Alright, well, Mahina would normally love staying in a hotel room- especially one that she wasn't paying. One of her old jobs had her moving around the country a lot, which meant a lot of hotel rooms with no charge to herself.
Point was- she could have stayed with Cobra Bubbles until it was time to collect Lilo.
However Mahina understood something that Bubbles did not.
That everything was about to fall apart, at the Pelekai residence. So if Mahina wanted to minimize damage she would need to sneak out.
She did so, rushing out of the hotel room and disappearing before Bubbles could catch up to her. She was extremely intelligent- she knew how to hide when it came down to it.
She ran fast- fast- fast- to Lilo's house. It had been exhausting work, and any normal child would've been already asleep. Mahina was special though, so she kept on going forward. She ended up almost running into David and Nani. Mahina had ducked into the bushes just before they spotted her.
She ran to the house.
Yes, she spotted Jumba down below.
No she wasn't even mad at him. How could she be? She was the only one who knew the plot was going on.
Mahina ran inside the house, sneaking in through the doggy door that someone really should nail down.
"Stitch? What is it?" Lilo asked, hesitant.
"Shh!" Stitch ordered.
"Lilo!" Mahina called out, rushing to her.
"Mahina?!" Lilo gasped. "I thought you-"
"Ran away, duh, we need to go-" Mahina was interrupted by a loud thud.
Jumba stomped inside. He beamed at Stitch. "Oh, hiding behind your little friend- oh little girl!" Jumba cackled Mahina's direction. "We were wondering what had happened to you! Pleakley was convinced you had been eaten by a shark."
Mahina gawked. That sounded way more badass than what actually happened.
"But it won't work anymore. Didn't I tell you? We got fired this morning." Jumba laughed. He waved the laser gun in his hands. "New rules."
Stitch pushed Lilo and Mahina aside. They went into the side room. Mahina watched from the safety of that room.
Jumba fired the gun.
Stitch caught the blast. "Ha!" He laughed. It started to burn, so he tossed it about before throwing it at Jumba.
There was a loud boom. Mahina winced. Music started up a moment later.
Stitch ran into the side room, panting.
"What are we going to do?" Lilo asked.
"Your doll! Do you have it?!" Mahina asked.
"Yes?" Lilo held up the doll. "But-"
"Stitch can probably do an alien thing! Right?" Mahina asked Stitch.
The little blue experiment smiled. The idea came to him in that instant. "Eh."
Stitch, Mahina, and Lilo instantly begin working out the plan. Lilo attached her doll to a gas pump, knocking her out for the surgery. Stitch used his claws to open the doll, while Mahina gathered the many tools.
They managed a good system. Stitch would work, then request a tool. Mahina quickly translated, getting the tool from somewhere in the room. Lilo would get it from Mahina, then pass it to Stitch.
Stitch gabbled in the language.
"Pliers." Mahina tossed it to Lilo.
"Pliers." Lilo handed the pliers to Stitch.
Stitch gabbled another word.
"Screwdriver!" Mahina reported, tossing another tool to Lilo.
"Screwdriver." Lilo passed it to Stitch.
After a few twists and turns with
"Check." Stitch stated.
Lilo stitched up her doll, using a button to keep the stitching shut.
"Come out, my friend from whomever you're hiding behind." Jumba called out.
Mahina put the doll on a rollerskate, pushing it forward. It rolled into the hallway.
"What the? Ooh!" Jumba cooed.
The doll exploded.
Jumba rolled back into the kitchen by the force of the explosion.
Stitch laughed. He rushed to the kitchen, distrating Jumba.
Mahina was about to make a ploy for running out, before quickly scrapping the idea. "Do you have anything to hit him with?" Mahina asked.
Lilo nodded.
When the two grabbed their chosen weapons, they heard a loud thud coming from the living room. Jumba had- by then- collapsed the ceiling onto Stitch.
Lilo and Mahina ran to it. Lilo, holding a broom. Mahina, weilding a baseball bat.
