Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo and Stitch.
Chapter 14: Demise
Stitch opened his eyes, only to close them again as the light hit them. Even though the windows were covered, the sun was shining right where the window was, making it kind of bright. After a minute, he was able to open his eyes. As he started to wake up, he realized that Lilo was lying right in front of him, with her back up against him. The feeling of her fur on his sent a tingling sensation down his spine. He glanced around the room, and saw that everyone else was already awake. He thought about letting Lilo sleep, but figured that she'd want to be up, especially since it was almost nine o'clock.
"Time to wake up." He said, shaking her gently. She yawned and turned over, opening her eyes.
"Morning Stitch." She said. They came together in a quick kiss, and then parted and stood up. Lilo glanced around he room and then at the clock. "I guess we slept a little late." She said. "Everyone else is already up." Jumba walked in to the room.
"You is finally up. Everyone else is at the beach, and 177 and 123 are with them. Breakfast is just needing to be heated up, and then the three of us can go down to the beach also." Lilo and Stitch ate quickly, and then ran down to the beach with Jumba right behind them. When they got there, they sat down with the others. Only Lilo, Skipper, and Victoria could really swim, and they didn't want to leave the others behind. Lilo could have always used her powers, but she was loath to use them, even now that Athena was gone.
"So, what are we going to do?" Skipper asked.
"I need to… run back to the house to… grab something." Leroy said quickly. "I'll be back in a bit." Before anyone could say another word, he was gone.
"Ok." Skipper said, slightly confused. "So, what else?"
"Well, I like the idea of sitting her for a bit of a tan." Carmen said.
"Yeah, why do anything?" Angel asked. "Let's just lie down and soak in the sun."
"Just as long as I can lie next to you." Skipper said. Angel smiled, and everyone lied down. Skipper pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Jumba glanced around at the others, and then muttered something about a comic shop, and walked off.
"He doesn't like the beach very much, does he?" Clip asked.
Lilo shook her head. "Not really. I don't think that anything good has happened to him on the beach ever." They laid there for over an hour, before Leroy showed up again.
"So, we're just getting a tan?" He asked, lying next to Victoria.
She nodded. "That's about it. By the way, what took you so long?"
"I… ran in to someone I knew." Leroy said. "Sorry it took me so long." He looked up at the sun. "So how long are we going to be here?"
"Oh, probably only another hour or so." Victoria said. "Then we'll probably get some lunch, and then do something else."
"Where are Jumba and Pleakly?"
Victoria thought for a moment. "Well, Jumba said something about a comic book store, and the last time I saw Pleakly was when I threw him off the ship. Why?"
"Just kind of wondering. Hope Pleakly isn't doing anything stupid."
"Last time he was 'rejected' he went on a giant shopping spree." Lilo said, joining the conversation. "I expect he'll show up tomorrow or the day after with about a dozen shopping bags."
"So, he won't be too mad at me?"
Lilo shook her head. "More then likely, he won't even remember that you threw him off the ship. It's kind of funny in a way, and yet kind of sad at the same time." They fell silent, and remained so for the next hour. After that time, Leroy stood up.
"Ok, I think it's time for lunch." One by one, those present opened their eyes and slowly stood up. Leroy looked himself up and down. "Guess I don't tan too well." He said. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and Victoria watched his fur change colors. When it finished, she gasped.
"Isn't that…"
Leroy nodded. "It's the exact same as Reuben's. I figure we owe him, and this is the least I can do."
Lilo ran up and hugged him, tears in her eyes. "Thanks." She whispered. Leroy was surprised, but returned the hug.
"It was nothing. Come on, let's go eat." Lilo let go of him, and they walked off into the city.
"So, where are we going to eat?" Stitch asked.
"Well, we're going to head home." Sparky said. "Clip needs to get off her feet, and I have a bit of cleaning to do. See you guys around." They walked off.
"Carmen and I have to head out too." Sample said. "We're going to go see a movie together. See you later!"
Lilo watched them walk off. "So, now there's only the six of us. Still doesn't answer the question though."
"Let's just go back to your house and have some of the leftover pizza." Leroy suggested. "Saves us time and money."
"Sounds fine to me." Victoria said. They headed back to the house, and Lilo put some pizza in the oven to warm-up. Just as they were about to sit down to eat it, a beeping came from inside the house. It took a minute to track it down, and it turned out to be Stitch's communicator. Lilo handed it to him, and he turned it on.
