Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 2: French Toast

Up in the high bedroom, another performer stirred; this time Angel. Her eyes winked on and her mind started to spin, and when she sat up, the blood that had settled in the back of her head splashed down her neck, making her squint as the spots in her eyes blinded her. The static quickly faded, and her vision was back again in a matter of seconds.

She looked at her surroundings, noticeably different from what they should have been. For one thing the perspective was much lower than what she was used waking up to. She looked up and chuckled a little bit, knowing what probably happened. She took a dive off the bed and didn't even wake up until just now. She hadn't had a good sleep like that in quite a while.

Taking things a bit more slowly, she popped the kinks out of her back, neck, legs, arms and fingers, and then stretched, lying on her back again, until she felt limber and awake. She stood, a little wobbly, and checked the clock. It was half past eight, and Stitch, she noticed, was up, absent from his bed. Lilo, however, was still present, and probably in a deep sleep as well, Angel thought. She debated momentarily on whether or not to start breakfast and then wake her, or vise-versa. But, she couldn't decide whether to make French toast or omelets, and didn't want to surprise Lilo with something she might not like.

"…Huh?" Came Lilo's mumble, among other undistinguishable bubbles of noise, as Angel shook her to a low level of alertness.

"French toast or…"

"Yeah, that's fine, whatever." She said airily, not even listening.

"All right then, Stitch it is!" Angel said cheerfully, knowing Lilo was still more asleep than awake. "How do you want him: rare, medium, well-done, or deep-fried?" Lilo's left eye blinked open, Angel's words catching her attention.

"…Wait a minute, what?" She asked, not sure of what she thought she heard.

"Good, we're awake." Angel said with a giggle. "Do you want an omelet or French toast?" Lilo looked at her, her mouth slightly open with confusion, but she dropped it and picked an option.

"Whatever Stitch wants." She said, closing her eyes and falling back asleep. Angel's lips angled to the side.

"Alright, deep-fried it is then." Lilo's eyes flipped open again.

"…Ok are we talking about breakfast or something else here?" She asked, realizing Angel was tricking her somehow.

"I dunno. You were asleep; I wasn't paying attention." Angel said innocently, stifling her giggle. Lilo sat up, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, I'm awake." She said flatly. "Now stop playing around. What did you ask?"

"Perk up, I'm only joking." Angel said cheerfully. Lilo folded her arms. "Ok…not in the mood then." She cleared her throat. "I asked what breakfast you wanted—for the third time—omelet or French toast?"

"Ugh…toast. To be honest, if I have another egg-breakfast anytime soon I'm going to run away to the farm." She commented, lifting aside the covers and proceeding to the elevator with Angel. "Where's Stitch?" She asked, noticing that he wasn't in his bed while the floor rose to her eyes' level.

"Don't know; he wasn't here when I woke up." Angel told her, as their floor came.

"Well then, we'd better watch out. He might try to get back at us for that trick we pulled on him last week." Lilo warned.

"Hmm…good idea. I'll watch our back, you take the lead."

"Right." Lilo whispered, beginning her walk down the hall. Angel started a few seconds after, and kept an eye out behind them as they made their way. When they passed the doors, Lilo opened them, scanned the room, and then left them for Angel to shut. Upon reaching the stairs, they both stopped.

"See anything?" Angel asked, while Lilo peeked her head around the corner, staring down into the living room, and a little into the kitchen.

"All clear from what I can see…but then again he could be hiding next to the railing."

"Good thinking. I'll take it from here, cover our rear." Lilo nodded and scanned the hallway behind them. Angel slinked up the wall, adhered to the ceiling, and then began to crawl toward the stairway, to get a good angle at the opposite side of the railing. From floor to ceiling it was clear, along with the living room and—from what she could see—the kitchen. "Yup, all clear-" Just as Angel spoke, there came a knocking at the door. Both froze for a moment, merely waiting for it to happen again. It did, after a pause, and Angel dropped.

"You think it's him?"

"Might be."

"Should we open it?"

"Yeah, but be ready to jump out of the way."

"Right." A third knock came. "Coming!" Lilo shouted, running to the door and twisting the knob. Angel flattened against the wall, out of sight of whoever might be on the other side. She nodded her head, and Lilo opened the door. "Hello?" There was no one there. "…Hello?" She asked again, stepping outside a little bit. Angel looked out as well, confused and baffled. From behind her though, she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned with instantaneous reflex, but saw nothing—only heard a slight pop noise. "What's wrong?"

