Ganazu

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 8: A New Face

Evidence of the flood was more prominent as they walked for a few minutes more. Angel announced before they continued on that they were almost there. She was more prepared after the break, and ready to approach the makeshift cabin that was beyond the next hill. And like the slope, her view on the situation was starting to arch upward.

It didn't seem so impossible; maybe they were just a little startled from the flood. She admitted she would probably do something similar if there was a natural disaster occurring. It was even possible that they wouldn't be there; they may have already left.

"Is that it?" Lilo asked, pointing to a small, rundown looking cabin made of thick, fallen trees and leaves. Sunlight reflected off of remnant water that hadn't yet evaporated as she examined it.

"Eh." Angel replied, hopping onto a fallen tree. It looked abandoned from what she could tell. She jumped off the tree and landed in a small trench with a plop on the saturated earth. Mud spattered her chin and limbs, and she blinked to protect her eyes. As she continued on, she heard another straight plop, and then after that a sliding noise, then a soft thump.

"Agata!" Stitch yelled playfully, and picked up a ball of mud.

"Hey!" Lilo screamed, as the clot it her shoulder, and sprayed across her neck. "This means war!" She waged, picking up a ball of her own. She chucked it at him, but he squished down and stuck out his tongue. However he was met with a second volley, straight in the face. He froze, tasting the bitter mud that dripped off his nose and landed on his tongue.

Lilo laughed and pointed, but soon felt two blows of impact: one to her stomach, the other to her neck. She froze too, her arms were up, and her hands were near her head. The cold mud dripped off her fingertips, elbows and chin as she gave a wide-eyed look of shock. She turned toward the direction of where the attack originated.

"And victory is mine." Angel said with a bow. Splat! "Ah!" Splat! "Hey!" Splat-splat-splat! Angel struggled to block the assault, but it came too quickly. Soon she found herself eating her words in the form of thick, bitter dirt.

"Who's victorious now?"

"Yeah!" Angel wiped the mud off her eyelids and smiled.

"I am!" She yelled triumphantly, lunging onto both of them, splattering a wall of mud that evened the damaged. The playful screams and echoing laughter soon drew a curious onlooker. The doorknob twisted as the battle outside went on, and the door opened to reveal a half-asleep Slushy blinking his eyes into focus in the early-afternoon sun. A distance away, he observed the war going on against the raised dirt wall that was carved out by the flood.

"Hey! Isa Slushy!" He heard his name exclaimed by a familiar voice. All at once the commotion stopped, and three brown and black creatures casually walked forward. Slushy blinked a few times, and then realized who said his name.

"Stitch?" He asked, shutting the door behind him as he stepped out to greet them. "Gaba ju shaqueesta chaki?" He asked with friendly surprise.

"Hey Slush," Lilo said with a wave, "long time, no see."

"Eh. What brings you out here?"

"Actually, we came to ask you—and the other cousins—for a favor. Are they all still around?" Slushy gave a nod and pointed to the shack. "Cool. I'm going to go in and talk to them real quick." She said, smiling through the mud on her face as she walked past him.

"Should we come too?" Angel asked.

"If you want, but why not just stay out here? It'll only take a sec." Lilo's voice receded into the door as she shut it. A sort of uprising came from inside, after a moment of quiet mutter, and then it silenced with Lilo's voice. Slushy and the others stood outside; Angel looked around at the mess after she shook a lot of the mud off of her.

"Everyone ok?" She asked Slushy.

"Eh." He replied casually, leaning against the door. "Ju? I looked everywhere…but couldn't find you."

"Oketaka. I found my way to their house. Told ya I'd find a place to stay." Slushy smiled and nodded. Stitch was looking around curiously, observing the condition of the land while Angel and Slushy continued their conversation. "Has…anything changed?" She asked, her voice lowering a little bit. Slushy looked down, and replied after a moment of silence.

"…Naga." He said with a sigh. "They're pretending like it didn't happen."

"And what about you? They're not angry at you too, are they?"

"Oh no," he replied sarcastically, "They don't even notice me." Angel's eyes drooped a little bit. "Don't give me that look. It's not your fault." He said with condolence.

"I know…it's just-"

"All right guys, come on! We've got practice to do!" Lilo announced, slamming the door against the wall when she opened it. Slushy had jumped with a heart attack out of the way onto the roof of the shack. One by one, a line of experiments marched after Lilo; apparently they agreed to play as a band.

"I wonder what she said…did she even mention me?" Angel thought, as she saw the line come nearer. Lilo passed; Angel tensed as the space between her the first experiment steadily shrunk, until finally he laid eyes on her—lo and behold, of all the possible one's to see her first, it was Richter.

"You!" He shouted sharply. All the other experiments stopped and stared at the brownish-pink figure standing next to the brownish-blue one. Lilo turned around to see what was going on. "What are you doing here?" Angel looked to the side. She thought she was ready for it, but in reality she wasn't at all. She looked at Stitch, and he gave her a nod. Though he did it reflexively, it seemed to help her.

"You're in the band, right? So am I." She responded solemnly.

"Rich, what's the matter?" Lilo asked, approaching him. He looked at her, and blinked his eyes.

