Friendship

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

(Phase also created by raVen)

Chapter 15: Walk, Talk, Think Like A Stitch

"You wouldn't hit a little girl…would you?" Lilo screamed, her innocent posture barely ducking out of the way before a sharp blow came, and crashed into the ground. Another swipe: miss. Three more, rapidly, too fast for her to see, and yet she dodged them, on impulse; a blur she couldn't understand and yet reacted toward against swift accuracy.

But she wasn't fast enough for a moment, and the blow caught her. She tumbled to the side, quickly rebounding. She clasped her side where contact was made, but only felt the slightest echo of pain, a mere numb flurry of pins and needles beneath her skin. She was afraid, but the Stitch in her wasn't, and it was confidently in control.

The Kino turned to face her, simultaneously attacking, but she jumped to the ceiling of the halls, clinging to the surface. The Kino attempted to follow-up, but couldn't reach her. Adrenaline flooded through her veins; she craned her neck to see the Kino, and when she saw the condition she was in she felt a little safer; a slight respite, a chance to catch her breath—to think.

"What do I do? What do I do? I can't take on an Achie-baba Kino! I'm not experienced enough." She crouched against the ceiling as the Kino jumped a little higher than normal, which wasn't entirely necessary, as it still had a few precious inches of reach to go regardless. "Think Lilo, Think. You can't say you can't; you've got to! But how; that's the question. I've got Stitch's powers, I can use them, but I don't know how!"

She blinked, her eyelids widening with a thought as they quickly opened. She scurried across the ceiling, just as the Kino's claw closed the rift in reach. It chased her—she intended for it to—as she ran upside-down into the halls.

"You can't use the powers, but Stitch can—think like Stitch; be like Stitch" She wasn't sure, but she imagined the Stitch part of her came up with the idea. She felt like it was her idea, but at the same time she felt like that if she hadn't had his mental influence, she wouldn't have been able to conjure such a strategy on her own. "Who cares just trust it!"

She rounded the next bend, and then stopped, facing a dead-end. She quickly looked to the Kino behind her, and saw it just as it ran around the edge. Driving on adrenaline and impulse, she dropped to the ground on her hands and one knee, and waited for the Kino to get close. In the flash of a second she responded to the green sparkle of its eye, and jumped back, floating against the dead-end wall behind her, and with Stitch's help, flew from the wall over the Kino's head.

However her plan was cut short. The Kino reacted with unthinkable speed, as though it had predicted her move at the spur of it, and reached up its arms, catching her a little after she passed. Without stopping, it turned with tremendous force, and threw Lilo down the like a lead bowling ball.

"Gotcha!" Lilo felt a soft impact, a bright flicker of white in her eye, and then the abrupt shift in motion as she dropped down. The churning in her head seemed not to subside as she stared up at the pink blur in her vision. "Am I just in time?" It asked, with a laugh.

"Couldn't be any sooner, could you Angel?" She responded, as she was helped up. "I feel like I just went ten rounds on the Pineapple Plunger…" She muttered, clasping her head.

"Nope, I think you just went one round with a Kino. You get your coordination back, I'll take over."

"Angel wait!" Lilo reached for the pink blob's shoulder, but without any perception she only managed to clasp air. The blot of color seemed to float down the hall as it met the dinosaur halfway. There was no pause; immediately the Kino tried to get her, but she was well out if its grasp. In one, swift bound, barely followed by the unfocused eyes of Lilo, Angel jumped left, rebounding off the wall, and landed on the Kino's shoulder. What Lilo heard next, was unexpected.

"Ohudat otuse, alan eot-agan. Atumon atage otuhc otuca." Lilo blinked, her vision returning to normal as she heard the familiar, awkward lyrics of Angel's song, backward. The Kino froze, almost deathly, and Angel slid down from its rigid arms to the ground. She looked back at the Kino, almost with amazement. "It worked." She said with amusement.

"What worked?" Lilo asked, running up to her. Angel kicked the Kino, and even after several moments' pause, there was no response. "…Is it broken?"

"I think I either shut it down or caused a system malfunction." Angel said as she observed the Kino's state.

"How did you know how to do that?"

"I didn't." She shrugged. "I just figured that if I made them evil to make them strong, maybe making them good would make them weak or something." Angel tapped it again, to make sure, but the echo of the metal body seemed to be the only thing that would respond. "Now I know what to do if we run into more."

"Stitch!" Lilo shouted, forgetting all about him. "We've got to get to him! If I can't take on a Kino with half of his powers, he can't take on a Kino with half his powers."

"All right." Angel said with a nod, assuming command as she ran ahead of Lilo.

