Chapter 10

A Series of Unexpected Events

"What is he thinking?!" Sora cried out absolutely disgusted by what had just happened in Merlin's backyard. Not even twenty four hours had passed since the party had finished and Sora already found his blood boiling. He looked around the living room with his eyes glaring threateningly like daggers wanting nothing more than to start throwing and smashing things around the room.

"Sora, you need to calm down. You're acting exactly as Master Yen Sid described." Riku said.

"Oh I'd certainly hope so." Sora scoffed let out a harsh laugh that hurt more than he had expected. "I can't see why we can't focus on rescuing both Alice AND Luna instead of prioritizing one over the other."

"According to the old man, it's because of lack of human resources. At the end of the day they're both suicide missions so pick your poison." Lea said. Contrary to what he had just said, Lea had surprisingly shown the most reluctance when they had all heard Yen Sid criticise Sora for showing a reckless attitude as a Keyblade Master. It wasn't like the thought of defying orders was second nature to Lea. He had even gone through the trouble of learning to wield a Keyblade just so he could rescue Roxas and Xion. Therefore, it stood to reason that he would have been highly sympathetic to Sora's dilemma.

"As positive as ever I see." Xion said with a frown.

"What? It's true. That and it would be so convenient if they were both in the same place but I think you'll find that the worlds aren't so kind. And when you consider that we don't even know if Luna's—well, you know—then our best bet is with the one who is important to maintaining the balance of our worlds. Not necessarily my opinion but I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here." Lea replied.

"So at the end of the day it comes down to survival for the one who's more important?" Sora surmised if not just to point out how cruel that had just sounded.

"Well if you put it that way-"

"There's no other way to put it Lea. I care as much as anyone here about Alice but I'm not going to abandon Luna either. We can save both. That's why I'm so annoyed. It's like Yen Sid's just given up on her—like he thinks there's only one way to do things." Sora said clenching his fists so tightly that they began to feel hot and sweaty.

"I'm sure he hasn't given up on- okay, even if I tell you that, that's not gonna change your mind is it?" Lea asked only for Sora to shake his head and reply with a "Nope".

"I think need some coffee to calm you down Sora. We're definitely not giving up on Luna." Aerith said entering the room with a tray carrying a couple of mugs. She handed one to Sora before setting the rest down on the table.

"Wait a second, isn't caffeine a stimulant?" Kairi asked slowly. If only that were the problem, but Sora wasn't too concerned with that. The real problem was that he was now wary of any type of coffee that was given to him after last time. He didn't want to give the wrong impression to Aerith but that didn't stop him from peering into the mug as if he was suspicious of it.

"So let's go over our main objectives." Aqua said after taking a sip of her coffee. "We need to visit each of the princesses' worlds and make sure that we bring them here. We already know that one princess is safe so we have five more to go. In meantime we dig up clues for anything relating to Alice's whereabouts..." She looked wistfully over in Sora's direction but he didn't bother saying anything. He could only stare at the swirling brown liquid in front of him as he rotated it. He didn't know if it was just him or if it was the coffee that really tasted bitter.

Thus their meeting ended on a sour note as they all scrambled to gather their own thoughts over the next few hours before they each left for the world they had been assigned to. Sora, Riku and Kairi had been assigned to bring back their friend Belle who would be living comfortably with Prince Adam (formally known as the Beast). Having to separate the two for an unknown period of time after all they had been through would no doubt be crushing not just for them but for the trio who had fought against Xehanort just to see them stay together.

Those hours soon passed by quickly and the trio soon set off for the Gummi Hangar that had been built just outside of the town as of recent. Riku and Kairi were in the middle of their discussion while Sora was trailing behind with very much the same vacant look on his face that had been there since morning. The sudden feeling of a chill running down his spine grabbed his attention. He spun around, his eyes darting left to right and back as he tried to locate something or someone.

"Is something wrong Sora?" Kairi's concerned voice caused Sora to turn back again.

"Nothing, at least I don't think so. I'm probably just tired." Sora replied scratching his head. For a brief moment he had felt some presence behind him, like something had been following them and watching but in the end he had come across nothing. He didn't want to alert Riku and Kairi to something that could have just been his imagination especially when his own condition was in question at the moment. For now, it was safer to keep his mouth shut until something more conclusive happened. The walk to their destination continued.

