Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo and Stitch.
Chapter 14: Problems and Plans
"He's been bottled up in there for almost five hours now." Lilo said. "What's taking so long?"
"Be patient." Leroy replied. He was currently leaning back in his seat, eyes closed. "He'll come out when he's good and ready. He doesn't want anything to go wrong, because we might lose them then."
Stitch nodded. "There's more at stake here then in any of the other plans he's had to make. Besides, there's plenty of time left."
"I is still wishing he would be hurrying." Jumba said. "Suspense is killing me. I want to finish Hamsterviel once and for all."
"Be patient." Angel muttered. "We'll be fine. When he's finished, he'll open the door and come out."
"Does he know how long he's been in there?" Lilo asked.
"I'm sure he knows exactly how long." Angel replied. "He won't miss the deadline even if he were dead."
"Besides, there's so much to factor in to this." Leroy pointed out. "Not only are we unsure about the layout of his ship, but we have no clue what his powers are, or how many clones he actually has with him. He's making a plan with a lot of variables; maybe too many."
"The only thing we know for sure is what we have with us, Reuben, and how to take Hamsterviel down. Other then that, there isn't much." Angel said. "Besides, even after we know the plan, he'll probably tell us that we need to sleep for the battle coming up."
"Well, the kids are already sleeping." Lilo said, pointing further up where all the kids were. Some were in the reclined seats, and the rest on the floor, but they were all sleeping soundly.
"If it makes you happy, I'll go in and check on him." Angel said. She stood up and walked over to the door, her limp almost gone now after some more work from Jumba. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her. She looked around, and saw Skipper writing furiously, surrounded by a mountain of paper. Some of it was crumpled up into balls, and some was set aside on top of the desk.
"How long?" Angel asked quietly, looking over Skipper's shoulder.
"I'm nailing it move by move." Skipper said, crumpling another piece of paper and throwing it aside. He turned the chair around, and Angel saw he was exhausted.
"You should rest." She said.
Skipper shook his head quickly. "Not until I have a plan. Tell everyone else to sleep out there. I'll set the ship's alarm to go off about an hour and a half before Reuben starts his attack. When I'm finished, I too will take a nap; but not until then."
Angel nodded and gave him a quick kiss. "Good luck." She said. She went back out the door and shut it behind her.
"Well?" Lilo asked.
"He's still working." Angel replied. "He says we should all get some sleep, and he'll set the ship alarm to wake us up about ninety minutes before Reuben attacks."
Jumba nodded, and sat down in the only seat large enough for him. "Ok. Time for grown-ups to be getting many winks of sleep." Everyone still awake chose either a chair or the floor, and one by one, they dropped off to sleep.
Hamsterviel's Ship
"Are you not hungry?" Hamsterviel asked. "I had the Leroy's cook this dinner special for the three of us."
Kairi and Reuben hadn't touched any of the food. Hamsterviel had 'graciously' 'invited' them to eat a special meal with him. It was a fairly large table for three people to eat at, even if technically they were all experiments. Kairi had decided not to voice her opinion of what she'd rather eat, and she had simply said she wasn't hungry. However, after sitting there for over an hour with all the good food in front of them, it was starting to get hard to resist.
"If you're afraid I poisoned it, you are mistaken. I wouldn't want to kill off my guests after all."
"I was never exactly meant as a guest, though." Reuben pointed out.
"But no point in ruining the young lady's appetite." Hamsterviel replied. "I am sure she would be most displeased if I… disposed of you."
"So what's with the meal then?" Kairi asked. "You know I'm never going to help you."
"I think you will turn to my side eventually." Hamsterviel said. "I may have to… persuade you, but you will join me."
"I'd rather stick my butt in a blender, push puree, and then drink it." Kairi said.
"You make it sound like it would be a horrible thing to rule the galaxy by my side."
"I wouldn't want to be anything if I had to stand by your side." Kairi said.
"Oh, you will. In fact, maybe even Reuben can have a spot. Like, Grand Admiral."
Reuben chuckled. "Killing me to Grand Admiral in a day. That must be a new record."
"I already got what I needed from you." Hamsterviel said. "I'm giving you a chance for a better life: I am willing to let you both serve me willingly."
"And if we don't?" Reuben asked.
"My powers have started to develop. I am sure you'd love to experience them."
"Actually, I'd rather love to pass that up." Reuben said. "Cause I have a feeling I won't like them at all."
"On the contrary: I'm sure you'd enjoy them." Hamsterviel's eyes turned a hazy purple. "Right?" He said, authority heavy in his voice.
"Right." Reuben said, his voice a flat monotone.
"Now, start eating your meal." Reuben did so.
"Stop it!" Kairi yelled. "Leave him alone!"
"He doesn't have a problem with it, do you Reuben?" Hamsterviel asked.
"No." Reuben said between bites. "I don't have a problem."
"STOP IT!" Kairi ordered, standing up. Hamsterviel's eyes cleared, and Reuben stopped eating.
"Told you I'd hate it." Reuben mumbled, swallowing the rest of the food he had in his mouth.
"I told you I had started to develop my powers." Hamsterviel said.
"Hey, this food is actually good." Reuben said, taking a slice of pizza. "I thought the Leroy's cooked it?"
"I was just as surprised as you are." Hamsterviel said, digging in to a piece of apple pie. "However, it turns out Jumba did a decent job at it."
Reuben glanced over at Kairi. "It's ok Kairi; it's not poisoned or anything." Kairi sighed, and reluctantly took a bite of the ham. A minute later, the three of them were chowing like there was no tomorrow. After eating their fill, Reuben stretched, his stomach bulging from the amount of food. Hamsterviel let out a loud belch, and Kairi sighed contentedly.
"So, what do you want in return for that fine meal?" Kairi asked.
