"Ah, my surveillance shows that Jumba and Pleakley are now there with them. Hmm, strange it seems they are in no hurry to take the two back to sickeningly lovely paradise island. In fact they haven't even pretended our threat is no longer so threatening." Hamsterviel noted as they spied on the happy little Earth family.
"That is strange... " Gantu mentioned from behind him.
"Oh uh, whoops! Did I forget to mention to you that Jumbo and Pluckily there don't actually have any clue this mission is going on. Yeah, Is should've told you that earlier when the GC lady called." Reuben was a way aways from both of them lost in his own sandwich making. He gestured to the call box, that unfortunately didn't take messages due to the nature of their assignment.
"Reuben, when the current ruler of the universe tells you to relay a message... you relay the damn message!" Gantu sighed "... insubordinate trog..." he cussed under his breath.
"At least he told us at all. No matter, this works better for the mission anyway." Hamsterviel laughed maniacally and Gantu twisted the rodent's floating chair back to face him.
"Don't forget who the boss here is Hamsterviel. You better not try anything evil." He warned authoritatively and there was suddenly tension in the air. Hamsterviel tried to keep himself from gulping and went stiff with frustration and some fear.
"Hey, Gantu! Want a sandwich?" Reuben called metaphorically slicing the tension in the air like it was butter as Gantu stormed back to him still feeling mostly tense.
"How many times have I told you? I'm sick of eating nothing but sandwiches - unless it's egg salad, I won't consume it!" he declared and kneeled down to the experiment.
"It's peanut-butter and baloney." He taunted persuasively and his friend sat down next to him, forgetting all about Hamsterviel.
"That not only sounds pretty appalling but also is NOT egg salad." Gantu claimed but seemed intrigued at the smaller alien nonetheless.
"Come on, one bite?" Reuben pushed the snack closer to the other alien.
"How many times do I have to say egg salad?" Gantu pushed it away
"How about I put salami in it?" Reuben reached for a slice of meat and opened up the bread.
"Still not egg salad."
"Well maybe you'll like this better than egg salad! You don't know. Try to be a bit more open minded."Gantu still pushed it away.
"Try it, try it, try it!" Reuben started to chant
"egg salad, egg salad, egg salad," Gantu chanted in counter-measure making a starting motion at the experiment.
"...and yet he was quite intimidating a moment ago..." Hamsterviel sweat dropped, with a nervous chuckled "How have I been reduced to this?"
Lilo and Stitch hung their heads in shame as Pleakley finished the lecture ".. and no television for the next ten years!"
The two were sitting at Yuna's dining table and it was very late at night. The lecture had presumably been taking place the rest of the day, Jumba could be seen laying in a guest futon in the corner at some angles.
"Okie-takka" Lilo chorused but Stitch remained silent and merely looked up at Pleakley pleadingly.
"Why take camera away! Has all pictures of years adventure!" Stitch complained and Pleakley only shook his head.
"NO! And that's final, and what I've done is nothing compared to what Nani has in store for you two, OH ho ho! You two will be in big trouble then!" He scolded strongly at the two-trouble makers.
"Now what is this business with Hamsterviel?" Jumba asked from nearby and the two adolescents exchanged looks.
The day had broken, and morning had settled on the island. "How's the house coming along Jumba?" Yuna asked as she found the family sitting around in the empty plot they had bought earlier.
"Hmm, oh is already built." He gestured to the place by him, it was a lovely gazebo-like place with a sliding door- that was wide open, letting them peer into the house. Yuna stared at it in amazement wondering how she failed to notice that.
"Wow, that's amazing! And you did this?" She turned to him and saw that most of the family was playing cards while leaning against the fence "All by yourselves?"
"Only made design reality, Pleakley came up with idea so blame him for the ugliness." He scoffed, and Yuna saw the alien waved from where he was reading a magazine at the table.
"So, I'm guessing you and Stitch are going to live here now too, huh Lilo?" Yuna asked.
"Why wouldn't we?" She asked innocently and looked up from the card game.
"Uh, no reason." Yuna sighed slightly and looked away "I'm glad to have my room all to myself again." She lied weakly. "Hey - uh, enough of that! Now that you've got a house we should have a moving in party!"
Night fell over the island and everybody gathered around the new house under a string of lights. Stitch played drums and Lilo strummed her ukulele next to Yuna who played a similar folk instrument called a sanshin. Meanwhile, the hosts of the party merely sat at the table watching the festivities.
Pleakley sat at the edge of his chair gazing intently at the alien across from him.
"C'mon, let's dance!" He pleaded to his partner and soon-to-be roommate.
"Just a second. Am enjoying evil genius self to some native cuisine." Jumba forked another piece of food into his large mouth and Pleakley seemed offended.
