CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Who's next on the list?"

"Let me see…oh. How interesting…"

LEGION KOʻOKOʻO

Experiment 627, created in the year 2003 on November 24th. He possesses powers belonging to 626, 625, 621, 611, 607, 606, 603, 601, 523, 513, 383, 375, 355, 303, 262, 228, 221, and 133, as well as having Telekinetic abilities. He isn't as smart as many of the other experiments and for a great deal of time was considered a "freak" even by experimental standards due to his sheer cruelty, his violent nature and the fact that he can sprout a second head. Amazingly after several years of being shot down he settled down with the recently-divorced Belle and had two children, Bellatrix and David. He used to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder until he got it under control with psychiatric help. He is currently employed with Island Security and has a "powerful sex drive".

"…I didn't need to read that. Threat level?"

"Oh, Very High."

"I'd say so."

"Can you pick somebody who's NOT a sick pervert?"

"That means filtering out a good 40 percent of the experimental population, not including those who are just sick, which accounts for another 20…"

"Ourselves included, ha-ha-ha!"

"You in BOTH categories. Now shut up. I'm looking at…"

ASHTON EDMONDS

Born on April 16th, 2083, Ashton Edmonds is the son of Marx and Miranda Edmonds. Current Age: 11 years old. Ashton Edmonds is known for being not merely smart, but for being too smart for his own good. He has a hard time making and keeping friends, and he is generally hated by a good portion of the experiments in Kokaua Town due to his antagonistic attitude towards them, although recently he has been more tolerant and accepting. His few true friends include Daveigh Pelekai, Rupert Jacques von Hamsterviel, Sandy Pelekai and the experiment known only as Grey. We have reason to believe that Ashton has highly advanced intelligence when it comes to schoolwork centering around mathematics. He also apparently has some untapped skill with firearms.

"Threat level?"

"…low-moderate. We might want to keep an eye on him, but I doubt it."

"Who's next?"

HEARTWING KŌ'AO

Experiment 421. Created by Jumba using Light Energy, a power source he personally discovered on the wreckage of a destroyed planet. Light energy itself is centered around positive emotions like joy, happiness, kindness and love, and therefore Heartwing is a naturally gentle and sweet creature. However justice and righteous fury are emotions emanating from Light Energy, and when those he cares for are endangered, Heartwing becomes incredibly dangerous. His hobbies include chasing after butterflies, flying around town to stop and give people hugs, standing on his head to look at animals upside-down and being helpful to others.

"So…I'd say low-moderate as well. He's not really that dangerous, like Ashton…"

"And he hardly ever fights…okay, low-moderate EXCEPT when angered. Then he's very high on the threat level."

"What do you think that that Ashton kid does in HIS spare time now that his parents bit the dust?"

"Hey, show SOME respect. He deserves some pity."

"…he does?"

"…okay…"

Ashton put the book down and looked at the clock. 9:30. He needed to take a break. Something different than staying in his room all the time…

He needed to talk to someone. But although Rupert was like a great older brother to him, he didn't really understand in just that right way.

Heartwing though…that dragon…

Ashton knew that Heartwing liked playing in the park. So he quickly put his shoes on and bounded down the steps, two at a time. Then he went out the door and made a beeline for Kokaua Town Park, finding Heartwing sniffing a butterfly that had landed on a flower.

"Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me…starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee! Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day…lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd awaaaaay!…" Heartwing sang out.

The blue butterfly flapped it's wings slowly and softly.

"How come it isn't flying away?" Ashton asked.

"It knows I won't hurt it. My light is just that strong. And sometimes you don't have to say anything when you're faced with nature, because the word is the hurt more often than not." Heartwing rolled around on his back. "How are you?"

"…I need somebody to talk to. And to listen." Ashton admitted.

"Alright. But not here." Heartwing said. "He's coming soon."

Ashton blinked. "Who's here?"

Heartwing stood up and pointed. Ashton looked behind him and to the right as a black dragon experiment walked by, with a smile that chilled you to the bone. He was looking at Ashton like he would toy with him like a puppet on a string.

"Eclipse. Bad, bad being. Killed opposite, killed Nightwing, killed his father."

"He murdered his father? Why doesn't anyone take him down? Arrest him?" Ashton asked.

Eclipse had heard that. He turned around and tilted his head slightly. "I suppose you'd try and take me in, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I WOULD, ya lousy-" Ashton began.

Then Eclipse gave him a smile. It wasn't a nice one. "Tell me who is precious to you. Give me the pleasure of taking them away."

Ashton suddenly felt chills go up his spine. Eclipse walked off, humming a strange little Latin tune.

"Unfortunately that is how it works…" Heartwing said sadly.