"I don't know how many times we've said this but do you think we'll ever get one peaceful moment where we can just settle down in one place?" Kairi asked giving a hearty laugh once they had arrived at the hangar. The unusual sounds of clanging and pumping coupled with the turning of cogs and the smell of fuel made the three feel nauseous. Other than the entrance, there was a much larger exit on the opposite side of the hanger through which the Gummi Ship would leave through as soon as it left the ramp it was currently stationed on.

"I would hazard a guess and say no." Riku said. He seemed a lot more cheerful and accessible to the idea of Sora coming along with them after a night's sleep as Kairi had predicted but he hadn't expressly mentioned this to Sora. If anything, Riku seemed content with forgetting about it and putting it behind him. It was like a silent pact had been formed between the two to not speak of their argument again—or maybe it was simply an 'agree to disagree' situation.

"So, that's it then. We're heading for Belle…" Kairi reiterated what had been agreed on in the meeting.

"Yeah, though not necessarily right now." Riku's words surprised both Sora and Kairi who let out an undignified sound that was drowned out by the machines nearby. "Well, our mission is to take Belle back here. We didn't discuss when we had to do that."

Sora stared blankly for a second as if he had just misheard something, but seeing Riku's slight smirk confirmed that what he had heard was correct. Eventually Sora's deadpan expression changed into that of a little child who had been told that he had received presents from Santa Claus on Christmas. A glistening twinkle returned in his eye that hadn't been there for so long and he could feel the anger flowing out of him like water out of a broken dam.

"RIIIIIKUUUU, I LOVE YOU BUDDY!" he cried moving into hug the frozen silver haired recipient.

"Uh Sora, please not here. This is just…" Riku said struggling to find the right words, and struggling to take Sora off him while doing so.

"Oh it's OK. You can get all sentimental with me and stuff. I promise I won't bite." Sora said continuing to keep hold off his friend.

"Much." Kairi added with a flirty wink.

"Kairi, you aren't helping here!" Riku pointed out with his voice managing to break halfway.

"Sorry to interrupt your little moment here, but this baby's all ready and itchin' to go." Cid said having just emerged from the Highwind with a toolbox in one hand. Sora detached himself from Riku and gave a thumbs up to the Gummi mechanic. "I made some quick changes to the Heat Sink which should prevent your weapons from overheatin' too quickly. I also improved on the rocket propulsion system so that you can enter warp drive a hell of a lot faster. Should get yeh outta some tight spots I'd imagine."

"Where would we ever be without you Cid?" Sora asked with a simpering grin.

"Dead prob'ly." Cid answered a little too quickly for the three to take seriously.

"You don't even want to know how many times that has come close to being true." Sora supplemented knowing fully well the trauma that crashing into a jungle, being swallowed by a whale and being rammed by a ship could cause. Sora, Donald and Goofy had miraculously survived each of these counters and then some but there was always the possibility that his luck would run out sooner or later.

"Kairi!"

The four of them turned to see Aqua running up to them from the hangar's entrance doors. Sora was just barely able to catch the object that she holding at her side as she ran. She stopped just short of them and held out the wayfinder in front of her.

"It's… for communication… in case… we need to… update each other." Aqua panted bending over to catch her breath.

"Seriously, you do too much for us Aqua. If I ever wrong you in any way… please feel free to slap Sora." Kairi said.

"What's my contribution then? Chopped liver?" Cid grunted before placing a toothpick in his mouth.

"Hey I don't need two people after me thank you very much." Sora defended with raised hands.

"I could never do that to Sora. Kairi, I'll leave up to you to discipline these two when the going gets tough. Think you can handle that responsibility?" Aqua asked. Like Colette, she seemed to possess a motherly charm to her that you wouldn't believe simply by judging her on her youthful appearance. This partly stemmed from her sworn devotion to look after Kairi after she had found out that she had been responsible for performing the rite of succession on the red head at a young age by accident.

