Peace
C/by: Kenjaje
Chapter 7: Regroup
It wasn't more then a few hours, until the sun steadily rose up from the ground. Water dripped lightly from the mouth of the cave, slowly ticking away on the hard rock underneath. The wall in the back of the little dugout was lit on the bottom, but only a few inches. There was still no noise of birds, or any other form of life, other then the two lost girls.
"Angel...Angel..." Lilo rocked her companion lying on the ground. Angel's dry tongue hung out of the side of her mouth, her fur was ruffled, and a layer of dried tears crusted her eyes shut. "Angel, wake up." Lilo quietly spoke, letting Angel wake at her own pace.
"Ah..." Angel winced, her body sore from lying in an uncomfortable position for hours. Lilo helped her to a sit, as she rubbed at her eyes until she could open them. Angel smiled, a small sleep was just what she needed; all the bad feelings that she hated were gone.
"Good morning." Lilo chimed. "You sleep like a rock." Angel looked up at her. She was smiling, of course, but this time, it wasn't to mask the sad expression of her face that she had dawned the night before.
"How long have been sleeping?" Angel asked groggily, flatting her ears.
"Only a little while. I tried to wake you a few times, the third one was the charm." Angel stretched. "I did walk back to where we were before the storm last night. Our things are still there."
"Maybe we can find something that will help us find the ship." Angel said. Lilo nodded. But, at that moment, even if it was just for a short time, both of them felt happy enough that they wished they didn't have to find the ship. Neither of them knew what it was that made them so cheerful, but it made them want to stay in the cave, looking outside at the alien world, for as long as possible. Both of them took a fresh sigh in, the air smelled sweet and lemony. They imagined birds chirping, cicada's chiming, and wind brushing against their faces. And all the more they both yearned to go back home-back to earth.
"Let's go." Lilo said standing.
"Yeah." Angel immediately agreed, as if reading Lilo's mind.
"Race you." Lilo challenged, though not really knowing why.
"What?"
"Nevermind."
"No, let's." Angel finally said; Lilo nodded her head. "Ready?" Angel squatted, her right foot behind her.
"Set..." Lilo replied, taking the same stance.
"GO!" They both screamed at the same time, bursting out of the cave like wild animals, kicking up dirt and rocks with their feet. Angel took a quick lead, leaping over rocks and under branches, much like they had done last night. However, last night, Angel had an advantage due to her nocturnal vision, but now, she wasn't expecting what Lilo could do. Surprisingly, Lilo was very agile; Angel had completely underestimated her. Within a few minutes, Lilo took the lead, and kept it until the end of the race.
"Ha! Beetchya!" She hollered as Angel came into view. Angel charged straight for her, an insidious smile beamed across her face. Lilo tried to dodge out of the way, but was too late; Angel tackled her and wrestled her to the ground.
"Not without a fight you won't!"
"I can beat Stitch anytime no-problem!" Lilo boasted.
"Stitch and I are different!" Angel laughed, as the two wrestled each other to a pin, finally giving up and calling a draw. They sat panting on the ground, under the shade of a small tree, glancing around as they caught their breath. "Ok...what can help us..." Angel said aloud, getting up. The dry air rejuvenating her exhaustion.
"I don't know." Lilo shrugged. "Do the ejecting seats have some kind of homing device?"
"No...I don't think so..." Angel said, sifting through some things near where Lilo had crashed. "Never mind!" Angel hollered.
"Did you find a homing device?" Lilo asked, sprinting over to Angel after she got up.
"Nope, something better. I thought you dropped this, though." Angel said curiously, pulled up a sphere, almost as large as her eye.
"What is it?" Lilo asked, as Angel handed to her.
"The ship's radar. It'll tell us exactly where it is."
"Awesome! ...How does it work?" She asked, knocking on the glass.
"Here, I'll do it." Angel took the sphere from Lilo's hands. "Eicheta chooboosa." She chanted. The sphere whirred like a computer as it started up, ticking and clicking softly like a blender. A few moments later, a fuzzy blip appeared in the center.
"I coulda done that." Lilo said quickly. Angel smiled, sticking out her tongue. "It doesn't seem to be working though..." Angel hit it a couple times, and the blip came in clear and crisp.
"Stupid thing." She scolded. "There we go, I found the ship!" She exclaimed, pointing at the now clearly visible icon.
"Where is it?" Lilo asked enthusiastically.
"Hold on, hold on, I have to find where we are to figure the distance." Angel tapped the ball a few times; the dot in the middle shrank a little each time. "Ok...here we are...and here's the ship...that makes..."
"It makes..." Lilo came in, after Angel paused a second.
"About a mile and a half..."
"A MILE AND A HALF!" Lilo shouted. "THAT'S LIKE, FOREVER! I don't even know what a mile is!"
"Don't worry about, let's just start now." Angel said, gripping the sphere under her arm. "It's not that far, trust me."
"Well...ok." Lilo said, tilting her head. "There's nothing else around here, is there?"
"I don't think so, the food provisions are still with the ship. If we start walking now we'll get something to eat sooner or later."
"Walk? Can't we drive something?" Lilo asked out of desperation.
"Do you see the buggy here?" Angel asked, gesturing toward the debris that was their escape pods
"...I guess not..." She replied, glancing around to make certain. "Well then, lead the way." Lilo bowed, giving Angel lead.