"I'll say." Legion remarked as he walked across the street, exiting the ice cream shop. He downed a milkshake in a loud SWOOOOOOORK and then tossed the cup into the trash. "The thing is, nobody WANTS to fight him."

"They're that afraid?" Ashon asked.

"No, no…worse than that. You see, there's this horrible, twisted thing about a good deal of people…"

"Admire the tiger in the zoo, the killer, the tearer of flesh…but only when he's caged…" Heartwing whispered.

"Eclipse is like that tiger, only he's free, and the evil that he does is so impressive in it's style, so casual and cool, that they admire it. They admire that sort of open evil because he's able to pull it off with style, grace and impressive power, and they don't have the heart to just put a bullet in his head or to denounce him in public." 627 told Ashton.

"People LIKE it when he commits evil acts because they're cool to watch!?" Ashton asked, mortified.

Heartwing nodded sadly.

"There's something messed up with this town…"

"With world too." Heartwing added, bowing his head in sorrow.

Ashton rubbed his head. "Ugh…anyhow, Heartwing…can I speak with you?"

Heartwing nodded. Legion waved goodbye. "I gotta reserve the bar for tomorrow when it's guys night out, then I'll meet you at the ballpark, Heartwing."

"Don't forget Belle's request!"

"Oh, right! If I don't get that Château '92 for tonight, no sex for a month!" He gulped. "And she'll make me do all the chores…mahalo, Heartwing! See you around!"

Ashton watched him walk off. "Hard to believe sometimes that he used to be so downright freaky and evil."

Legion arrived at the bar in a few minutes. It was a large brick building that had a "retro" feel about it. There were large windows and a sky blue door with an aerie painted on it. He opened it up. Humans and experiments alike were chatting it up. The bartender saw experiment 627 and nodded. He was a portly man, who was missing half of his red hair.

"CJ, what's up?" Legion asked.

"How ya doin', kiddo?" CJ asked in his usual, gruff but friendly voice. He was cleaning out a mug of beer behind the stands. There were large, smooth kegs of different kinds of beer behind him, and many wine bottles hovering in the air on anti-gravity generator discs. They just went around and around like some kind of model train. There were several pool tables in the place and above all, arcade machines such as DDR. The series just never died.

"I'm here to rent out the place tomorrow night and to buy a bottle of Château '92." Legion said, hopping on the bartstool nearest to him. "I know it's costly though."

"Hey, for you, half price. You're one of my best customers, Hell you and your kid helped me and Ariel set up the joint. Ya can have them both for 150."

"One hundred fifty it is." Legion said, taking out his wallet from his jacket and slamming two bills down. "And you know what, here…another fifty." Legions said, pulling out another bill. "Drinks for everyone on me!"

A collective cheer went through the bar. Here Legion was never insulted or looked down on, ever since he'd helped build up the place he'd gained respect. It made him feel nice, being cheered like this.

"How's Ariel? She…the same?"

CJ sighed. "She's the same." He said softly, turning his head.

Ariel was, in many ways, very, very beautiful. She had heterochromia, an eye condition that resulted in one eye being red while another was blue. She very closely resembled Angel in basic design, only without any "v" insignia on her chest. She had long antennae like Angel and pale pink fur inside of her ears. But she was also an albino, with pure white fur…and she suffered from other…problems. Still, she did what she could to help her adopted father CJ out.

"Well…say hi to her for me." 627 said. "I've got to be taking off." He waved goodbye as he hopped off the stool and walked out the door, humming "Take me out to the ballgame."

…

…

…

It had been a long, long time since he'd been on the dating scene. After that incident with Clip in which he'd been maced in the face, he was loathe to try anything else for a while. He was able to get on the scene like a sex machine, true, but one thing he COULDN'T do was really score a chick. Usually things moved too fast. Not this time. This time he was gonna take it slow. He had somebody helping him too, a good and dear friend.

"Okay, now there she is." Belle said, rubbing Legion's shoulders. "Now you're gonna go over there and you're gonna sit next to her and you're NOT gonna pull any one-liners except for the one I taught you, alright?"

"Right." Legion said, nodding.

"Now just be natural, but don't overdo it. Play it cool, okay?"

"Right."

"Now go get her, tiger!" Belle laughed, slapping him on his back. He got up from his seat and walked over to the bar, sitting on a stool next to a female experiment. She had frizzy, afro-like hair and purple fur, with a small, rounded nose and black spots on her body as she fiddled with a strand of her hair. She blinked and turned to look at Legion, who spoke the one line he'd been practicing with Belle.

"Hi." He said simply.

"Hi."

"I'm Legion."

"I'm Tara."

"Nice name."

"So's yours."

"Want a drink?"

"Love one. Appletini, please."