"You could do with a makeover. I tried to give you my good looks but let's face it, something went wrong." Jumba explained, pushing aside bits of broken ceiling and floor.
"No!" Lilo yelled. She whacked Jumba's side with the broomstick.
Mahina jumped in too. She whacked Jumba's back with the bat.
Stitch came up from the wreckage. He roared at Jumba, heaving the hefty alien from the two girls. Jumba was tossed out a window.
"Quick!" Lilo yelled. She grabbed Mahina's hand, then Stitch's. The two followed behind her. "Follow me! If we make it to-" She swung the back foot open.
Mahina had to quell any joy she experienced at the sight.
Pleakley stood on the other side. They gasped at the sight of the two humans. "You're alive!"
Lilo slammed the door shut. "They're all over the place!"
Mahina whirled around at the sound of Jumba laughing. He walked into the laundry room. "Running away? Here... let me stop you." Jumba threw a Swiss army, uh, thing.
Mahina pulled Lilo and Stitch out of the line of fire. She made sure to dodge the aliens as she brought them to the kitchen.
Lilo made a run for the phone. Stitch ran off- Mahina knew to grab the punch buggy. Lilo quickly dialed the number.
"Hello? Cobra Bubbles?" Lilo began. "Aliens are attacking my house."
Mahina made herself giggle- if only to quell her rising panic. "They're fighting Lilo's dog."
She couldn't hear Bubbles' reply. Pleakley has yanked the phone from Lilo's hands. "No, no, no! No aliens!"
"Blue punch buggy!" Stitch cackled from the door. There was a loud crash. Mahina tried kicking at Pleakley's legs. "No punch back."
Pleakley picked up Mahina by the back of her neck, holding her a safe distance from their legs.
"There's no need to alert the authorities." Pleakley used their other hand to grab the phone from Lilo. "Everything's under control." They mumbled into the line.
Mahina could hear him that time. "Lilo, Mahina, who was that?"
There was a loud growling noise.
"Lilo. Is that-" Mahina began.
"Oh, good, my dog found the chainsaw." Lilo remarked. She dropped the phone, running towards it.
Mahina shoved her foot on Pleakley's belly. The alien coughed- dropping Mahina.
"Don't run to it!" Mahina scolded, running after Lilo. "Now she's got me doing it!"
Stitch cackled, rushing towards Jumba with the chainsaw. Jumba threw a plunger at his head. The force dropped Stitch to the ground. He found the plasma gun, aiming to fire.
"Ha!" Stitch boasted.
Jumba stuffed a carrot in the end. Stitch slumped. "You shouldn't play with guns."
"Oh, okay." Stitch tossed the gun to Jumba.
"Thank you." The gun began to make a groaning noise. "Oh, I just remembered. It's your birthday! Happy birthday!" Jumba tossed it back at Stitch.
"Merry Christmas!"
"It's not Christmas."
"Happy Hanukkah!"
Pleakley picked up Mahina and Lilo. The alien rushing out of the house.
"Put me down!" Mahina ordered.
"We're leaving Stitch?" Lilo gawked.
"Trust me. This is not going to end well." Pleakley excused.
Sure enough- as they ran from the house it exploded.
So strong that the blast forced the humans from Pleakley's grasp.
Mahina landed at the base of a tree. She stared at the destruction...wondering to herself why she ever thought she could stop it.
==M&J==
Bubbles came soon after. The fire department behind him.
Mahina had brushed off any twigs from her hair at that point.
Bubbles found her first, as Mahina walked up to him. Surrendering herself for a moment of peaceful thought.
Mahina hopped into his car, pouting as she got comfortable in her seat. Bubbles buckled Mahina in, and gave her a sad look. "I'm sorry, Mahina, but this is the way things have to be."
Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "I know." She spoke the words in a voice that spoke of deep loss.
Bubbles worked to getting Lilo into the car. She was excitedly talking about Pleakley and Jumba. Mahina tuned it out, turning away from it. It only reminded her of how things had fallen apart.