"Uh...this way." Angel pointed, and proceeded to move into the brush. The leaves were damp and water flung everywhere as the two made their way for only a few minutes. The silence of their footsteps was starting to agitate them both a little. Angel's way of occupying herself was to constantly glance at the radar, to make sure they were going in the right direction. Lilo tried admiring the scenery, but it began to get very trite, as trees were common things to see.
Both of them wanted to talk, about anything, but they both looked so convincing, they fooled each other into thinking the other person was actually enjoying the silence. They kept a steady pace; Lilo followed Angel deftly through the brush when it came, and they constantly had to meander around boulders, giant trees, and brush thickenings. Over the past half hour, Lilo had started thinking about Stitch again; it was the only thing she could think of to keep herself from boredom. However, she didn't want to say anything to Angel, figuring that her furry friend wouldn't really take the idle conversation on for more then a few seconds.
"I wonder how he's feeling now." Angel spoke, interrupting Lilo's thoughts. Lilo stopped her pace for a split second, and then kept going. She didn't think twice about answering; relieved and a bit surprised that Angel was the one to start up the conversation.
"I hope he's ok..." She responded.
"I thought you could tell how he felt?" Angel teased, indirectly referring to the delusional state Lilo seemed to be in the night before.
"...What do you mean?" Lilo asked awkwardly.
"What do you mean, what do I mean? You were shivering last night, and you said it was because Stitch was forgetting about us." Angel paused to check the radar again, and then continued on, veering right.
"That really happened? I thought it was a dream..."
"Dream nothing." Angel said, sweeping her arm in front of her, "I had to practically drag you into the cave when the storm hit, you wouldn't budge you were so scared." Lilo paused for a moment, trying to recall those few minutes they spent tripping through the night.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"It wasn't that big a deal. I was more worried you were going to stay that way. You were going delusional on me." Angel joked.
"Yeah..." Lilo laughed, scratching her head humbly. But inside, she still felt like she wasn't dreaming, like it was real. Like somehow, she was feeling how Stitch was feeling, and hearing what he was hearing. "Lilo...pasha..." She sounded Stitch's voice in her mind while walking. It was too vivid to be a dream, to distinct to be a delusion; she heard it as distinctly as if he was right next to her. And the way she felt when she first heard it, was like she had lost something intangible.
"Do you...think we can turn him back to normal?" Angel asked, after Lilo remained silent for a while. Lilo snapped out of her thinking again.
"It will probably take a while, Jumba said it was a computer virus, so he'd probably have to be vaccinated, or something." Walking was starting to tire Lilo, the soles of her feet were beginning to ache and bruise.
"I don't want to think about what Hamsterveil will do with Stitch. If anything, he's completely under that mad gerbil's control." Angel spoke quietly, her voice full of dread.
"What can we do though?" Lilo asked, as they came to a rocky path that lead up. Angel took to it, and Lilo followed.
"I don't know." Angel glanced at the radar again; the ship was close now. She glanced off in the foggy distance, her eyes scanning the plateau. "Maybe we can-"
"Look!" Lilo exclaimed, pointing off into the distance. "The ship! It's there!"
"With luck, Jumba's there too." Angel hoped, dropping the thought she had before.
"He's there, trust me, c'mon." Lilo rushed ahead, Angel darted after. The ship slowly grew larger as they neared it. Angel panted heavily; the humidity suddenly skyrocketed. Angel slowed down behind Lilo to a staggering stop, as they approached the vessel. It was silent-too silent-which the girls instantly pointed out as alarming. "Jumba?" Lilo called. There was no answer, except for the crumbling of a few rocks on the ground. "Jumba?" She hollered louder, as Angel glanced around. The air still remained silent. "Jumba!" Lilo shouted at the top of her lungs, the call echoing around them. Lilo's gloom returned with the fade of her echoing voice. "Jumba's not here..." She spoke softly, slumping to the ground, on the verge of tears. "We came all this way...and Jumba's-"
"Being right here." Came his voice, as he popped up out of the top of the ship with a hammer over his shoulder.
"Jumba!" Angel exclaimed, silently relieved that he was just 'hiding' from them.
"Little girl and 624 made it back. I knew you would." He laughed, hopping off and returning the hug that Lilo gave him.
"Jumba...I thought you were-"
"Honestly." He interrupted Lilo. "I don't show up and you automatically are assuming the worst. Is very hard to hear little girl's voice through hull of ship, am being sorry I have worried you." He apologized, pointing to the ship.
"Well whatever the reason, you kept us waiting long enough." She said, in a mock-impatient tone, tapping her foot on the ground.
"How is the ship? Are we able to fix it?" Angel chimed in, hiding her emotions completely. She wanted to get off the planet as quickly as possible, but didn't want to sound too pushy.
"Not exactly...I have been working all of the night, and up until you showed up, but until I find radar, ship refuses to function." He put his hands up to his chest as he shrugged his shoulders, and glanced down as something fell into them. "Wha...?" He peered with wonder at the radar that he had caught, and then back to Angel, who waved at him sweetly. "624 you are miracle worker!" He proclaimed, laughing at the irony, and opened up the ship's doors. The three of them climbed in, and swiftly took their places for take off.