"Stitch here."
"Hello Stitch, this is the Grand Council Woman."
"Good to see you. What do you need?"
"I'm calling to tell you that you need no longer search for Dr. Hamsterviel." She said.
"That's good news and all," Stitch said slowly, "but why?"
"We discovered his body about ten minutes ago in a floating escape pod orbiting the fourth planet in your area. We are busy looking into it right now, but our best guess right now is that someone snapped his neck."
"That's horrid!" Lilo said.
"Lilo, you're there too, that's good. I also am calling to tell you that we will be sending a shuttle tomorrow to pick up Leroy. I assume he hasn't caused too much trouble for you."
Lilo took the communicator from Stitch. "That's not going to work too well. You see, a lot has happened since he got here." Lilo related everything to the Council Woman about their adventures, from everything that Leroy had done to help and hinder, to the death of Reuben, to the resurrection of Skipper's memory. "We've finally turned him good." Lilo finished. "And he's fallen in love. We can't take him away."
The Council Woman sighed. "Lilo, I understand you, but the Council won't. They will insist on Leroy coming back here. They will refuse to believe he has changed, and say you are losing your mind. In fact, they may use it as an excuse to terminate your planet, so that none of the experiments can do anything to harm us."
"They can't do that!" Lilo exclaimed. "He's helped us out so much, and he had a deal!"
"The Council was always going to break that deal. Even you were going to break that deal in the end."
Lilo groaned. "Is there anything we can do?" She asked. "I mean, if Leroy was thrown back in jail, Victoria would be heartbroken."
"Well, the only way he could stay is if the Council didn't know he was on that planet." There was silence for a moment. "Now, I'm the Council Woman so I can't tell you how to make it look like runs away. I also can't tell you that, if he were to 'steal' a shuttle and leave for the black hole, the Council would call him terminated, and stop searching for him. Finally, I cannot tell you that the shuttle bringing him back is completely automated, and could easily be hacked by Stitch or Jumba."
Lilo smiled. "Thank you so much."
"However, I must warn you that if they ever found out that we did this to hide him, you, Stitch, Jumba, and I would be arrested, and Earth destroyed. I doubt it will ever come to that. Besides, by the time one of us screws up, most of the Council won't even remember who he was."
"Don't worry, you can count on us to be super careful. I'll spread the news to the others. Aloha!" The line terminated, and Lilo looked up at Stitch. "Let's go tell the others," They ran back down to the kitchen where the others had started eating.
"Guys, we have good news." Stitch said. "The Council Woman called, and Leroy can stay."
"Really?" Leroy asked. "I figured they'd want me back."
"Well, as long as we do a bit of trickery, it's ok for you to stay." Lilo said. "And there's more: they found Hamsterviel."
"Where?" Skipper demanded.
"Doesn't matter," Stitch said, "because he's dead." Gasps came from around the room.
"How?" Angel asked.
"By the looks of it, someone broke his neck." Lilo said.
"Wish it had been me." Skipper said. "I would have loved to wring that little gerbil until he stopped moving."
"Wonder who did it?" Lilo asked.
Skipper nodded at Leroy. "I'm sure he has an idea."
"Why me?" Leroy asked, slightly wary.
"You're the only one who wasn't surprised to hear that Hamsterviel was dead. Stitch said it, and you just sat there, completely unfazed."
"Is he right? Do you know who did it?" Victoria asked, looking up at Leroy, who nodded.
"It was me. I'm sure you want to know when." Everyone nodded. "Well, when you were down on the beach, I came back here, supposedly to 'grab something.' What I grabbed was the ship, and I took off."
Flashback
As the ship lifted off, Leroy flipped on the scanners.
"Computer, scan Mars planet surface." Leroy commanded.
"Scans indicate one ship on planet surface." The ship replied in a monotone voice.
"Good." Leroy said. He piloted the ship into orbit around the planet. "Now, what is the condition of the ship?"
"Life support, maneuvering thrusters, navigational sensors, and backup generators are operational. All other systems have failed. Scanners indicate one life form is still aboard."
Leroy smiled. "Very good." He piloted the ship down to the surface and landed. After turning off the ship, he made his way down the ramp and over to Hamsterviel's ship. This would be a lot harder if I had to worry about pressure, temperature, and atmosphere. Leroy thought. He crawled around on the ship until he found the airlock. Forcing it open, he crawled in and let it shut behind him. Once he was sure it was tight, he turned and ripped the door into the ship off its hinges, sending a tingle of pain down his front. "I am going to hate that scar." He said quietly to himself. He padded through the ship, using his nose to track down his foe. He finally came to the power room, where he saw Hamsterviel working in the computer. Leroy pondered a moment on what to do to him, and then walked up behind him and ripped him out from the computer.
