Everyone's Ohana
Part II
A Lilo & Stitch Fanfic
By Brenna "Snakelady" Dawkins
Rating: PG13Disclaimer: Lilo and Stitch and all subsequent characters are owned and copyrighted by Disney Studios. I have made no money off of this or any of my other fanfics… pity!
Summary: Lilo and Gantu must work together to escape capture, if only they can cooperate long enough without getting on each others nerves.
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Lilo angrily tugged at the long sleeved button up shirt Nani had made her wear whenever she went out at night. It was ugly and she hated it with a passion, but Nani had made it clear that if she was going out at night, then she had to wear at least a long sleeved shirt against the cold. Not that it ever got very cold on the island. But Nani had become rather overprotective of late.
And it was because of some well meaning protectiveness that she was there now. But she hadn't counted on running into Gantu on her mission. Things always seemed to go wrong when he was around.
She was suddenly blinded by a bright light and she raised up her arm to cover her eyes. When the pain of the sudden appearance of light went away, she carefully lowered her arm and saw a hovering robot probe. It had a single lens and a spotlight and both were focused on her.
"You were instructed to come alone." A deep voice with a heavy alien accent came over the probes loudspeakers. The light was now cast over a scowling Gantu.
"It wasn't my fault! Honest! I came alone! But he followed me!"
"You broke your promise. We must collect both of you now."
"Wait! I didn't break any promise! I came alone! Now, where's my sister?" Lilo shouted at the probe.
"No one's collecting me!" Gantu took out his gun and pointed it at the alien device. But before he could squeeze off a shot, he and Lilo were temporarily zapped out of existence. When they reappeared a heartbeat and a half later, they were in bright surroundings. Gantu still had his gun out but it was now pointed at nothing. He blinked and lowered his weapon.
"What happened? Where are we?" Lilo asked somewhat shaken by the unexpected experience.
Gantu looked about him, "Transporter. We've been--- stolen."
"NO! I have to save Nani first!"
"Who is Nani?" Gantu wondered.
"My SISTER!" Lilo shouted impotently. "They took her! I came here to get her back! But you messed it all up!"
"There is no need to shout." Gantu said and put his gun away with some reluctance. There was nothing to shoot at in their sparce cell.
"I was this close to getting her back! Why didn't you just go away?" Lilo couldn't stop the tears from falling as she glared at the huge alien. "I'll never see Nani again! I hate you!"
Gantu was used to not being everyone's favorite guy. But her comment stung, not that he could ever let on that it did. "Well, to each their own. But here we are and the most important business at hand is to escape."
"And then save my sister."
"Um, yes. I suppose." The hulking alien reluctantly agreed. Anything to stop the tears and accusations. They were unnerving and he just wasn't very good at empathy.
"So, how DO we get out of here?" Lilo wanted to know as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
Gantu took a closer look of the surroundings. It was a fairly large room as far as cells went. Well lit too. But just like a cell, there was nothing to look at, nothing to sit on, and one big door that probably had a special seal around it. Foolish of their captors to let him keep his weapon, though. He smirked and took up his blaster again, aiming for the door.
"I suggest you stand behind me." Gantu instructed the girl. To his amazement, she obeyed by scurrying behind a leg that was as wide around as her entire body. He ignored the pain in his wrist and fired at the door.
The loud clap from the impact made Lilo cover her ears. The hardened plastic of the cell sizzled from the blast and took on a charred tinge, but that was all that had happened.
"There has to be a weak spot." Gantu grumbled mostly to himself. "No cell is perfect."
"How do you know? You have that bad a record on escapees?" Lilo snidely replied.
Gantu grit his teeth, aware of her baiting him and tried desperately not to rise to it.
"I will check our surroundings closer."
Lilo watched as he stepped away from her. In only a few strides he was by the wall. "What do you want me to do?"
"Stay out of my way." Gantu instructed sourly. It was impossible having that little human constantly under foot. He knew she was giving him the evil eye. His back twitched and he refused to turn around to confront her. After close inspection of their cell, he came to the conclusion that there was no way out except by their captor's good graces.
"Well?" Lilo demanded.
"We're stuck here." Gantu said finally and wondered why he didn't go back to his ship when he had the chance. It was humiliating. He--- an ex-Captain of the Galactic Alliance--- captured and imprisoned easier then falling off a gandeebob. It was almost too much to bear.
Lilo sighed and sat on the floor. It was impossible. Why did she have to be imprisoned with Gantu, of all people? If it was Stitch of Jumba, they'd be able to figure out a way to escape. Even Pleakly would be more comforting to have around then the Big Dummy. She stared at the door, hoping beyond hope that it would just magically open up by itself and she'd be free. But it wouldn't and she wasn't. How could she help Nani when she was in the same fix?
Gantu paced back and forth in front of the door, glaring at it, knowing if anyone came through that door, he could more then likely overpower them with brute strength. And he would then pound them into the ground for subjecting him to such humiliation!
"Do you have to do that?"
Gantu continued pacing, not looking at the girl, "Do what?"
"Pacing. It's getting on my nerves." Lilo said.
Gantu paused in his rounds, "You know what's getting on MY nerves?"
"Don't care."
Gantu swelled with anger, unable to release it effectively. So he strode to the door and began to pound on it, using all his backed up frustration and anger to fuel his hard hitting punches. The door withstood the punishment with ease, which only won it more hurt from the enraged Gantu.
Lilo watched as Gantu passionately battled against the door. She shook her head. If a plasma blaster wouldn't do any damage, why did he think a pair of fists would?
"You're only going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Lilo told him as she sat in her spot.