The rite of succession… an act by which the inheritor of a Keyblade has the authority to pass down the ability to wield one to another person. He used the word 'authority' because it couldn't just be passed down to anyone. It was more of the Keyblade's choice as to whether that person was suitable or not rather than the person. The Keyblade was picky about things like that. Unlike Riku and Kairi, Sora had never had such a contract of sorts. He was under the label of a reserve wielder but had eventually earned the right to wield one.

The whole thing made him think of Luna though. How had she gotten her Keyblade? If she was like Riku and Kairi, then she would have had to have obtained it from someone. While he had thought of Abraxas as a possible suspect at first, it made no sense as to why he would have given her the Keyblade only to then try and turn her into a chimera so she couldn't use it.

Then there was Astra. Was it a coincidence that two close friends were both able to wield a Keyblade? His own personal history had told Sora no. If a Keyblade somehow found its way to one of them first then it would have explained how the other had obtained it but Luna hadn't mentioned anything about her friend having a Keyblade after she had regained her memories.

That left the possibility of her situation being more like Sora's, except that it wasn't. Sora had gotten the Keyblade because Riku had given into the darkness at the time. Abraxas had seen the potential in her before Traverse Town which was why he had chosen her as his first experiment. How had he even known in the first place that she had the potential? A mystery having its own mysteries was nothing new in the daily life of Sora, but it didn't mean that he had become any less engrossed by them.

"I'll try. I can't promise I'll be as effective as you though." Kairi admitted humbly. Much like Yen Sid, Kairi had been strengthening and learning new types of magic from Aqua as well, thus considering her to be a mentor figure.

"Well, it was nice seeing you three again. We'll be leaving later but if you want to contact us just think of the person you want to talk to while holding the wayfinder. I'm also handing one to Roxas and Mickey so you'll be able to contact them as well. Good luck." Aqua said before pulling each of them into a hug. After she had withdrawn from Riku, she gave them a final goodbye before leaving the hangar in much the same way she came in, by running.

It was their soon turn to say their final goodbyes to Cid and before Sora knew it, he was already on the Gummi Ship watching as the Radiant Garden grew farther and farther away from him.

Sora took great pleasure in commandeering the Highwind once again, pulling up on the joystick as the ship ascended higher and higher through the clouds until it emerged among a sea of blue among swirls and gas clouds of many colors spanning different directions across who knew how many distances. Farther than that you would have the semi-occasional vortex, galaxy clusters and stunning nebulae. While in his sickbed, the thought of returning to the Gummi Ship and travelling among the sea between worlds was often a comforting one.

What wasn't a comforting thought was the inevitable sea of Heartless ships that they would have to battle their way through. They would have no choice but to cut their way through using their awesome supply of firepower when the time came. However, Sora did find one good improvement on the ship to take enjoyment in much to his sheer pleasure.

"At least Cid installed that cup holder I was asking for. Like, it's such a basic function but every time I asked for one he was all like 'Oh what're ya gonna do with a cup holder? Brag at the Heartless that ya have one?' And now does he finally see reason. Now if only there was a space diner somewhere around here…"

"I guess you should have asked for a percolator and some ground coffee along with it." Kairi replied. She was sitting on the seat to the right of him with her arms resting behind her head.

"I don't think that far ahead, I improvise. Take right now for example, no idea where we're going. There has to be something out there, I just know there has to be." Sora murmured. His hands moved up and settled on his neck as if trying to feel something. He had given his necklace to Luna, something he had never really done before. It was an invaluable item. A lucky charm of sorts to him and Luna knew that, so if she was still out there somewhere then he hoped that the necklace was doing a better job than he was at keeping her safe.

Desiree Elegia Skye quietly nibbled on the croissant she was eating so as to savor its buttery and flaky texture while watching as Vyce walked up to and sat down opposite her. Regardless of whether they had a mission to complete or not, Desiree had always found time to come to one of her favorite bakeries when possible. Having come here on multiple occasions, she could proudly say that she adored it all. The Parisian cuisine, the Parisian architecture, the Parisian festivals—she enjoyed Parisian life in general.

Her colleague on the other hand was not as nearly obsessed. Vyce tapped on the table with his fingers in a repeated rhythm as he watched Desiree eat in the slowest possible way.

