Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 12: Two Betrayals

Angel absentmindedly hummed, but abruptly stopped. It made her a little agitated, as it reminded her of its use some thirty or forty-five minutes ago. She wondered if by now its use was being put to use, against her. It was all relatively a circle—she enhances the Kinoes, which Hamsterveil will use against Stitch, and indirectly used against her as she was the one who augmented them. She drummed her claws against the metal flooring of her cell, her thoughts trying her patience to a fiber.

"I can't wait in here—I know he's here, and if she is too that just makes it worse. I have to get out; I have to find a way. I wish I had Stitch's strength right about now…" She looked around her cell, looking for a weak point. Gantu had always spoken of Stitch's "weak points" which he was intent on using at some time or another, but she found them to be hardly what he thought. His theories were radically off—except for the drowning aspect, but other than that there was no truth.

However, in her case it would help. He spoke of finding the softest spot; the weakest was where it was softest. But in her case it would not be where it was softest, but rather where it wasn't as solid. And immediately it dawned on her; what she was looking for had been screaming in the dark all this time. She looked up at the source of the light and air filtering in through the window. She stood and turned to face it, looking up slightly as she was a little shorter than where it was on the wall.

Bars nearly one-and-a-half inches thick crossed it in a netted pattern, leaving nine even squares and many partially cut on the side by the circumference of the circle. The wind blew her face again, making her eyes squint as it agitated them. This was the "soft spot"; the weakest point of the cell. She scaled the wall, putting herself at a comfortable position so she could hold onto the grate with her fingers wedged between the spaces, and strain against the heels of her feet. She pulled, her throat, arms and legs tensing with the force.

Her finger slipped, and she fell, landing hard onto her back, knocking the wind out of her momentarily. As she sat up, a muscle above her waist began to twitch, probably from the strain, she judged. Plan B: she stood in front of the window again, and extended her claws, reaching up to the light. She scratched the edge of one of the bars, expecting to begin a slow and painstaking process, but she found, after a few moments, that the metal was actually harder than her claw, and the only thing she accomplishing was whittling it down to a stub.

Defeated, she sat back down, hugged her knees, and sighed. She had tried, she convinced herself, and she had failed, but she had tried. She still felt they were here, even though she constantly wished they weren't. It would only be a matter of time until they got to her—either by themselves or accompanied by ten barbaric dinosaurs. As she saw their eyes in her imagination, she jumped—a noise. Outside the cylinder, someone was moving the latch on the door. Her heart raced with both excitement and alarm. The door opened, and she was blinded, unable to see who was there.

"I brought what you requested, Gantu. You know she's here; you put her wherever she is now. I'd like to be on my way if you don't mind, and in order to do that I'll need my amplifier."

"Oh, forgive me." Gantu said, stifling his irritation. "Hamsterveil said something about an amplifier; I suppose he was referring to you when he was speaking of it."

"Yes, I believe so too." She replied, feigning patience. "And I really hope you know where this amplifier is—I merely had his word and I expect it to have more meaning to it and not just a bunch of air. I warn you; I can take you out of this planet's atmosphere and into that cold vacuum, so I'd better have it or some extra reassurance." She demanded.

"All right, all right, I'll get you the amplifier."

"Thank you, Gantu. I'll get out of your…uh…hair, then." He beckoned her to follow him; she kept in reasonable pace behind, but didn't get too close. There was some instinctive feeling in Phase that told her to keep her eye out for surprises.

Gantu led her down the small hallways just barely big enough for his proportions. A while into the process it seemed like a long walk to get to the amplifiers, either that or Gantu was lost, or he was deliberately trying to confuse her. If he was, it was working. The halls were constantly intersecting; an anthill of a network connected two long strings of hallways in possibly fifteen different sections. If there were any that were not touching they would be hard to find.

"Look Gantu, we can do this two ways; either you stop wandering in circles or I just teleport. Pick one."

"Pipe down, trog. I didn't sign up to take you to the amplifiers."

"Do you even know where they are?"

"Of course I do. I'm the one that had to get some of the parts for them after all." They crossed a few more hallways, turning left and right almost arbitrarily, and then suddenly they came upon a room with a few set computers and a small worktable.

It was fairly medium-sized. Phase estimated it to be about as big as the living room and the kitchen combined in that primitive living shelter on earth, without the unnecessary furniture. Gantu proceeded into the room; Phase followed him, trying to get to his side, but he wouldn't allow her to.

"You've done a very good job, 600." He spoke with a very empty tone, and walked to the table, and fidgeted with a container of some sort, popping off its lid and dumping its contents into his palm. "Hamsterveil and I thank you for your work." He looked back, the corners of his mouth arcing downward. "Unfortunately, you do such good work; we can't allow you to leave." Phase immediately saw it coming, but wasn't quick enough.