"…I thought I heard some-" Angel turned to look at Lilo, and then saw a figure standing behind her, but before she spoke it disappeared. "Lilo! Watch out!" Lilo turned to see what Angel was so upset about, but saw nothing—just heard a slight pop noise.

"Are you feeling…all right, Angel?" Lilo asked, very worriedly. Angel squinted her eyebrows.

"I'm fine…there…was someone behind you…I think…" Angel scratched her head, beginning to wonder if Lilo was right about her. Perhaps she was still halfway asleep—still dreaming? "But wait…you heard that pop didn't you?"

"…Yeah. It sounded like bubble-wrap." She replied frankly. "Maybe someone's just downstairs outside popping-" There was a slight startled scream in the air, coming from above Lilo and Angels' heads. Instinctively and alertly they looked up; Lilo caught a glimpse of a green mass as it fell right on her, slamming her to the ground. Angel immediately grabbed the mass, and held its hands behind its back so it couldn't escape as Lilo crawled out from underneath. After the commotion subsided, and their nerves settled, Lilo and Angel realized who their company was.

"600?" They both asked with surprise, as she blinked awkwardly toward Lilo.

"Soka." She said with an apologetic laugh. "I didn't mean to go so high up—mind letting me go?" She asked at Angel. Angel looked down at her hands, tightly gripped around 600's wrists, and immediately broke away with such exaggeration she almost tripped backward. "Chibito." She thanked.

"Was it you that knocked at the door?" Lilo asked.

"Yeah…sorry. I didn't mean to disappear on you like that, but I thought I had the wrong place ya see…and then my calibration got out of hand…" Both Lilo and Angel continued to gaze. "…What? Am I…interrupting something?"

"No…I think what we're trying to figure out is if you're meaning 'disappear' literally or…" 600 clasped her stomach and fell over, the organ growling painfully. Angel tilted her ears. "I'm…making French toast…" She said, looking at 600 and pointing her thumb toward the kitchen, not sure whether she wanted help getting up or if she could help herself.

Jumba blinked as the machine that his eyes were fixated on changed. The bar on the screen was getting slower and steadier now, a sign that the state was wearing off, and Stitch was relaxing. He sighed, deeply concerned, as he checked the history of the machine. This was no laughing matter—Stitch's pulse had escalated to a very dangerous point. The stress of it could have caused him to shut down temporarily.

He only wished he could tell Stitch he was fine, but then he would be lying. He had no way of knowing what started this, but he did know the cause—Gantu. He flipped a switch, turning off the goggles over Stitch's eyes in the other room, and took the disk out of the machine. If he was truly correct—which he was 99-percent positive he was—then all he would have to do is inform Stitch of the situation, and then help come up with a solution to solve it.

"Maybe a cerebral scan is good idea." He thought. "Could identify center of reaction-zone in brain. Perhaps be checking memory database and…erasing whatever it is that is causing such an enormously dangerous reaction." He stepped through the door to where Stitch was, and saw him with his arms clasping the side of the bed, and his chest rolling, gasping for breath. Jumba sat on the bed, which was barely big enough for Stitch let alone him, and tapped the little blue experiment to wake it up. Stitch felt exhausted when he came to, like he just ran for three days straight without stopping.

"G…" He tried to ask, but his voice was dry. He sucked spit into his throat, reviving his tongue and uvula, and then successfully spoke again. "Gaba…ichuja?"

"Well…" Jumba said, idly drumming his fingers, trying to think of how to put it. "First, must be apologizing. I did not actually do cerebral scan…I performed another experiment to prove…a hypothesis." Stitch's erratic breathing settled, and he sat up, removing the goggles off his face.

"What…hypo-"

"Taking it easy, 626." He advised, pushing Stitch to lie back down. "You do not remember what was going on—you were completely unconscious during the whole thing. I will explain it to you…but I feel that 624 and little girl must be informed as well. You have…very serious condition…but is curable with their help. We will go when you are ready." Stitch's ears twitched with alert curiosity—the idea that something was wrong with him, and the idea that he didn't know what it was, made him feel like he was losing some kind of control over his mind. He stood up on the bed, an action that was obviously too much for him, as he nearly fell over, but he stood regardless.

"Stitch ready." He told Jumba, using him for much-needed support in standing.