Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 3: Phase

Angel jumped, and 600 got toast caught in her throat, as Jumba suddenly came through the kitchen door. The piece of toast that Angel was currently working on flipped from the pan, right into Jumba's unconscious hand. He stared at it, slightly confused as to how it got there.

"Hmm…is little bit crunchy, but good." He commented to lighten the mood of surprise, biting into half of it. His eyes wandered to 600, sitting at the kitchen table, thrusting a hand to her chest to get the chunk of toast down to her stomach. "600?"

"…Jumba?" She asked back, surprised to see him. She noticed the giant scientist and, beside him, the one who she remembered called himself Stitch. She strained to gulp one last time, stretching her esophagus to allow the hunk of bread to finally fall into her stomach.

"Where did you be coming from? Little girl, 626 and 624 have been searching all over for you! Would have found you faster if computer wasn't on the blink…" He trailed, biting into the toast again. "Speaking of little girl, where is she being?"

"…Jumba?" 600 repeated rhetorically.

"To be honest-" Angel whipped her hand away from the pan and stuck it in her mouth. "She's looking for you upstairs." She finished through gritted teeth, licking the burn on her hand to numb the sting.

"Well, as you are seeing, am here." He stated, matter-of-factly, then turned toward the stairs and shouted. "Little girl!" Not a second later, a rapid-fire thumping of steps came from upstairs as Lilo rushed to the railing.

"What, what happened, is something wrong?" She asked quickly, in response the loud, and slightly urgent sounding, shout.

"Well…" Jumba began, "would not exactly call it something being 'wrong'…but, are needing you. Come, have seat." Lilo hopped up on the railing and slid down partway, then aborted the rest and made a B-line for the chair Jumba pulled out as soon as she hit the floor. Angel turned, though she kept her concentration on the toast lest she get burned again, and spoke.

"What's 'wrong' but not 'wrong'?" she repeated, flipping her current piece of toast.

"Yeah, what's up? –Hi Stitch!" Lilo said, almost changing the subject. Stitch smiled and walked forward, approaching the seat adjacent to Lilo.

"Little girl, 626, and 624—and 600; may as well listen while you are here, as you are somewhat a part of this, somewhat," her ears twitched a little, "there is something very important I am needing to discuss."

"Don't tell me it's Zeus…" Lilo said, slightly nervous. The sky had been getting cloudy lately, which made her a little paranoid.

"No, fortunately. But, unfortunately, is about 626…" Jumba noticed the immediate interest in all of them, though it was affecting Lilo and Angel more. They stared at Stitch, and he seemed to sink in his chair, for he, too, still had no idea what was wrong—on the way back Jumba was silent, and he had done nothing to pursue the explanation at the time. Jumba continued, facing Lilo, "Little girl, are you remembering when you brought 626 into my room before you swapped bodies?" He asked, pronouncing the "e" in "swapped".

"Before we…yeah, I remember."

"Good. Because, you told me that 626 had undergone a strange, unexplainable reaction to something—and to what we didn't know. Correct?"

"Yeah; he started breathing really hard, got all sweaty, and his veins popped out like a dried-up mummy." She said, rather excitedly. Then she calmed herself and simply repeated, "Yeah."

"Yes, well," Jumba said, clearing his throat. Angel gave Stitch and Lilo each a piece of toast, which they replied to with gratitude. "Am not sure if you and 624 are being aware, but 626 has told me earlier this morning that 600," he glanced toward her, "explained to 626 some time ago, when they were on Gantu's ship, that he had undergone a similar reaction."

"Well…yeah." Came 600. "I didn't notice any bulging veins, but there was a temperature rise and erratic breathing. And also-"

"So," interrupted Jumba, "I am thinking that these two 'shocks' were related. Now, little girl, will you please tell me what happened—if you can remember—before 626 went under 'shock' before you two swapped?" Lilo bit into her toast again, thinking deeply. She remembered picking Stitch up, carrying him on her shoulder, and running back to the house…

"Now I remember!" She said, slamming her hand on the table. "We met Gantu on the way to the beach—that's where we were going—and then he suddenly dropped!" Jumba nodded and turned toward 600. His nonchalance made them all wonder if he already knew the answer, and was just showing off.

"And," he asked to the green experiment with purple stripes, who bit her last piece of toast, "what happened before your experience with this 'shock'?"

"Well…I was running from Gantu, and then I ran into Angel, and knocked her off the slope-"

"I tried to stop you, you didn't run into me…" Angel corrected meekly.

"Well either way. Going on; the next couple things I can remember…" She tapped her chin a couple times, "Stitch jumped on Gantu, and they both had a pretty mean stare-down, then Gantu threw him to the ground. So hard, in fact, that he pretty much imprinted his body in the dirt. I'm not sure how strong he his, but he said he was all right, and then he went into the shock…I suspect he was under its influence before he even hit the ground, but I think the impact was what did it." Jumba nodded conclusively, as though something was just confirmed that he wasn't telling them.

"You are, indeed, partially correct 600." He replied. He let them eat a bit more, glancing at Stitch every now and again while Angel sat at the table, and ate her toast. Then he began again, "When 626 told me of this, and I remembered the time it happened beforehand, I put two-and-two together, and realized there was a consistency with both of the stories." Jumba paused, and looked at Stitch, as if he wanted him to give the answer.