Gantu didn't let up, "I don't need your concern! Besides, this makes me feel better!"
Lilo sat there quietly, watching the show. It wasn't like there wasn't anything else to do. He didn't show any sign of slowing down either. It wore her out just to watch.
Gantu grunted and stopped suddenly, holding his wrist. He was breathing heavily and wandered sluggishly to the other side of the room where he leaned up against the bare wall and slid to the ground, his wrist still cradled in his large hand.
"Told ya." Lilo supplied, but didn't turn around to face the big alien.
"That was from an earlier incident, no thanks to you and the trog." Gantu confirmed.
"Stitch is NOT a trog!"
"He was made in a test tube. He's an abomination that has no place in the universe."
Lilo stubbornly replied, "Lot's of humans get made in test tubes. That doesn't make them abominations! I think those horns of yours are on too tight."
"I don't need a child telling me what's what!" Gantu growled as he leaned up against the wall. His wrist throbbed painfully. Okay, he had to admit it had been stupid to beat on the door, but he only did so because that was the only way he could let his anger out.
"Look, we're stuck here. I don't like it, and it's obvious you don't like it. I think we should try to get along." Lilo suggested.
Gantu grumbled to himself in his own language but didn't answer her.
Lilo sighed again. It was a hopeless situation. She passed time by brainstorming on possible ways of escape.
"What about an explosion?" Lilo wondered out loud after a time.
"What about it?" Gantu asked.
"Would that work?"
"And just how would we create an explosion?" Gantu asked wearily.
"That gun of yours. Couldn't you find a way to overload it and let it go off?"
Gantu quietly considered that possibility. The kid might actually have a worthy idea. After hanging out with that crazy scientist, some of his wiles must have eventually rubbed off on her. He took out his gun and rolled it over in his huge hands. It would take a good amount of tinkering, but he definitely had time. Just that without the proper tools, it would take longer then it should.
After a good deal of time went by, Gantu was satisfied that the gun would do what the plan was called for. He stood up and carried the gun in the hand that wasn't hurt. Lilo stood and watched with interest.
"Will it open the door?"
"I don't know." Gantu said honestly as he set the device down right in front of the door. He pressed a button and a high pitched beeping told her that the thing was now active. "I think it's a good idea to back up against the far wall. Don't know how big the blast radius will be."
Lilo nodded and made for the far wall as did Gantu. They both pressed up against it, getting as far away from the door as they could. Gantu loomed above her as he stood there. Usually his immense size was intimidating, but in a case like this, it was oddly comforting.
The flash from the gun blinded her, making her cover her eyes with her hands. Then a split second later, a loud explosion sent a shock wave slamming into them, knocking the breath out of Lilo and sending her to her knees. The ground shook with the force of the massive explosion. Lilo gasped as the oxygen was being burned up, then coughed and gagged on the smoke and fumes.
She heard the sound of something giving way and was too short of breath to protest being knocked flat to the ground by Gantu. She jabbed his gut with her elbow angrily, which only won a grunt from the giant that had knocked her down. He was covering her with his hulking form. It was like she was inside a big cave. Finally getting her breath back, she wriggled over to where his elbow met his knee and tried to crawl through the small opening. From her vantage point, she could see a large portion of the bulkhead was peeling away from the structure right above them.
"Stay put!" Gantu ordered.
She looked around and was startled to see his face upside down peering at her. It was then she realized that he was shielding her from possible harm with his own body. She eased back away from the gap.
There was an ear splitting wail that only metal rending itself in two could make. Lilo cringed at the sound. The sound grew louder as the piece of wall sheared all the way down its length. A thundering crash shook the floor and at the same time she felt Gantu's body quake with the impact.
Gantu shrieked as it felt like his back was being flayed by searing hot pokers. The piece of bulkhead had crashed into him. It took everything he had to not collapse on top of Lilo. His whole body trembled from the pain and the effort of supporting that mass of bulkhead. He gulped in the air turned mildly toxic.
"Gantu?"
Gantu gasped out. "Stay there--- until I check to make sure the rest of the place--- isn't going to come crashing down."
He uncovered his head in order to see if anything else was going to happen. His shaking worsened with the effort of raising his heavy head. He eyed the shredded wall. Well, it looked like the cell had a weak spot after all. Too bad half of it seemed to be pressing down on top of him.
"All clear." Gantu told her.
She nodded and scrambled out from under him. It was with great relief that he sank to the ground--- well, more like crumbled. His back was now numb and he knew that was a bad sign.
"You don't look so good." Lilo observed.
Gantu exhaled slowly as he lay flat out on the floor, wedged under the bulkhead that had been taken out by the blast. "What a wonderfully observant child, you are." He said sarcastically through gritted teeth.
"Does it hurt?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry. It was my idea. It was my fault."
"Well--- not entirely your fault." Gantu said somewhat reluctantly.
Lilo looked around her, "What happens now?"
"See that hole in the wall?" Gantu asked, unable to lift his head up to see it himself.
"Yeah."
"You go over there, go through it, and escape like we planned."
"This wasn't part of the plan."
Gantu found it hard to take a deep breath with all that weight pressing down on top of him, "No. But we planned for the blast to make a hole to escape through. Now, it worked--- sort of. Escape."
Lilo gave him a worried look. "Leave you here? Alone?"
"There's no choice."
Stubbornly, Lilo sat down in front of his head, almost eye level. "No. No one gets left behind. Not even you."
"Foolish child! There's nothing you can do for me!"
But Lilo just shook her head. "No one gets left behind."
To Be Continued---
