CHAPTER NINE
ICE, ICE BABY
It was 8:00 AM at Lilo's school. Class was just about to start, but the teacher, a middle-aged boomer with bushy brown hair stood up and addressed the class, sweeping her arm towards a 10-year-old boy who had just entered the room.
"Class, I'd like to introduce you to your new classmate, Nicholas Michael Grey."
Nicholas Michael Grey smiled. "Hey, everyone! Call me Nick Grey, thankyouverymuch." Imitating Elvis, he slicked his hair back with a comb he'd brought in, and gave a big, cocky grin, giving everyone a thumbs up. Several girls let out distracted sighs, and a few of the boys grinned right back.
Myrtle "harrumphed" and looked away. Her posse, however, were gazing admiringly at Nick. She tossed them a very nasty look, and the gazes became frowns instantly. Nick sat down next to a boy with puffy blond hair and a laid-back posture. Then he faced the teacher.
"Okay, Nick. It's time to act like you've never acted before!" He thought.
"Now today class, for our last lessons, we're going to be learning about the presidents." The teacher pulled down a diagram from the ceiling which showed all of the presidents. Nick's eyes wandered over the diagram until he saw the last president…George W. Bush.
Mental note to self, Nick thought. Write "THIEF" over that jerk's face later on.
"Now there's going to be a presidential election this year, and can anybody name the two major candidates?"
Myrtle Edmonds raised her hand. "Yes, Myrtle?" Myrtle responded in a heartbeat. "John Kerry and George W. Bush." "Correct. Good, Myrtle. Now, can anyone tell me who ran for president in the election of 2000?" Myrtle again. "Albert Gore and George W. Bush." "Good, Myrtle." Nick raised his hand. "Yes, Nick?" asked the teacher. "Don't forget Ralph Nader." Nick said. "He didn't get a lot of votes, but he still ran for president and he's a big enough third party candidate to be counted." "Right. Good, Nick. Can you tell us who won the 2000 election?"
Steady, Nick. Steady.
"Well, that's open for some debate."
"How so?"
Don't get on your soapbox!
"Well on Election Night, the TV networks were saying that Gore was in the lead, but it looked like it was going to be too close to call."
"Right, right."
If you do, there's no turning back!
"Then Fox News…"
No! Don't! Don't go there! NOOOO-aw, too late.
"What happened was Fox News called it in favor of Bush because the head of Fox News, John Ellis, is a cousin and close friend of George. Then Katherine Harris's tactics proved their worth, and she and others who were working the polling stations turned away thousands of black voters mostly because they had the same name as convicted felons or because they were suspected to be felons. Not only that, there was some monkey business with overseas ballots from our fighting troops, and on top of that, when Albert Gore demanded that every vote be counted, the Supreme Court, led by Bush-backed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stopped the count, and announced that Bush had won the election. Though the popular vote, and in reality the electoral vote, went to Gore, the Supreme Court gave the presidency to Bush. People were so mad that 20,000 protestors showed up in Washington DC, at the walk to the White House on the day that Bush was supposed sworn in, and they jeered at him and threw all the ingredients for a good omelet at his limo."
Silence all around. Lilo blinked slowly at Nick. Myrtle's glasses slipped off of her face and landed with a "clink" on the desk. The posse's mouths were all wide open, and the class was astounded. The teacher had been biting on her nail. She had stopped, but her finger was still in her mouth, nail half-bitten. She looked at Nick, totally amazed.
"Okay, my flabber is officially gasted." said the blond-haired kid, whose name was Charlie. "How'd you know all that stuff?" "I…uh…read a lot." "Cool." said Charlie. He stood up and gave Nick a standing ovation. Then Lilo did the same. Soon the rest of the class had followed, and the teacher finally called for quiet.
"Well, uh…I can see that you know a lot about historic events, Nick." "Yep!" Nick said proudly.
Wait…historic? What year was this?
"Well, I'm sure you'll do just fine in my class, even though there are only a few weeks left of school." "Well I'll do my best." "Good. Now class, all I have for homework is this." The teacher put the diagram away and wrote the assignment on the board. "Pick a famous political figure in US history. Write about why you like him, what makes him famous and what his personal life was like. Then present in front of the class in two days. Tomorrow we'll go to the library to do some studying."
Riiiiiing! The bell. Time to go to art period, Nick thought. The art class was going to be doing some classic watercolor painting. Nick was good with painting and was very creative, so it was going to be a snap. However…
His classmates were a little…rowdy.
Nick learned that the hard way when a gob of red paint went flying through the air, almost hitting his nice "Spring Break" t-shirt. He ducked just in time…and it whacked Myrtle Edmond's hair. Myrtle turned and looked at who had thrown it: Charlie. "Ha-ha!" Charlie said.