"You!" Hamsterviel said, sounding awed and afraid. "No, I killed you!"
Leroy laughed. "You wish you killed me." He set the gerbil on his feet. "I am going to make you pay for what you've done to everyone."
"No, I'll give you money, power… anything!" Hamsterviel begged.
"It's too late for bribes." Leroy said coldly. He brought out his extra arms and cracked his knuckled. "I may be good now, but I am going to enjoy this." He punched Hamsterviel in the face, breaking his nose. He then started listing off names, emphasizing each one with a kick or punch. "This is for me! For Lilo! Stitch! Angel! Victoria! Jumba! Pleakly! David! Nani! Skipper!" Hamsterviel was no little more then a half-alive bloody pulp. Leroy picked him up, and spun him to face away from him. He placed his hands on either side of Hamsterviel's head. "And this, is for Reuben." With a grunt and twist, a sharp crack rang through the ship. Leroy dropped the now lifeless body of Hamsterviel.
"Computer, can escape pods eject?" Leroy asked.
"Negative. Escape pod ejection sequence is non-operational. Pods are undamaged and at full power."
"I can fix that." Leroy said. He went to the computer that Hamsterviel had been toying with, and five minutes later, had restored power to the ejection system. He dragged the body into the escape pod, and looked at the engine. "Computer, set pod course to zero parsec. Engage when ejected."
"Course plotted." The computer responded. Leroy got out of the pod and closed the door. Going to the panel, he hit the eject button.
"Escape pod ejected. Previously set course initiated." The computer said. Leroy watched from the window as the pod rose in the air, and took off away from the planet.
"This battle is over." Leroy said. "It is finally over."
End Flashback
When Leroy finished retelling his story, everyone around sat quietly. The silence dragged on for almost five minutes, before Skipper spoke. "Well, I'm glad you got rid of him. If you hadn't, he may have left by the time the Council or us got to him, and he'd still be on the loose. I don't agree with the way you did it, but I believe that justice has been served. And look on the bright side, after we hotwire the shuttle tomorrow, we have nothing more to worry about."
Leroy looked around at them. "I need a walk." He said. "I'll be back later." Without another word, he slid from the chair and walked out the door.
He decided to go wander around the woods and collect his thoughts. When he had taken that trip to Hamsterviel, he had been sure he was doing the right thing. But, the way he had killed him, was that right? His head was swarming with doubts and questions. He sat down on a log and thought about everything that had happened; the deaths, injuries, love, everything. He sat out there for hours, long after the sun had dipped down over the horizon. He finally decided that he had done the right thing, just the wrong way. He stood up and headed back to Lilo's house. When he got there, he saw all the lights were off. Glancing through one of the window, he saw that it was almost eleven. He decided he needed to sleep, so he started sniffing around to find Victoria. He went on the ship and into one of the side rooms, where he knew there was a fairly large bed. He went to one side of the bed and crawled in. That's when he realized that Victoria was crying. She probably hadn't even heard him come in. He rolled on to his side and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you ok?" He asked. She turned over to face him, and he saw tears streaming down her face.
She nodded. "It's nothing."
"Yes it is." Leroy said, wiping the tears away. "What is it?"
"Well, it's about my parents." She said sadly. "If I want to stay with you, which I really do, and I will, then I have to give them up."
"What do you mean by 'give them up'?"
"I have to wipe their memories so they won't remember me." She said.
Leroy put his arms around her. "It's your choice."
"I know, and I'm going to choose you." She said. "Because I love you with all my heart. But, that doesn't change how bad it is."
"It's isn't bad." Leroy said. "Ok, maybe it is, but I can take care of you; I love you. Not only that, but technically you're twenty now, so you can definitely take care of yourself."
Victoria flashed a quick smile. "Yeah, I heard the talk Jumba gave about how the age worked. All I got was that I'm twenty now." She looked at Leroy. "Do you think I'm making the right choice?"
"Well, I'm glad that you're choosing to be with me. Really, I don't think that there is a right or wrong decision in this case."
Victoria smiled. "Thanks Leroy."
Well, the end of this book is near. One more chapter to go.