CHAPTER EIGHT
AN INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT, PART ONE
Nick was sitting on the couch, next to Lilo and Stitch. He twiddled his thumbs in nervousness. Lilo twirled her hair, and Stitch was fast asleep…not. He was only pretending, secretly watching Nick to make sure the kid didn't do anything. He didn't trust him.
Nani had called up Cobra and had told him that a ten-year-old boy without any parents wanted to live with them. Not only that, he was a very unusual boy and you had better come see him for yourself. So Cobra had agreed, and he was on his way.
Jumba was sipping some guava juice, and Pleakley was vacuuming upstairs, belting out a stanza of something called "The Ballad of Bon". Nick couldn't understand anything he was saying, partly because of the vacuum, but mostly because he had no idea what many of the words Pleakley was using in the song MEANT.
He asked Jumba what Pleakley was singing. "Noodle man is singing song about ballet dancer warrior." "Oh." Nick said, and left it at that. "Hey, since Cannonball's still evil, what are we gonna do with him?" Jumba scratched his leg. "Well we currently have him lock-ed up in special holding cell." "Where?" "Uh…at creepy man in black's place." "You dumped him with Cobra Bubbles?" Nick asked indignantly. "Uh…heh heh…"
Lilo seemed to be trying to work up the courage to ask something, but she wouldn't say it. So Nick finally asked her. "Is something on your mind, Lilo?" "Well…uh…this is kind of a dumb question, but uh…you watch Monty Python?" "Yeah." Nick responded in a heartbeat. "I saw my first Monty Python movie with my dad at couple years ago." "Wow. You're lucky. My sister hardly ever lets me watch their movies." "Did you see "Holy Grail"?" "Yep! Did you see "And Now for Something Completely Different?" "Oh, I LOVE that one!" "Really? Me too!" "Hey, hey, did you see "Life of Brian?" "No, but I want to." "Me too!"
A knock at the door. "I'll get it." Nick said, running to it immediately. He opened it up, and blinked at the sight.
Oh no.
Myrtle Edmonds and her posse, Yuki, Elena and Teresa. Myrtle was a red-headed white girl with big glasses, a mean expression and a green shirt with white shorts. She had piercing blue eyes. Yuki had Hawaiian skin, and brown hair that was tied behind her head. Teresa was a girl of asian descent who had hair almost down to her shoulders, and Elena was blond-haired white girl with blue eyes and ponytails.
"Weird-Lo, we came to see the…oh! Hey, you're the kid who fell from the sky! How come you're not dead?"
Nick sighed. "…dumb luck, I guess. How come you're here, Myrtle?"
Myrtle took a step back, a little bit surprised. The posse looked confused too. "How do you know my name?"
Nick smiled good-naturedly. "Where I come from, you're a character in a TV show."
Myrtle turned red with embarrassment and beamed. "Oh really? Am I the dashing heroine? Or a clever female detective? Or a media superstar?" Myrtle fluffed up her hair.
"Actually, you're a cruel, spoiled brat on a animated show that's named after Lilo and her pet dog, Stitch. Your posse is in it too. Hi Yuki, Elena and Teresa. You look a lot less sarcastic in person than on the show."
Myrtle stopped twirling the lock of hair she'd been fiddling with, and stared at Nick in total shock and anger. "WHAT! I'm a cruel spoiled brat?" Nick wasn't mean, just sometimes stupidly honest. "Yep. You're posse always says "Yeaaah" whenever they agree with you, and they'd like Lilo if not for the fact that you're always forcing them to hate her. You should be nicer to her. I would think that you'd have some idea what it's like to be different from the others."
It's important to tell the truth…but that doesn't mean it's gonna help you all the time, and it DOESN'T keep you from being attacked by an angry red-head. The next thing Nick knew, Myrtle was on top of him, punching him over and over. Since he was a lot more durable than any normal human, they did nothing, but it was annoying to have her on him, and he pretended that she was really hurting him. "Ow! Yow! Get off me, Myrtle! Hey, that stings!" Stitch stuck his head out of a window and saw the fight. He snickered.
Lilo walked outside and saw Nick getting beat up. She immediately jumped on Myrtle and pretty soon it became a nasty scuffle between Myrtle and Lilo, while Nick crawled away to get Nani.
"You big jerk!"
"Freak!"
"Bully!"
"Loser!"
"Big meany!"
"Weird-Lo!"
"Get her, Myrtle!"
"Lilo beat stupidhead!"
"LILO, THAT'S ENOUGH!"
"MYRTLE EDMONDS, GET OFF LILO NOW!"
Both Mrs. Edmonds and Nani had arrived at the scene just in time before anyone got bitten. "Myrtle, shame on you!" said Mrs. Edmonds, pulling Myrtle off. Her posse ran for it. "Lilo, you've gotta stop getting into fights!" said Nani. Nick sighed. He hated moments like this. A lecture was sure to follow.
Lilo pouted, and Myrtle turned away angrily. Both "harrumped" and walked off with their respective guardians, and Nick sat outside, looking up at the sky. "If this is just a taste of things to come…I'm in for a lot of trouble." Stitch looked at Nick, unblinking for a few moments, and then he muttered something in Galatic, pulling his head back into the house and closing the window.
Then, lo and behold, it got WORSE. Nick suddenly noticed that several news vans were coming up the long driveway of Lilo's house. "Uh oh." He thought. He ran inside and locked the door. "Run! It's the media!" Nick said. "Huh?" "There's about four news cars outside, and I don't think you want them to see Jumba and Pleakley without their disguises, do you?"
Jumba ran for his room. Pleakley, who had seen the vans coming from out of the window, yelped and ran for the room as well. Lilo sat down angrily on the couch, folding her arms and sulking. "You're gonna sit there and think about what you did." said Nani. "I'm not sorry." Lilo said, sticking her tongue out. Nick looked at Lilo, with a long-suffering gaze. "Lilo, you didn't have to attack Myrtle, I was just about to get up, and her punches didn't hurt." "I don't care. She's mean." "Lilo, she's probably got problems of her own." "Like what?" "Well…I dunno…not really, anyway, but I think that…nah." "Think what?" "Well…have you ever met her dad?"
Lilo stopped pouting. She thought about the question, trying to remember a time she had met Myrtle's father. Nothing. "No, I've never met her dad…weird…and I've never seen him at Myrtle's house…" "Maybe she doesn't have one." Nick said, feeling a bit sorry for Myrtle. "Maybe he died, and that's why she's such a brat." "She could still be nicer to me." "I know, I know."
Pounding on the door. Then a shout. A huge crackling noise. Several explosions rocked the air, and then peeling rubber. Then it was all dead quiet. Nick suddenly felt a chill. He slowly walked up to the door. "Nick, what are you doing?" "Just checking something…" Nick said, slowly opening the door.
"Oh." He said simply.
There, standing on the porch, was a nastily-grinning experiment 221, electricity crackling between his long conductive antennae. It was Sparky, a Chinese Dragon-like experiment, who could create crippling electrical surges and turn into living electricity.
"Well this isn't good." Nick said.
WHO ARE YOU? CHARACTER BIOS!
Myrtle Edmonds
Myrtle Edmonds is a spoiled brat, with fairly rich parents and a nasty attitude. Her mother is slightly off-the-planet, and her father never seems to be around. (He's in the Souvenir business, in case you wanted to know.) She really, REALLY likes playing with dolls, hanging with her posse, and making fun of Lilo. She's also got an experiment as a pet, experiment 007, known as Gigi.
