Jake though." Stitch answered, turning toward me.
"What are you talking about, was he hurt?!" Lilo seemed a little more worried this time.
"No, at least not bodily." I started to Lilo and Jumba what I told Stitch, though I was retelling what happened between my AI CONOR and I in better detail. "...So I said 626-02 to fo-"
"Lilo, there you are, it's almost bedtime and you have school tomorrow. Oh and Jake, I'm sorry, even if you're older than you look, you still have to follow the law, this means you have to go too." Nani said.
"Understood." I said simply while shrugging my shoulders.
After we all walked to the house under the darkened sky, I realized something. Since there wasn't a guestroom, I had to use the couch.
"Sorry, it's the only place we have left, we'll build another room for you when we get the chance." Nani explained.
"Actually, if you'll show me a place where you wouldn't mind a door, and a room, I have something that'll build a room for me. But I'll wait 'till tomorrow afternoon for that." I told her. "anyway, the couch is fine for the night." after everyone went to their rooms I drifted off for the night, emotionally drained after what happened earlier.
And that concludes this chapter.
Oh and If you're wondering, yes, Jake did say Kweesta on accident. It'll play a bigger role later on.
Anyway, off to the next chapter.