"Gantu." He said, now realizing the "consistency" Jumba spoke of.

"Precisely. But, until about an hour ago, that was only being a hypothesis. However, I ran a test—and, in actuality you are not aware of that 626—and these are the results." He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his back pocket, and handed it to Angel.

"What does it say?" Lilo asked immediately, as all of them but Stitch curiously tried to read it at the same time. He was more worried than curious. Angel dropped the paper, which was grasped by Lilo, and looked at him with astonishment.

"Why wasn't I aware of this?" She asked, a little hurt, looking back at Jumba. He shrugged. She looked back at Stitch, and spoke to him. "Are you aware that you were nearly under a heart-attack?" She asked him. With his stare came his answer.

"Allow me to explain." Jumba said. "Those goggles that I gave you, 626, were not really satellite-enhanced television goggles. They were merely a means of sending pictures to the eye without light interfering—specifically used in eye-tests. However, that was not the purpose for them in this case. I put into the screen, a picture of Gantu's face. The results, as you can see, are explaining the rest."

"That's a really big number…" Lilo commented, looking at the pulse count Angel mentioned. "I don't think I can even count that high."

"So what you're saying is…if he just looks at Gantu's face, he'll go into that state again?" Angel asked to confirm.

"Most likely. But, am noting something else as well. 626's temperature rose, yes, but not dramatically. And I suspect that this time, his pulse was not as quick as it would have been the first and second times. Am thinking it is either the picture was not as effective as real thing, or perhaps it is naturally happening, but I suspect that each case is gradually becoming less severe."

"Well if that's true, then is there a way we can get him over it?" Lilo asked sympathetically. Stitch felt awkward, but not because of the "shocks", more because everyone was speaking about him as though he weren't there.

"Is possible. Will be needing to perform cerebral scan, just to check any kinks. Something about Gantu is triggering this affect—could be a reoccurrence of some kind." Jumba sighed, and scratched his head. "But, am needing bit of time. Give me little while to find something and then will get right on it. In mean time, why not be finding One, True Place for 600."

"Good idea." Lilo said. "But…what does she do? We have to name her first, and to do that we have to know her powers." Stitch felt the awkwardness vanish as the third-person discussion switched over to the referred. 600 stood to her feet.

"Well that's easy. Now that I'm full, I can just show you." She said with a smile. But suddenly—and it took a couple seconds for the group to realize it—there was an abrupt lack of something where she was standing: more specifically, a lack of her.

"What…the…"

"Gaba…" The ones at the table said. Jumba laughed deeply.

"Be looking behind you, 626." He said. All of them looked, and there she was. They did a double take, between where she stood and where she had once stood, and all three began to slowly scoot away from her in their chairs in synchrony. She smiled at Stitch, who looked back at her as if she wasn't real, and batted her eyelashes. His ears twitched, and he tilted his head a bit as she came up to him, and ruffled his cowlick. He let out a greeting laugh as she tickled his head, and then briskly licked her finger and tamed the stubborn tuft of hair. All the while Angel's manner changed.

"Um…cousin…" Lilo chimed.

"Miga?" 600 asked, looking at her. She nodded. "Gabitcha?" Lilo took a sigh.

"Well…um…" Casually she pointed toward Angel, whose hands were folded in front of her mouth, so that it hid her lips. All 600 could see were her eyes, which, from where she was, seemed to glow red with a calm flare of irritation. "He's kind of her…" Lilo continued, trailing to remain a peacekeeper in the subtle conflict that 600 was apparently unaware of. Her stroking his head slowed to a steady stop, and she carefully pulled her hand away, and smiled nervously back at Angel, who was now growling a little bit.

"D-don't worry." She apologized with a chuckle."He's…cute, but not my type." She finished, trying to sound honest. "Sheesh. I'd hate to see what would happen if someone actually came between those two." She thought, as Angel gave one final warning growl before she returned to her kinder self. Lilo changed the mood by speaking again, turning toward Jumba.

"Explain. What did she just do? Teleport?" She commanded jokingly. Jumba scratched his head.

"Little girl is probably not in the knowing of Tetra-space mathematics and principles…"

'Miga naga…" Stitch commented.

"Well, 626, it will be easy for you to be understanding, but little girl will be needing example."

"Tetra-space—use a Hyperdrive-engine." 600 suggested.

"Ah, of course! Hyperdrive-engine is perfect example; little girl is very familiar with Hyperdrive."

"Ugh…I hate it sometimes, it makes me sick to my stomach." Lilo groaned with her tongue sticking out.

"Well, to answer little girl's question in small earth nut-shell, 600 stepped from spot over there," he pointed to where she was previously, "to spot over there," he pointed to where she was presently, "however it happened in such a way that it was far too quick for our eyes to see."

"Really?"

"How?" Angel asked curiously. Jumba smiled, admiring his genius a little bit.

