Whew. Ok, new chapter. Thanks for the reviews! They really boosted my self-esteem about this story.
"Jumba!" Lilo called through the door. "What are you doing?"
The evil genius quickly closed out of the file on his computer and logged off. "Is doing nothing, little girl!" he shouted back.
Lilo opened the door with a creak and entered his "lab", closely followed by Stitch. "Good. Because Stitch and I found two more experiment pods for you." She laid them proudly on the table in front of them.
"Ah, are being experiments 159 and 301!" Jumba exclaimed. He went to his computer to see what they did. After a few moments he declared," 159 designed to create brilliant sculptures from clay. And… 301 to mow lawn." He walked back over to the table, picked the pods up carefully and placed them in a safe place for now.
"But what were you doing, Jumba?" Lilo questioned. "I heard your computer beep." She eyed his computer warily.
"Ih," Stitch agreed. "Canjanooga."
Jumba answered very quickly. "Is being nothing for you to be worrying about, little girl and 626. Now, be getting along." He shooed them out the door, almost pushing them at times. On the other side of Jumba's door, Lilo looked at Stitch for a moment, then they both shrugged and walked away from his lab.
After he was sure Lilo and Stitch were well away from the door Jumba returned to his computer. After logging on he reopened the file he was examining before Lilo asked what he was doing. It read "Formula for Dimension-Clashing Spores" at the top. After determining it was to his satisfaction he closed out again and went to find something to eat.
Lilo and Stitch watched him as he got out some leftover chicken from last night's dinner from around the corner. Both of them knew he had been doing something on his computer, and he didn't want anyone to know about it. Well, Jumba didn't want anyone to know about a lot of things, but Lilo was determined to find out what this was about.
"Ok, Stitch," Lilo whispered. "He's not looking. If we're careful we can sneak through the kitchen into the hallway."
Stitch shook his head. "Naga through kitchen." As Lilo looked at Stitch with her eyebrows raised, he smiled. "Over kitchen." Without waiting for Lilo to answer he picked her up and walked up the wall and onto the ceiling without a sound. At the far end of the kitchen he leapt to the ground and put Lilo down. Jumba hadn't noticed a thing and went on eating his chicken.
"Great, Stitch!" Lilo whispered loudly. "Now c'mon." She and Stitch crept down the hallway and when they thought they were out of Jumba's earshot they ran to the end of the hall. Lilo jumped into Jumba's swivelchair after they entered his lab.
"Good thing he forgot to log off when he went to get the chicken." Lilo said. "Now let's see… which file is it?" She searched through all his documents. "Hey, he's got all your guys' formulas in here!" she exclaimed to Stitch, who leaped onto the table to get a better look. "Let's find yours." She scrolled down (which took a very long time) until she got to the file "626".
"Man, what are all these things?" Lilo asked in bewilderment. "Snacklebeast? Cornweap? Hey! He used a puppy to make you! Well, that explains a few things… But where'd he get a puppy on Turo?" Her thoughts were interrupted by a gargling sound from the kitchen.
"Uh, oh, Stitch. We'd better get out of here. That's sound means Jumba's gargling his milk. We can come back later." She quickly hopped off the swivel-chair and ran from the room with Stitch in tow, forgetting to close Stitch's file. They walked past Jumba, who was now putting what was left of the chicken back in the fridge. Actually it was barely more than the bones. (Hours later Pleakley would scold Jumba for putting "dog food" in the fridge). Anyway, Lilo and Stitch tried to look casual.
"We're going to the beach, Jumba." Lilo said in what she hoped was an innocent voice.
"Ih," Stitch nodded. "Sandcastles."
Jumba said nothing. He just looked at the two of them, Lilo first, then Stitch, and then back to Lilo again. He then mouthed the word "Ok" and returned to his lab. Lilo sighed in relief, then plopped herself down on the couch.
"Gaba?" Stitch asked sadly. "Naga beach?"
"Are you kidding, Stitch?" Lilo exclaimed. "We gotta stick around and see what that file was about!" Stitch dropped his ears sadly. "It could be about one of your cousins." Stitch perked up at that thought.
"Stitch do anything for cousin." Lilo smiled and set her head back on the armrest of the soft, comfy couch.
