Promise

By: Kenjaje

Chapter 5: Infiltration

"I still don't see why I have to go with you to the stupid store." Lilo huffed as she and Nani entered the market. Her arms were cross and her eyes narrowed.

"I already told you, Pleakley needed someone to stay behind and clean the house for him, and I needed someone to come with me to the store."

"Why not Stitch?" She asked.

"Uh huh, yeah, great idea! I'll take the wrecking ball to the store with me." Nani lashed back sarcastically, waving her arms in the air to mock a brilliant idea. Lilo scowled deeper. "Ok look, you don't have to come along with me, just stay in the store. If you want I'll buy you something, as long as you stay in the store." Nani bent down and lifted Lilo's face to look her in the eye.

"Alright." Lilo replied with a sigh.

"That's a good Lilo." Nani cooed, hugging her sister. "Meet me back here no later then..." she looked at her watch, "Six, ok? I have to get dinner started." Lilo nodded. "Alright then, and remember s-"

"I know, stay in the store." Lilo interrupted. Nani half smiled, got up to her feet, and preceded down to an isle far to the left. Lilo walked over to the magazine stand and slumped against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position as if she were exhausted. "I wonder if Stitch is as bored as I am..." She trailed.

"Toom-daraga!"

"No no no, put that down! No don't throw it-agh!"

"Eheheha, what is wrong Pleakley? I thought you said Stitch was going to help you clean."

"He will, you will help me clean."

"Cleaning stupid, quicker this way."

"Throwing things around is not cleaning." Pleakley scolded, taking a bat and hitting Stitch on the head. "Now you behave and help me clean." Stitch growled, took the bat from out of Pleakley's hands, and devoured it.

"Naga." He replied.

"Well little mister, you're either going to help me clean, or you might as well go somewhere else, because I have a job to do. That Achie-baba Kino thing really tore the place up and I gotta fix it!"

"Ok...ok..." Stitch sighed, "Stitch go away." He lulled, slouching his shoulders and heading toward the front door.

"Hey now," Pleakley spoke apologetically, "I didn't mean it that way..."

"Is ok, Stitch find something else to do. No problem." He replied in the same lulling tone as he walked outside the door. He crouched down after closing it to listen if his act played out.

"Poor little guy, I didn't mean to hurt his feelings." Pleakley said to Jumba, Stitch snickered unheard outside the door.

"Bah," Jumba said, straightening the newspaper he had been reading the whole time, "No needing to be sorry. 626 was putting on act." Stitch listened harder, not laughing any more.

"Well if he was then that was a pretty horrible thing to do." Pleakely stated louder then normal. Stitch peered over the bottom of the window on the front door, and instantly let down as he saw Pleakley staring his direction. Growling in defeat, he trotted to the hammock. He lay down with his eyes open, wondering when Lilo would get back from the store. He wanted to tell her about what happened. He also had a small desire to catch another experiment; they hadn't seen one besides Slushy since 120. He sighed, thinking of how to tell the story to Lilo once she got back.

Lilo was growing more impatient, it was two-thirty and she had spent what felt like an hour at the store already. She wanted to go home and do something with Stitch. Anything would do; even if it was just wrestling or play chess, he was returning to normal now that he sorted out his confusion, and she was sure he would do something with her now.

As she came around the different aisles she looked at all the displays and items for sale, not really wanting to buy any of them, but just browsing to pass time. When she came to the end, and turned the corner, the display on the outside caught her eye. On the display were open pendants; each one was similar, except for the stone in the center was a different color. She grabbed one of the pendants, a yellow one, and examined it closely. The stone was fairly big, and a gold rim the size of a quarter's side surrounded the circumference of the stone. The pendant fit in her hand, a bit smaller then her palm, and the back of it was very thick.

She put it back and scanned over the other colors. A rainbow of selections, and to the right of them all, was a long sheet of paper pasted on the wall. "Pendants of Meaning" was at the very top of the strip, and all down it showed the colors of each pendant and what each color meant. Yellow was for charisma and wit, blue was for courage and perseverance, orange was for sly and looks.

"You know," she said to herself, "I kind of want to get Stitch one. Hopefully it'll raise his spirits a bit more." Peering at the strip of paper more closely, she looked for words that described-to her-how she thought of Stitch after what he's been through. "I think maybe...green." She stated, now sifting through the green pendants. "For promise and hope. This one." She said, pulling her choice out. Like the other pendants, the stone was fairly large, but this stone was more centered, and seemed to have the smoothest feel out of the others. Quickly she ran all the way back to the spot where she and Nani were supposed to meet. Her sister was already there, and almost done purchasing her groceries.

"Wait!" She hollered coming closer, Nani turned to see her sister rush in and screech to a halt from out of nowhere. "I want to buy this." Lilo demanded. Nani took the pendant that Lilo displayed and checked the price tag on the back. She smiled at Lilo and had the cashier ring it up. The ride home seemed long and quiet to Lilo.

"Hello? We're home." Nani said coming through the door. Jumba still sat reading his newspaper, peeking up to see Lilo walking in carrying two bags under her arms, and a necklace in her right hand.

"Ah is good to be seeing you and little girl." He replied, returning to his article.

"Wow, I'm surprised, Pleakley did a good job." Nani surveyed over the spotless room. Lilo wandered off into the kitchen to find Stitch.