A few minutes later, he wasn't laughing. Myrtle had walked over and dumped all of her blue paint all over his head. Both Myrtle and Charlie were led out of the room by an angry teacher who had JUST started counting the years until retirement. Nick resisted any urge to laugh at the sight.
Meanwhile, just outside the school…
It should have been 77 degrees out. But the temperature was dropping, fast. 60…50…40!
Soon it was a little more than 20 degrees out, and snow began to fall gently onto the cold Hawaiian ground, which had become icy and hard. A cackling experiment watched the fruits of his labor settle over the island, and he grinned nastily. This experiment was seemingly made of ice, with spiky icicles jutting from his head, sharpened hands that were no more than spikes, and spiky feet. You could see right through him almost, his body was a chilling mix of blue and white, like…well…ice! Plus he had beady black eyes that gazed over the island as snow and ice fell upon it, snow and ice HE had spread with his great powers. His next stop was this school.
Experiment 523, better known as Slushy, jumped down from the tree he was on and walked towards the door of the school, and blew it open with a huge gust of icy power from his mouth. He walked inside and listened. Hmm…lots of noise from that room down the hall. He'd start there. He walked towards the room, spreading ice and snow throughout the hallway as he walked with a "CHICK-CHICK" sound.
The room was the art room. It was noisy because a huge paint fight had erupted. It had started innocently enough…
"Hey Lilo, could you pass me that brown paint?"
"Sure. I'm almost done…there! What do you think?"
"Oooooh…a zombie reclining in a field of dasies…nice! Hey, you drew the heart OUTSIDE the skin?"
"Yep! It's very detailed, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's really accurate, especially for watercolor. I'm drawing something really famous."
"What?"
"You'll see. I'm gonna add my own personal touch. I just need to add the brown paint."
A few strokes there, a little dab there, and soon…
"Voila!"
"Oh, wow! Cool!"
"I call it…the Mona Lilo!"
"Hee-hee…thanks, Nick! I like it!"
"Shucks, it's nothing…"
Suddenly Yuki, who had been carrying a tray of blue, white and yellow paint, tripped. The paint went flying through the air, splattering on Nick's beautiful portrait. Nick, eyebrows furrowed angrily, slowly turned to look a tYuki, who gave a nervous grin.
"Uh…sorry?"
"PAINT FIGHT!" Nick shouted, grabbing a can of royal blue and tossing it into the air, sending paint flying all over. Soon it was chaos. Pink, green, orange and purple splotches decorated the walls and floors. Elena had been downed by a small bucket of yellow paint. Yuki was hiding underneath a chair. Teresa ran for the closet. Lilo was flinging paint with wild abandon, laughing, and Nick had grabbed the painting and ran.
He made it to the door and yanked it open. He stopped cold. Slushy looked up at him and blinked slowly. Nick closed the door again. "Lilo!" Nick yelled. "Is Slushy supposed to be in your school?"
Lilo dropped the brush covered in orange paint that she was using to draw a huge sun. She looked at Nick. "No…he's one of the experiments that have been missing…why?" "Well…he's here." Knock-knock came the door.
"Everyone hide!" Nick shouted. The kids stopped throwing paint to look at Nick. "Why?" asked Yuki. "Um…" Nick didn't think they'd believe that an illegal genetic experiment was just about to attack, but luckily Lilo thought up something quick. "The teacher's coming back! Everyone, let's get out through the windows!" The kids shrieked and ran for the windows, climbing out and running back to their respective houses, not wanting to be caught red, orange, green, blue or yellow-handed.
Lilo breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew. Okay, they're gone."
BAM!
The door was knocked down. Slushy grinned at Lilo and ran at her, preparing to freeze her. Nick reacted quickly, PUNTING the little jerk across the room and into the sink before he could blow ice upon Lilo. Nick turned back to Lilo and shouted out "Get Stitch! Quick!" Lilo nodded, and ran for the window, climbing out. Nick turned back to Slushy, who had jumped up from the sink and was now taking a deep breath. "Uh oh." Nick thought. He ducked underneath a table just in time as frozen breath sailed across the room, turning supplies, chairs and tables to ice.
Nick slowly stuck his head out and looked at the icy table he was now under. "Yikes." He said. "If I'm not careful, I'm gonna get turned into a popsicle!" Slushy took another deep breath. "Crikey!" Nick said, rushing out from the table and running to the closet. He yanked it open. "What the? Teresa?" "What's going on?" "Quick, move over!"
Not very far away…
"Hey, Nani." said a young Hawaiian man with dark black hair parted in the middle, the "fancy hair" reaching down almost to his cheeks. His name was David, and he was Nani's unofficial sweetheart.
Nani herself was working at the Surf Shack, a little shack near the beach that sold surfing and beach equipment. She always worked on the weekdays, from 9-5. It was a pretty tough job, but she was good at it. Really good. And seeing David often was just one of it's perks.