In Jumba's Lab…
"Hmmm, what have we here?" Jumba asked himself as he looked through Lilo's doings. "Looks like little girl and 626 have been doing some mischief-making. Ah, well." He was about to close out of Stitch's formula file when a strange, even twisted thought entered his already weird mind. He scratched his chin as he thought. "I wonder…" he whispered. Instead of closing out, he right-clicked and selected "copy". He opened the "secret file" and pasted Stitch's formula to the top of it.
"There," he said with satisfaction. "Now to send to Jake." Jumba went to the top of the screen and selected a button that read "E-mail." He then selected Jake's e-mail address (which will be hidden for paparazzi reasons) and sent the formula to him.
"I hope machines work with new addition…" he closed out of the files and made sure he logged off this time. "No one will be snooping now," he said proudly to himself. He stood up from the chair, which rose about two feet after he did, yawned, and decided to take a quick nap on the couch after all that "evil genius work".
Ari tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried. Jake kept somehow creeping into her thoughts. She liked him much better than any boy she had ever met. But… there was something about him that… just creeped her out. Like when he had found out she was obsessed with Stitch a gleam had come into his eyes that Ari didn't like. Still, he had a warmth about him that had a friendly feel. She shook her head to rid the thoughts. You're freaking out, Ari. She thought to herself. You're just thinking about the other wacko neighbors and are paranoid that they'll be like them. But c'mon, how many families can possibly be as weird as that one? Besides, mum said she thought the parents were nice.
With that comforting thought in her mind she managed to roll back over and get some sleep as the night closed in around her. Tomorrow she would ask Jake to go to the Christmas Dance at her school. Little did she know that she would never get the chance.
At Jake's house…
"Wow, this is complicated…" Jake whispered as he scrolled through the e-mail he had just received. When he answered Jumba's ad for a helper he hadn't expected everything to be so… odd. Jumba had somehow managed to send him a laser-thing that turned everything that it was waved over into real-life. The package had come with a note written sloppily, as if the pen-holder's fingers were too big for the pen.
"Don't use this until I tell you to!
Jumba"
Jake had thought it weird to send him such an other-worldy thing, but he had just shrugged and kept it in his closet. Now he needed it. In Jumba's previous e-mail he had written to use the laser on his next e-mail Jake received.
So he walked over to his closet and picked up the dust-covered yellow laser from the floor. Jake doubted it even worked; he was beginning to get suspicious of this guy. After all, why would he send him an e-mail containing a file titled "Dimension- Clashing Spores"? Still, orders were orders, and he printed out the file. After examining the laser for a moment he aimed it at the piece of paper and fired.
A brilliant orange light burst from the barrel of the laser and hit the file. After a stunned moment of silence, the piece of paper began to burn. However, instead of the flames being reddish hues, they were black. Jake looked at the burning paper in amazement. Mostly his wonder came from the fact that the fire was black, but some of it was because as the paper burned and turned to ash, the ash particles became little puffy, black spores that floated through, and I mean through, Jake's window and made their way towards Ari's house as they were programmed to do. When all the paper was burned and the spores had formed a small black cloud rushing towards Ari's bedroom window Jake looked at what happened next through his own window.
The spores went through Ari's window in eerie silence. For a moment Jake didn't see anything and he held his breath. Then, out of nowhere, a bright purple flash cam from Ari's window. The flash lasted for about ten seconds and ranged in colors from lavender to red to green to red. Then, as soon as it started, it was over.
"Oh, God, what have I done to Ari?" Jake whispered in horror. His breath came in little pants and beads of sweat rolled down his face.
He heard a beep from the watch on his wrist. "Has program been completed?" the voice came eagerly.
Jake slowly lifted the watch to his face, his eyes never leaving Ari's house. "Y-y-yes, sir. B-but what happened to Ari?"
Jumba's voice came through reassuringly. "Do not worry. Big girl is safe. You will see."
Jake didn't have time to ponder what the genius's words meant, as his vision went black and he lost consciousness as a glowing emerald-green light flashed around him. And there, disappearing into thin air, were the couple of spores that caused his sudden loss of consciousness. Their job was done.
Don't worry. Jake and Ari are all right. (Well, duh. Otherwise the story would end right here.) And by the way, Jumba DID use a puppy to make Stitch. If you get Disney Adventures magazine there was a comic in it one day about the creation of Stitch before the movie came out. Jumba was so proud that he was only using the toughest aliens in the galaxy when 615 pointed out that a dog had somehow gotten into the DNA machine. Jumba was mad but it was too late to turn back now so he ended up with the ultra-adorable experiment 626! cough Just a bit of info for ya. R&R!