A staccato of clashing metal echoed inside the hangar as three Kino's systematically cooperated to fulfill their Creator's command. They would not let the little blue monster get above their heads, and he was aware of that as well, apparently, as he made no intention of executing that strategy, or a similar one, again.

Stitch matched the teamwork of the mechanical dinosaurs with little error in judgment. He made neither irrationality nor miscalculation in his moves and his stance. Barely a blow was blocked by the Blue Wrecking ball, as he acrobatically flew from one Kino to the other, paying careful attention to each one. He knew that he would only have to watch a total of three—no more, no less; four would be too chaotic and would lean more to his advantage, especially in his state of mind at present.

He was not his usual self; where there was once a careful thinker, and cautious mind so as not to harm the opponent he was facing—the experiment-hunter state-of-mind—there was now a different kind of thinker—a different kind of mind. The experiment-hunter would never be able to fight so ruthlessly, for there was never a need for that while hunting a cousin.

But a Kino was different. A Kino was nothing but a machine, a cheap imitation of an experiment—if that's what their creator was going for at all. If not, they were merely cold shells capable only of destruction, such as he once was—such as he was now.

Before the experiment-hunter came along, there was another. It had many names, many identities, but it was only one thing: destruction. Created for it, designed with the capability of it, and the thirst and desire to cause it. But it was banished a long time ago, when the experiment-hunter came along, with only its few identities. However, the havoc-wreaker was back, and in control, but it seemed to have a different desire in its taste for destruction.

626 had once desired the sight of chaos and discord through mischievous and unimaginable methods. And with all the capabilities at his disposal he would have most likely succeeded were they not prevented. Through change and time, and after being the experiment-hunter Stitch for so long, that desire for chaos and destruction had been held back, until now, when it was released; but this time, for the purpose of aiding Stitch.

Both their minds burned; their body tiring and their reflexes dulling. There seemed to be something lacking in their desire for normalcy; in their desire to get away from Agubada and pretend as well as they could that it had never happened. The fuel that drove and controlled his destructive instincts and flexed them toward the purpose of helping him overcome his obstacle was reduced to ashes and kindling now. It would take a very large flare to bring the vitality back.

"Stitch!" The flare. He glanced toward the source of his mentioned name, his vision blurred from a quick blow by a Kino. The pink, and purple-aqua figures ran toward him; another came, not far behind them: a green and unrecognizable wisp. The purple-aqua blotch swept him away, while the green and pink ones jumped to the circle of Kino's. There was a slight ring in the air; something awkward, yet recognizably musical.

The blotches near the Kino's then began to knock them down, and break the machines apart. A tan plop cut off near the bottom by a silver streak began yelling things, commands, and the black puddles against the wall moved with life. The pink, and green smears began to chatter in alarm, and soon with concern as the black puddles ran rather than attacked. They fled through the door, out into a bright, foamy static of light, barely tolerable by unfocused eyes. He was shifted, lifted onto a shoulder.

"They're heading toward the ship!" Echoed a yell.

"Can you get us there?" Asked the pink speckle, appearing to face toward him, but not looking at him, as though he was not there.

"No, I can't, not yet." The voice was muffled; it was too close, but it was beginning to clear.

"We'll have to take the elevator." A strong voice, one familiar and in command, was heard clearly through his ears. He then felt his weight rising and falling to the heavy beating of running steps, and heard the muffled breathing of tired lungs. He closed his eyes, clearing his head, only now just realizing what was going on. The elevator doors closed, and with the lurch of the elevator he was brought back awake.

"Are you going to give him his powers back?" The muffled voice next to him asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea, he doesn't look like he can take much more. Look at him, he's barely responding."

"Is he gonna be ok?" The strong, commanding, reassuring voice was now concerned; the embers flickered.

"He'll have a headache when he wakes up…but I think he'll be fine. Until then, its up to us to keep those Kino's from tearing our ride apart…I hope you didn't bring the red one."

"We did…"

"Well then c'mon, let's hurry!" The doors opened, and he was set down. The clearer, but still undistinguishable pink and green blurs glided out of the door and into the hanger, turning right, where another door with fuzzy, intolerable light blazed through. He was about to close his eyes, when suddenly a face appeared.

"Sorry Stitch, I'm gonna have to borrow your powers for a little bit longer, ok?" The voice was unconfident, but still strong. "Don't worry, we'll fight off the Kinoes, you just keep out of sight. Try to sleep, ok?" He felt his head shift, a scratch between his ears, and then the purple-aqua blot dashed into the distance of the intolerable light.

That was all he needed. The kindling and ash were replaced with hot embers and a blazing fire. A new fuel was being fed, and slowly it was working. His mind was clearing, his thoughts were being expressed with words, and his arms and legs began to respond. At any moment, he would be ready, and when he was, they would all be home free.

"I don't want you to fight the Kinoes…"