Notes: Well, I've finally conquered the elusive chase scene. All that's left for me now is the climactic one-on-one fight scene, and the love scene.
Review Responses
To BlueFox: This chapter answers your question of how I'm dealing with Gantu in this one. Don't worry, I'll be much kinder to him in Gems of Tommorrow, and in the next epic fic I'm planning, which is partially inspired by Star Trek VI.
To DraconWolf88: Thank you so much. There's nothing like gratuitous flattery to make my day.
To all who asked: Yes, Jumba really did kill himself. Yes, he really is dead.
Capitol City was growing further and further into the distance on Lilo's half of the windshield, though in fact it was a monitor. Lilo had asked Stitch to see the rear view camera on her side of the cockpit. She wanted to see Capitol City shrinking in the distance, slowly being replaced by jungles, plantations, and rocky trails, the things she was used to seeing. Along with the view, the feelings of Capitol City were now becoming more and more distant. It was slowly but surely fading away into an unpleasant memory. Now at last, Lilo had time to sit and think about things, things that she hadn't had the chance to think about during her time in the parade and in the pyramid.
The first thing that came to her mind was her parents, Eric and Keala. More specifically, what came to her mind was how everyone treated the subject when she brought it up. They would always make some sort of disdainful remark she couldn't understand and then change the subject. Even Sam, who seemed so nice, did the same thing as Nani when she tried to bring it up to him. The accident never happened. They were still alive. So why did everyone refuse to talk about them?
Lilo yawned, which drew a brief gaze from Stitch. She seemed to perfectly at ease sitting in the aircraft of the enemy, especially considering what she had gone through in the past month. Stitch knew better though, than to think that she was fine. If by some bizarre circumstance, intuition failed him, all Stitch had to do was sniff the air. Lilo's scent gave the telltale signs of the beginnings of recovery from fear and stress so great that it's liable to drive insane those without any kind of emotional support. One couldn't even guess the kind of psychological turmoil Lilo would be in if it wasn't for his constant companionship and affection. Stitch wondered what Lilo was thinking about at that very moment.
He didn't have to wait long to find out.
Lilo reached over and pushed a triangular orange key on the controls in front of her. Her half of the screen switched back to the view in front.
"Stitch?" Lilo asked just loudly enough to be heard clearly over the smooth hum of Skyboat Blue's engines.
Stitch pressed a few keys in front of him and the craft switched to automatic control. He wanted to give her his full attention.
"Gaba?" Stitch answered, turning his seat to face Lilo.
"It's about mom and dad."
Stitch lowered his ears in anticipation of a sudden change in Lilo's mood from bad, to worse. But he couldn't say anything. He knew in this case it would just be better to listen.
"I know that to change things back, we have to go back and let that accident happen. I can accept that. I do want them back, but not as much as I want to live in the world we once knew.
"But… before we do. I want to see them. I just want to say goodbye to them, because I was never able to. But more than that, I want them to meet you. I want them to know that you really are a good person, and how good you've been to me. I want them to know that, even though they were gone, I was happy with you. I know they'll understand when I tell them what has to be done to make the world a good place to live again."
Stitch only nodded in agreement, knowing that saying anything light make Lilo uncomfortable. He turned back toward the monitor, and then toward the holomap on the floor. They were almost halfway up the summit of Mauna Loa now, and the eastern peninsula, once home to the small cities of Pahoa and Hilo, now to Capitol City, was just a bunch of glittering lights in the distance. Base was only a third of the way down the western side of Mauna Loa, and with the speed of Skyboat Blue, they should be there in little less than half an hour.
"Stitch?" Lilo asked?
Stitch turned back toward Lilo in a silent acknowledgment.
"What did Jumba mean when he said he would make sure the emperor couldn't punish him anymore?"
Stitch turned to the control panel in front of him. Though it seemed he was focused intently on it, he was really staring into space.
"Naga nota." He answered quickly.
In reality, Stitch knew exactly what Jumba meant when he said that. But Lilo was better off not knowing.
"Oh," Lilo replied. "Ok."