"Please?"
"In a moment!" Jumba seemed to be hurrying a bit, but there was still quite an air of sluggishness around his actions.
"When will that moment come? C'mon, Jumba we haven't been to a party in almost a year!"
"We haven't eaten good food in a year!" He put down the fork and picked up some chopsticks to spear a piece of tonkatsu.
"What are you talking about, we ate my cooking the entire time!" Pleakley protested with an offended hiss as he got up.
"Exactly." Jumba muttered absentmindedly not really realizing what he said, he took a sip of steaming tea as a the look on Pleakley's face grew more annoyed.
"The only thing worse than My cooking is YOUR dancing." Pleakley countered angrily Jumba choked on his tea and spat it out on the ground.
"Oh no... you don't walking one-eyed spaghetti! Nobody insults Jumba's dancing!" He rose out of hi seat to meet his partner.
"Then I challenge you to a dance battle right here and now!" Pleakley pointed dramatically and took off to the "dance floor".
"You can not win!" Jumba laughed maniacally and somehow made dropping his chopsticks look intimidating. He followed clumsily nearly knocking over the table. The children cheered on as the two began to dance furiously in front of each other and the music quickened. Their laughter filled the air as they all had a generally wonderful time together.
The next day...
"Class, we have a new student today. Please introduce yourself." The teacher nodded "Don't forget to smile," She reminded as the girl stepped up.
"I am Perekai Riro. Nice to meet you all. I moved here from the American state of Hawaii with my aunt and uncle. I have a dog named Stitch. I like swimming, rock music and hula dancing." She smiled widely and made some motions with her hands.
Lilo took her seat as the bell rang, she sat right next to Yuna and waved happily to her. People stared and Yuna blushed out of slight embarrassment as she waved back.
Recess started and the two children sat together to talk, before they could however Piko and her gang went up to them.
"Hey new girl, and Yuna - you know you really shouldn't hang out with her Riro, she's really weird." The blond one taunted and Yuna flustered at this statement.
"That's okay. I'm pretty weird too." Lilo responded casually the way she usually did with Mertle and her gang, not that she had to deal with them for a long while ever since Mertle realized that aliens existed.
" No I mean she's REALLY weird. She's a total freak, she runs around swinging from vines in the forest and she still thinks Yokai are real." Piko insisted further and Lilo expected the boys behind her to chorus with a "yeah" of confirmation to back her up but the boys merely nodded half-heartedly.
"Well that's ..." Lilo processed and then her eyes went wide in awe "You can swing from the vines?! Really?! Are they strong enough, is it really possible?" She looked hopefully at her new friend beside her.
"Huh!? But... fine! I guess you're a freak too!" Piko hissed at them and her gang exchanged looks of surprise.
"I'm not the freak - you are, for thinking that just because someone's different that they should be scorned." Lilo scolded as she recognized the look in Piko's eyes. It was one she was all too familiar with.
"What? Did you just call me a freak?!" She jumped back in shock, not used to anyone even remotely "That's right." Lilo smiled kindly and warmly as if there was nothing wrong with this at all.
"How dare you? I am the prettiest, richest, most talented girl on the island how can you call me a freak? I am telling!" She stormed away to go get an adult, certain that they would be on her side. With a look back to the girls her gang followed.
"Ick. She reminds me of how Mertle used to be. Except a little more extreme." Lilo shuddered and stuck out her tongue in disgust "So what was this about being able to swing on the vines Tarzan style?" Lilo asked as Yuna suddenly hugged her with joy.
It was after school and Yuna was comparing a test-score with Lilo unhappily. "How do you do so well with math?" Yuna asked jealously as her low score was made pathetic compared to Lilo's perfect number.
"I've got the best tutors any little Earth girl can ask for; between Jumba and Stitch - they'll teach you too if you'd like." Lilo pranced down the road to where Stitch was waiting impatiently for them. He joined them with a wide smile.
"Lucky... the only one I have is Obaa and she's not very good with math either." Yuna sighed deeply "Wait... Stitch you know math?" She didn't know why she was surprised but she was. Maybe because she had been equating Stitch to be somewhat like a dog.
"Advanced trigonometry and beyond baby! Stitch got brain like computer!" He boasted with anime-like movements and looked at Yuna's math paper without permission and she blushed as Stitch began to laugh uncontrollably at it. "Ooh, naga butifa score."
"I used to be bad at math too, remember Stitch? She just needs some help." Lilo mentioned and Stitch scoffed at the memory, Lilo used to be absolutely horrid with math. In the end though it was a subject like any other, it just took practice. She had gotten much better as time went on, in fact she seemed to have a gift for it as long as she was equating it with something else.
