Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 9: Desperation

Stitch—as Lilo—took a cursory glance at his surroundings. An almost complete circle of fire blazed and crackled, slowly consuming and closing the large gap between it and him. The rain that fell still pounded the earth wasn't enough to douse the embers, however. Stitch stared at Lilo—in his body—in his arms. She was out cold. He remembered again the night before, when Hamsterveil used the fail saves of the robots to shock him. It knocked him out for who knows how long.

"Lilo, wake up, wake up." Stitch urged, an uneasy voice echoed in his ears. He was afraid, terribly afraid. If this was a different situation, and he was in his own body, he wouldn't hesitate to jump through the high flames surrounding them. But this was different; he was in skin, not his fur. He could protect Lilo, but only as himself. Now, doing something irrational would just risk them both. Another branch cracked and fell, feeding the fire surrounding them. Stitch screamed, Lilo's voice echoed loudly, and the bundle in his arms began to stir.

Lilo—as Stitch—forced her eyes open, but didn't get more than a sliver of vision out of her effort. She felt heat around her, and saw the orange light of the fire that massed her range of vision. Her mind felt numb, she could barely feel her arms and legs, and her ears buzzed with the scream.

"Stitch...?" Came her voice, as his.

"Lilo!" He exclaimed, "Ju-kashata."

"Of course I'm alright...but I can't move." Her speech was weak, slightly airy, and a little muffled, but Stitch could still understand everything she said. Stitch shot his eyes around again, trying to look for a place to escape from the flames now only a few feet away from them, but saw no route. "There's a fire isn't there?"

"Eh...Stitch can't get out...isa conjubashas." Lilo coughed.

"I want to help." Lilo thought, forcing her to eyes open all the way. "I've got to help, I've got to get us out of here. Stitch is the only one able to do something, so I've got to try..." She tried to lift her arms, but they felt like they weighed a ton. She managed to raise it a few inches, but then slumped it back down, unable to lift it any higher.

"Stitch wish we were back to normal." He muttered, his voice low and calm, but sounding distinct despite the blaze around them. Lilo could hear the tremor of fear in her own voice as Stitch spoke. As if reacting to Stitch's words, she felt a surge of something between desperation and anger pulse through Stitch's body. It happened without her knowing about it, as if she didn't have any control over it. However, she quickly realized that whatever was happening, was giving her strength. She could feel her arms and legs again; her eyes shot open and her heart pounded with adrenaline. "Ju zagashu!" Stitch said with surprise, as Lilo pried herself free from his grasp.

She said nothing as she glanced around, now fully realizing what was going on. The fire was almost on top of them; the heat from it caused a stinging feeling all over her body. She looked back at Stitch, who was breathing hard and sweating from the heat surrounding them. She had to act quickly if she was going to save them.

"Hang on, I'll get us out of this...somehow..." She spoke aloud, desperately jerking her head in all directions to find some means of escape. She looked up, and saw high above her a thick branch that wasn't engulfed in flames yet. Her eyes followed the branch to a tree that was a few feet out of the fire's range, and acted swiftly with a plan.

In a single bound, and with the thanks of Stitch's flexibility, she was able to clear the tops of the flames, and with another bound as soon as she landed, was able to latch on to her target. She heaved a breath in and out, calming her unsteady muscles that shivered nervously. She wasted no more time, and proceeded in scaling the tree, following the branch extending back above the roaring flames. The branch sagged and strained as she waded down its length. When she reached the end of the limb, she extended Stitch's extra arms and used them to get a better hold on the branch, and with her free hand she reached down to where Stitch was.

"Grab on!" She hollered, and Stitch did, gratefully clasping her wrist. The branch heaved and lurched as Lilo tried to pull Stitch up, having difficulty. She let her legs loosen their clasp around the branch to help pull Stitch up. She struggled as Stitch climbed up her arm, and winced as he screamed in her voice, as his grip started to weaken. "When we get out of this," Lilo shouted trying her best to help lift him up, "remind me that my screams are loud, annoying, and they heart your ears."