"One of them had a giant eye in the middle of his face." Lilo finished her story, as Bubbles places her beside Mahina.
Nani ran to the car. Bubbles closed the door shut. "Oh, Lilo! Please don't do this." Nani pleaded.
"You know I have no choice." Bubbles reminded her.
Mahina looked at Lilo from the corner of her eye. The small girl was staring out the window towards her sister.
"No! You're not taking her!" Lilo flinched back in surprise. "I'm the only one who understands her! You take that away, she won't stand a chance!"
"You're making this harder than it needs to be." Bubbles told her.
"You don't know what you're doing! She needs me!" Nani pleaded.
"Is this what she needs?!" Bubbles ranted.
Mahina had heard enough. She popped the door beside her open, unbuckling her seatbelt. She nodded her head towards Lilo. "Come on- let's go."
Lilo hesitated for only a second. She crawled out of the car with Mahina. Both girls rushed off into the expanse of trees.
"Lilo! Mahina!" Bubbles yelled, but the girls kept running. "Lilo! Mahina!"
They were long gone.
==M&J==
Mahina and Lilo stopped deep in the woods. Mahina sat down, catching her breath. She'd done a lot of running today- it was starting to get to her. Honestly it was too early for all of this craziness. Couldn't she get another eight hours of sleep or something?
Lilo gasped.
Mahina tiredly turned her head. She rolled her eyes at seeing Stitch, going back to curling down to get a few breaths. Stitch held out the partially burned picture to Lilo.
"You ruined everything." Lilo accused Stitch. Mahina thought that was rather rude- the experiment had been doing something nice.
Stitch shifted into his normal form. Mahina wanted to coo at how adorable he looked. She ended up letting out a tired hum.
"You're one of them?" Lilo asked, shocked.
"I knew Jumba and Pleakley." Mahina admitted, blinking slowly. "The aliens from the house- I knew them. Been with them for two days."
Lilo turned to her, only looking more betrayed.
"Sorry." Mahina yawned. "Wasn't- wasn't supposed to go like this." She yawned again.
It was true, as far as Mahina was concerned. She had hoped that she could stop the house from exploding- it hadn't gone well. She had hoped she could stop Bubbles from having to take Lilo away- or herself away- that hadn't worked. She had hoped to stop Gantu from-
Hold on.
She hadn't stopped Gantu from coming.
"Get out of here, Stitch." Lilo snapped at the experiment.
Her eyes widened. "Lilo!" Mahina stood up, trying to push Lilo out of the way.
Before she could, they were trapped.
Gantu had fired the trap at them.
Mahina screamed when she was bound with Lilo and Stitch. She had hit her head on the tumble.
"Surprise!" There was laughter from Gantu. He lifted them up. Mahina could feel her elbow on Stitch's back, felt Lilo's legs kicked at her own sides. It was painful. "And here I thought you'd be difficult to catch. Ho-ho-ho. Silly me."
Gantu dumped them down into the container. It hurt worse to have Lilo dropped onto her. All the air in her lungs rushed out. Mahina was ready to sleep for like, a day, now. She probably would if this flight didn't kill her.
The container was stuck on the back of his ship.
"There you go, all buckled up for the trip." Gantu boasted. Stitch snarled at him. "And look... I even caught you some little snacks."
Lilo squeaked, cowering away from Gantu.
Mahina growled. Exhausted, but she still did her best.
Gantu only grinned- victorious. He walked off to the front.
Mahina squinted, looking out the glass. She could barely spot Nani at the treeline. She waved at her, then started banging on the glass. Stitch made his escape, pushing himself out from the glass.
He seemed to realize at the last second that he needed to get the girls out too. He had barely made eye contact with Lilo when the ship blasted away.
==M&J==
AN: Nearly missed my own self-imposed deadline. That was close! (looks at the other chapters of things I wrote today- and published- before this one) Uhh...happy treason day. Goodbye!
Thanks to Zorua1 and Saphirabrightscale for favoriting
Thanks to Zorua1, Saphirabrightscale, and TheBambi555, for following