"You learn things easier as long as zombies mentioned?" Stitch asked Yuna, reflecting on the only teaching methods he knew.
"Uh... no?" Yuna responded the question catching her way off-guard, she didn't see the point of him asking.
"Able to memorize different versions of music easily?" Stitch still thought though he was a genius for coming up with that product of numbers song to the tune of "That's Alright". Although the algebraic formulas one to the tune of "Hound Dog" was pretty good too. Jumba still sang that occasionally as far as he knew.
"I struggle with remembering exact song lyrics, why?" Yuna admitted and Stitch fell over in feign horror. He got up with a chuckle.
"Isa hopeless." Stitch shrugged with a further laugh "Sokka." He walked away a bit but the glare of the two girls stopped him.
"Stitch!" Lilo protested angrily at him "She's not going to learn the exact same way as me!" Stitch nodded embarrassedly as Lilo continued "You need to find out how she learns and help her like that!"
"Ooh, new challenge!" Stitch snickered, and rubbed his hands together mischievously "Interesting, excuse meega, need consult Jumba with teaching techniques!" He ran off passing the blond girl and her gang in the process. They protested with a screech and angry yelling.
"Ugh, it's Piko!" Yuna hissed heatedly.
"You know, I think she might not be too bad. She just needs a friend." Lilo had Mertle in mind when she looked at her. She had long since forgiven the red-haired girl and was willing to do the same for others.
"What?! You're not considering-" Yuna asked but it was too late since Lilo was already walking up to them.
"Hi! It's Piko, right?" Lilo greeted.
"What do you want freakazoid?" Piko backed away as if afraid and made a disgusted face at her.
"I just thought you looked a lonely, since you're always hanging out with you brother's friends I thought you might like to hang out with kids your age and -"
"EWW! No thank you. If it means hanging out with you losers, I'll gladly stay with Kouji and his friends!
"They're my possi!" She stated and the boys peered over her, Lilo fully expected them to chime "Yeah" but they didn't.
"C'mon Lilo - Let's go... Uh, I promised to show you how to swing from the vines, remember?!" Yuna panicked and pulled her new friend away from Piko "What'd you do that for? Don't aggravate her!" She hissed as soon as they were out of sight.
"Sorry, I thought she might be lonely." Lilo pouted and Yuna smiled at her.
"It's okay. It's nice of you to try and help her even though she was so mean to you. I think it's sweet Piko's fine though, really. She's just a brat. It's just how she is…" Lilo cast her head down at this, seeming to think and reflect.
Yuna nudged her "Hey, I meant it though. You wanna learn how to swing from the vines?" The two girls then proceeded to walk off into the forest together.
Stitch and Yuna sat at the table in Yuna's house and Yuna frustratedly stared at a piece of paper in anger. "This is useless! I'll never get it!"
"Yes you will, Yuna! Most important part is to never give up!" Stitch cheered and puched another
"Argh! Why is math so frustrating!? It's suppose to be easy! Two and two equals four, four and four equals eight!"
"Good! Good! Let's build off that. Two times two and two is eight. That's just twice first equation." Stitch wrote it down and showed it to her, "With practice, Math isa ..." He continued the patterns he wrote on the paper for her "Simple!"
"But I still don't get it!" Yuna protested as Lilo walked in excitedly at this moment "What do you mean twice first equation? What is this; algebra?!"
"Guys! Guys!" Lilo caught their attention as she bounced up and down as she ran down to them excitedly "The houses use kerosene heaters! " They sat there dumb-shocked at her excitement "It's awesome!"" She concluded with a punch to the air.
Yuna burst into laughter and so did Stitch. "You and your aunt seem to think everything's so fascinating. I didn't think Izayoi was all that interesting. It's just a small country island."
"That's what makes it so interesting!" Lilo smiled, "Ooh! I spotted one of those lizards, c'mon let's catch it!"
"Not now, Lilo. Tutoring Yuna." Stitch nodded her but started to write down some equations on the piece of paper he was holding out in front of him.
"Okay. See you later then." She ran outside and into the forest still in her light blue night gown. She laughed as she lunged for the small reptile "Get back here!"
"She's so strange, but it's a nice kind of strange." Yuna watched this with a smile and a slight scoff.
"Ih? Naga noticed. All Stitch knows is Pleakley will be mad about the dress." He pushed the words out as he concentrated on the equations in front of him. "These easy. Practice." He handed them to her.
"Okay, but before I do, can I ask you something?" Yuna
"Sure, shoot." Stitch didn't really seem to care
"How long are you guys staying?"
"...Ah..." Stitch thought about it and pondered "Until Hamsterviel is defeated for good." He concluded with a happy look on his face. "Now get working! Choppu-Choppu!~" They stayed there for hours trying to learn and teach.