"You know they say you are what you eat. Considering how much of those things you eat, I'm surprised you still look like that. Plus all that butter can't be good for you." Vyce pointed out.

"I simply have to catch up after wasting thirteen years of my life sleeping, non?" Desiree replied before setting the half eaten croissant down and leaning her chin on both her hands. "If you're worried about my fit and unbearably cute body, you don't have to worry. I know more about my body's needs than you do."

"I don't know where you get off calling yourself cute darling." Vyce mumbled.

Desiree giggled and shook her head. "You don't appreciate the beauty of most things. And besides, I know Sora definitely thought I was cute." she said.

"Would you actually have gone on a date with him? Come on, I won't tell." Vyce egged on.

"If he were willing to treat me like a princess, why not?" Desiree replied with a smile on her face that feigned to be innocent.

"I don't even know why I asked. You're spoilt to a fault. Hardly my idea of cute." Vyce said.

Desiree smirked and, finding a topic of interest, decided to exploit it because that was what she liked to do best. "And what is? Astra?"

"You are full of it sometimes. I have no interest in her or you. Besides, she's not going to be with us for long anyway. As soon as she finds her friend, she's out of here." Vyce said showing a lack of interest. In reality, Desiree knew Vyce long enough to know that he usually concealed most of his emotions very well. This was with the exception of his snarky and wolfish nature whenever he felt like displaying them of course. "Where is she right now anyway? She didn't come back with us…"

"Oui. She told Salome that she needed some time alone to think things through. I wouldn't be surprised if she was trying to look for her friend by herself. She's always seemed the lone wolf type." Desiree highlighted.

"Does she even have any ideas as to where her friend is?" Vyce asked.

"She may or may not have told me." Desiree said playfully wagging her right index finger. "But we've been trying to help gather Intel. All I shall say is that any trail leading to Luna would amount to a dead end. It's not her we should be thinking about."

It seemed however that her fun was ruined as Vyce immediately knew the answer to what she was talking about. "It's the background radiation right? Find the source of the fog and you find Luna. Yeah I've done my research, or at least as much as I could on something that doesn't make sense. The biggest report of the radiation I could find was in the Pride Lands. I doubt you've ever been there because you're you but there have been reports of the inhabitants of that place turning insane and attacking their own kind. Unlike any other world, it's taken on a physical manifestation there. It's become a literal physical and breathing fog. Kohle sees that world as a priority for us to focus on."

Desiree shrugged. "Oh did he? I must have missed that."

"Only because you were lazy and didn't bother to come to the meeting. Expecting other people to drag you away from your makeup desk isn't the exactly the sign of a productive person you know? But yeah, the fog in that world is less like fog and more like a virus of sorts. I dread to think of what would happen if it spread to other worlds. It looks to be containing itself for now though but that doesn't exactly help those stuck inside," Vyce said. Desiree considered this carefully before picking up her croissant and biting into it again. So thirteen years later, she had woken up to a World that was tearing itself apart through a series of unexpected events. But at the end of the day, she supposed that was what being a Keyblade Wielder was about and especially a member of Moira's Crescent. It was about protecting the things that mattered and striving to preserve the balance between light and dark.

"Do you believe that Astra could convince Luna to come and live with us?" asked Desiree suddenly.

"My, I didn't know you cared." Vyce said with a toothy grin.

Desiree realized what she had said and how she had said it and immediately scoffed to cover it up. "I don't. It's time for us get back to the cathedral and continue with our mission. Allons-y!" she said, wolfing down the remaining piece of croissant with an endearing smile that held more secrets and falsehoods than it let on.

Red lasers reigned down upon the Heartless ships taking them out one by one as the Gummi Ship drove through the swarm with amazing speed and resistance. Even though the weapons on the ship were powerful, there were simply too many ships in the way to attack and so Sora couldn't help it if some of them hit against the Gummi Ship. It was hard-shelled shield for the Highwind that was the difference between victory and defeat. Sora wouldn't have exactly called it impenetrable because with enough force anything could bypass it, but it wasn't exactly feeble either.

