ONESHOT: Free Halloween

Wanted to make one for the season, hoping everyone has a great Halloween tonight!~

-Ryuko Rose


"You're gonna be okay without me?"

"Ih! Sure-meega'll be okitaka! Naga worry!"

Stitch hoped this would be enough to convince Angel; it was her first Halloween as a free experiment, and she'd been planning to spend the night at Hammerface and Clip's place with Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid. It seemed the now formerly captured experiments in general were throwing parties to celebrate, if the scattered ones he'd heard about when he and Lilo had gone to check up on them in their bi-weekly trips around town were any indication. It more than made sense-this would be the first Halloween they'd spend free; able to go wherever and do whatever they wanted without any fear of Gantu trying to catch them. He wanted this to be special for Angel, so he'd only been supportive when she said she wanted to go to Hammerface and Clip's house for the night.

The thing was…

…He wished she'd wanted to stay with him and Lilo instead.

He'd barely gotten her back, but it felt as though she'd just been spending all her time with Heat, Thresher, and Plasmoid. He knew why she would, but at the same time…it was as though he never actually got to be with her.

Angel was squinting at him in suspicion, clearly irritated with his enthusiasm. "Really…?"

"Ih, really."

"I spent over a year with Fibber."

"...You know you can come, right?" She asked, crossing her arms, "Or do you want me to stay here?"

Stitch hesitated, his ears drooping. He'd been caught.

"...Can youga stay…?" He asked, "Meega…meega would like to spend this year with youga, ih? Meega just got youga back."

Angel sighed, "But it's also gonna be my first time with a free Halloween Stitch. Last time the others were all sick."

"Can you just lemme have this one? I can stay next year." She said, giving him a hopeful smile. It starkly contrasted with her costume; a glittering, velvety black dress and a pair of wings, topped off with a set of demon horns. It was another Witch commission, the logo for her and Crystallene's boutique emblazoned on the skirt. The two had gone all out in making costumes for the various cousins for the holiday, and had jumped at the chance to make one for Angel the second she'd asked.

She was obviously really excited for this, it'd be wrong of him to not let her go…

He rubbed his right arm and sighed, nodding as he looked at the floorboards of the Ohana's living room, "Ih…"

"Next year?" He asked, and Angel nodded, grinning, "Ih-next year."


Night had fallen since Angel had left. He'd watched her go, her dress billowing out behind her as she ran to meet up with the rest of the "Army". It'd almost resembled an extra pair of wings, adding to the ones already strapped to her back. The others were a bit far away for him to get a good look at their costumes, but he could see Hammerface and Heat were a vampire and zombie respectively. Thresher and Plasmoid didn't appear to be wearing anything, but he assumed they were saving theirs for later.

At the moment, he was trick-or-treating with Lilo, the two of them making their way down the neighborhood street. They lived too far away from neighbors, so they had to be driven to different streets by Nani and David-that, or, they just walked on their own. Over time, experiment homes had replaced those of humans on their routes, particularly those of earlier series-who seemed to always come prepared with king-sized chocolate bars just for them.

Speaking of which, they'd come across several experiment parties while they were out; they were easy to spot, lit up so bright they could practically be seen from space and overflowing with cousins dressed up for the holiday. So far, he and Lilo had seen Hasagawa's Cats dressed up as the Earth pets she'd mistaken them for, Ace and Manners as Superman and Batman respectively, Bonnie and Clyde as their own namesakes, Finder as a detective, and Melty as a knight. Even Sparky had paid them a short visit, a pair of bolts around his neck giving him away as Frankenstein's monster. He'd waved to them as him and Melty had flown overhead, him and Lilo waving back through their dress and cape respectively.

"I think we've gotten both sides of the street. What do you think?" Lilo's voice broke through his thoughts, and Stitch looked over to see her hoisting her bag over her shoulder. He wordlessly reached out a hand to take it, but she shook her head and smiled, "Oh-I'm fine Stitch! It's all the new Butterfingers I got at Slick and Flute's; it's just gonna take a bit to get used to."

"Okitaka; meega's still open if youga get tired though." He said. Lilo nodded and stepped ahead of him; both their bags were close to full by this point, so he assumed they'd have to head back soon.

He cast a glance towards the moon; it'd risen while he and Lilo had been trick-or-treating, and its light gently illuminated the street as they reached its end. He wondered how Angel was doing right now. Maybe watching a movie or handing out candy or…

His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Stitch looked over to see Lilo offering him a reassuring smile, candy bag still slung over her shoulder.

"One last stop?"

He shrugged, "Ih."

"Okay. I get to pick though…aaaaaand you have to look at the ground the whole way. Deal?"

"Ih-wait-gaba?" He asked, but he was too late; Lilo pointed to the sidewalk, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, "I promise you're gonna like it okay? Just cover your eyes until I say to stop."

"Well, ih…"

He took Lilo's hand and closed both eyes, enveloping his sight in darkness. At certain points in the journey, he felt them grow irritated and faithfully covered them when he blinked, usually in tandem between his free hand. At one point, his nose picked up on a mass of scents; floral, fruity, heady…earthy…

Wait a minute-

"Okay-you can open 'em now!" Lilo exclaimed, and he nearly tore his hands away from his face to the sight of Hammerface and Clip's home, nestled against the forest and currently lit up with jack-o-lanterns and gravestones. Purple and orange flowers covered the rails, evidently having been moved there by Hammerface for the night. Lilo stood between him and the house, grinning through a thin layer of sweat. She must've used near every single shortcut they had on the way there, since the axe headband on her head was slightly crooked.

