Hey everybody. I'm back after that long Tom Clancy-esque like intrigue chapter. I hope to get back down to earth with the continued Lilo & Stitch story. So enjoy!
Foreign Exchange StudentThe darkness was overwhelming.
He never did dream, and he never remembered a time where he had slept so long. But gradually, he could feel his mind regain every part of his body, piece by piece.
The first thing he regained was the sense of taste. His mouth was dry and his throat felt like it was coated with sandpaper. But he was used to being thirsty in the field, and it felt like it had been a few days since his last drink.
Next was the sense of smell. A warm, gentle air reached his nostrils, and he took the opportunity to try to sense the room through his nose. It was somewhere strangely jumbled, but a curious sweet fragrance lingered close by. Damn, where was he?
Then he regained the sense of hearing. Scoping and probing, he heard a soft wind and leaves rustling beyond, and a single person standing over him. He must be lying down with the person over him probably about to vivisect him. What had happened?
As soon as the veil of numbness lifted he regained the sense of feeling, and the first thing he felt was a current of dull pain running throughout his body. Why was he hurting? He couldn't remember. Strangely, though, the pain felt old, like old wounds. His mysterious torturer, instead of hurting him, was laying a small and soft hand over his brow, occasionally pressing a cold rag to it. He couldn't take it anymore.
As soon he regained all his senses, he forced his body out of standby and into full function. Risking falling back into unconsciousness, he strained and strained his nerves, internally screaming Get up! Get up! WHAT HAPPENED?! Slowly, he wiggled his fingers, and gently and painfully eased his eyes open. To his surprise, a beautiful angel, unlike anyone he had ever seen before with silky raven hair, dark cocoa skin and deep brown eyes looked down him as her bright halo pierced his vision. He was taken aback, and for a moment didn't care what happened to him. Delirious, he wanted to just lie beneath the glorious angel and her warming presence, which was quite funny to him seeing as he never believed in God in the first place.
"You're awake," the angel spoke softly in a harmonious voice.
"What...Where..." 626 reached around hazily in his native tongue.
Suddenly, he snapped into lucidity and shot up. "JUMBA!"
The light strained his eyes and his body felt like it was on fire, but he quickly glanced around. He was on a soft bed in a small and cluttered room with strange things piled all over. On the wall was a Handy Dandy Guide to Astrology chart. Voodoo dolls, one with a particularly large head lay on the bed near him. The dresser was covered with strange bottles and burning incenses and somewhere Sublime's Santeria played in the background from a boombox. His breathing was shallow and hard as he tried to comprehend his surroundings.
"Be careful! Don't strain yourself!" the angel's voice warned him.
He quickly looked to the side of the bed to see a young Hawaiian girl, about the same age as him, with silken black hair, deep brown eyes and a green aloha shirt. She had a bowl in her hand, filled with a strange amber liquid, which she had been applying the rag to. The mistaken angel smiled at him, her halo being the light filtered through the open window.
"Aloha," she greeted. "I found you by the beach and took care of you. You were hurt pretty bad, so I prepared a healing potion to give to you. It must have been working, since you've healed a lot in the last few days."
626 looked at her, then remembered then the last events on the boat before he fell unconscious in the water...the accursed water... damn that Hamsterviel! He had ambushed them, and 626 had sensed it. He would find him. And what of Jumba? There was no doubt in 626's mind; Jumba was dead. A bitter feeling rose in 626's stomach. He would find Hamsterviel. He would find him and make him pay.
His body felt like it was almost fully healed, with most of the cuts closed up. He had a few bruises and nicks from bumping around the underwater reef, and the bullet wound in his leg was still very sore, though he was lucky it missed his femur. He tried to swing his legs over the sides of the bed to get up, but the pain made him stop and wince. At this the girl stopped him with a gentle hand.
"No! You have to rest!" she scolded with a worried face. "Who did this to you, anyways?"
626 said nothing, but knocked away the girl's hand brusquely. It didn't feel right. What was he, useless?
She looked taken aback, but smiled anyways. "I guess you don't speak English. I'm also guessing you're not from here." She clucked her tongue. "I wonder where you're from?"
626 remained silent. He got up and walked around the room, inspecting his surroundings. The girl followed him and took the incense from his hands as he was sniffing it, afraid he might burn himself. He bared his teeth and softly growled angrily.
"Do you know where you are?" she asked him curiously.
A blank stare.
"You're on Kauai in Hawaii, in my house. My name's Lilo. Lilo Pelekai. Do you have a name?" she made strange gestures and sounded each syllable again. "Do-you-have-a-name?"
She was a very interesting girl, 626 thought, especially since he had never seen many women throughout his life. What did she really want, he wondered silently?
Lilo picked up a piece of paper and wrote her name on it. She pointed to it, then pointed to herself. "Lilo. Lilo,"
626 stopped and thought. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to play along or something. Maybe he could get some useful information from her. He took the paper and the pencil into his hand, and scribbled out: 626. He pointed to it, then himself.
"626," Lilo read.