"We're right in the eye of the storm. It's insane how many of them there are!" Kairi yelled as Sora swerved to the left to avoid a Driller Heartless' punch. On another part of the ship would have been the turret compartment that Riku was currently using. Sora could make out a flash of light in the form of a sword cut that knocked the Driller aside causing it to explode.

"You know, your words of 'encouragement' aren't exactly helping." Sora said irritably as he straightened the ship out before flicking a few controls on the panel before him. "We're gonna have to go into warp drive."

"Sounds good to me-" Kairi was thrown off her footing and fell forward only to be caught by Sora in time. Another rock of the ship resulted in a crack on the window appearing. "What is going on?"

"Beats me, I thought the shields were up unless…" Letting Kairi go, Sora punched at and banged on a few buttons on the console but something was incredibly amiss. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the shield generator to start working again.

"You do know what each button does right?" Kairi asked.

"Please Kairi, you're insulting my intelligence. I think I've flown this thing enough times to know where each thing is." Sora said when in fact he had only flown it so many times that he had become accustomed to the basic buttons. He had never dared touch most of the buttons on the panel except for the ones Donald had taught him to use. Having the Gummi Ship on autopilot most times had not really helped.

"What's going on up there? The engine keeps making this weird noise from down here, I don't know if you can hear it. Is everything alright or should I be worried?" Riku's voice sounded from the intercom speaker.

"I'd say it's a cause for concern, yeah. Sora, just take us into warp drive." Kairi urged not seeming to realize that her breathing was getting incredibly louder by the minute. Sora couldn't fault her but it did help in covering up his own breathing.

"Yeah… about that. It's not working for some reason. It's like the system is locking up or something. Riku, stay where you are and keep shooting. Kairi, can you go down into the engine room and check it out because if this is any indication we are suffering from an engine malfunction." Sora ordered. The Highwind was rocked again, this time not from a Heartless but definitely from somewhere below the cockpit which just so happened to be where the engine was located.

"On it boss." Kairi said. With the Highwind starting to shake violently, Kairi somehow managed to float her way over to the back of the room and down the hallway before arriving at the door all the way in the back.

She opened it to see a ladder going down into the Highwind's interior. Kairi bent down and descended to the level below her attaching to the ladder like glue as the ship made several unexpected jolts. The amount of strange Gummi blocks and equipment in the room allowed Kairi grasp just how naïve she was when it came to the technology.

And here Sora thought it was a good idea to send me. I am so getting him back for this, Kairi promised to herself before looking around. She just hoped that the problem was obvious and incredibly overt otherwise she didn't know what chance she stood of finding it. It probably would have also helped to have asked what exactly she was looking for.

She started whistling to herself as she walked through and analyzed the various components of the ship. If she were Chip or Dale she would automatically assume that it was the biggest looking Gummi piece that was responsible for the operations of the ship.

Faint, but certain, Kairi managed to pick up on a scuttling sound from somewhere above her but when she looked up at the ceiling she found nothing of importance. The idea of believing the sound just to be in her head flew out of the window when she heard the scuttling again, much louder this time and then slowly dissipating off into an echo somewhere behind her. Had a Heartless somehow found its way onto the ship?

Kairi summoned her Keyblade and grasped onto the railing (in case the ship rocked again) while making her way around the room.

"Hello?" Kairi asked before shaking her head vigorously. She couldn't believe she was trying to make a horror cliché out of this. If it was a Heartless, it wouldn't have responded anyway—not that she expected the killer to respond to such a call in a horror movie either.

More scuttling. Kairi could tell she was getting close as the sounds became louder and more pronounced. The lights in the room flickered on and off several times with its longer moments sending Kairi into a state of sharp erratic breathing. It was near the back of the room that she got her first clear glimpse of the creature—enough to know that it wasn't a Heartless.

"Stitch wasn't it?" That was what Sora had referred to it by when he and Terra, Ven and Aqua had shared stories about the blue alien. More formally known as Experiment 626, the creature had been chewing on some cables as if they were edible only to spit them out a second later in disgust.