Belle watched, folding her arms and smiling. It looked like things were going well. Then…

SMACK!

"That ain't funny, JERK!" Tara jumped off the stool and left the bar. Legion groaned and banged his head on the bar as Belle walked over.

"What happened? You were doing GREAT!"

"I tried to tell her a joke but she didn't like it."

"You tried to pull a black joke on her!?"

"No. It was a Polish joke. How was I supposed to know!?"

"Ugh…" Belle rubbed her temples with her hands. "You're a real piece of work…come on, come on, let's go…"

He and Belle walked out of the bar. Legion sighed. "Man, why can't women be more understanding like you? You don't mind me at all, no matter what I say."

"Yeah, you're lucky you got me, Legion."

"I am, really. I mean, I'm glad you taught me all these tricks with dating women, really. But they don't seem to work the way they should…"

"Oh, cheer up, or you'll get me thinking about Sparky again, and that would hurt too much. You...you wanna go get some ice cream?"

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot." Legion said, smiling as he looked right at her. "Th…thanks…"

Suddenly he looked at her. REALLY looked at her.

"Don't…mention it…" Belle said right back as she really looked at HIM, as if for the first time.

Before they knew it, they were kissing it up.

"People change." Heartwing said to Ashton as they sat on a park bench. Ashton had gotten out all of his feelings about how sick he'd felt inside losing his parents, and on how he didn't think that Rupert could have been capable of saving all of Kokaua Town.

"I don't think I've changed much at all." Ashton remarked. "Things have changed around me, yeah, but I ain't been getting better."

"You used to have no friends." Heartwing told him softly.

Ashton thought about this for a moment.

"Your mother and father are gone. But you have a big brother who loves you dearly now. And you're opening up to others when at one point you would have just not cared." Heartwing went right up to Ashton and held his hand gently. "So…have you changed?"

"…yeah." Ashton said quietly. "I…I guess I have."

"Good. Now then…" Heartwing smiled. "Play ball?"

"…I think I'd like that…a lot…" Ashton said.

LATER…

Ashton had gone upstairs, trying not to get involved with what Sandy and Rupert were talking about. Thus he'd missed what they had said. But he DID feel like making a call.

Riiing…riiiing…

"Hello?" Daveigh asked.

"Hey Daveigh. Uh…have…have I ever thanked you for all the times you tried to open up to me?"

Daveigh, on the other end, beamed. "Do-don't sweat it, it's nothing…"

"No, it…it means a lot to me. I'm glad that…that I have a friend like you."

"Hey, listen, can I ask you something?" Daveigh asked.

"Absolutely." Ashton said.

"Want to come over to my house tomorrow?"

Ashton was a little nervous. "But…I'm a guy, you're a girl. What could we possibly…"

Then Daveigh whispered something in through the phone and Ashton's voice got all cracky as butterflies filled his stomach.

"R-REALLY? Oh-oh my!" He gasped. "I'll-I'll be over at…uh…at 10?"

Daveigh sat back in her bed. "Sure, 10 sounds great."

Ashton sat on his. "Thanks! I'll see you then." He turned the phone off and lay back in his bed, sighing happily.

Yep…things were finally looking up.

MEANWHILE…

"You were almost late! You know what that would have meant…"

"I'd be sleeping on the couch for a week…" Legion grumbled. "Today was a very busy day, cut me some slac-"

"You know, we had the most fun time out tonight!" Belle laughed.

Experiment 627 groaned inside. What happened to the guy who wouldn't have let ANY girl interrupt him? He seemed to have died off when he married Belle.

"Carmen and Mary and Heatwave and I all went to the movies with Ariel, she really had a good time." Belle said happily.

"You could tell?" Her husband asked.

"She was smiling so much it was impossible not to tell."

The two of them were back at their house, in the bedroom. The bedroom had dark red wallpaper and a bed with a red cover on top of black sheets. It looked like a gigantic heart. Belle was wearing a very skinny black dress that left little to the imagination and 627 was only wearing a pink t-shirt that read "There's a Party in My Pants and You're Invited" on them.

"I've been thinking…" Belle began as Legion walked into the bedroom. "We have NOT been having enough sex lately."

THAT was good news. "Oh yeah." Legion said, grinning from ear to ear. "The kids are sleeping over at Chops's place, aren't they?"

"Yep. I wonder what Frank and Victoria are doing with them?"

"Well I'm sure Chops can take care of them…" Legion said. "So…" His tone became sultry. "How's about we try it old school?"

Belle's eyes lit up. "Troggy style?"

"Troggy style."

"Did you get me my Cheateau?"

