Okay, this chapter is going to mark the end of the Karnax subplot, so I hope none of you got too attached to the guy. Enjoy!
Nukerjsr, Hunkahunka will indeed pay, and so will Karnax. Nani's role will be explained in this chapter. And I personally think all the guilt for causing this stuff to happen is enough punishment for Lilo. I don't want to hurt her…
LTC, I'm surprised to find I sort of miss Holly too. Your guess for Nani is pretty close, but that's all I'll tell you. Hamsterviel's people never encountered Karnax, so they had nothing to do with his original banishment. And all of Hamsterviel's family has been super-villains going back for ten generations, except for his second cousin three times removed that nobody likes to talk about. (He's a supermodel.)
Black dog, what do you mean by character rape? Is that some sort of insult?
Story Weaver1, thanks for the theory. All will be explained in the sequel. (Maybe.)
Mimic12355, Stitch hasn't picked his nose because he hasn't felt like it or needed to. By the way, congratulations on starting a new story.
Oh, and if K9 the First is reading this, I'd like to say Jesus is NOT the son of God, he was just deified by a bunch of people two thousand years ago. I see him as a nice JEWISH guy whose words got a little blown out of proportion and splinted off from Judaism and formed a new religion.
…
Stitch and Angel were flying back to the Pelekai household, dagger in tow, when a black manta-shaped ship flew past them. "Hey, wasn't that the ship you stole from Gantu?" asked Angel.
Stitch frowned. "Yeah. What's it doing out here?" Then he saw Jumba's cruiser flying towards them. The bottom opened up, creating a space for them to fly into. "And shouldn't Jumba be at home, working on that banishing spell? What's he doing here?"
"We should probably go in and see what's going on," suggested Angel. Stitch nodded and flew inside the big red ship. Seconds later, they were on the bridge, where Pleakley was driving (which was cause for alarm), Jumba was frantically working on some chemicals, and Lilo was helping him and looking anxious.
The doctor looked up. "624, are you having the dagger?" She nodded. "Give it to me!" Angel handed it over. Jumba picked up a faintly glowing arrow and tied the dagger to its head. The dagger started glowing as well. "Ah, very good…"
"Why aren't you guys back at the house?" asked Angel.
"001 kidnapped Nani! And Jumba wouldn't tell us why until you got here," Lilo complained.
"I am not liking to repeat myself. But now that 626 and 624 are here, I will explain." Jumba fiddled with his chemistry set. "Karnax is having special ability that can allow him to destroy an entire planet, but he is using it rarely. He casts a spell that is summoning an unstoppable meteor from deep space, impacting with planet and causing total annihilation. But to cast the spell, he must be sacrificing an infant, still developing in its mother's womb."
"If he needs a baby, then why did he take Nani?" asked Lilo.
Jumba smirked. "Is quite simple, Little Girl. Big Girl is being pregnant."
There were various gasps, and a "Gabba?!" from Stitch.
"Nani's pregnant?!" said Lilo in disbelief.
Angel scowled and crossed her arms. "That hypocrite! She's always going on about how I can't live with you guys because she can't afford to feed another mouth, then she goes behind my back and gets pregnant!"
"But who's the father?" wondered Pleakley.
Jumba chuckled. "Surfer Boy David."
"And you would know this how?" Pleakley asked suspiciously.
"I slipped them liquor and fertility drugs on one of their not-a-dates. Was part of important experiment on human reproductive system. I don't remember what the experiment actually was, but I thought it was being funny at the time." He laughed evilly, then frowned. "Of course, is due to my little experiment that world is in danger now, so maybe I should not be laughing."
"How do we stop Karnax from sacrificing my new nephew or niece before he destroys the planet?" asked Lilo.
"All we are needing to do is interrupt ceremony before its end, where Karnax throws baby into pit of lava. Then we must exorcise Karnax from 001's body and cast him back outside of time."
"And how do we do that?" asked Angel.