"Iky!" Stitch yelled. He made a throwing up sound before scuttling over to what Kairi assumed was the engine if her theory about the biggest Gummi block being it was true. From the looks of it, it already seemed quite damaged with the plating having been completely torn off leaving a strange green glow to emanate from the inside. He reached out for it and stopped short before turning to Kairi.

"Stitch, or Experiment 626… whatever you want to be called… whatever you do, just please do not touch that." Kairi said pointing to the green glow.

"Touch… that?" For a moment Stitch looked as if he were seriously mulling those words over in his head. Kairi wondered if she had actually managed to get through to him but his next actions proved otherwise. He pulled a face and started laughing maniacally before digging his claws into the green light.

For the next few seconds, or maybe even minutes, Kairi could not tell one thing from another. The easiest things to distinguish would have been what had happened at the start. The green light had vanished and along with it the lights illuminating the engine room covering her sight in a blanket of thick darkness. The vibration and humming of the ship soon stopped underneath her feet afterwards. Suddenly the ship was dropping in altitude rapidly and she along with it. She tripped over a bunch of wires and hit her head on something hard causing her to slump to the metallic floor through loss of consciousness.

Sora's eyes fluttered open to see the rays of strong sunlight stare directly back at him through the cracked windshield. An identifiable feature of the setting in front of him was palm trees, something which he knew grew only in warm temperate climates. Seeing this filled him with hope even if he knew that this was impossible. It was gone, and yet here were some trees that he could only familiarise with the Destiny Islands.

In any case he was in no condition to move. The impact of the crash was such that it had thrown Sora's head forward into the console panel. The intense headache was met with an equally intense heat from the sun that dazed him. He wanted to close his eyes again and feel the warmth tickle his face. He had almost done it too if not for Riku's arrival on the scene.

"You alright? I found Kairi in the engine room along with this thing," Riku announced holding up a sleeping Stitch in his hands. "I had to put him to sleep since he kept trying to get away and trust me, it wasn't easy. Looks like the Gummi responsible for the engine was damaged by our little blue friend here."

"Stitch? You're kidding me. How did he even get on the ship?" Sora murmured keeping his head down on the console panel out of laziness.

"How did he get into the engine room is the question. I'd say he came in around the time Cid was making changes to the ship." Riku guessed. It made sense given that the only time the door to the engine room would have been opened was when Cid was using it. In other words, Stitch had already been on the ship when Sora, Riku and Kairi had embarked on it.

Sora finally lifted his head from its resting place and swivelled the chair around to see Kairi holding a bag of ice to her head looking none too pleased. "You need some help there?" he asked.

"No, it's okay. I just didn't think one little creature would be capable of so much havoc. I underestimated him and boy did I feel the effects of it," Kairi admitted. "When Aqua and the others mentioned that Experiment 626 was a highly intelligible creature created by a mad scientist, I found that hard to believe. So… unless he sabotaged the Highwind on purpose…"
"He may have also been looking for food. Probably thought the energy provided in the Engine Gummi was a good source of sustenance." Riku suggested.

"What a drag." Sora stated. He turned back to the console and pressed a few buttons hoping to hear the usual gargle of the engine and the lighting up of various buttons and display units. Instead he was met with an unyielding dead circuit board. "The engine's gone bust. Unless we find some other Gummi out there then we're stuck."

Out there… As the words left Sora's mouth he found them immediately stupid. To chances of happening across a spare Gummi engine in whatever world they were currently in was unlikely. Even if they did find one, Sora had no idea how to install it onto the Gummi Ship.

He needed to calm down and think carefully. It was better to take things in smaller steps right now than big ones. The first thing that needed to be done was to gather information on the world they were in.

He was about to tell Riku and Kairi as much when a knock on the emergency exit door was heard. Silence filled a room with already uneasy faces. No one was willing to make a move, at least until a second set of knocks were heard.

"Hello, is anyone in there?" A young girl's voice called loudly from the other side.

"Lilo! Ooh, I swear if you get me into trouble…" said a much deeper voice this time indicating that an older woman was there along with the girl.

"Admit it, you're just scared."

"Scared? What, of the gigantic spaceship that just came out of nowhere and almost destroyed our house? Of course I am!"

