Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 9: A Sharing of Power

"All right, I'm ready, did you find Angel yet?" Lilo asked through pants as she ran into Jumba's room, now dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

"Eh." He replied simply, however he had good reason, he was concentrating on something else. Lilo watched his odd movements; he was fidgeting with the back of Jumba's computer and also typing in different commands on the keypad.

"What are you doing?"

"One second." He chimed, with an undertone to let Lilo know he was fully occupied. In a few more moments, he sat in the chair, reached around to the back of the computer, and, outside of Lilo's vision, inserted his claw into one of the ports in the back. He opened his mouth, and extended his antennae.

"…624 has been captured."

"Hey! That's Phase!" Lilo said, running over to Stitch.

"Go…d…wh…t…s…yo…" Hamsterveil's voice was blocked by enormous static. Lilo jumped behind Stitch and tugged at his antennae, experimentally, and found that the static was greater or lesser depending on their positioning—much like on an old T.V.

"Hold still!" She said, and twisted the oddly stiff antennae; the static broke with a pop, and like a waxy ear canal that just got cleaned, the voices came through clear as though they were standing right in the room.

"ETA is 6 minutes. Although, the other two have probably figured out that their guardian is asleep by now, and are probably figuring out that 624 is missing." Lilo started to speak but Stitch closed her mouth, and silently told her that if she made a noise, they would hear it.

"And you are worried why?" Hamsterveil spoke.

"Well…aren't you afraid they'll come? I'm sure they have ways of finding experiments like you do—after all, Jumba is with the-"

"Never mention that idiot in the presence of my ears again!" Hamsterveil's sudden shout scared Lilo, and also something else. In the background, Lilo heard a slight growl of some kind, and possibly even a small roar. She turned his head and leaned in; her ear close to stitch's mouth. His eyes rolled oddly.

"…Sorry." Phase apologized bitterly. "Look, forget I brought it up, I don't even really care. I'm just doing this for the amplifier—whether those two find out where you are or not doesn't concern me." Hamersveil cackled loudly, causing Lilo to flinch away.

"I would be glad if they came—it would give me a chance to give Achie-baba Kino some exercise! After all, he's ten times what 626 is; let him come! I'm ready for that no-evil, little…" Hamsterveil's frustrated grunts lingered for a moment then subsided.

"They will find you!" Lilo's eyes bulged; it was Angel. "It won't be that hard! And once they get here, they'll thrash this stupid thing!"

"Kino, shut her up!" Phase yelled. Lilo heard Angel grunt a few times, and then it fell silent. That was the last straw for her, and she forgot what Stitch had warned her earlier.

"Angel!" She yelled.

"Who was that?" Hamsterveil came sharply.

"Eavesdroppers—their listening in on us, I'd prepare for a-" Phase's words were cut short, as Stitch yanked his claw from the port in the computer's rear. Lilo winced, realizing her mistake.

"Sorry Stitch…" She apologized.

"Naga. Stitch yell too…if Stitch was able." He admitted.

"Do you know where they're heading?" She asked curiously. Stitch put a hand to his chin and turned toward the computer, tapping in calculations. A few moments later, he pointed to the screen. Lilo leaned in—there was a picture of a star system, and zoomed in on a separate section was the picture of a planet, with a description of that planet in another separate section.

"Agubada; a planet made entirely of water…was once used as a gas station for ships, but when the fuel supply ran out, it was completely abandoned." Lilo read. She stared at the picture another time; the planet was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, and she wondered if that was an old picture or a new one. "Glad I changed." She commented.

"Eh." Stitch agreed. Lilo looked at the description again, but didn't read it; she was thinking. She began to think aloud.

"…There's another Achie-baba Kino?"

"Stitch thinks so…" He replied. Both of them were feeling the same thing—a small bit of distant terror. Over time, the memories had faded into a cold a stone of the past, but ultimately the picture was clear: they would have to rescue Angel, and to do so, they would have to get through a second Achie-baba Kino. The worst part was, Hamsterveil was right; Achie-baba Kino was much stronger than Stitch—they had just barely defeated the last one, and this one was supposed to be even stronger.

"Do you think we'll beat it again?" Lilo asked, looking into Stitch's eyes.

"Have to." He said, but far too lightly to change the mood. "Otherwise…" He couldn't finish. "What is Angel being used for…why does Hamsterveil want her? To trap me…that's why. It's just like before…"

"It's just like before." Lilo stated. Stitch looked at her; she showed a little bit of frustration on her face. "…I want to help…somehow. I know you can beat him on your own…but I want to be able to help…at least a little bit." She said. "…I wish I was like you—strong and fast and smart. Maybe if I could lift three-thousand times my own weight I'd be helpful…otherwise I'd just get in the way."

"Hamsterveil not expect Lilo to be like Stitch." He said with a laugh, imagining how odd that scenario would be.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed. "We'd trick him bad! Kind of like how we had to trick everyone into thinking we were each other when we switched bodies." Lilo commented. Stitch's mind clicked; her comment made something in the back of his head start to think curiously—the intriguing part of his brain that brought forth ideas and concepts from almost out of nowhere.

"Swap bodies…" He said, thinking.

"Yeah…except I don't know what good that would do, seeing as how that would only make him think I'm you, which doesn't do us anything." Stitch didn't hear a word she said.

"Lilo, help Stitch. Need to find body-swap blaster, and hurry." He told her, and dove into the pile of junk near the window.

