Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 7: Zeus

The mist around them felt cold and yet warm as Lilo and Stitch wandered arbitrarily through the whiteness. Lilo led the way, as she claimed to have found the house. For a while, they trotted in silence, listening to the sounds around them. Stitch's arm extended onto Lilo's shoulder, like a side-of-guide.

"We've been wandering a long time..." Stitch complained in a low voice, as not to disturb the noisy nature around them. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Eh," Lilo replied, glancing around to get her bearings, "eechuta..." she continued her answer, her voice losing a bit of confidence. "It was right here...I think...or was it this direction?" Stitch thought to himself, Lilo's voice coming into his mind. Apparently she thought to herself in her own voice, and in the back of his thoughts, Stitch wondered if Lilo heard his voice as she thought to herself.

"Stitch...I think we're lost..." Stitch said with a slight shudder.

"Naga. Stitch knows exactly where Stitch is going." Lilo replied aggressively. She felt a tingle of frustration; it was getting harder and harder to navigate through the fog, and she was too stubborn to admit that she had gotten them lost. Stitch seemed to hear Lilo's feelings, and responded to them.

"You don't have to act like that, if we're lost just say so. It's not big deal, but at least let me know so I can help." Stitch didn't see Lilo's face turn stolid, but knew by the odd silence that she wasn't about to admit defeat. "So, are we lost?"

"Naga." She snapped back, looking behind her. Stitch smiled slyly, knowing he was just pressing Lilo's buttons; which was fun, yet cruel. As if to signify the opposite of Lilo's response, a bramble ball passed in front of them, bouncing with a rustle as its dried limbs smacked against the ground.

"There's something you don't see in Hawaii every day..." Stitch said with a raised eyebrow. Lilo looked at the tumbleweed until it pounced into the thickness of the fog.

"Oketaka..." she commented, her voice trailing off with provoked wonder.

"Anyway, we're lost." Stitch said matter-of-factly. Lilo growled. "Take it easy, it's not your fault." Stitch said, raising his arms in surrender. "I can barely see a thing out here too." Lilo shut her mouth quickly.

"Then what does Lilo suggest?" She snarled, defeated.

"I'll try to find home, but not by wandering around." Stitch sat on the invisible ground and put his nose to the air, closing his eyes. He took a small, quick, sniff, followed shortly by a series of inward snorts. "I think it's...this way." He murmured, standing to two feet and taking Lilo's hand.

A few more minutes of wandering an unseen path, and they finally reached a familiar spot. They weren't exactly sure where they were, but the spot was somewhere between the meadow and the house, and they knew which way to go from here. So as to make Stitch feel a bit better, Lilo let him lead the way. Not six minutes later, the two were inside the home just after shutting the back door.

"Iktaba." Lilo said, stretching after the long hike.

"You said it..." Stitch agreed, following in Lilo's gesture. "I'm going to go see Jumba about that experiment I saw in the fog. Maybe it's the reason why we're having this spooky weather."

"Eh." Lilo replied, as they both made their way up the stairs and through the hall. Lilo stopped at the elevator, and took it up to their room to change. Stitch continued down the hall, a few more steps and she arrived in Jumba's room.

"Jumba?" He called, before actually stepping into the doorway.

"Yes, is that you little girl? Come in." He beckoned.

"How's the switch-thing going?" Stitch asked, eyeing more edible produce that now took up the table.

"Am having no luck little girl, it seems as though everything I try is ending up in catastrophe." He replied, setting down a purple colored pineapple, and scratched his chin for a moment. "I'm sorry, what is it you are wanting?" He asked.

"Well," Stitch began, "Stitch and I were walking home from hula practice, and there's this really thick fog outside. We got lost, and I think I ran into an experiment, and I think it's what's causing the fog."

"Another experiment you say...what did it look like?"

"I couldn't tell...but it looked tall, sort of skinny, and it had these ghostly white eyes like it was about to suck out my soul!" He explained, getting enthusiastic with the description about the eyes.

"Hmm...experiment that can make fog, is tall, and has the eyes of apparitions...let me think..." Lilo wandered into the room, wearing a purple shirt and forest-green shorts, and wasn't surprised when Jumba exclaimed "AHA! Am thinking it could be 599."

"599 huh? What's its purpose?" Stitch asked.

"I'm not quite sure I remember exactly, but I do know that its main purpose is to create thunderstorms. And, am thinking it had one other ability, but can't quite remember...oh yes, that's right, it can evaporate its body and turn into a cloud."

"Kibisha?"

"Yes, is very ingenious, no? But, in order to keep track of 599 while as a cumulonimbus, I designed it so that its eyes were magnified a great deal. To an unaware eye, it might just look like brighter shading on the surface, but if you look harder, you will actually notice them."

"Is that why it has ghostly eyes?" Stitch asked.

"Exactly. But, am thinking I left something out about it..."

"Gaba chisita Lilo?" Lilo asked.