Riku frowned and watched as Sora stood up. "You think we should open it?"

"We can't stay in here forever. Look, it'll be fine." Sora replied and proceeded over to the door where he grabbed at the edges before sliding the door aside. He was immediately met with a punch to the face. It had been quick and completely unexpected giving the Keyblade wielder no time to dodge at all. He stumbled over and fell while holding his nose which felt like it was on fire.

"Oh, you look human. I am so sorry." The older woman apologized with a flustered smile. She seemed to resemble the younger girl in looks so Sora assumed that they were related in some way.

"Could be aliens in disguise." The girl which had been called Lilo earlier said.

"Lilo, that is just impossible!" The woman snapped before looking at Sora, Riku and Kairi suspiciously. "Though now that I think about it, that doesn't explain what you're doing here in this… thing."

"Doesn't explain why you had to punch me either but then again I guess I'm used to my face being a magnet by now." Sora complained.

"Maybe it would help if we introduced each other first. I'm Riku, she's Kairi and the guy you punched would be Sora." Riku introduced.

"I'm Nani and this is Lilo, my little sister though I suppose since I'm the sole carer for her now and since she acts like a baby sometimes, I kinda feel more like a mother at times. With any luck, I won't start to look old before my time." Nani joked.

"Do you happen to know where we are?" Kairi asked.

"See? No normal person would ask that kind of question." Lilo pointed out sanguinely.

"Trust me—we're as normal as they come, and then maybe a little extra." Kairi said. "This is just a… um, an experiment that we are doing by… er…"

"Oh no, it's the secret services isn't it?" Nani said with a frightened expression on her face.

"Ye- I mean… well it wouldn't be a secret if we told you now, would it?" Kairi replied happy that Nani had accepted something though judging from her expression, this secret service didn't seem to be a good thing.

"But you three just look like a bunch of kids. Do you have identification?" Nani asked. Sora wanted to laugh. No one would have believed such a flimsy explanation as that in the first place.

Uh oh, and commencing yet another punch in three, two, one…

"It's a new recruitment programme for highly skilled people from a young age. We've been chosen to look after a highly sensitive subject though I can understand that you wouldn't believe us so here it is." Riku said before presenting Stitch to her. "I can't really divulge anything since it's classified but let's just say the experiment went awry and we'd appreciate it if you could give us any information that might be helpful."

Smooth.

Nani reflected on these words but it was ultimately her eyes that favored Sora and the others. They rested on the blue creature, looking almost fearful at its strange appearance.

She ran the tip of her tongue against her bottom lip thoughtfully before speaking. "You're in Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands. We're right outside our house but I suppose you can't move this thing somewhere else?"

"Engine's dead. You're going to have to bear with us just a while longer I'm afraid." Riku answered with a painful smile. He probably couldn't even believe that he was going this far with a lie, but what else could they do? The story of having come from another world would have seemed convincing to a young girl like Lilo, but Nani was surely not going to believe it. If Lilo could keep a secret then perhaps Sora would think about telling her the truth later on.

"We'll be happy to help you in any way we can… of course I'm not sure how much help I can provide to the secret services but-"

"Oh, he's waking up!" Lilo proclaimed. They all watched as Stitch's ears twitched becoming more fervent by the second. Eventually its eyes opened and started stretching in Riku's palms. Then, noticing that it was being heavily watched it changed personality instantly. Stitch let out a low growl reminiscent of an angry puppy before attempting to gnaw on Riku's hand. Its handler withdrew their hand just in time but at the expense of letting him.

"Hey, you're not going anywhere!" Sora shouted. His hands parted from his nose and instead focused on catching Stitch who was trying to make a break for the door. Once again, Sora's head became the target of abuse and Stitch easily jumped through Sora's grasp at the last possible second and onto his head. He stomped on Sora's head for a second in triumph before jumping off and exiting the ship.

"This is really getting old!" Sora exclaimed in annoyance as Riku, Kairi, Nani and Lilo watched the alien creature disappear into the local and yet strangely comparable flora.

You may or may not wish to have a Tantalog translator with you, or you can hope to high heavens that Stitch learns some 'Murican soon.