With a loud snap, two small devices were violently pinned on Phase's antennae. She attempted to swirl the gravity around her, defensively reacting to get away, but there was something hampering her function; she couldn't control her power. She pulled at the small wafers on her head, which now sharply stung with pain, but her hands were ripped away almost before she even touched them. In a few, swift seconds, her arms were locked inside braces, and a blaster was held to the back of her head, the low whistle of a ready charge resonating through its barrel.

"I wouldn't do anything hasty, if I were you."

"Who…who's there?" Angel asked, her eyes watering from the abrupt flare of light, dull as it was. But as her eyes adjusted she still didn't see anyone. "Either I'm dreaming or this is a trap…"

"No trap." Angel flinched back as Lilo spoke, and appeared from below the bottom of the door. "It's your rescue!"

"L…Lilo?" Angel put a hand up to block the light to see her face.

"You were expecting maybe The Blue Wonder?" Came the girl's cheery, rhetorical question. Angel, however, sensed the undertone in it. Something was bothering Lilo.

"Actually yes…" Angel said, walking forward.

"Well, sorry, he's a bit occupied at the moment, but he's sent his assistant just for you." She said with a smile, stretching out her hand.

"Oh really?" Angel asked, grasping the offer. "And what has him so occupied that he had to send his assistant to rescue me?" She finished with a sarcastic tone of disappointment.

"Well, he's kind of taking on two or three of those Achie-baba Kinoes." Lilo replied, going along with the sarcasm. Angel still heard the undertone of worry—Lilo wanted to get back to him and badly.

"Well, I suppose that's a good enough excuse."

"Tch, hardly!" Lilo continued with sarcasm, letting out a laugh let out a laugh. Angel stepped forward, leaning out of the doorway. It was just then she remembered something very critical about her cell—the only way to get to it was to be very tall, or by aide of some lifting machine, and there was none. The only thing present was the sleek pole itself, which, from floor-level to her feet, was about seven meters off the ground.

"Um…Lilo, can I ask you something?" The girl looked back with response. "…How exactly did you get up here?"

"I climbed." She replied simply, and in the same manner, jumped with a whimsical grace.

"Lilo!" Shouted Angel, her heart skipping a beat; she paused at the door, unable to jump while she saw Lilo recede into the distance…and land. "What the…?" Angel looked down at the pole again, estimating the length. If anything it seemed more like thirty meters high.

"What's the matter? You afraid of heights?" Angel looked back at the small speck shouting back at her. "I'll catch you if you want me to!" Angel's ears dropped; nothing made any sense.

"I'll climb down thank you." She replied, dropping to catch the pole mid-fall and sliding the rest of the way down. When she got to the bottom, Lilo was by her, and she looked at the innocent smile, trying to figure out if this was real or if that knock she took in the cell was harder than she thought. "All right, something's wrong. There's no way the Lilo I know could take a fall like that. Who are you and what have you done with her?"

"I didn't do anything to myself." She replied. "Stitch did it to me." Angel's eyes closed a little. "No, really. Stitch made me stronger—he gave me some of his power." Lilo explained. Angel gave her a look of distrust. "It's me Angel, honest—go ahead, ask something only I could know."

"Ok…" Angel said, thinking. "What color are our pendants?" Lilo smiled.

"That's easy. Yours is white; Stitch's is green; mine is red."

"…Not good enough for me. Lilo knows what the colors mean; do you?"

"Green was for promise and hope; red was for determination; white was for," she paused, "you know…we never really came up with one for yours. We'll have to do that when we get back." Angel gave her one more glance, and then smiled.

"You really want to get back to help Stitch out, don't you?" She said with a soft tone.

"…Yeah." She replied, hers changing to worry.

"All right, I'll follow you." Lilo nodded, and ran toward the entrance of the hallways. She followed through the halls that meandered and deviated almost arbitrarily, up until she paused, which made Lilo turn back with concern.

"What is it?" Angel looked at her, her eyes flat.

"I smell a rat." She replied.

"Phase?" Lilo sniffed the air. She wasn't aware of it, but she was able to smell different things distinctly, yet it seemed muffled. Perhaps that was the limitation of half the power. "You're going to go after her aren't you?"

"And when I find her—"

"Angel." Lilo said calmly, in response to Angel's cold tone. Angel seemed to relax a little bit. "I know it's hard, but even though she did do what she did…"

"I know…I know, I'm sorry."

"Good. Because, after all, we forgave you."

"Yeah," Angel said, letting out a sigh, "and now I got a taste of it."

"You won't do anything extreme will you? Promise?"

"I promise." Angel said with meaning. Lilo smiled, and quickly hugged her, bidding her good luck in a whisper before she turned and darted off. "I promise…I won't hurt her…too much."