"I am being glad you asked." Jumba put down his chemicals and handed Stitch a gun with a blue cartridge in it. "To exorcise Karnax, we must be destroying 001's body completely. This molecular dissociator will break down his molecular bonds, causing him to disintegrate and release Karnax's spirit. Is very dangerous, so be sure not to miss." Stitch nodded. Jumba then handed him four gloves. They had holes for his claws and metal studs on the knuckles with glowing white runes on them. "I was saving these for your birthday, but they are being needed more now. These gloves are being bulletproof, laserproof, fireproof, acidprood, freezeproof, shockproof, lavaproof, waterproof, and pretty much everything else proof. Once Karnax is exorcised, he will be intangible spirit, immune to physical damage. I have enchanted your gloves to let you to attack Karnax successfully in his spirit form, allowing you to fight him directly."
"Bootifa!" said Stitch as he put on the gloves, grinning as he imagined himself beating Karnax to a pulp.
Jumba frowned. "Wipe that look off your face, it is not being that easy!" Stitch looked at him in confusion. "Even if you are being able to damage Karnax, he is still being a god. Gods can never die. The best you can be doing is hurting and stunning him a little." Stitch's ears drooped at that. "Do not be worrying though, that is being good enough. You will be serving as distraction while Little Girl and I prepare our banishing spell." He picked up the bow and arrow and handed it to Angel. "Are you knowing how to use this?"
"No."
"Does not matter, all you are needing to do is pull back string and release. Does not matter where you aim. The arrow will find its target on its own." He handed a conch shell to Lilo. "While 626 is fighting Karnax, Little Girl and I will channel guardian spirits into arrow. When the time is being right, 624 must fire the arrow. It will paralyze Karnax and reveal his soul, the center of his being. 626, you must grab the soul while Karnax is being paralyzed and give it to me so I can cast banishing spell on it and get rid of him once and for all. Is everybody being clear on their parts?" Everyone nodded. "Good."
"Hey, what about me?" Pleakley whined.
"Eh? Oh, I suppose you can be cheerleading or something," Jumba said offhandedly. Pleakley scowled and muttered under his breath about oppression, racism, and unfair evil geniuses. "Now, we had all better be getting ready, because we are almost at our destination."
"What is our destination?" asked Lilo.
"The only place in Hawaiian Islands that is still having pit of lava…Volcano National Park!"
…
001 stood on the black volcanic rock overlooking a pool of lava. He inhaled the sulfurous air and sighed happily. "Excellent…"
"You're not going to throw me in there are you?" asked Nani from the large rock she was tied to.
001 chuckled and turned back to the human. "No, I am going to be cutting you open and letting you bleed to death. Your baby is the one that I will be throwing into the pit."
Nani's eyes widened. "H-how did you know I was pregnant?"
001 sneered. "I am having my ways." He walked over to her, dug his claws into Nani's stomach, and tore it open. Her screams echoed across the park. 001 sifted through the blood and organs seeping out of the hole he had made and finally found the uterus. He ripped it open and pulled the tiny, unformed infant from its mother's body. "At last…" He severed the umbilical cord and held the baby up to the heavens. "Cosmic Forces, hear your master! I am sacrificing the soul of this child, unburdened with the sins of life, to call forth the forbidden power granted to me long ago! I summon the RED STAR!" A spark of light rose from the infant's dead body and vanished into space. There was a flash of light, and an object appeared thousands of miles from the planet's atmosphere. Despite the distance, it shown unbelievably brightly, like a second sun, bathing the Earth in crimson light. 001 laughed. "Fall from the heavens, Red Star! Fall, and stain this world red!" He raised the infant's body over his head, preparing to cast it into the molten abyss and complete the spell.
"I don't think so!" said a voice from behind 001.
The monkey whirled around and saw Stitch holding a gun. "You!"
Stitch smirked. "Yes. Me." Stitch fired the molecular dissociator.
A tremendous blue blast erupted from the gun's barrel, encompassing both 001 and the baby. The monkey screamed in pain and dropped the infant, which immediately disintegrated. Out in space, the red light faded and vanished completely. 001 looked down in horror and saw he was dissolving from the feet up. "What…what have you done…to me?"
Stitch patted his gun affectionately. "I just shot you with a molecular dissociator. As we speak, your body is unraveling at the subatomic level. Soon you'll be nothing but spare particles in the wind."