She looked at him strangely. "Are you...626?" she gestured.
626 nodded and smiled his best smile with a straight face.
Suddenly, Lilo had second thoughts. What if this boy was a juvenile delinquent or something? What if he was hurt trying to escape doing time for some horrible crime? What if behind his innocent grin hid the soul of a violent demon waiting to assault her any minute now? Calm down, she thought. No matter how hard she tried to resist it, she was totally disarmed by his cute and boyish grin. He just seemed so innocent, so naïve. Who knows, she told herself. Maybe he's just a mute.
She smiled back to 626's satisfaction. Good thing, he thought, she's not suspicious. Wouldn't want to attract any unwanted attention.
Lilo stood there, in a dreamy stupor until a door slam broke her perfect bubble of romantic fantasies.
"Lilo, I'm home!" Nani's dreaded voice called out from below.
Oh shit, Lilo thought.
Oh shit, 626 thought.
Silence.
"Lilo?"
"Um, coming!" Lilo unfroze and called, then looked at the mysterious boy. "Stay here and hide. Don't move until I come back, okay?"
She raced out and shut the door behind her. 626 breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately sprung into action, running up the bed and out the window.
Lilo tromped down the stairs and ran up to Nani.
"Hi, 'sis!" she kissed her on the cheek and hugged her.
Nani frowned, not knowing what to make of this new show of emotion.
"Oh no, what is it now? Another failed test?"
"What?" Lilo laughed nervously, "can't a sister express joy for another when she comes home?"
"Yes. A sister. Not you," Nani walked over to the kitchen while continuing to give Lilo a strange stare.
Lilo started to fidget, looking around. "Uh, so you plan on going out tonight? Maybe with David?"
Nani pulled a soda out of the fridge and opened it. "No. Why?"
"Nothing, nothing." Lilo looked upstairs. "My, it's quiet, isn't it?"
Outside, 626 stealthily made his way through the neighborhood, avoiding the streets by sneaking behind trashcans, bushes and trees. He was confused to no end, but firmly held onto one thought in his mind: find and terminate Hamsterviel. His blood quietly raged inside him as he rounded the corner of the Kuakini General Store-
To see a black and white squad car parked along the curb across the street. It seemed like a normal police vehicle, but the two officers inside didn't look right to 626. They were way too big and muscular to be normal cops, wearing dark sunglasses and fingering something out of his sight with grim looks. It all seemed too strange, and 626 realized why. He had seen those two men with those same glasses on the boat, and it didn't take him long to realize they were here for him. Probably disguised as cops so that they could shoot him in full sight of the public with the least amount of suspicion. So, Hamsterviel's power reaches all levels, he mused. Then, 626 quietly slipped away, running full speed back towards he came from.
"Well, it's been a long day. I'm going upstairs to take a shower," Nani undid her ponytail and shook her hair free, heading out of the kitchen.
"Great, what a good idea!" Lilo followed her. "Just, uh, don't go near my room."
"Why?"
"Uh, I've got a chemistry experiment going on. I don't want it to be disturbed," Lilo explained.
Upstairs, 626 quietly and quickly opened the window and climbed back in. As he got over the ledge, he looked all over the ground for a place to step. It was a pig's sty, covered in dirty clothes, school papers and junk food. Christ, does a girl actually live here? He thought. Oh, well. At least I got back here unnoticed. As he put his foot down, he stepped in a bra and tangled his foot in it.
"Good thing I was quiet-oh, shi-"he started to say as he fell over suddenly with shock and hit the floor, papers and burger wrappers flying up into the air.
Downstairs, Nani heard a dull thud on the ceiling and looked up. "What was that?"
Lilo looked up. "What was what?" she asked innocently.
"That sound, coming from..." Nani looked around, "...your room..."
626 realized what he had done.
"Kwista," he cursed.
Putting his ear to the ground, he heard voices. People were in the house.
Lilo panicked. "Oh my God, I must have put too much vinegar in the baking soda volcano! Quick, we have evacuate the premises!"
"What are you doing?" Nani pushed away Lilo, who was trying to shove her towards the door.
"Hurry, or we'll be killed!" Lilo urged.
"You know, you're too lolo for your own good." Nani frowned at Lilo, walked up the stairs.
"No! Wait!" Lilo stopped Nani as she approached the door to her room.
"What is with you today?" Nani asked.
Inside, 626 got up and looked at the bra stuck around his ankle. What was he going to do? It was sad, really, after so many missions weaving through mine fields and ducking around sentries armed with automatic weapons, he was finally defeated by such a humble device of female body support. Jumba was probably laughing it up in the Afterlife.
"You know, I think I'm ready for that talk about the birds and the bees," Lilo pleaded.
"Lilo, I'm opening this door." Nani gave her a look, and Lilo could only watch helplessly as the handle turned and the door gave way.
They both stepped inside to find the room pretty much as Lilo had left it, except for the strange young boy sitting on the floor, his foot hidden under his crossed legs, with a chemistry book on his lap. He looked up at the two girls, who stared blankly at him.
