Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 6: Babysitter

"There's money for pizza next to the phone. I'll be back in around nine; by that time everyone should be in bed." Nani said in a hurry, grabbing her keys and hastily walking to the door with quick, long strides. "And make sure Stitch doesn't drink coffee!" She shouted, after getting into the truck and starting the engine. Cobra Bubbles stood in the doorway and watched her leave before he slowly shut it. "He's better than nothing…" She thought, turning at the intersection.

Bubbles turned around, Lilo and Angel were standing behind him, joined momentarily by Stitch. They looked at each other for a long moment, Cobra lifting an eyebrow.

"So…babysitter…" Lilo said awkwardly.

"I'd prefer the term 'Temporary Guardian'." Said his rolling voice. Lilo's lips moved to a small "O" near the corner of her mouth.

"This is getting eerie…" Angel whispered with a ring.

"Um…pizza?" Asked Stitch, trying to change the mood a little. Everyone seemed to subtly relax.

"Yeah, pizza." Lilo chimed with a smile.

"Your sister left us enough for two." Cobra said after he went to the phone on the wall. "What toppings?" He asked with his low, rolling tone.

"Pepperoni sound good?" Lilo asked to the couple.

"Eh." Stitch agreed energetically.

"I guess so…I don't really know what it is but I'll try it." Angel commented. Cobra removed his shades and punched the number. There was a ten second pause as the phone rang, then he recited the order.

"It'll be here in about 20 minutes." Cobra said, after thanking and hanging up.

"All right…I guess we'll be up in our room." Said Lilo, already walking toward the stairs. "Come on guys, let's play a board game. You can make yourself at home ok?" She said rhetorically to Cobra. He merely nodded and stood while they disappeared behind the corner of the hall. Stitch saw no one in the room as he climbed up the elevator shaft; Lilo and Angel were taking the lift up.

"Phase?" Lilo called, but no one responded. "You did tell her she could come up here, didn't you?" She asked Stitch.

"Uh huh." He replied. "Then Phase disappear, when Cobra came."

"Maybe she just got scared and went somewhere else?" Angel suggested, walking to the closet to check if she was there, in vain.

"No, she couldn't have gotten scared." Stitch thought, walking to his bed. He sat down, thinking, while Lilo looked out the window. "I told her she didn't have to worry; I thought she disappeared to here. I told her it was all right here, so then where did she go?" Lilo shut the window.

"Not outside from what I can tell. Maybe she'll come back in a few minutes. Something wrong Stitch?" Lilo asked, noticing his distant expression.

"Eh? No. Thinking."

"Oooo…he's thinking; don't strain yourself." Angel teased. Stitch shook his head and shrugged. Lilo let out a quick giggle.

"Well…while we wait, why not play that board game?"

"Sounds fun." Angel agreed.

"Oh…but I forgot…we've only got two-player board games." Lilo said, scratching her head.

"Isa oketaka, Stitch watch." He offered.

"You sure, booch?"

"Eh."

"Well then, I don't want to leave you bored. Why don't you pick the game you want to watch us play?" Stitch gave a half-nod and dropped to floor-level. He walked over to the closet, and climbed the wall to the top shelf, and pulled out checkers—his favorite game. "And you get to choose who's white and who's black too." Lilo said, as soon as she saw the game he picked.

"Oh boy…I'm warning you Lilo, I won't go easy. 625 and I played this game countless times and I've never lost. He's sorry he taught me." She boasted, sitting down on the floor while Stitch unfolded the board.

"I can beat Stitch sometimes." Lilo countered—Angel suspected she was being vague to hide her skill. Stitch took a chip of each color, in each hand, and put his palms together, where he shuffled the two pieces over and over for a few moments. He then took one in each closed fist and handed it secretly to each girl. Lilo was white; Angel was black.

"I just don't get it…" Stitch thought, as Lilo and Angel set their armies in place. "What was Phase talking about? What 'amplifier'? What 'eyes' are on her? …No…what I want to know is who was she talking to?"

"You're move."

"No one was in the room when I came…unless she just talks to herself. I think there's something more to Phase…something that she's hiding."

"Oh, think you're clever? Watch this!"

"She seemed a little paranoid when I listened through the door, like I had caught her in a clandestine conversation."

"King me!"

"Maybe I should tell them…"

"Triple-jump! Beat that!"

"No…they'll just think I'm making things up. I'll need to find some evidence first…until then, I guess I'll wait."

