Kingdom Hearts III: The Heart's Greatest Weapon
Chapter 14: Gantu Versus Stitch
Still trying to cope with Gantu appearing and taking Lilo, Nani was crying as she dropped to her knees. Kairi felt very worried about Nani, seeing her this way. Sora was trying to think about Gantu's offer, hand over Stitch in the time given or Lilo becomes Heartless food.
"This is bad. What should we do Sora?" Yuna asked.
"Ain't it obvious? Find fish face, beat him and take back the kid. I mean, come on!" Pete said. But Pete's confident face faded when he saw Sora's uneasy gaze.
"This isn't funny Pete. We don't know where Gantu's ship is. Plus, he's got Lilo. If we try anything funny, he could really give her heart to the Heartless." Sora said. Just then, he felt Stitch tug at his leg.
"Stitch?" Sora asked. Stitch muttered "Ohana" causing the others to look kind of confused.
"Oh....Ohana? What's that?" Kairi asked.
"It must be some kind of word. Maybe it's a word aliens use?" Goofy asked. Nani shook her head.
"No. Ohana means family. And family means......" Nani said. Stitch nodded.
"Nobody....gets left behind...." Stitch said.
"Or forgotten." Nani finished. As soon as Jumba saw how Stitch seemed so attached to Lilo's family, he realized that the time with them must've caused Stitch to change.
"To think, I created you...Experiment 626. You were supposed to cause chaos, leave destruction in your wake and cause all sorts of problems. But....I am thinking you want to be....something else." Jumba said. Stitch nodded.
"Ehh....I am....sorry for attacking your home earlier....bigger girl." Jumba said. Nani looked at Jumba as she wiped the tears from her eye. Sora turned to the others.
"Well, I think it's pretty obvious what needs to be done. Come on guys. Let's go get Lilo back." Sora said. The others nodded.
"Then let's go!" Donald shouted. Jumba and Pleakley agreed to join in and promised Nani that Lilo would come back. Together, the group headed out towards the woods, looking for any sign of Gantu or his ship. Back at the ship, Lilo was locked up in a teleportation pod and she banged on the glass.
"You big dummy! Let me out" Lilo shouted. Gantu looked at Lilo angrily.
"Be quiet you insignificant Earth girl. And just try and relax. You've only got about.....hmmm.....about four hours and thirty minutes left until you get to meet MY friends." Gantu said. He snapped his fingers and a Soldier Heartless appeared before Lilo. She gasped.
"It's....It's that monster from before!" Lilo gasped. Suddenly, the Heartless lunged for the glass, snarling and clawing at the glass. Lilo gasped and fell to her rear. Gantu grabbed the Heartless and chuckled.
"See? He's just DYING to meet you." Gantu said. Gantu walked away with an evil laugh, leaving Lilo afraid. In the forest of Kauaii, Sora and the others were heading towards Gantu's ship. It seems the Heartless were giving some kind of hints as to which way to go, seeing as how they stopped Sora's path a few times.
"We must be getting closer. There are more Heartless showing up." Kairi said. Sora agreed. Suddenly, a group of Shadow and Red Nocturne Heartless appeared.
"Leave these to me." Pete said. He stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. He took a running start and leaped into the air. The Heartless all screamed as Pete came crashing down on them.
"All right! Nice job Pete!" Sora called. Pete chuckled and got back up. The group charged on ahead. And with three hours and fifty minutes to spare, they reached Gantu's ship.
"That must be it!" Goofy called. They raced on board and found Gantu. He had heard them coming and he now had Lilo in his clutches. He held her over a group of Shadow Heartless.
"So, looks like you made it. Now...hand over the abomination." Gantu said. Sora raised his hand.
"First, let Lilo go!" Sora said. Gantu huffed.
"Not until I get what I want. Hand over the little pest before....." Gantu said. But just then, he saw Stitch wasn't with them!
"What the?! Where....Where is he?!" Gantu shouted. Suddenly, Gantu saw Stitch climbing the wall behind him and he grabbed Lilo. They rolled across the ground before coming to a halt.
"Stitch! You came to rescue me!" Lilo cheered. Stitch smiled.
"Nobody....gets left behind..." Stitch said. Lilo smiled but Gantu growled and pulled out his blaster.
