Ganazu
C/By: Kenjaje
Edited/Revised by: raVen
Chapter 9: Angel's A Cousin Too
"Well that worked." Lilo huffed, as Angel helped her to her feet. She dusted herself off and sifted the chunks of mud out of her hair. "I wonder what the new experiment thinks of us now."
"Well, we'll have to ask her when we get her, right?" Angel asked rhetorically.
"Right. Now let's see…Gantu's ship headed that way," she pointed in the direction where it disappeared into the blue sky, "and that's toward town…so his ship should be…"
"Somewhere northeast." Angel said, pointing.
"I was gonna say there," Lilo pointed northwest, "but we'll go your way." Angel nodded with a smile, and started to walk, while Lilo went to pick up her water bottle. As Angel passed the cluster of experiments, Richter let out a gruff growl, and stepped in front of her. She paused and took a half-step back.
"What is it?" She snapped calmly. "I'm in a hurry to rescue Stitch and that new cousin, in case you have noticed." His eyelids slowly narrowed.
"From what I've seen, I've noticed a lot of things." He said lowly. Angel lifted an eyebrow and twitched an ear.
"I see. You're very observant." She complimented sarcastically. He squinted his eyes more noticeably.
"You're not going." He stated bluntly. Angel lifted her other eyebrow, so he decided to be clearer. "You're not going to rescue them."
"Perda?" She asked, a little irritated. "I think I am."
"What's going on Rich?" Lilo asked, stepping into the conversation while adjusting the strap that hugged her neck.
"I don't trust you, Angel." He said, ignoring Lilo."Until I see proof that you're on our side, I won't let you go. I don't even think you're going to rescue them. I think, once you're far enough away from us, you're going to capture Lilo too."
"What about me?" Came his referred, wanting in on the situation concerning her.
"Nugga-sha!" Angel shouted, overwhelming Lilo's question. Lilo's eyes widened, wondering what in the world they were talking about that got her friend so angry.
"Hey, Angel what's-"
"What's to say you aren't? I'm supposed to believe that just because you tell me you won't, you won't! I think everyone will agree with me that you helped Gantu catch that experiment, and Stitch in the process." He said, assuming the voice of the other cousins. Angel glared at Richter, unable to believe his accusation. "You had a chance to stop Gantu, but you paused and lowered the blaster, and undoubtedly let him knock you out of the way so he could get to the cousin." Angel's left eyelid twitched. Was he blind? Did he miss the fact that she had no ammo in the blaster?
"Angel…?" Lilo asked, as Angel turned around and took her by the wrist, fed up with trying to reason with ignorance.
"We're going to rescue Stitch. I'm done here." She announced to her friend, softly. Lilo followed, though she didn't have much of a choice. Richter stepped behind them, but Slushy jumped in front of him.
"Out of the way!" Richter demanded.
"You're pathetic." Slushy told him, with a degrading tone of voice. Richter glared. "Get angry at me all you want. It still doesn't change the fact." He looked behind him to see Angel and Lilo well on their way.
"What fact." Richter snorted.
"I don't know what you have against her, but I think it's backing up your accusing her of being evil."
"What do you think you're saying?" He retorted, with a slightly dumb tone, as he didn't quite understand what Slushy was talking about.
"You know what I think it is? I think you're afraid of her. She's got the power to turn you evil any time she wants, and you're scared of it. Every one of us knows that you're the one that started the uprising the other night—even she knows that." Richter's eyes trailed, and Slushy saw his opening."I'll admit, I'm a bit afraid of that happening too, but after what I saw in that hangar, I know that isn't gonna happen anytime soon; Angel's good, and I don't know what's blinding you from that obvious fact, but whatever it is better get outta the way and let you see."
The other's looked at Slushy with different expressions; some were surprised, some were angered, some were merely apathetical, pretending they weren't paying attention to what was going on; but all of them knew that Slushy just hit the nail on the head.
"I'm just looking out for my cousins." Richter said boldly. "I don't want to see anyone else getting turned evi-"
"Don't you see," Slushy spoke slowly, suppressing the frustration that built up inside him with Richter's response, "that Angel is one of our cousins?" Richter paused. Slushy relaxed his eyelids. "Call me evil too if you want, but I'm going with Angel. After all, she's a cousin too." He announced, his tone flat and tired. He turned, took a few steps forward, but then stopped and turned his head back to look at them all.
"Of all of you good guys, I'm apparently the only one that's got the guts to go. Maybe it's because I'm the only one cold-hearted enough to help my friends." He stared off to the side for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, and casually continued on. The other's watched with bewilderment at his sudden change in attitude, but they all got the same message. None of them did anything further as Slushy took in a giant breath, and rocketed into the air.
"…Wow…" Lilo said softly, as Angel turned her face, which was on the verge of tears—and Lilo finally understood why. "I had no idea…" She continued, not sure whether Angel wanted to be left alone or pet on the head. She decided to try and cheer Angel up by taking her side. "That's not right. They shouldn't-"
"I know." Angel interrupted softly, running a hand over her scalp, lifting up the fur that stuck together in chunks because of her sweat.
"But then…why didn't you tell me before? You, me, Stitch—we could've solved the problem. They know what's right and wrong, they're just a little edgy."