"Soka." He replied. "I can't be a part of the band. I wish I could, but…anyway, I have to get going."

"Well that's ok, maybe you can come see the rest of play. How 'bout it?" She proposed cheerfully. But behind him, the others seemed to have an expression of second-thought.

"Actually," Angel said calmly, through gritted teeth, "I have a feeling none of them will want to be a part of the band, Lilo."

"What do you mean, Angel?" Lilo asked, stretching her voice and scratching her head with confusion. "Why not?"

"Did you happen to let them know that I was a part of the band also?" Angel asked.

"Well, no, I just told them situation and they happily agreed to he-"

"Come back here!" Echoed a voice from afar, which snapped the immediate attention of Lilo, Stitch and Angel. Then, a moment later, the other experiments gave recognition to the interruption. "I said come back here!" A blaster shot fired, and—from the sound of it—missed.

"Gantu." Stitch said lowly. The earth trembled underneath their feet. Stitch, Lilo, and Angel jumped up on the hill, and were greeted by a running force. "Angel!" Stitch yelled, as she was hit by the green blur, and knocked back down to the mud puddle below.

Angel opened her eyes, clearing the mud away from them, and looked up at a new face. A pair of charcoal-black eyes stared down at her for a moment, then looked up and behind as if watching for something. On the back of the new face's head, and continuing down the back and arms, were a few thick, purple, horizontal bands.

"Soka," apologized the female-experiment's voice, "I didn't see where I was going." She continued, helping Angel up to her feet.

"It's all right." Angel spoke kindly, wiping the mud away.

"Where are you?" Gantu's voice echoed. The new experiment looked back at the carved, mud wall with fear.

"Ebasa," she begged, turning back to Angel, "that person is after me! He's been chasing me and shooting at me ever since this morning! Can you help get rid of him?"

"You bet we can!" Lilo shouted from above, her body unseen by the rise of the mound.

"Eh." Came Stitch's voice in agreement.

"Don't worry, we'll shake him. Just leave it to us." Angel said reassuringly, climbing back up the mound. The new experiment followed her up, but didn't stand all the way. Instead she observed while hanging from behind the dirt wall.

"Oh great, it's the trog and his little pet earth-girl." Gantu said with dismay as he approached. "And…624?" He asked with surprise.

"You bet we're here, and we're gonna kick your butt!" Lilo shouted, shaking a fist. Stitch said nothing, but let his actions do the talking. He ran forward at full-speed, and jumped onto Gantu's head. But the blubber-face was too quick, and he plucked the little blue monster from his brow as soon as it landed. "Stitch!"

"You know, you have a pattern in your attack. My advice to you is to stop going for the head." Gantu said arrogantly, staring into Stitch's eyes. Stitch promptly shot a mixed bullet of mud and snot at him. "Yuck!" He grunted, tossing Stitch beyond the mound.

"Hey, don't toss my booch!" Angel yelled, running up at Gantu in a similar manner as Stitch. However, she spiraled under his feet, and landed on her back, facing toward his rear. With a lunge of her shoulder blades, she launched from her back and catapulted a kick right to the backside. He fell forward, and Angel caught the blaster that flew from his hand.

"Told ya we'd kick your butt!" Lilo shouted with a laugh. While this occurred, on the other side of the mound, outside of the fray, a certain new experiment was overlooking a very strange sight. Stitch was on his back at the end of skid marks made from where he'd landed, and where he'd dug into the ground.

At first, when she ran to see if he was all right, he appeared fine. However, a moment after, he suddenly began to look ill. He started to sweat, and when he tried to get up he only managed a little bit before he fell back down. She lifted his head, and trying to see if he went into shock, and felt his pulse—erratic. His chest began to heave, and his closed eyelids began to twitch. In a few moments, his entire body was starting to quiver, and his pulse was increasing faster still.

"You two!" She shouted to Lilo and Angel, in a calm yet unstable voice. "You're friend, I think he's in shock!" Lilo turned around, not hearing what the new experiment said over her own laughter. Angel pointed the gun at Gantu and smiled with dominance. He hastily stood to his feet, and smiled back at her calmly.

"You can't hit me, without this." He said, holding up the cartridge of plasma. Angel's ears drooped, and so did the blaster, and Gantu took his chance to take the gun from her, and knock her out of the way. He then turned his attention toward the new experiment, who was at Stitch's side.

With a gruff he loaded the blaster with a cartridge from his belt, and fired, ensnaring Stitch and the new experiment in a net. Lilo turned back to where Gantu was, surprised to see him on his feet again. He bounded past her, and she tumbled off the mound to avoid getting stepped on.

"Hey! Let them go!" She shouted, recovering from her tumble.

"I win this one!" Gantu announced triumphantly, as he picked up the net holding the two experiments in a glass container while on the run. He bolted past the other experiments, crushing the makeshift shack under his tremendous feet, and jumped into his escape ship that conveniently passed by overhead. "Nicely done, 625. You're timing was perfect." He commented, buckling himself in. "And lucky me; I accidentally caught 626." He said, patting the glass container that housed the netted experiments.