Lilo now thought about Stitch, about Emperor 626. The emperor was what Stitch once was. The emperor was what Stitch could have been. The emperor was a heartless, spiteful wretch, fixated on only three things: power over others, killing one's enemies, and being worshiped. Even to his own creator, his own father in essence, the emperor was an unfeeling, ungrateful prick.
Stitch was so unlike this though. Stitch was her angel. He was the nicest angel she could ever have met. Stitch would never do anything to purposefully hurt someone. Well, yes he would've in the beginning. He did use her as a human shield. But only a few days with Lilo and he was the sweetest thing she had ever known or could even have imagined. How could it be possible for any being to change so drastically in just a few days? Was there still anything of the old 626 inside him? If there was, could it ever break free?
"Stitch?" Lilo asked again.
"Gaba?"
"Stitch, would you really have done all those horrible things if you never met me?"
Stitch turned to look out the window now. This did call for an answer. More than that, it called for him to speak in pure English, just so Lilo would know how serious he was being. It was always distressing when he had to talk in pure English, because he still wasn't very good at it, and he always had to pause between words to think of what word would fit in next.
Stitch got out of his seat and walked up in front of Lilo, through the holomap, causing it to go static for a few seconds, put his paws on Lilo's hands, and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Yes. I would have.
"That is why… more than any other reason, I love you. Without you, I would have… become… a monster. That… would be bad. Yeah, it would be bad."
Before Lilo could get another word out, Stitch crawled up onto the seat and into her lap. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. Lilo could do nothing lean her head forward until she rested her forehead on Stitch's arm. For some odd minutes they sat there like that, almost motionless. Lilo, the entire time, was always on the edge of crying, but never quite got there.
When Lilo at last opened her eyes, she looked off to the side. There was something strange about the holomap on the floor. The little blue blip in the center, which she had guessed was Skyboat Blue, was being followed by four more red blips. It couldn't be a glitch, they were flying in a perfect diamond formation, and they were gaining on Skyboat Blue.
"Stitch, what's that?" Lilo asked.
Stitch lifted up his head and saw Lilo pointing down. He followed her finger to the holomap where he saw the red blips catching up to them.
"Naga nota." Stitch said slowly. This time it was the truth.
They watched for almost a minute until a sixth blip, this one yellow, suddenly appeared in front of the red blip on point. The yellow blip was four times as fast as the red ones, and in seconds, in it was right ontop of the blue one in the center of the holomap.
The sound was like a head on car crash from some distance away. The monitor went static and Skyboat Blue spun out briefly before righting itself and getting back on course.
Stitch was thrown from Lilo by the shock, and landed upside down on his back on the control panel. The cockpit was flashing red along with the words SHIELDS UP on the monitor. Stitch quickly righted himself and jumped back into the pilot's seat. A few buttons pressed and the whole monior showed the view of behind them. They now saw what those things were on the map.
"Skyboats!" Lilo shouted out.
A few more buttons pressed and Stitch turned the controls of Skyboat Blue back to manual control, with his half of the monitor looking forward.
Stitch grabbed the control stick of Skyboat Blue and turned the ship north.
"What are you doing?" Lilo yelled. "We have to get back to base!"
"Naga!" Stitch yelled back. "Cannot lead Skyboats to base!"
"Uhhh… Then head toward Maui, and then Molokai!"
"Gaba?"
"They're built like big runways. They're perfect for these kinds of things!"
"Ih!"
Stitch jerked the control stick again and turned Skyboat Blue west, northwest, toward the outer islands. He cranked the engines into full throttle and blasted away.
The chasing Skyboats followed suit and went into full throttle after Skyboat Blue, but both models at top speed, the skyboats could no longer gain on their target. They continue to follow in almost a straight line, still in formation, the three in front firing their cannons, the only thing that was faster than their mark.
Lilo and Stitch both saw the yellow blips coming at them. Stitch dropped Skyboat Blue to just above the level of the Jungle causing both him and Lilo to fly up in their seats from the negative Gs.