"How's it?" he asked. "Oh, you know." "I heard you adopted that kid everyone's talking about. The one that fell from the sky. Is he okay?" "Yeah, he's okay. He wolfed down five pancakes this morning, so he's okay." "Pleakley made breakfast?" "No, Nick did. He said it was "his treat"." "That's nice of him." David commented. He nervously kicked at the sand beneath him. "Hey, Nani, I was wondering…if you're not busy this weekend…" Nani looked incredulously at him. "David, are you asking me on a DATE?" David blushed and turned to leave. "If you're busy, I can-" "I'd LOVE to." Nani said.
David stopped moving. He slowly turned around to look at Nani. "Really? You mean it?" "Yes." Nani said, smiling. David broke into a huge grin, and ran over and HUGGED Nani over the counter she was manning. "Mahalo plenty, Nani! I'll call you!" he said, running off and making the "Call" signal with his hand. Nani made the signal back and mouthed "okay" at him.
Meanwhile, just outside…
Gantu and 625 watched the art room from the bushes. 625 had a video camera in his hands, and Gantu was fingering a plasma pistol, just in case. "Are you getting all of this on the recording device?" "Ya mean the video camera? Uh huh. I'm getting it, I'm getting it, ya Spielberg wanna-be. That cousin of mine is really-oh wow! I didn't know you could DO that with a chair." "Your cousins are very good at being evil." "Yeah, remind me to thank Angel later on for helping us make our job a little easier." "If the doctor will let you see her. He doesn't trust you near her for some reason." "Well we were…were once…a couple." Gantu looked at 625, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." "Fair enough. I too once had a lady love…" "Yeah, but we know what happened to her, remember?" "Well all I can say is I hope she's happy now." "Admit it. You were crushed when you found out she'd gone all middle-age." "Shut iiiit! I'm still in charge here!" "Hey, that reminds me…how did you get to be a Captain in Galactic Federation anyway?"
Gantu turned pale and shivered. "Hey buddy, something I said?" "I…I'd rather not talk about it. I REALLY do not want to talk about it." 625 felt sorry for his "partner". Something was really bothering him. "Okay, I won't ask about it, pal. But I wonder where Lilo went?"
As a matter of fact, Lilo had run to the front of the school, to the big tree in front, so that she could find Stitch, who was waiting patiently for her. Stitch had gotten bored and had started rolling around in the grass, watching the clouds. Then he'd noticed a huge caterpillar, which was making a cocoon. The caterpillar had added some final touches and was now snug as a bug in a rug inside the sticky-looking cocoon. The cocoon, however, would not protect the bug from Stitch.
Stitch climbed up the tree and onto the branch the cocoon hung from. He delicately plucked it off and hopped down from the tree. Reclining against it, he sniffed the cocoon and licked his lips. He leisurely opened his mouth wide, and held the cocoon in his claws, ready to drop it in…
"STITCH!"
Stitch sat up, dropping the cocoon. Lilo walked over and put her hands on her hips. "Stitch, I thought you'd given bug-eating a rest!" "Meega sota." "Gimme the cocoon." "Naga!" Stitch grabbed it and put it behind his back. "Mockeecha!" "It's not YOUR cocoon, it's the caterpillar's! Put it back!" "Oh…oketaka." Stitch climbed back up the tree and put it back in place, using some saliva to stick the cocoon back to the tree. "Ta-da!" he said.
Then a crow suddenly swept down and grabbed the cocoon, flying off.
Stitch groaned, fell out of the tree, and rolled around on his back, wailing angrily. Lilo pulled him up. "Nick is in trouble! Slushy got into the art room!"
Stitch looked at Lilo in a "Yeah, so?" expression.
"We've gotta go help him!"
"Meega naga care."
"Stiiiitch! We have to help him and capture your cousin Slushy!"
Stitch groaned, and stormed off towards the school. "Thanks, Stitch." called out Lilo, running after him. "Hmmph." He said.
Meanwhile, in the school, and in the closet in the art room…
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"What's OUT there?"
"You don't wanna know."
"We can't stay in here forever!"
"I know, I know! I can't keep the door closed forever!"
Nick was holding the door shut with all his strength, but he was only 10 at the moment, and Slushy was pounding away at the door with icicle blasts. One suddenly whizzed into the wood, almost giving Nick a third nostril on his forehead. Nick stepped back in fear, and the door opened. Slushy grinned. Teresa and Nick were totally cornered.