"Yes, did not take long. But I must say, loud sounding vacuum machine is starting to get little teensy bit irritating." Nani continued on to the kitchen, after she passed Lilo poked her head around the corner and looked into the living room.

"Jumba have you seen Stitch?"

"Not for long time, no. Last seen he was heading out front door and around house. Now please, am reading newspaper. Is very interesting article on hot wind generator." He stated pointing at a picture in the newspaper. Lilo squinted her eyes at the picture.

"Jumba, that's a hair dryer." She said explanatorily. Jumba mumbled and returned to reading, Lilo thanked him and went up to her bedroom. Quickly rummaging for something fabric and small, she found a leather pouch that was the perfect size. Slipping the pendant into the pouch, she looked outside her window, the sun was setting and the sky was turning from orange to purple.

She slid the window open and crawled outside, her dress getting slightly caught. Standing in the warm evening gleam, with a gentle breeze constantly surrounding her, she called out for Stitch to see if he was still around the vicinity. She received no answer. Stitch was nowhere to be found; not by the broken tower, not on or under the porch, not even by the hammock.

"Stitch." She called again, walking into the brush. "Stitch!" She called again, and stopped. A ruffled noise came from the string of bushes a yard ahead of her. A bit jarred, she tiptoed forward cautiously. "Stitch? Stitch, is that you?" She whispered. There was no noise in return. Stepping even closer to the bushes, she hesitantly put her hands to spread the leaves apart, and thrust her head through the middle. Pausing and seeing nothing, she let her heartbeat slow down before retreating back out. Still shivery, she dusted her dress off while turning around and walking, and only a few steps did she take before she ran into something in her path. Startled, she looked up to see Stitch's toothy grin, which in her present jumpy state caused her to leap back with utter fear, dropping the pouch holding the pendant.

"Gotcha!" Stitch said laughing. Lilo stayed on the ground still catching her breath. Stitch lowered his hand to help her up.

"That wasn't very funny." Lilo said gasping for breath, but still smiling.

"Stitch sorry." He said, moving his hands behind his back and looking down a bit.

"It's ok, I actually needed something like that to keep from dying of boredom." Lilo turned around and picked up the leather pouch. Stitch eyed the pouch curiously, the object alerting his attention. Swiftly he came over and sniffed the pouch for second, before reaching out and snatching it from Lilo's grip. "Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Ooo, macaba." Stitch mumbled, turning the pouch upside down and shaking it. The pendant dropped into his hand. He threw the pouch back onto the floor and clasped the pendant with both hands, turning and it and examining it from a few angles before pointing to it. "Iba ict?"

"It's a pendant."

"Huh?"

"You know, a pendant, it's like a necklace, but I think it's less girly." Stitch gazed at it more closely, and held it up to the setting sun. The green stone shimmered in his eyes.

"Eegaligoo..." Stitch took the long, black strand around the pendant and slipped it over his ears, fitting it perfectly around his neck.

"I wanted to give it to you as a gift. I thought you might like it, since...about last night and all..." Lilo said blushing with embarrassment, and looking down. "I picked green, because it described you the most; promise and hope."

"Thanks." He said warmly, hugging her. "Even though this happened already, it still feels like it's the first time..." He thought, as they walked back to the house, the sun vanishing behind them. "And tonight I have to return the favor."

"I'm kind of glad Hamsterveil has decided to temporarily cease chasing after experiments. It'll give us tomorrow to go on a little vacation." Gantu happily said as he and 625 returned to the ship.

"Yeah but when he gets back from his depression he's probably going to make you do more work." 625 smirked. As they entered the ship, 625 walked into the store room while Gantu checked the experiment container.

"Hey, 625, come here." He urged, before 625 disappeared into the forest of boxes.

"Whaddya want?"

"Look at the computer." 625 hopped onto the counter and eyed the experiment alert panel on the sphere display computer. He raised his eyebrow when he saw the number that the computer showed.

"That can't be right...push the button." He demanded. Gantu did so, and the computer turned on.

"Warning!" It droned in its digital tone, "Experiment 625 has been activated." The two looked into the sphere to see the computer's picture of 625.

"Hey what's this thing trying to pull? I'm already activated, and that isn't me, that just looks like me with muscles instead of my better physique!" 625 exclaimed pointing at the experiment the computer showed. It looked exactly like 625, except his four arms were extended, and the round pudgy body was replaced with unusually bulky muscles. His face also changed. It no longer had the charming smile that he carried with him, but a pained, cold, scour, with a scar running across his face, just under his left eye.

"Ah this things just busted." Gantu huffed, hitting the computer hard.

"I wouldn't be too sure." 625's voice came deep and menacingly.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Gantu growled, moving his face in toward 625.

"Hey tubby, that wasn't me that just said that!" 625 said quivering. Gantu didn't second-guess 625's words, and reflexively drew his blaster, quickly scanning the room.

"Show yourself!" He shouted, darting his eyes left and right. However he was looking in the wrong direction, above them both in the shadows, the 625 from the future clung onto the ceiling. Silently he let loose his claws, and dropped down behind the present 625, covering the sandwich lover's mouth and pressing a hand against his neck to quietly bring him to unconsciousness. Gantu did not even notice, nor did he stand a chance against the new threat's stealth.