Legion nodded and raised the bottle up, popping the top off. He poured it into his mouth, then embraced Belle passionately and kissed her, and the drink went down her throat. He then let go and Belle let out a "WOOO!" right before she quickly took her dress off, then jumped onto the bed, back first. "TAKE ME, MAN MEAT!" She shouted. Legion grinned broadly again, put the bottle away and with a howl and a beating of his chest, leapt right on her. A few minutes the entire room was shaking like an earthquake was occurring.

Soon after it was finished. Belle just lay there, snoozing…snoring loudly. But Legion didn't care. He just lay next to her, silently, watching her sleep, smiling gently at his beautiful wife. And he didn't move a muscle until at last he himself fell asleep by her side.

MEANWHILE…

Heartwing stared down Eclipse. The two had been looking intently at each other for a long time. They'd been tussling earlier on and although Heartwing was older than Eclipse he was still stronger.

"How could you…he was your father." Heartwing whispered.

"It was to test my strength." Eclipse said simply. "I needed to surpass my old self and I did so."

"Ironic…" Heartwing thought out loud.

"Yes, isn't it?" Eclipse laughed softly. "You had high hopes for Esmeralda and Chibisuke, and father had high hopes for me…and we're all just big disappointments…" He grinned, showing off his fangy smile. "Aren't we?"

"It's not too late." Heartwing said quietly.

"Don't try and convert me, uncle." Eclipse said, raising his hand. "My path is set. I know what I am meant to do. The supplanter will play his part and enslave all with his darkened heart. The angels will fall and the princess will die as unholy power darkens the sky."

"Prophecies aren't always true." Heartwing said angrily.

"Not always…but this one is going to come true. Try as poor little Rupert might, he's still not off of the path. He will become the overlord. He's only really made cosmetic changes, nothing really that special…"

"You treat the enslavement and death of millions so lightly?" Heartwing asked.

"It's all for the best. It's what everyone wants." Eclipse said coolly.

"No. It's just what you want." Heartwing snarled.

"Actually it's not just what I want. It's what more people want than you think. You cannot deny it. Humanity is flawed. Experimentkind is flawed. Change is needed, drastic change. Rupert will bring about that change as the supplanter. It is simply a matter of continuing a cycle that has been occurring for years. If it ain't broke...don't fix it, right?" He asked, grinning slightly.

"I will stop you." Heartwing spoke.

"You are destined to fall, uncle."

"We think we know our destiny, but it can change in an instant. Your father learned that." Heartwing said, turning away and walking off. Then he stopped for a brief moment and turned his head slightly to look back at Eclipse. "Can you?" He asked before finally leaving the park.

Eclipse was silent. He said nothing. Then he spoke.

"Well. I suppose the pieces are moving into place…"

Two forms emerged from behind a tree. One crossed his arms while the other kicked the ground below her.

"You should really not be watching me." Eclipse said. "I could smell you from a mile away."

"Lord Stitch doesn't like you here. A lot of others may tolerate you, but he sure as Hell doesn't." The female figure snapped, her voice crackling like a bolt of lightning.

"Tachisarimasu. Go away." The first form said, and his voice reminded Eclipse of a man he had once watched on a children's show as a young, young child while his father held him in his arms, laughing happily with his wife by his side.

For a brief moment, Eclipse found a tear slipping down his cheek. Then he looked away and walked off.

Author's Note:

Hard to believe 627 settled down, huh? And that leaves the question: What happened with Belle and Sparky? And who are these two newcomers? And most of all, what's the deal with the prophecy?

Oh yeah...it's all coming together. Read, review...and now for a sneak preview!

"Hmph. Some personality details, some knowledge on his abilities…in short, it just told us everything pretty much everyone in town ALREADY knew about him!"

"…he's an interesting character…you really don't know where he came from?"

"No, I don't. All I know was that he showed up in the invasion and he never told anyone anything but his name. I think that SOME people know who he really is, but I've got no idea who. I just remembered something, he is the only one who still calls people cousins. Interesting, huh?"

...

"Stitch…boojibu…I need to talk to you."

Stitch could tell she was upset. He immediately got out of his seat and walked over to her, holding her hands gently. "What is it, boojibu?" He asked softly.

"…I'm pregnant." She whispered.

...

He walked up the long white steps and opened the door. He held the picture, gently brushing a single claw against the image of Lilo.

"…Cousins…my ohana…" His lips had only just parted to get those words out. He held the crisp and fresh picture close to his chest, and slowly but surely, the world dissolved around him, replacing it with the basement of the Pelekai household. He held the photo up and allowed quiet sobs to shake his body as he slowly got on his knees and allowed his head to touch the ground. He put the photo down on the ground and one by one, tears fell onto it with a drip…drip…drip as he claws gripped into the ground.

"Li…lo…" He whispered.