"You're not getting away with this THAT easily. If you won't hand over the trog peacefully, I'll FORCE you to give me the experiment!" Gantu shouted. He aimed his blaster and began to fire. Sora and the others leaped out of the way and ran, constantly dodging Gantu's fire. Stitch gave Lilo to Jumba and Pleakley and the two ran. Stitch turned into a ball and rolled at Gantu, tripping him up when he turned to shoot Kairi.
"Aloha!" Stitch shouted. Gantu growled and kicked Stitch away. However, it left him open for a surprise combo attack from Sora and Kairi. Goofy used his Goofy Whirlwind and whacked Gantu's head with his shield. Donald fired Thunder after Thunder at Gantu, but the magic had little effect.
"Why you.." Gantu growled. He swatted Donald away and summoned Soldier and Large Body Heartless to keep the others busy. But with a combination attack from Sora and Donald's Comet attack, they were automatically obliterated and they even got damage on Gantu as well.
"Why you little! Take this!" Gantu shouted. He aimed his blaster, but Yuna shot it from his hand. It skidded across the ground.
"Not if I have anything to say!" Yuna called. She began firing at Gantu, causing him to constantly avoid her oncoming bullets.
"We're winning!" Kairi cheered. But suddenly, Gantu grabbed Kairi!
"Kairi!" Sora shouted. Gantu growled and grabbed his blaster with his other hand. Kairi tried to squirm herself from Gantu's grip. Gantu aimed his blaster at everyone else.
"Hold it! Nobody try anything funny or I'll CRUSH the Earth girl with my bear hands!" Gantu shouted. He started to squeeze on Kairi, putting pressure on her body. Sora groaned and used Strike Raid against Gantu. The attack striked Gantu's wrist and he dropped Kairi. She groaned as she clutched her arm.
"Kairi! Are you okay?!" Goofy called.
"Yeah. Ouch. My....My arm...ow." Kairi groaned. Stitch growled and lunged for Gantu. He bit the giant's arm and Gantu let out a yell. He threw Stitch to the ground and the two snarled.
"You think you can beat me?! Look at yourself! I'm FOUR times the size of any of you! Plus, you're nothing but a worthless abomination!" Gantu shouted. Stitch huffed.
"Stupid head. Abata no chuchi." Stitch said. Gantu growled and roared. He furiously tried to stomp Stitch with his foot.
"You're vile! You're fowl! You're FLAWED!" Gantu roared, finally crushing Stitch beneath his foot. But suddenly, Stitch grabbed Gantu's foot.
"Also cute and fluffy!" Stitch shouted. He twirled Gantu around by his feet and flung him directly out through the roof of his ship and he ended up crashing on the beach far from their location. When Sora and the others arrived, Gantu was out cold. Nani and the others came rushing over. Lilo and Nani met in a tight group hug as Stitch watched.
"We did it! Lilo's back with her family again." Goofy said. Just then, they watched as a large space ship began to land. From it, out stepped a slender alien with suited men at her side. They grabbed Stitch.
"Oh no. It's....the Head Council Woman." Pleakley gasped. She eyed Jumba and Pleakley, as well as the passed out Gantu.
"Hmph. I see I made poor mistakes when selecting men to retrieve Experiment 626. Very well then. Men? Bring the prisoner aboard my ship and we'll prepare to..." she said. But just then, Lilo approached her.
"No! You can't take Stitch. He's apart of our family. I have a paper that PROVES it!" Lilo said. She looked through her dress and took out the paperwork from the animal shelter.
"If you take him, you're kidnapping." Lilo said. Cobra approached the Council Woman.
"She's right. Even aliens have to follow the rules." he said. The Grand Council Woman got a good look at Cobra.
"You seem....familiar. Have we met?" she asked.
"The CIA....Rosswell." he said. She just remembered him, only stating that he had hair. Just then, she got a good look at Lilo and Stitch at each other's side. Lilo hugged Stitch and he hugged her back.
"What's this? Are my eyes decieving me or...has Experiment 626....?" she said. But Sora interrupted.
"Stitch. His name is Stitch. He's our friend. And if you want to take Stitch, you'll have to answer to THIS." Sora said. He pointed his Keyblade at the Grand Council Woman. She took a good look at it.
"My word. I never thought I'd see the Keyblade again." she said. Sora and the others gasped.