The pursuing skyboats continued their chase from well above while Stitch's Skyboat Blue skimmed across the top of the jungle, its wake dislodging leaves from the treetops and sending them flying into the air. Stitch was barely able to contour his flight
The other skyboats still flew in a straight line and in perfect formation, continuing to fire their barrages of plasma down toward their enemy. Stitch tried every trick in the book to avoid the fire, spinning, swerving, stuttering his velocity, but it was inevitable that some fire would hit its mark. It was incredibly lucky for both inside the cockpit that Skyboat Blue could only be targeted visually, otherwise they'd be dead ten times over by now.
On last hit of plasma sent Skyboat Blue pointed straight down. Stitch heaved his control stick back as far as it would reach, which was just enough to pull his ship up to horizontal as it skimmed through the canopy of the jungle, slicing off the tops of trees.
Stitch was at last able to pull Skyboat Blue out of the canopy. This was as much as he could take. He extended his hidden arms to mess with the control panel in front of him. Lilo's half of the monitor turned again to the rear view, but this time with a set of crosshairs in the center, and a second control stick.
"What's that!" Lilo screamed in reaction.
"Guns!" Stitch shouted back. "Use them!"
"But I don't know how!"
"Do it!"
Without hesitation, Lilo grabbed hold of the control stitch and moved it around a bit. The view on her half of the screen changed, the crosshairs stayed in the center. There was one pistol grip trigger. It wasn't too hard to figure out how this thing worked.
Lilo pointed straight toward the front most skyboat and suddenly a red circle on screen highlighted it. She fired. Two streams of pure white plasma were sent toward the target and converged right at the circle. The skyboat was blown into vapor. The shockwave flattened trees and threw the other skyboats out of formation.
The remaining three never got back into formation. The two skyboats approached from the sides while the carrier continued to chase from a distance above, all three firing at Lilo and Stitch.
Lilo swerved her view to the skyboat chasing left and began fanning it with the cannons as soon as the red circle appeared. This time, it wasn't working so well. Lilo was not a very good shot, and the enemy was now anticipating her attack. The skyboat flew up and down to avoid Lilo's shots while the one on the right continued pounding away with its cannons.
Stitch took only a moment to glance at the control panel, the shields were being drained fast, only sixty one percent left.
"Shoot at both!" Stitch screeched our.
"But I can't hit both!" Lilo retorted.
"Naga hit! Just keep from shooting back!"
Lilo swung over her view to the right skyboat and fired at it for less than a second, not even waiting for the screen to target it, before swinging back and firing at the other. It seemed to be working, they were too busy dodging shots to return fire. Only the carrier was shooting at them now, and a single source of fire was easy enough to dodge.
The land was beginning to flatten out. The trees were becoming sparse. The ocean could be seen in the brief distance. In the further distance was Maui. Stitch kept his course, hugging the land, and then the sea the whole way.
The wake of Skyboat Blue sent columns of water careening into the air, mist so thick it blocked the view of the pursuing skyboats, who stopped firing.
"They can't see us!" Lilo shouted.
"Ih!"
"But that'll change once we reach Maui."
Lilo noticed a small red triangular key off to the side of the control panel. Just below it flashed the words SUBMERGE READY. Lilo slammed her fist on the key a quickly as she could and it turned bright blue, as did the label, which also stopped blinking.
"Go underwater Stitch!"
Stitch didn't even answer, but thrust the control stick down and Skyboat Blue shot into the sea like an arrow. Stitch lowered his speed and finally came to a halt. Once the mist cleared, the other skyboats found no sign of their pray.
They too slowed and eventually stopped.
Skyboat Blue was still just a hundred feet below water. They were already two thirds of the way to Maui. Lilo let go of her control stick and sat back in her seat, breathing heavily. Stitch, his body clenched, still clung tightly to his.
"How long do you think we can hide here?" Lilo asked.
"Naga nota." Stitch answered.
It didn't take long for the skyboats to figure out what happened. Bright red orbs began falling through the water all around them. Bubbles trailed above as the orbs of plasma instantly boiled the water around them. Lilo and Stitch both stared in confusion at this for about a minute before looking at each other.