"Teresa, get behind me." Nick said, stretching himself in front of her. Luckily Stitch arrived a second later. "Cousin! Aggaba!" "Naga." said Slushy, who took a deep breath. THWOCK! And Slushy went down, a well-thrown chair sending him flying across the room. Stitch turned to look at Nick and Teresa. "Goobaja." He said. "Huh?" asked Teresa. "I think he said "Let's go"." "Ih." "And that means yes. So let's get outta here!" Teresa immediately ran out, hands above head, running as fast as she could. Nick calmly walked out of the room, through the hallway, and out the door of the school, going over to Lilo, who was waiting outside the art room's window.
"Five…four…three…two…one." She said. CRASH! Slushy went flying out the window, and Stitch jumped after him, a chair in all four of his hands, he had gone into full battle mode. Nick looked at Lilo. "Shouldn't we help him?" "Don't worry." Lilo said confidently. "Stitch can take anything that big jerk can throw at him!" Stitch tossed the chairs at Slushy, who froze them with his breath, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the fast kick that Stitch administered a moment later. Slushy went flying into a palm tree, and he slid down the trunk, groaning. Stitch rushed at him, cackling madly…and that's when it happened.
Stitch fell to the ground, his foot caught in a hole. He stood up a moment later, but then a blast of icy breath froze him in place. Slushy grinned again and started walking forward. Stitch, who was covered in ice from neck to toe, tried to break free, but there wasn't enough room for him to DO so. All he could do was stand there, frozen, and wait for his doom.
Lilo gasped, and rushed forward, grabbing a stick off of the ground and whacking Slushy over and over. "No! Leave him alone you icy-" She didn't finish. Slushy shoved her down, and some blood dripped from her arm where he had cut her with his sharp hands. She grabbed it, sniffling a little. "Stitch, you gotta break free!" she yelled. "Errgh! Ahhh! Rrrr!" Stitch tried, but to no avail. Slushy took a deep breath…
Suddenly his arm was grabbed. Blood seeped down from Nick's hand as he looked into Slushy's eyes. "You hurt my friends. I'm gonna beat you up." He said, voice filled with fury. His hand began to glow an icy blue, it's aura trailing up into the sky…
He shoved Slushy down, and punched, punched, punched. Then he grabbed Slushy again and tossed him at the palm tree again. Slushy collided once more but this time he didn't slide down…he never got the chance.
"ICICLE UPPERCUT!" Nick shouted, slamming his fist into the ground. A huge cascading row of icicles shot up from the ground, rushing at Slushy. A huge one slammed into him, and he went flying in the air, landing hard on the ground. The icy experiment groaned, and then lost consciousness. The icicles melted into the ground, and Nick looked down at Lilo and helped her up. Then Nick walked over to Stitch, whose ice had melted, and extended his hand.
"You okay?" he asked.
Stitch took his hand and stiffly sat up. "Ih." He said simply. Then he walked off. Lilo looked at her bloody arm. "Ow…it huuurts…" "Well, we'd better get you to your house." Nick said. "What about you?" she asked. "How's your hand?" Nick looked down at the hand that had been bleeding…
The cut was gone. The blood had dripped off. There was no sign there had ever BEEN a cut.
"Oh." Nick said simply. "That's...weird."
Watching from the volcano a long distance away, using a pair of binoculars, a form hidden in some bushes growled. "Grrr…curse it. Stupid inferior prototype. I need a more destructive experiment if I'm going to exact my revenge on that stupid girl and 626. That boy is becoming a problem too."
Another form was sitting on a bench nearby. He looked up at the sky and chuckled softly. "626 IS strong. Good. I would expect nothing less from my "father"." He spat out that word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "No matter. Both are going to die." "Glad to see you're feeling particularly bloodthirsty today." said the first form. "I'm not nearly as bad as you." "True, but I'm programmed to like being cruel. You're just the way you are because…heh-heh…" "Don't you dare say it."
"Daddy didn't love yooooou!" the first form said in a sing-song voice. "And neither did your little fallen Angellll…" The second form suddenly jumped off, glaring at the first. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT HER. EVER!" The first form chuckled. "Fine, fine. I won't. Just remember, I get to pick the next experiment we'll use." "Well which one did you have in mind?" The first form grinned sadistically. "Remember Yin and Yang? How Jumba insisted that they not come together because they might cause a huge explosion?" "Yes, but we can't actually have them destroy the island. That would ruin all of the doctor's plans-oh…wait…you're going to use them to wipe out the girl and her little family, aren't you?" "Exactly." "Two for the price of one family. Interesting…but will it work?" Another sadistic grin. "Let's find out…"
WHO ARE YOU? CHARACTER BIOS!
Charlie
Charlie is an ordinary little boy. But he's special…very special.
David Kawena
Friendly local. Expert Surfer. Down-to-earth island philosopher. These titles do little justice to David Kawena the person…but they help. David's part of Lilo's ohana as well, and he and Nani are trying to find times to go out, but her job is so demanding it gets trying. Luckily David's a patient person, and really nice.