"Key...blade? Oh! Now Jumba is remembering! I KNEW strange looking weapon looked familiar!" Jumba exclaimed. Sora was feeling very confused. But the Grand Council Woman sighed.
"I see that if the Keyblader is against the idea of us taking Experiment 62....er, Stitch, from his family, then so be it. From this moment on, the prisoner shall serve his sentence here...on Earth. And as caretaker of the alien life-form, Stitch, this family is now under the official protection of the United Galactic Federation. We'll be checking in now and then." she said. She looked at Gantu.
"As for you Captain Gantu, if you can hear me, I am retiring you Captain Gantu. Have fun looking for a new job." she said. Gantu groaned quietly. Sora and the others cheered. Just then, something about Lilo's adoption papers began to glow.
"What...What is that?" Lilo said. She slowly stepped back as Sora saw his Keyblade reacting.
"Hey. What the....?" Sora said. But he knew what this meant. It was time to seal a Keyhole. Standing with Keyblade in hand, Sora watched as the Keyhole appeared in the sand below them.
"Wak! The keyhole!" Donald exclaimed. Sora pointed his key towards the sun and when the beam hit, it fired down a shot of rainbow streams into the Keyhole, locking it. Everyone was left in awe.
"What...What was that?" Nani asked. Sora told them that they had to be going.
"We'll miss you." Lilo said. Sora patted Lilo's head and promised they come back sometime. Just then, Sora looked at Stitch.
"Stitch? I know this sounds weird. But we need your help. The Heartless, those creatures that Gantu sent after you, are out to consume other worlds in darkness. A friend of mine asked me to form a team of people I trust in battle. So, I would like to ask if you would be willing to come with us." Sora asked. Stitch gasped and looked at Lilo. She nodded.
"Go on Stitch. If Sora needs you, then I won't stop you." Lilo said. Stitch smiled and hugged Lilo.
"Besides, I'll be waiting for you when you come back." Lilo whispered. Stitch smiled and hugged Lilo tighter. Bidding goodbye to everyone, Sora and the others prepared to head back to their ship. But before they left, Jumba had something to give Sora.
"Key bearer, here. You might want to take this with you." Jumba said. It looked like a summoning charm shaped like Stitch's head.
"What's this?" Sora asked. Jumba snickered.
"Try it and find out." Jumba said. Sora chuckled.
"Okay. Thanks Jumba." Sora said. He slipped the charm into his pocket and boarded the ship with the others. Their ship was still crash landed outside of Lilo's hula school. And after digging it out, the ship took off. Except this time, Donald was driving.
"Come on Donald. I'm sure Goofy didn't mean to crash the ship." Sora said. Donald huffed. Just then, Kairi heard something and went down to the cargo bay in the ship. Stitch remained in the control room with the others as Kairi came back up.
"Uhh...guys? We've got a stow away, I think." Kairi said. When they looked back, they saw their "stow away" was Lilo!
"Lilo?!" Goofy gasped.
"What the? How'd the little squirt get on the ship?!" Pete exclaimed. Lilo looked away.
"Sorry. But watching Stitch go off with you guys, somehow, I just couldn't say goodbye to Stitch that easily. I...hope you don't mind." Lilo said. The others all glanced at Sora, who smiled.
"Don't worry. It might be good for Stitch to have his best friend with him." Sora said. Lilo and Stitch eyed each other with a smile. The Gummi Ship flew back towards Radiant Garden with smooth sailing. They returned to the base and Sora automatically saw Kronk setting some food on the table.
"Oh! Sora! Welcome back! I hope you don't mind. But I prepare a little pre-dinner appetizers for everyone." Kronk said. Just looking at the food, Stitch's eyes grew and he looked on with wonder.
"Ooh." Stitch said. Suddenly, Stitch leaped onto the table and started to eat everything in sight! Kronk gasped as Stitch sent plate after plate flying.
"Hey! You! Little blue thing! STOP!" Kronk exclaimed. Stitch stopped and looked at Kronk, still with food in his mouth.
"That was supposed to be for everyone else. Besides, you obviously don't seem to know anything about table manners." Kronk said. Stitch just tilted his head.
"Well? What's the matter? Aren't you going to say anything?" Kronk asked. But instead of words, Stitch let off a loud belch at Kronk's face and licked his lips.
"Food...good." Stitch said. Everyone laughed their heads off as Kronk seemed defeated and rather ticked.
TO BE CONTINUED...