"Do they think they'll hit us just by luck?" Lilo asked.
"Gaba Kunja Kuwajika." Stitch answered.
Lilo didn't know what that meant, but she assumed it meant he was just as in the dark as she was.
Stitch's ears perked up suddenly as he got an idea.
"Ih!" he said suddenly. "Kawani skyboats jasa niga, waka naditu!"
Lilo understood more of that than the last thing Stitch said. Beat the skyboats with water? It was something like that.
"How?" Lilo asked.
Stitch turned his head toward Lilo and grinned. "Point guns straight down. I say Ih, shoot."
"Got it!" Lilo answered with a not.
Lilo got right back on her control stick and pointed the canons straight down into the ocean. With the orbs of plasma still falling into the sea around them, Stitch turned Skyboat Blue upside down and began slowly ascending toward the surface. Less than fifty feet to the top, Stitch looked down at the holomap. He angled the ascent so that he would come up right beneath one of the skyboats. Twenty five feet to the surface, Stitch accelerated the ascend so hard that Skyboat Blue flew out of the water like a missle, crashing right into the skyboat above it, an pushing it up into the air with it.
"Ih!" Stitch screamed.
Lilo pulled her trigger, and the skyboat exploaded in a giant white flash causing a shockwave in the water. Skyboat Blue shot out from the explosion toward Maui at full throttle, and the remaining two immediately gave chase.
It was less than a minute before they reached Maui, and Stitch had to slow way down to avoid crashing right into a rock. This however, gave the last two skyboats the opportunity to catch up with them.
The first thing Stitch was greeted with when he flew up into Maui was a narrow canyon, which he began to turn to avoid.
"Head into the canyon!" Lilo shouted.
Stitch just nodded and swerved back into the canyon he was just avoiding. The last skyboat followed them inside while the carrier, to big to fit inside, followed from the top, trying to bombard Skyboat Blue from above. Both chasing skyboats continued pummeling Lilo and Stitch with their plasma cannons, many times almost knocking Skyboat Blue right into he cliff face. Lilo continued to try to shoot down the skyboat chasing them through the canyon. She was still a poor shot, and even with targeting she hit it only when she got lucky.
Stitch grit his teeth as he saw something up ahead, and then grinned evilly to himself as he saw what it was.
Stitch accelerated and ascended only slightly. Turning Skyboat Blue on its side, Stitch flew right through an opening in a rocky overhanging. The chasing skyboat turned on its side to follow him through, but wasn't small enough to fit. The skyboat tore both its sides right off as it passed through the opening, and the middle fell down and crashed into the basin below.
The carrier, now alone, changed its tactics. It stopped firing at Skyboat blue, and instead began firing at he boulders and rocky overhangings trying to bring them down ontop of Skyboat Blue. Lilo immediately turned her guns toward the pursuer above and fired as soon as it was targeted.
The carrier was slower than the skyboats, and couldn't dodge as well. In seven seconds Lilo counted seven direct hits. It was now only a matter of drilling through the carriers shields, which had to be many, many times stronger than those of an ordinary skyboat, before it could cause a rockslide to fall right ontop of Skyboat Blue.
But this would never happen. An overhanging right in front of Lilo and Stitch was hit with a blast and tumbled downward. The inertia of Skyboat Blue was too much, there was nothing Stitch could do to avoid it. The massive broken piece of rock fell right ontop of Skyboat Blue, knocking it to the ground, and knocking Lilo unconscious.
Lilo slowly woke up to a blur of color and a horrid pain in her head, and in her neck. An equally painful ringing in her ears began slowly subsiding. She held her head in her hands and moaned until the pain subsided to the point where she could tolerate it.
At last she opened her eyes. She still saw double, but at least it was no longer blurry. She unhooked her restraints and stumbled out of her seat.
"Stitch!" She cried out.
But there was no answer.
"Stitch!" She cried out again, "Help me!" but again there was no answer.