"The body swapping blaster?" Lilo looked around, scanning the room. She had no idea what he wanted it for, but it seemed like he was in his curious state of ingenuity. She began to search the room as well, trying to think of where it was. "I know I saw it—Pleakley was in here cleaning and I saw him put it in a box."

"Oh gubadja!" Stitch extolled sarcastically, appearing from the mountain of junk, throwing his arms into the air. He dropped them. "Lots of boxes." He stated, his tone flattening.

"Hey give me a break! That was like, a week ago, and I can barely remember what I had for breakfast!" Stitch threw an object arbitrarily into the air, and it landed on Lilo's head. "Hey! I remember!" She exclaimed, rubbing her noggin. She ran to the closet in the back of the room and opened the door; Stitch followed diligently.

"Up there, top shelf, that box." She pointed. Stitch took a standing bound and plucked it from the shelf, landing with a loud, wooden thump. He walked to the center of the room and dropped the box, opening it with haste and sifting through it like a greedy pirate. He pulled out the gun with a cry of relief; the blurry rainbow of objects settled to a stop behind his head.

Immediately he went back to the computer, and began ticking away at the keys expertly. He worked as though he knew exactly what he were doing; he brought up a file, which Lilo couldn't see the context of through his big head, and began fidgeting with the little purple blaster, mumbling idly to himself while sparks and glows of different colors appeared. Then, upon completion, he turned in the chair, hopped to the floor, and stepped up to Lilo.

"Hold still." He told her, and took her right hand with his left. She had no time to react; the next second, Stitch aimed the gun at his stomach and pulled the trigger. He removed the blaster to reveal a light green dot the size of a penny where the barrel had connected. The dot then began to glow, and quickly an aura of jaded light surrounded them. When it faded, Lilo scowled.

"Stitch! You could have asked me first! What did you do? I'd better not turn into some kind of monster!" Stitch said nothing, but walked back to the computer. "Answer me! You did something—that green light can only mean something bad. What'd you do?" Stitch grabbed the computer, and held it up to Lilo. She glanced at the screen and took the computer from his hands, which felt oddly light in her grasp.

She stared at the screen; her eyes moved past entire pages of hundreds of strings of mathematical symbols, numbers and equations that she had never seen before in her life—she understood them all. Her mouth dropped, and she handed the computer back to Stitch's open arms.

"Understand now?"

"…I shouldn't." She replied, her tone dull due to bewilderment. Stitch set the computer back, and then took Lilo's shoulder.

"Oketaka, Stitch explain." He told her. He grabbed her by the waist with both his hands, and picked her up, and then, without warning, threw her to the ceiling. She screamed with surprise, and held her hands palm-open in front of her. She felt her body impact the ceiling, her feet and hands pressing against the surface, and then expected to feel the lurch of a fall. But she didn't.

She opened her eyes, which were closed tightly with fear, and stared at where she was. Her eyes wandered from the roof in front of her, to the roof away from her. She looked down at her hands—they were adhered to the surface. She stumbled, disoriented, and looked down, which was up to her. She felt as though she was going to drop, but she didn't.

"Stitch! I don't like this anymore! What did you do to me?" She snapped, shivering a little.

"Naga worry. Lilo like Stitch." Her head arched back, and she stared at him upside-down.

"Like…you?" He nodded. Slowly she dropped her fear, and dropped the disoriented feeling, taking a few breaths. She backed away from the ceiling, her arms trembling and her toes growing cold. Slow, painstakingly slow, she inched herself to a stand, all the while afraid that she was going to suddenly slip off the surface. "I'm…standing…on the ceiling!" She exclaimed, looking at Stitch in front of her on the floor.

"Eh." Stitch reached out a hand up to her, his right, and she grabbed it with her left. Cautiously she let go of the surface with her bare feet, and fell into his catch.

"I have your powers?" He nodded, and let her stand. "So I'm fast, and strong, and smart, and I can lift three-thousand times my own weight? Blutt-proof, fire-proof and all that?" She asked to confirm.

"Uh…naga."

"No? I thought I had your powers."

"You and I share powers; we can only lift one-thousand-five-hundred times. We're fire and bullet resistant…you get it now? It's halved" Lilo blinked.

"Uh…Stitch, are you feeling ok?"

"Yes, why?"

"…Ju ishkataga igasata…gabitcha miga ishka…gabitcha lechooga?" Her voice sounded flustered

"Relax, relax." Stitch said, holding up a palm. "It's just the intelligence part. No need to be alarmed."

"You're speaking perfect English." She said flatly. "It's strange."

"Actually no, you're mind—sharing my power—is translating for you."

"…Sorry but it doesn't sound right." She said with a slanted mouth. "…What else can I do…?" She asked curiously, blinking her eyes. "Night-vision…infrared…ultraviolet…cool you've got X-ray!"

"I do?" Lilo laughed, blinking it off. Stitch smiled.

"Do I have four arms now, too?"

"Uh…I wouldn't try that." He warned. "Although we're sharing power, we don't share the same genetic flexibility. My body is designed for alteration…yours however has to stay distinct."

"Oh…well…ok…so why did you give me your powers again?" She asked, making her vision zoom in and out on his mouth.

"I have a plan. It's like you said—throw something at Hamsterveil he's not expecting. You're it. …Stop playing around." He told her with a chuckle.

"Sorry. So what're the details?"

"I'll explain on the way, we've wasted a lot of time. If we leave now we can get there before he has much time to trace us, especially since we'll be in such a small ship."

"Oh, the red one?"

'Yes, the red one." He replied with a wink.

"Shotgun!"