001 looked at Stitch in surprise and laughed. "You fool! By destroying my body, you will only release the evil within!"
"Yeah, that's the idea."
The others rushed over to Nani, who was dying as vital fluids and organs leaked out of her body. Pleakley turned green(er) and threw up. Lilo was pale. "Oh Nani…"
Jumba cut Nani down and dropped her in Pleakley's arms, causing him to nearly fall over. "Pleakley, get Big Girl back to the ship immediately. Use my medical devices to stabilize her condition before it is being too late."
"But-but I don't know anything about healing!" Pleakley protested.
"There are tutorials. Hurry! We are all counting on you!" Emboldened by this, Pleakley strengthened his grip on Nani and walked back towards the ship. Three seconds later he collapsed under Nani's weight and decided it would be easier to drag her.
The last of 001 vaporized. There was a gust of wind, and the menacing spirit of Karnax manifested where the monkey had once stood. "Haha! I am being free at last!" He gestured, and Zarthos and Zinthos flew into his hands. "For releasing me from that fleshy cage and ruining my spell, you shall be the first to die! What are you saying to that, eh?"
Stitch grinned. "I say…EAT MOLECULAR DISSOCIATOR!" He fired his gun.
Karnax laughed and made no gesture to deflect the shot, certain it would pass right through him. It didn't. It exploded on contact with the spirit. He roared in pain and disintegrated. His swords fell to the ground, only to levitate back up as Karnax pulled himself back together only seconds later. He looked at Stitch in shock. "How did you do that?"
"Ha!" yelled Jumba. "I was enchanting 626's gloves to be damaging spirits before we got here! As added bonus, anything he is holding in enchanted gloves can be damaging you too!" He started laughing. "In your face, Karnax! IN-YOUR-FACE!"
Karnax growled and didn't see the next dissociator shot until it was too late. He vaporized again, and came back angrier than before. "Why you little-"
BLAM!
Karnax vaporized and reconfigured again. "Okay, now you're gonna-"
BLAM!
Karnax reformed. "I'm going to-"
BLAM!
Karnax pulled himself together. "This is getting ridiculous!"
BLAM!
Karnax pulled himself together. "Stop-"
BLAM!
Karnax came back yet again, eye twitching. "I'VE HAD-"
BLAM!
Karnax reformed one last time, blood boiling. "OKAY, THAT IS BEING IT!"
Stitch pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. "Blitznag, I'm out of ammo!"
Karnax grinned maliciously. "Perfect…"
Meanwhile, Jumba poured a vial onto the arrow, causing it to glow brighter. "Okay, here is what we are going to do. While 626 is distracting Karnax, we will ready the spell. I will be summoning spirits of nature to empower the magic arrow. Little Girl, whenever I am finishing describing a force of nature, blow into that conch shell. Okay?"
"Okay!" said Lilo, holding the conch shell to her lips.
"And when do I fire the arrow?" asked Angel.
"When the arrow is being powered by all ten spirits of nature, it will become golden. Then you must fire it," Jumba explained. "Let's begin. Spirits of Nature, I beseech you. You who nurture and protect us from evil are needed now. Unite so that we may cast this evil from our world. Come Fire, Bringer of Heat, of Light, of Life…" Jumba began a lengthy description of the properties of fire. This would take a little while.
Karnax shimmered and split into four, each one floating around Stitch. "One of me is being real, the others are all being illusion…can you be telling which is which?" All four gods cackled and spun closer to Stitch, raising their swords to strike at the experiment. Stitch dashed forward and punched one of them in the stomach, knocking him back with a discernible grunt and making the fakes disappear. "How did you know it was me?" asked Karnax, impressed.
"Only one of you four had a shadow," Stitch explained.
Karnax frowned. "But I am being spirit! I have no shadow!"
"No, but your swords do," Stitch pointed out. Karnax was amazed to see this was true. "Which means they're material. Where did you get those?"
Karnax chuckled. "Oh, these? I got these by ripping your weak lady friend in half and using her bones, blood, and hair to create my trademark weapons."