"Can't hold on!" Stitch yelled, as he slid down Lilo's arm. Stitch heard the branch crack two times, and a wave of panic rushed through him. He let go for a split-second, but leeched upward and caught Lilo's hand in both of his, hanging helplessly only a little less than a foot above the flames.

For the next three seconds, time seemed to slow down for them. Lilo heard the branch as it gave way, and broke with a snap, sending them plummeting into the fire. While, at the same time, from her hand in Stitch's, she saw a purple flash of light extinguish the fire, before her eyes went white.

"Ugh..." Lilo moaned, as she sat up. Her vision blurred for a second, then focused. Around her, the ground was black and sizzled slightly. She was a bit out of breath, but otherwise, nothing hurt. She rubbed her head with her hand, and brushed the soot from her forehead, which felt strange to her at first. It lacked something, but she didn't know what it was until she looked at her hand. It was absent of fur. "Huh?"

"Oh...ah..." Stitch grumbled, as he pushed himself up off his stomach. Lilo glanced over at him, barely able to see the blue fur against the black ground and dark light. "I...I'm ok. I'm fluffy!" She glanced at her own hand again, not believing what she saw, and beamed happily.

"Stitch!" She yelled excitedly, running up to him and hugging him from behind. He yelled with surprise as he felt his arms clamp to his sides and his feet leave the ground. "We're back to normal!" He heard her voice exclaim. She set him down on his feet, and he looked down. He wiggled his stubby toes, making sure they were his, and smiled.

"Yeah." He said; his voice tired but relieved. "Back to normal."

"But...how...?" She asked aloud. "You saw it, didn't you? That bright flash of light...and how it put out the fire?"

"Eh, iba...naga shotishu-juba..." He replied, blinking his eyes and turning on his nocturnal sensors.

"Well, it looked like it came from us, and I've seen it before too. It was the same color as when we were first switched." She put a hand to her chin. "But...what caused us to switch back?" Stitch thought for a second, relaying everything that happened, and observed something. He walked over to Lilo and took one of her hands. "What are you doing?"

"Shon-chiba, takka-takka." He said, butting both his hands around hers. "Eh?" He commented, to see if she understood.

"That's right, you had your hands around mine before the light came..." She paused, and took a breath in. "Wait a minute. When we first switched, you were asleep, and I was trying to get you out of Jumba's room while Gantu was attacking. You were on the ground, and I was trying to get out really fast, so I grabbed your hand, just like you grabbed mine when we were about to fall from the tree." She explained. Stitch nodded.

"Sounds like Lilo has it." He said, letting go of her hand. He blinked his eyes again, and the green glow disappeared. He sighed and folded his arms around his chest. His posture changed, his eyes narrowed as he started to think to himself. His ears drooped slightly. Lilo frowned; she knew why Stitch had suddenly grown quiet and still. They had gotten out of only a small problem compared to what lay ahead. Zeus was still at large, and by now he could be anywhere on the island. "Naga choota." Stitch said, stroking a hand across Lilo's face and lifting her frown, smiling to cheer her up. "Stitch and Lilo will catch Zeus. Eh."

"Yeah," she sniffed, rubbing her eye, "I guess you're right." They sighed. "We should go home for now, Nani's probably worried sick or something. She'll probably..." Lilo trailed. She couldn't quite tell in the dim pink lighting, but it appeared as though Stitch was listening hard at something off in the distance.

."What is it?" She whispered.

"Stitch hears water...sounds like waves." He said, his ear stretching and twitching.

"Waves?" Lilo asked, a daunted expression crossing her face. "C'mon!" She ordered, seizing Stitch's arm and bolting in what seemed like a random direction.

"What wrong?" Stitch warbled, as he tried to keep pace with the sudden gesture. He heard the sound of rushing water grow increasingly louder behind him.

"We have to get you out of here," she said, jumping over a fallen, burned tree, "otherwise, you'll drown," she paused her speech again as she parted through a thicket of low branches. Stitch heard the panic in her voice as she continued, "That wave is a flash flo-" Lilo didn't finish her sentence; her voice was disrupted and turned into air bubbles as the body of water swept the two into its current; pounding against them like a solid wall.