She walked around, wobbling to and fro from dizziness, until she fell face first out of the door to Skyboat blue and onto dry dirt. The door seemed to have already been opened, but that wasn't something that occurred to Lilo in her present state, especially since she would pass out again in a few seconds.
A minute later Lilo woke up again. Her mouth and nose was filled with dirt, and her body ached, and her neck felt like it had almost been torn right off, but at least she was now coherent, and able to see clearly. She coughed and sneezed many times over before she could breath again.
Lilo pushed herself up to find a familiar massive hand blaster pointed right at her face. She looked up above the blaster to find an equally familiar person standing in front of her, but in the unfamiliar black armored suit of one of the emperor's soldiers, minus the helmet.
"Gantu?" Lilo was barely able to get out in a raspy whisper.
"So you're the little girl the emperor is in such a fit over." Gantu responded in his typical deep, arrogant voice. "That was quite a chase you put up. Where's the facsimile?"
"The what?" Lilo whispered out again.
"The facsimile of the emperor!" Gantu roared. "Where is he?"
"He's not a facsimile! He's Stitch! He's my friend."
"Really. Well then, where's Stitch?"
"I don't know."
"Well then maybe I should just take you away and use you as bait for him."
"No!"
"Would you have a better idea?"
Lilo stared at Gantu blankly for about a minute, still with the giant hand blaster pointed right at her.
"Why do you work for the emperor?" Lilo asked softly.
Gantu raised his blaster up to his chest and clenched his jaw.
"There are only two kinds of people in this world little girl," Gantu said with his eyes closed. "those who serve Emperor 626, and those who die."
"But you were sent to capture 626." Lilo said back. "Why I you work for him now."
Gantu was in disbelief at this moment, and stared at Lilo with a slightly dumbfounded look for quite a few seconds before regaining his composure.
"How do you know about that?" Gantu asked.
"Stitch isn't a facsimile." Lilo answered. "He's the emperor's good side. I know because I met him and brought it out of him."
"What are you talking about? And you didn't answer my question!"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Lilo blinked a few times before continuing. "What about my question?"
Gantu turned his head and sighed heavily. "Yes," he said. "I was sent here to capture 626. But he was… He's better than I am. That's why I serve him."
"How so?"
"I couldn't get him, he outdid me at every turn. Finally, he had me on my knees, with him ready to kill me with a single blow. I asked him why he was doing this, and he said, because destroying is fun. I chickened out! I told him, why destroy when you can rule? Absolute power is so much better than mindless devastation. He loved the idea so much, well, you can see what became of it."
Lilo stood with her mouth slightly open. She felt sorry for Gantu,despite all he'd done to her in the past, she now felt sorry for him.
"I belong to the emperor now." Gantu continued. "I'm no longer a person. I'm nothing more than his property, and as property, I would have no feelings about killing you just to get to Stitch."
"But you won't." A second voice rang out. "Because I want her for myself."
Gantu turned his head and then stepped aside, kneeling down and bowing his head to the figure that began walking toward Lilo.
It was Emperor 626, in his red uniform and burgundy napkin hat, and with a flowing yellow shawl draping down his right side.
Lilo froze in place. This was only the second time she had seen the emperor up close, and with those arrogant, impassive eyes, it was no less terrifying. Emperor 626 walked slowly up to Lilo, who stared at him wide eyes. Lilo didn't move a muscle, nor did Gantu.
"You!" Emperor 626 gasped. He was certainly surprised to see what was in front of him, but just as quickly, he regained his poker face. "You're the stiff from the parade. I thought you were just star struck, but now I know what was going on in your head. What's you're name."
Lilo thought she was too scared even to answer the question, so she was amazed when she found her mouth forming the word, "Lilo."
Lilo at last found the will to move anything but her lips, and took a step back from the emperor.
"What's the matter Lilo?" Emperor 626 continued. "I can be you're friend too."
"No." Lilo whipered back, shaking her head slowly. "Stitch is my friend. You're nobody's friend."
Gantu's head turned slightly back and forth, following the conversation between the two pint sized creatures.
"Stitch, yes" Emperor 626 sighed. "Where did Stitch come from?"