Stitch bristled. Since Angel was alive, the only one who Karnax could possibly be talking about was Holly. "You sick bastard," he growled.
Karnax grinned. "Yes, I suppose I am."
"You're going to pay for killing her."
"We'll see." He split into four again. This time all the swords cast shadows. "Can you be telling which one is me now?"
"Yes." Stitch pounced and punched the true Karnax repeatedly in the face with his four fists.
Karnax shoved Stitch off of him and floated out of reach. "How did you know it was being me that time?!" he asked incredulously.
"I could smell Holly's dry blood on your swords."
Karnax scowled and floated over the lava pit. "I see I will have to be trying something different if I am to be killing you." He pulled a few maggots off of his skin and dropped them into the lava. Nothing happened.
Stitch growled. "That's it?"
Karnax held up a finger. "Wait for it…"
The surface of the lava churned and bubbled. Suddenly, several horrendous forms erupted from the pit. The maggots had become giant worms, each with huge mouths dominating their heads, with far too many eyes blinking every which way. The worms shrieked and looked hungrily at Stitch. "Blitznag."
One of the worms lunged for the Blue Dude. Stitch sidestepped the attack, and the worm bit into the ground. Stitch grabbed the worm before it could pull back and yanked it out of the lava. It writhed angrily at this, but Stitch punched one of its eyes hard, stopping its motion. The other worms stupidly lunged forward as well. Stitch held up the giant worm he had pulled out, and the other worms accidentally bit into it, locking their teeth into their brother's flesh. Stitch dragged all the worms out of the lava, used their bodies to tie them all up in a big bundle, and kicked them back into the pit. They sank to the bottom.
Karnax grunted. "Beginner's luck." He tossed his swords into the air. They multiplied, creating about a hundred smaller blades. "Take this!" He psychically began flinging the swords at Stitch.
Stitch curled into a ball and rolled around the edge of the pit, dodging the swords as they imbedded themselves in the ground. When he reached full circle, Karnax got smart and started throwing the swords ahead of Stitch, attempting to skewer him. Stitch uncurled and grabbed four of the swords on the ground and started swinging them, deflecting the incoming missiles. Frustrated, Karnax called all of his remaining swords back to him and threw them at Stitch en masse, hoping they could penetrate his defenses. Stitch started spinning his swords like fan blades, forming a 360-degree shield to deflect the missiles. They ricocheted off of his shield and flew all over the place. Some even fell into the lava. When Stitch finally stopped spinning his swords, he saw that all of the others were buried up to the hilt around him.
Karnax growled and called all the swords back. Stitch hung onto his and was carried towards Karnax with the others. Karnax quickly realized his mistake and mentally ordered all of the swords to get Stitch in the air. Stitch hurled one of his swords at Karnax to distract him and jumped off of the side of one of the swords converging on him, using his other swords to push himself out of the forest of blades and right towards the god. Karnax frantically called the others back to him, but it was too late. Stitch buried his three swords up to the hilt in Karnax's chest. The god roared in pain. Stitch clawed Karnax's face and jumped off of his head, landing on the rim of the lava pit.
Karnax was furious now. He pulled the swords out of his chest and recombined them with the others to form Zarthos and Zinthos again. He tossed them aside and raised his hands above his head. "DIE!" He flung a huge energy ball at Stitch. Stitch punched the ball when it reached him, deflecting it back at Karnax. The evil god grabbed his swords and swung at the ball, knocking it back at Stitch. Stitch punched it back, and it flew even faster back at the god, who deflected it again with even more speed, and this kept going until one of the two messed up their timing. Surprisingly, it was Stitch. He got struck by the ball, which exploded, flinging him back several feet. Karnax laughed and formed an even bigger energy ball. As he threw it at Stitch, the experiment grinned, suddenly got back to his feet, and grabbed the ball just inches away from his face. Karnax gaped. "You…you tricked me! You were wanting me to hit you, weren't you?"