He gazed between her and the house with disbelief, feeling his face warm up in a mixture of sheepishness and thanks, "Naga way-how'd youga guess?!"

Lilo shrugged, "Just a hunch. It's our first Halloween with them too you know? I wanted to visit, and I think you'd wanna see Angel."

"Well…ih, but isa first time free! She wanted to spend it with 'em, so…"

"That doesn't mean she wouldn't wanna see you!" Lilo countered. She gave him a gentle smile and held out her hand, "Come on; I'm sure it'll be fine."

He let Lilo lead him up to the front door. There was a bowl of candy with a handwritten note saying to only take three maximum propped up above it, but he and Lilo sidestepped it, the latter knocking on the door.

They must've heard them coming, because there was no hesitation as it swung open. Clip stood before them, wearing a black cloak and bow. Her claws had caps for the occasion, shimmering black and red in the porchlight. Upon seeing them, her face broke into a toothy grin and she held up a hand in greeting, "Oh-wow! Hi you two-we weren't expecting you-come in; I'll get Hammerface!"

"See?" Lilo whispered as the two stepped into the front entryway, "What'd I tell ya?"

Stitch nodded, albeit nervously upon seeing the four remaining experiments turn towards the newcomers.

Heat didn't seem surprised; he'd evidently sensed them coming, raising a hand in silent greeting with half a chocolate bar sticking out of his mouth. Thresher craned his neck, shyly raising a tentacle while retracting his eyestalks towards the bandages wrapped around his head and face. Plasmoid and Angel were the louder ones, the former leaping up and shouting a hello to them through half of a white mask and his own black cloak while the latter…

Stitch and Lilo felt themselves lifted up in the air as Angel wrapped them both in a tight hug, her voice high from excitement and surprise as she jumped in the air, "OHMYGODSOHMYGODSOHMYGODS-YOU CAME! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

"Meega neither-meega thought-"

"Thought what, that we'd just spend it separate?" Heat's calm voice interrupted them; they turned towards the others as he crumpled up his candy wrapper and tossed it into a trashcan brought into the center of the room, "She…might've told us when we met up. Of course we couldn't leave you out, especially not when it's our first time actually celebrating."

"We had to keep it hidden." Thresher added, his smile turning apologetic as he fumbled with a piece of licorice handed to him by Heat, "That and we know how we felt last time."

"Yeah-all we could do last year was sit on the couch and watch old movies." Plasmoid said, "It was lame, so…"

"Wait-did youga plan this with them?" Stitch asked Lilo, but she shook her head, "I mean-I did talk to Heat, but..."

"I know it sounds otherwise, but we were planning to catch you at the house once we finished up here and drop her off." Heat explained, "We were banking on it being a surprise, only…."

"I think Hammer called Nani or something." Plasmoid said, and the earlier 6-series nodded in confirmation, "That might've had something to do with it."

The conversation was interrupted by Clip's voice, ushering her partner into the room, "Hammer-look! It's Pleakley's costume for her like I told you-isn't it cute?

"Aaaaaand here come the embarrassing parents." Plasmoid shook his head in annoyance as Clip led Hammerface into the room, the latter still clutching a plate of freshly made cookies between his hands.

"Okay-I see it; it's adorable-thank you Clip…" He said, leaning down to her before straightening back up and waving to them with his free hand, "Hi you two! We're surprised you came to us and not the other way around." He greeted, his voice slightly muffled through a fake set of fangs, "I'm gonna call Nani if you're staying over, okay?"

Angel, Lilo and Stitch looked to each other before turning back to the two earlier series, "Well, if you're okay with it…"

"Of course! We're a bit isolated here; it's nice of you to think of us." Hammerface set the plate on the coffee table next to the later series before exiting into the kitchen, black cape trailing along behind him as he walked.

"...You can go off with them if you want; we'll still be here." Heat suggested, nodding to Angel. She smiled and returned it before turning back to Stitch, "I talked with 'em and they're okay with me goin' off with you-if you still wanna do that of course."

Stitch thought to himself for a moment; he still wanted to spend the night with Angel alone, but…she had promised she would next year, and the others had been so nice to them…

He supposed there would be other times, like Angel said.

"Hmm…isa okitaka-we can spend it with Ohana, ih?" He asked. He immediately knew he'd made the right choice upon doing so-Angel's face broke into an overjoyed grin, black wings quivering as though they were an extra set of antenna, "Awesome!"

"Thanks Stitch." Heat said as the two joined them in the center of the room, "She was pretty torn on this."

"Ih-meega could see it. Meega was too; isa youga's first free Halloween, then first Thanksgiving, then Christmas…"

Plasmoid snorted, "Man, don't remind us; we've got a lot of these Earth holidays to catch up on."

"Well…" Lilo held up her bag of candy as she stepped in between the experiments, "Wanna sort with us to help with that?"

They nodded amongst themselves, "Sure!"

"Kay-I'm gonna dump this one out then!"