"Lilo," Nani spoke after a while, "Who is this boy?"
Lilo froze. "This boy?"
"Yes, that boy."
Lilo stalled.
"Lilo,"
"Don't you remember me telling you?" she finally explained.
"Tell me what?" Nani's tone was stern.
"That we were...we were...getting a foreign exchange student! Yeah!" she looked at 626 who regarded her with an incredulous look.
"A foreign exchange student?" Nani looked at 626.
What now? He thought quickly. The only way to get out of this crap pile is to go along with whatever the girl has planned.
He forced a smile and waved.
"Uh, Hi," Nani waved back.
"He doesn't speak much, if any English. He's , I think." Lilo added.
"Russia? Lilo, when exactly did you tell me about this?"
"Friday night. You must have been drinking after work with David, which is why you don't remember."
"And why didn't your school talk to me?" Nani asked.
"They did! You were drunk then, too," Lilo lied.
"Lilo!" Nani scolded. "I come home walk in here to see a strange boy in your room. It doesn't take Einstein to guess what's going on!"
"I swear I'm telling the truth!" Lilo stood defiantly. "Call my school if you want! They'll tell you!"
"Yeah well they had better, or you've got some explaining to do, young lady!" Nani left to use the phone.
"Sorry to ruin your plans to screw me over!" Lilo yelled out the door before she slammed it closed.
She looked back at 626 with at panic. "We're screwed! What are we going to do?!"
626 sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked around the room for something to help. Finally, he got up and ran towards the boom box. He picked it up, then smashed it on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Lilo asked.
Nani looked up from downstairs, then proceded to dial faster.
626 picked up the parts of the boom box and picked around with them. Lilo watched curiously as he went over to the wall and pulled a wire out of the ground near it. 626 bit it open with his own teeth and connected the wires from the boom box to it. When it was all done, one of the boom box's speakers emitted a sound like a ring tone. Suddenly, it was cut short.
"Wha-?" Lilo started to say as 626 pulled her down towards the strange contraption and handed her the other speaker.
"Hello?" Nani's voice came from the first speaker. "Hello?"
Lilo could not believe it. 626 gave her a nudge, and she spoke into one of the speakers. "Uh, yes, hello."
"May I speak to the Principal?"
"This is her, speaking." Lilo lowered her voice.
"Hi, this is Nani Pelekai, sister of 10th grader Lilo Pelekai. I was just wondering if she, or we, were expecting any sort of exchange student from Russia, I think?"
"Uh, yes. Yes you were," Lilo answered.
Nani frowned. "Really? Well, then, why wasn't I told about this?"
"We did. You came in and talked to us, but you were, uh, really drunk then." Lilo grimaced at the stupidity of herself.
Nani thought for a second. "Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely. You made a couple of inappropriate jokes, laughed a lot, and um, even gave us your credit card number."
Nani grew suspicious. "Really? What is it?"
"7784 2255 5026 7100," Lilo answered a little too quickly, and 626 raised a brow at her.
Downstairs, Nani was speechless. "Well, uh, I guess I had just...forgotten about it. Mahalo,"
"Anytime." Lilo hung up the phone.
She slumped back on the ground and sighed. Next to her, 626 did a little bit of an inward sigh, too. Man, did I dodge the bullet, he thought.
Lilo looked at him and smiled. "Wow, that was amazing. You're a real MacGyver, aren't you?"
626 just looked at her irately and leaned his head against the bed.
Just then Nani walked into the room, looking a little bit confused. "Well, I just spoke to your principal, and, well, she said you were right. I was...tired at the time and forgot about...I'm sorry, what's your name again?" she looked at 626.
Lilo grabbed his arm and stood him up. "He's 6-"
626 gave her a slight nudge and gave her a look.
Nani furrowed her brow. "His name is 6?"
"No, um, his name is..." Lilo looked all over the room, than spotted her old raggedy Scrumpf doll. "...Stitch."
Oh, come on! 626 yelled at her internally.
"Stitch?" Nani asked dubiously.
"Yes...Johnny Stitch," Lilo added.
Nani looked from Lilo to "Johnny Stitch", and frankly felt like she couldn't say anything intelligent.
"Hello, Johnny." She smiled. "Welcome to our home."
Johnny Stitch smiled again. "Mahalo."
Nani smiled back. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll go get dinner prepared. If you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen." She turned to leave, and right at the door took one quick look back, as if hoping to catch them off guard. Then she finally left and closed the door.
Lilo got up and sat on the bed. "Close one, huh? Hey, I like that name. Johnny Stitch. Can I call you that, Stitch?" she walked over to the boombox and took out a CD.
"Do you like Elvis, Stitch?"
"Stitch" groaned and hit his head against the wall.
This was going to be a long time, he thought.
Yeah! I finally gave 626 his proper name, and got the two main characters to meet! Now its anything goes from here on in, and who knows, SOMEONE COULD HAVE AN EVIL TWIN! BWAHAHAHA!!!