Stitch smirked. "Yep." He threw the energy ball over his shoulder. It hit the ground right behind him and exploded, hurling Stitch into the air on an intercept course with Karnax. Startled, the god grabbed his swords and crossed them in front of him in an attempt to block Stitch. The experiment held out his fists as he rocketed towards his foe. "MEEGA NALA QUISTA!" The bone swords shattered as they made contact with Stitch's fists, leaving Karnax wide open. Stitch smashed right through the god's chest and out the other side, leaving a huge hole. Karnax howled in pain. Stitch landed on the other side of the pit. "That was for Holly." He turned around to see that Karnax was already starting to heal the wound he had just made. However, he wouldn't get the chance to finish.
Back with the other three, Jumba was just finishing the description for Darkness, the last spirit. "…Bringer of Shadow, Twin of Light. We need all of you! Spirits unite!" Lilo blew on the conch shell one last time, making a long trumpeting sound.
Motes of light gathered on the tip of the arrow, turning it golden. Angel pulled back on the bowstring and released, firing the arrow. It shot through the air like a golden laser beam, piercing Karnax's forehead. He screamed in pain and fury as he collapsed to the ground near Stitch, crackling with golden electricity. A sphere of light emerged from the god's mouth, and Stitch knew this was Karnax's soul. He grabbed the soul and started running back to the others. "No…wait!" Karnax protested, struggling against his paralysis.
Stitch ignored the god's pleas and threw the soul to Jumba. The genius caught it and poured another chemical on it. "Spirits of Nature, finish this spell, send the evil one back to hell!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!!" screamed Karnax. The arrow fell from his forehead as a vortex opened behind him and started sucking him in. "Do not be thinking this is over! Someday another idiot magician will free me, then I will be returning to kill your descendants! This I promise yoooouuuu!" He vanished into the vortex, which closed behind him.
"Should we be worried about that?" asked Lilo.
Jumba shrugged. "Well, I am being infertile so never had offspring with ex-wife, and 626 and 624 are being naturally incapable of making children, so you are being only one who should be worried."
"Darn."
Angel hugged Stitch, who winced slightly, his ribs had been hurt somewhat by the energy ball he had let himself get hit by. "626, excellent job fighting Karnax! Like poetry in motion you were!" Jumba said, complimenting his creation.
Stitch grinned. "Stitch number one!"
Jumba chuckled. "Yes you are, now don't let it be going to your head again or I'll be making ANOTHER super evil genius experiment to knock you down a peg or two." Stitch winced and nodded. "Anyway, now that Karnax is finally being defeated, we can live in peace once more."
"What about Hunkahunka?" asked Angel.
Jumba stroked his chin. "Oh yes, I was forgetting about him. I wonder what he is doing now?"
…
Hunkahunka nearly fell out of his seat as another blast rocked his ship. He frantically opened a new warp gate, but only a couple of clones got out before the gate was destroyed. A volley of plasma shots struck his right engine nacelle, blowing it up. As the bird tried to stabilize his ship, Hamsterviel appeared on the communication screen. "323!"
Hunkahunka froze. "Oh, uh, hello sir."
"323, you have failed me for the last time! Not only have you not captured 624 and 626 or succeeded in destroying 626's family, now you are wasting clones trying to bail yourself out of the situation you have gotten yourself into! This ends here!"
Hunkahunka gulped. "Please, just give me another chance!"
Hamsterviel gave his servant a cold, evil smile. "No more chances for you, 323. I warned you what the consequences of failing me would be." Robot arms suddenly shot out of panels around the cockpit and restrained Hunkahunka. "It's a good thing I still have my secret weapon, otherwise this entire endeavor would have been a total loss. In any case, you won't be around to see my victory. At least, not as you are now." A helmet lowered from the ceiling onto Hunkahunka's head. "Goodbye, 323." There was a flash of light and a horrible scream.
…
Abruptly, Hunkahunka's ship exploded, scattering debris everywhere. As the experiments shielded themselves from the blast, a metal object flew from the fire and into the sky. Trailing white dust, the object drew a tremendous circle in the air, igniting it once it was completed. The resulting explosion created the biggest warp gate yet, blotting out the sky and the stars. And as the experiments looked up fearfully at the gate, something emerged from it.
Something BIG.
…
Don't you hate cliffhangers? Tune in next time to see Hamsterviel's secret weapon!