"Well I'll be darn…you did beat it…"

"Not only that, I beat you! Was that a good game or what, Stitch?" Stitch stopped his eyes from bulging with surprise; the game was over and he'd missed it completely. He looked at the stack of pieces Angel had, and the larger stack that Lilo so greedily tapped.

"Stitch play winner!" He said with a grin.

Cobra Bubbles went to the couch after Lilo, Stitch and Angel's feet went up the stairs and down the hall; the staccato of the sound faded as they reached the elevator and went upstairs. He removed his shades once again and glanced around, trying to figure out how to make himself at "home".

He wasn't used to anything like this; having to stay at a house to watch over a child and her two genetically-altered super-beings. Plus, he was accustomed to knowing Lilo's behavior: erratic, energetic, insubordinate, and most of all unpredictable. Not to mention the behavioral patterns of Stitch: a lot like Lilo except much worse. He would be prepared to watch his back—just because they went upstairs didn't mean they would necessarily stay there for long.

His way of interaction was to not leave much of a presence; the couch would be a good place for him to wait. He was exaggerating his job; he was just watching over three kids, who were upstairs, playing a board game. Nothing bad would happen, and if something did, he'd be prepared to take any kind of action.

He looked at the table next to him on the couch, upon which rested magazines of supermodels, fashion designs, gardening, mechanics, science, and a T.V. guide. He picked up the guide and thumbed through it, glancing at his watch to see what time it was. It was seven-ten at the moment; if he picked a show it would be right in the middle of it.

There was a program on house repair, one on cars, top-10 shows galore, cartoons, standup comedy and news. He picked up the remote and turned on the T.V.; the channel was set to a network that played mostly noir. He flipped through, watching what was on the other channels while he went to the news. But somewhere between channels 7 and 12, there was a knock at the door. He checked his watch, seven-fourteen. It hadn't even been ten minutes since he made the call for pizza.

"Who is it?" He asked, a little louder than his normal voice. No one on the other side answered; he immediately drew to a few conclusions. He went to the door and asked again, just to give whoever had knocked a second chance, if they were still around. He looked through the window, and saw no one.

Calmly he turned the doorknob and pulled slowly. He stood outside, glancing around, but there was no one there. One of the two experiments was probably behind this; pulling a quick getaway with their ability to scale walls. He waited for the second part of the prank, which came almost on cue. Behind him, the volume of the T. V. abruptly increased dramatically. The resonating of the noise made him slightly alarmed; he turned to the T.V. but, as he suspected, saw no one there nor on the couch.

"I'm not in the mood." He said loudly, after turning the T.V. down, hoping to alert the ones involved in the prank. By addressing them, he hoped to bring them out of hiding—they were only kids after all, so it would be easy to flush them out. He paused, but no one showed himself or herself.

He went to search the room, shutting and locking the front door. If they tried to escape through it, he'd hear the click. He checked under the couches—the first available hiding place for the person who turned the volume up—but did not see anyone. Then he glanced around the room, looking for things that had been moved or altered. The volume person would have to have run if she or he didn't hide, and that was possible, the volume was loud enough to cover footsteps, but something had to have been moved or left behind. These were kids; if they didn't leave something like that on purpose it would be on accident, but either way it would happen.

Yet he found nothing out of place—not even the remote had shifted; whatever method was used to turn the volume up, it was expertly performed. However, there were only two methods to turn up the volume, and the remote was one, which had not been moved at all. That only left the button on the T.V.

He moved toward it, knelt down, and pressed it. There was a very loud and hollow sound that came as he pressed it. The prankster couldn't have used the button; he would have heard it when he was standing at the door.

Not only that, the volume took several seconds to get higher. But he remembered it rising much faster when he was at the door—it could have even been almost instantaneous, now that he recalled the moment. He quickly wondered if he'd been underestimating these "kids".

"Well, I guess you've decided not to continue." He said loudly again, standing up. "I'll only consider this a warning, seeing as how you behaved. I won't mention this to Nani if you keep it u-" A loud sound hit his ear, a familiar sound, and he reflexively ducked; though it was unnecessary. The familiar glow of plasma crossed his vision, the angle not meant for him as the target, and then the deafening sound of breaking glass followed. He looked over to where the origin of the shot was fired; no one was there. The staccato of three pairs of feet came rumbling down the stairs: Lilo first, Angel second, Stitch last.

"What happened?" Lilo asked immediately. Bubbles slowly rose to his feet and glared at Lilo.

"Why don't you tell me? All three of you, down here, now." He said with a low, demanding roll of his voice.