"A name? Well...seeing as how he makes thunderstorms, he kind of controls lightning doesn't he?"

"Yes, of course." Jumba replied, breaking away from his thinking.

"Then I think I'll call him Zeus."

"Zeus?" Jumba and Lilo both asked. Stitch cocked his head with surprise.

"Haven't you ever heard of him?"

"Naga." Lilo replied.

"I'm afraid I have not either." Jumba agreed.

"Well, I'll have to explain it to you some other time. C'mon Stitch we got us an experiment to catch."

"Eh!" She yelled, as they both jetted out the room, down the hall, out of the door, and into the fog yet again.

"Wait! Little girl!" Jumba ran screaming to the back door. "Have forgotten to mention, 599's weakness is solar energy and light; is nocturnal, that is why there is thick fog, to block out sun!"

"Got it!" Stitch's voice hollered back. Jumba's arm dropped back down to his side.

"Am wishing you good luck...this one may be tricky to catch."

"Excuse me, miss?" A costumer called to Nani.

"Yes, how can I help you?" She replied in a very cheerful yet agitated tone.

"I'd like to turn in my board and mask, it seems like the weathers gotten a bit harsh out today." Said the red-haired, freckle-faced, wheezy voice.

"Alright then, and how many hours have you been out?" She continued, writing down information on the rental log.

"About two...maybe three hours?" He asked himself. "Two and half maybe." Nani mumbled to herself, thinking aloud, as she calculated the cost of the rent.

"That'll be eighteen, twenty-eight." She announced, as she finished writing the receipt. The customer handed over a twenty-dollar bill.

"Keep the change." His voice cracked, and he disappeared into the fog, which Nani had taken a quick notice to, now that the person wasn't blocking the window. She had stayed mostly inside all day, trying to fix the soda machine which had broken down (again).

"I hope Lilo and Stitch didn't get caught in this..." She said to herself. She turned around and picked up the remote for the television and switched it to the local weather. "I hope nothing big is coming..."

"...Due to the car accident that happened approximately fifteen minutes ago, several roads have been blocked and detours have been set out for drivers and tourists, it is advised you watch for these detours when traveling through the main street area. And now we turn to meteorologist Collie Kerrsnig, who will explain to you just why there have been three accidents, in the past two hours."

"Thank you Mark. Well as you can see, we have very thick and heavy fog moving in from the east; it's already infected North Shores, and is slowly spreading outward toward the western edges of the island. Starting at approximately three fourt-five this afternoon, it is expected to stay throughout the remainder of the night. Now, if we look at our radar, you'll notice that there's a large storm headed our way, it is expected to be here within thirty to forty-five minutes, and it too, will last us the rest of the night, and quite possibly the majority of tomorrow—Steve."

Nani muted the television and paced for a minute or so, wondering if she should call her boss to see if she could get the rest of the day off. She looked at the clock, it was 6:11, her shift was over at 7:30, she could wait. She only hoped Lilo got home in time from hula practice.

"Lilo?"

"Hm?"

"Gabitcha kik-soocha Zeus...proto-ka takata?" Stitch paused.

"Good point..." He said, looking around at the fog as if just noticing its density. "It will be hard to find Zeus in the fog. Maybe if we reach higher ground, we can see over it." Lilo looked around, and started wandering off into the thickness. Disappearing only for a moment from Stitch's vision, he followed her to her destination. She stopped at the base of a large trunk; the top of the tree was barely visible through the thick haze.

"Help, please." Lilo requested. Stitch moved Lilo aside and put a foot against a root of the tree, then placed his left hand on the thickness of the trunk. He attempted to climb it, but couldn't get his claws out in order to do so.

"Hm...how do you extend your claws?" He asked, looking at his right hand and twiddling his fingers to try and coax the sharp appendages into coming out of their sheaths. Lilo took Stitch's hand in hers, palm up, and with her other hand, massaged certain pressure points. The claws slowly protruded, almost reflexively, and a strange feeling came over Lilo. She wasn't able to control Stitch's body too well, and having Stitch control it from the outside was something very new to her. "Thanks." Stitch said, as he unsheathed the other hand and his feet on his own.

"Nakuta-vu." Lilo smiled.

"Hop on." He said, after getting a foothold on the tree; his claws boring holes into the pith of the trunk. Lilo hosted herself onto Stitch's back, and he carried them both up the tree to the top. Upon reaching the apex of their climb, the fog drifted away, as if on cue; all at once instead of gradual. Stitch murmured something in surprise, but Lilo couldn't make it out.

The lighting was very dark; twilight had arrived. The sky a mosaic of soft, cotton-candy clouds, and dark blues, and indigos until it was cut off by the tree line. Overhead, the clouds were very black on the bottom, almost ready to cry. Both Lilo and Stitch saw the lightning bolt that arced in a Y-shape from two clouds to the ground, and heard the large drum roll of thunder and felt the tree and earth shiver beneath them. And all at once a sheet of rain pounded upon them.