"Stitch is you, but good."
"He's me hmmm? Care to elaborate?"
"I met you in the pound. I brought you home and taught you how to love. I taught you how to be good. But we went back on the time machine, and something went wrong. You never met me, you stayed evil, and that's where you came from."
"Evil? Me? I do know how to love Lilo."
Behind Lilo and the emperor, well hidden from view and careful not to make a sound, something stirred on the hull of Skyboat Blue.
"My people taught me how to love Lilo. I love the pacific islands, and I love their unspoiled splendor and beauty, and most of all I love their people."
The figure unnoticed began to clear away the rubble piled atop Skyboat Blue.
"All I need is for you to say I'm your emperor, and I will love you like you were my own daughter."
Lilo continued to step back as Emperor 626 continued to walk toward her.
Gantu lifted his head to watch the emperor continue to walk toward Lilo, as she continued to step back away from him.
"Let me hold you Lilo, and I will show you just how caring I really am."
Emperor 626 knew Lilo wouldn't abbey him, so he abruptly stepped toward her faster than she could back off, and warpped his arms around her.
Lilo was stiff as a board in the emperor's embrace, even though it was as soft and gentle as a teddy bear. Emperor 626 lightly caressed her head and shushed into her ear. He purred loudly and she could feel it in her chest. Lilo didn't know what to think or feel at that moment. What she saw the emperor do, vs his apparent kindness right now as well as the reminder of being held by Stitch. She cried in confusion, and in confusion, pressed herself against the emperor's body.
"That's right Lilo." The emperor whispered into her ear. "Let it all out. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."
Lilo just cried harder from her confusion. She didn't know what to feel, what to think, what to believe. What scared her the most was that the embrace of Emperor 626 was almost as comforting to her as the embrace of Stitch.
But it wouldn't last long, with a cry out from nowhere.
"ACKOOCHA!"
Stitch flew down from the top of Skyboat Blue and tackled Emperor 626 off of Lilo and to the ground.
Two two of them rolled about in the dirt, snarling and snapping at each other, their arms locked and pushing against each other.
Gantu immediately stood back up and aimed his blaster at the two 626's rolling around, trying to get an aim at the naked one, while clear of the one in uniform.
Lilo stood there in utter shock to watch Stitch wrestle the Emperor 626 on the ground.
The emperor shrieked at his mirror image and then spit right in Stitch's eye. Stitch fell back to the ground and frantically wiped off the drool. When Stitch opened his eyes again it was too late. Emperor 626 was only a few inches in front of him, and four paws were squeezing his neck. Stitch couldn't reach above the emperor's arms to get to his face, so he did the only thing that came to him. Stitch smashed his forehead against the emperor's muzzle.
Emperor 626 let go of Stitch and stumbled back a few feet.
Now was Gantu's chance, he fired a shot at Stitch and knocked him back into a boulder.
"Get inside Lilo!" Stitch screamed.
Without hesitation, Lilo dashed into Skyboat Blue and jumbed into the passenger seat.
The emperor jumped ontop of Stitch and again began choking him. But this time Stitch grabbed the Emperor's hands and dug his arms into his wrists, drawing blood. Emperor 626 couldn't take it for long, and he let go of Stitch's neck, and grabbed hold of his arms.
But a noise like a mechanical door opening drew both Stitch and the emperor's attention away from their fighting, and toward Skyboat Blue.
The two top turrets were pointed right at Emperor 626, and fired.
White hot plasma collided with the emperor and sent him soaring through the canyon straight into the face of a cliff.
"You're highness!" Gantu yelled out, and ran toward where the emperor had landed.
Stitch ran straight into Skyboat Blue, shut the door, and jumped into the pilot's seat.
Gantu frantically tried to dig the Emperor 626 out of the pile of rock ontop of him. When he finally succeeded, he pulled the emperor, now black and burned, and a bit delirious, to his feet.
Emperor 626 scowled as he watched Skyboat Blue demolish his now grounded skyboat carrier with an aerial bombardment, and fly off into the sunrise.