"Well, using Hyperdrive-engine as example: when captain of large ship activates Hyperdrive, the Hyperdrive-engine swirls the gravity around the ship, and condenses it into a tiny space. This causes implosion, resulting tunnel through which ship can access long distances in quick amounts of time. These tunnels are being called Tetra-space."

"Cousin create Tetra-space?" Stitch asked.

"Correct, however, she is much more efficient than a Hyperdrive-engine. After a jump, a Hyperdrive-engine takes a long time to recharge, whereas 600 over there," when he pointed, he realized she had moved back to her seat, so he corrected his gesture, "can teleport multiple times before needing recharge. And in her case, must recharge with food."

"Cool!" Lilo exclaimed.

"What about a barrier? Can she step through a barrier? Like a closed door, for instance?" Angel inquired.

"Of course I can." 600 replied.

"Is easy for her. In Tetra-space, she is much more condensed than objects in normal space, which allows her to pass through doors, windows, walls—even you and me." Lilo jumped up onto her seat excitedly.

"Can she take other people too?" She asked. Jumba looked at 600, as if he didn't know the answer.

"I can. I've gotten a lot better at it…" She said.

"Well, if you think you can…would you mind demonstrating it with little girl?"

"I'd be glad to." She replied happily, and then added, "for another couple pieces of toast afterward—those are delicious!" Angel immediately got up to turn the oven back on, eager to watch the demonstration. Lilo clenched her hands into fists with enthusiasm.

"Yes!" She immediately stepped up to 600 and took her offered hand.

"Being careful now…if tunnel collapses, abort, understanding me?"

"Don't worry, I don't take risks. After all, I don't want to end up dissected do I?"

"Don't worry Jumba, I'll be…" Immediately Lilo felt a strange shift in her weight, causing her to pause her sentence. It felt like she was suddenly underwater, being tossed around in every direction—which reminded her of the floods—but she was perfectly still. "…Fine…" She finished, glancing around.

Everything began to change—objects started to appear translucent, and she was able to see beyond the walls of the kitchen to the trees outside and, the other rooms of the house. She stared back at 600, who was more noticeable, as she was still opaque. Lilo also noticed a pair of antennae on 600's scalp.

"What's going on?" She asked, a little giddy.

"We're in between normal space and Tetra-space." 600 replied, her voice casual and experienced. "Pretty soon you'll see a tunnel, that's the Tetra-space Tear. We're going to have to step through it quick, I don't want it to collapse on us."

"C-collapse?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"What'll happen though…if it collapses…?"

"Can't say. Jumba said that it could be as harmless as just starting me back from where I was, or it could be that I might get dissected and end up in two places across the universe." A tiny speck of light, a little orb, popped up between them at eye-level without warning. "That's the seam of the Tear." 600 explained. Lilo gulped.

"Why does the tunnel collapse?" She asked, to keep her mind off the previous thought 600 had put into it.

"Simply because it takes so much energy to create it. You see, I'm more powerful than a Hyperspace-engine, in that I can get from one place to another literally instantly, and rapidly, but with that comes limits." The Tetra-space Tear grew bigger by the second, and 600 motioned for Lilo to step aside.

"What kind of limits?"

"Well, for one thing it's very tiresome, and requires a lot of energy, like Jumba said. Another thing is, I can only do this for a certain range" 600 pointed to her antennae. "I use these to calculate where I'm going, so without them I won't be able to control where I'm headed."

"How far can you go?"

"If I were able to keep the tunnel up long enough I suppose I could try to jump the entire universe, but that would be like trying to spot an atom with your eyes; so small it's impossible to find it accurately."

"So it's like when my sister plays darts; the farther back she is from the board the harder it is for her to hit the bulls-eye." Lilo said, understanding the gist.

"I suppose so…all right, get ready, it's about to open." Almost on cue the white orb to their side—now roughly the size of an orange, erupted somewhat violently, but it didn't seem to harm Lilo—only scare her. Though the tunnel was spherical, it looked only two-dimensional, and she couldn't tell if it was a ball or a flat circle, as the perspective seemed to alternate between both. There were streaks of purple that went either parallel down the tunnel, or simply met in the middle of the circle, getting thinner as it neared the center. It depended upon which perspective it was interpreted as. Lilo's eyes started to twitch from the illusion.

600 quickly jumped in, taking Lilo behind her. The next thing Lilo knew, she was outside, on the other side of the house. Her eyes widened and she fell back on her rear with surprise; she had only taken one step into the Tetra-space; it felt impossible to have wound up where she was—not only that, when they stepped into the Tetra-space, they heading toward the front of the house, and they had wound up in the back.

"Yeah…I only meant to go to outside next to the room we were in…" 600 commented, noting the surprised look on Lilo's face.

"You missed the bulls-eye?"

"Yeah…big time. Luckily we didn't arrive here six-feet up in the air, like what happened when I met you. By the way…sorry about that…"

"That's all right." Lilo said, dusting off her shirt as she stood back up. She smiled and spoke with a ring in her tone. "I've got the perfect name for you!"

"A name?"

"Yeah. I'm naming you Phase, because you phase in and out of sight in the blink of an eye!" Lilo took Phase's hand and led her back to the kitchen. "C'mon, I wanna tell them what it was like!"

"And I want that toast!"