"I was going to give it time, and talk to them after the floods died down," Angel explained, now returning to normal, "but after what just happened, I think they've got their mind's set."
"Then I'll help you. It's no big deal; it's just a misunderstanding. You've got two very reliable sources to back up your 'I'm not evil' explanation, so if we just reason with them they'll understand."
"Correction." Angel said, attempting to change the subject, "I've only got one source now. We need to rescue the other one."
"Right." Lilo said with a smile. They continued on for a while, making their way to Gantu's ship. At one point, they were walking side-by-side, and discussing how they would infiltrate this time, when all of a sudden, Angel felt Lilo's presence disappear.
"So then maybe we should go through the right duct parallel to the…Lilo?" She asked, looking around, wondering where her friend was. It was completely impossible—she could swear Lilo was by her side a moment ago, but she was looking ahead and didn't really notice that Lilo was gone until just now. "Did she go use the bathroom again, and I just missed her telling me?" Angel thought, scratching her head.
"Hey Angel!" She heard Lilo shout. Angel looked around, but didn't see anything. But then—by accident, really—she looked up, and saw Lilo was in the air, and with a closer look, saw Slushy behind her. When did he come into the picture? "I think he's offering us a ride to the ship!"
Stitch shifted as he felt his arm. The movement allowed him to feel other parts of his body as well. Slowly, the feeling of his legs, nose, mouth and ears came. He opened his eyes, but found they wouldn't open as quickly as he would have liked them to. Despite how much concentration he used, they would only open bit by bit.
"Thank goodness." Came a relieved voice to his right. He turned his head, but couldn't make out the source of it through the blurry vision, other than a green blob. "I thought you'd never wake up."
"G…u-budga?" He asked slowly, his voice breaking a bit.
"Me first. Are you all right? You looked like you were in pain before, do you feel any now?" Stitch had to think for a moment to give the voice an honest answer.
"Stitch fine." He replied, his vision clearing. The blob started to take shape; he noticed the two ears, but everything else was still merged together. Obviously, it was a cousin. "What happened?" He asked.
"It looked to me like you went into shock." The voice sounded female to him. He could see her eyes now.
"When?"
"A while ago, actually. It's a long story, if you feel like hearing it I'd be glad to tell you."
"Eh." He replied, closing his eyes. She obviously wasn't going to harm him, so he didn't need to keep an eye on her.
"Well, you do remember jumping onto Gantu don't you?"
"…Eh." He replied, after recalling the memory from the black fog in his mind. How long ago did that happen?
"Well, after you were lodged into the ground, I came to see if you were all right. At first, you said something about you being fluffy, but then you started acting funny. Your pulse increased, and you started shivering like mad. That's why I think somehow, most likely when you landed, you went into shock."
"Where is here?" He asked.
"I'll get to that; there's more." She said. He nodded. "I tried to tell those other two—the pink one and the odd looking one—that something was wrong with you, but then I suddenly found myself trapped inside of a net. Then I realized you were in there with me. Your condition got worse, and you kept mumbling something…'Lilo, help', think it was." She paused. He didn't seem to comment about that, so she went on"Then, we were moved. The next thing I knew, you and I were thrown in here. If you'll look around, it's some kind of cell."
Stitch opened his eyes again, his vision noticeably clearer. He was looking up at the ceiling, and already he understood where they were. The sleek glass barrier above his head that showered down beyond the back of his eye, and past that barrier was the black metal that made the ship belonging to no other person but Gantu.
"Oketaka, Stitch understand. But, who is cousin?" He asked again.
"Miga?" She asked back rhetorically. He nodded again. "I'm 600." He turned to look at her, and could finally make out her features; she was sitting cross-legged against the glass wall, her hands resting on her knees. Her ears twitched along with her nose, and a smile formed as she saw him look at her. He couldn't quite tell from his blurry vision, but she almost looked shyly at him. Was she being bashful? "And who are you?" She asked him playfully.
"My name Stitch." He said, sitting up. Fluid in his head sloshed for a moment, and he felt a little dizzy, but after a very intense blood-rush he was back to normal.
"Well then, nice to meet you…I think." The new experiment commented, looking about at their surrounding. Stitch scratched his chin, and turned around, facing toward the glass. "What is it?"
"Getting out." Stitch said bluntly, crawling to a stand from his knees.
"You can try." She said. "Maybe you'll have better luck than me. Should be an easy escaping too, no one's around." Stitch was about to use his claws to cut into the glass, when he stopped at her comment. She was right—no one was around, not even 625. "Is something wrong? You look a little puzzled…"
"Cousin right. No one here…something wrong." He said, tapping the glass. Surely Gantu would have at least put 625 on guard; he escaped so many times that even that loafer was better than nothing. So then why? Why wasn't anyone on guard? "Trap." He said, coming to the blatant conclusion. "Should stay here." He advised her, sitting back down
"A trap? Are you sure?"
"Not really, but better safe than soka." He told her.
"So…what do we do? Just sit here?"
"Eh." He replied, crossing his legs. "Wait for Lilo and Angel."
"Who?"
"Friends of Stitch. Wait for them, rescue us."
"You're sure they're going to?"
"Oh yeah. Sooner or later." He nodded, confidently.