"Exactly what I wanted before." Hamsterviel said.
"And if we refuse?"
"I believe you know I can get what I want." Hamsterviel said.
Reuben glanced at Kairi. "Can we have time to think about it?" He asked.
"I will give you five hours to think about it. I am sure that is more then enough time."
Kairi and Reuben stood up. "Well, we'll be going back to our room then. I assume you will 'kindly' let us know when our time is up?" Hamsterviel nodded, and they were escorted back to their room.
"I can't believe you're even thinking about going along with this!" Kairi yelled when the door closed.
"Calm down Kairi!" Reuben said. "Just calm down."
Kairi took a deep breath. "Why?"
"Does it really matter?" Reuben asked. "Whether we say yes or no, we end up having to serve him. I would rather it be under my control then his, though."
Kairi sighed and sat on the bed. "This is just so unfair. At least you got us more time until we have to do something."
"What are we going to do if our parents don't make it in time?" Reuben asked.
"Well, if that happens, there's only one thing to do: accept his offer."
Reuben groaned. "If you accept to be his queen, I think I know what his first request might be."
Kairi moaned. "Why do I think I'm going to hate what your about to say?"
"I think you know what I'm about to say." Reuben said.
"I'm not going to admit that I know it." Kairi argued.
"Then I'm going to say it." Reuben said. He took a deep breath, and looked up at her. "He's going to make you… have his child."
"Ew!" Kairi yelled. "I don't want to do anything with him! I want nothing to do with him, his children, or anything related to him!"
"I'd hate to say it, but there's nothing we can do about that." Reuben sighed.
"We'll figure something out." Kairi said. Unfortunately, after an hour of thinking, they had gotten nowhere.
"We need to isolate the problems." Kairi said after that time. "Then we can solve them one by one."
"Ok." Reuben said. "Issue one: servitude."
"Only solution is to go with it." Kairi said.
"Ok, issue two: escaping. We'll have to try that later."
"We have to at least give our parents a chance." Kairi cut in. "After we give them some time, we'll figure something out ourselves."
"Good." Reuben replied, nodding. "Issue three: you and Hamsterviel."
Kairi shuddered. "Not sure. Let's come back to that one."
"Ok. The only other thing I can think of then is issue four: orders he gives us."
"Meaning… what?" Kairi asked.
"If we aren't under his control, and he gives us an order to do something completely and utterly wrong, what do we do?"
Kairi shrugged. "I say a case-by-case basis. We'll take an action depending on the problem."
Reuben sighed and sat against the wall. "We still have the biggest problem to figure out. I don't even want to think of Hamsterviel doing that to you."
Kairi sat next to him. "We've got time. We'll come up with something."
Stitch's Ship (Five hours Later)
The ship's alarm rang out, waking everyone up from their slumber. Everyone, that is, except for Skipper. He had stayed up the entire time, attempting to find a plan. Eventually, he decided to go with the best he had at that moment, and came out to the others.
"You guys sleep ok?" Skipper asked.
Cynra nodded. "We're fine. How about you?"
"Slept like a baby." Skipper lied. Unfortunately, Angel was looking at him. She walked up to him and pulled him aside.
"Liar." She said. "I've lived with you for fifteen years, so don't even think about saying I'm wrong."
Skipper sighed. "Look, this is a lot of work, and I'm still not sure if this is a sound plan."
"You tried your best." Angel said, trying to comfort him. "We'll be fine."
Skipper took a deep breath. "Well, let's get this on with." Angel went and sat with the others, and Skipper stood in front of them.
"All right. This plan is the best I can do, since there are a lot of unknown variables around this whole ordeal. I took to assuming that the rest of the clones are on Hamsterviel's ship, and that half of them are armed. As you know, Reuben will begin his attack on the Hamsterviel in his dimension. We have that long to find Hamsterviel and start distracting him. Once Reuben takes down the Hamsterviel at his end, ours will be vulnerable to attack. We kill him and get out, hopefully before the explosion that occurs."
"Why does that happen?" Lilo asked.
Skipper shrugged. "Not sure exactly. My guess is that it might have something to do with the fact that about half of the blood flowing in Hamsterviel is from people already dead. When the same person dies again, there must be some sort of paradox… really, I have absolutely no idea. I'm not even going to attempt to hypothesis on it. But anyway, the plan is fairly simple, but requires some speed to it."
"First off, in half an our, we move our ships out. If we keep low enough to the ground, they won't be able to detect us. Leroy will fly his ship around to the other end, and let them get a reading to make them think we'll come in the back. He'll swing around the side and meet us, hopefully just as we are opening the door. Maggie took lessons from Bonnie and Clyde, so she'll be able to help us there. After we get in, we'll split into two groups. Since I don't know the layout of the ship, we'll both be looking for Reuben and Kairi. We'll keep in constant contact for three cases: one, we find them so we can meet up. Two, we run short on time and have to find Hamsterviel, or we run into him. Three, one of us gets jumped and we either call in that we're screwed or need help. If we find them, we'll make sure they are ok, and then head after Hamsterviel. If any of the other cases happens, we'll send two off to find the kids, and the rest will fight Hamsterviel, and get you afterward. Once we kill him, Stitch will start up the preflight stuff, while we dump Hamsterviel's body onto Raaro. We'll take off, and hopefully make it out before the explosion. If all goes well, the Leroys will all be taken captive, we'll all be ok, and Hamsterviel will be dead. Any questions?"
"The groups?" Stitch asked.
"Group Alpha will consist of: Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, Kara, Cynra, and Leroy. Group Beta will then be: Angel, Andrew, Laura, Maggie, Victoria, and myself. Any objections?" Everyone shook their head. "Good. We'll leave in half an hour. We have enough weapons for everyone, but we want to remain silent and unseen as long as we can, so use them only if you have to."