Chapter 6: 636... Captured!
Jumba, Lilo, and Stitch had just dashed through the brush when they looked up to see hundreds of houses shaped like Pleakley's head. Their mouths gaped open as they looked at all the Pleakley heads, not knowing where to start. Even Stitch, who had his head high in the air and was sniffing for all he was worth, couldn't catch the scent again. Then his face fell and his ears drooped.
"What's wrong, Stitch?" Lilo asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, eyes glimmering with sadness.
"Cousin lost," he murmured. Lilo's eyebrows turned upward in sadness as Stitch collapsed onto her, sighing and hugging her. Lilo closed her eyes and hugged Stitch back as Jumba picked them both up in his big, soft arms.
"It's ok, little ones. I'm sure we will be finding her. She's probably nearby, as she's not one to run away from a fight. Even more, she's probably found someone she's met before on this planet." Jumba said, snuggling with the two. But a few moments after he said this, both Stitch and Lilo popped their eyes open. Looking at each other, they said at the same time,
"Investigation!"
They wriggled out of Jumba's grasp, dropping to the ground and rummaging around in Jumba's pocket.
"Hair-in-a-can!" Stitch yelped, pulling it out with an evil laugh and shaking it about. Then he sprayed it on himself and Lilo to give themselves a mustache and a beard.
"Hey! Is mine!" Jumba yelled, grabbing it back from Stitch and shoving it deep into his pocket.
"Agoolega!" Stitch exclaimed, laughing. Jumba gasped, taking a step back and extending his arms to their full length.
"WHAAAAAT!" he shouted, snatching Stitch up and holding his face very close to his. "I do TOO have hair! Just not as much as I would like."
"I don't think having three strands of hair counts," Lilo said, snickering. Jumba dropped Stitch and walked up to the little girl.
"I be letting you know that I used to have a wonderful, luscious head of hair. That is, before Clip went extremely wrong..." Jumba said, rubbing the almost bare top of his head thoughtfully. While he was doing this, however, Stitch and Lilo had grabbed two notepads and pencils and started their way towards the first house. Lilo raised her hand to ring the doorbell, but it wasn't there.
"Hey! Where's the doorbell?" Lilo asked. Stitch blinked, crawling onto the side of the house and searching it for a doorbell. Then he checked under the welcome mat. Nothing but a key. 626 sighed and dropped the mat, shoulders and face falling.
"Ohh, choota!" Stitch yelped, slamming his fist against the door. The hinges came loose at once, sending the door flying into the house and straight up against the opposite wall. Then it fell down, revealing a very flat Plorgonian housemaid behind it. She grabbed her head, wobbling around, and then fell onto the couch.
"Oopsey," Stitch said, chuckling nervously. Another Plorgonian stomped into the room.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" he shouted angrily, waving a skinny fist in the air while grabbing a plasma blaster with the other hand.
"Uhm, Stitch?" Lilo asked, taking a step back as the man took a step forward.
"Yes, Lilo?" he answered, also taking a step back.
"RUUUUN!" Lilo screamed, twirling around and dashing down the driveway. Both Lilo and Stitch screamed as the man stuck his head outside and shot at them a couple more times. Then the man shook the gun into the air, yelling, "YEAH, GIRL! RUN! TELL THAT REALOR COMPANY THAT WE'RE NOT SELLING! WE WON'T BE TERRORIZED!"
Meanwhile, Experiment 636 was being hugged and petted to death after the mother had agreed to let them keep her. She growled, trying to loosen their grip on her as she backed up.
"Oh, bad doggie. No growling," Mom said, taking a slap at her. 636 raised her hand to rub her cheek, then slashed at the Mom's arm, leaving four scratch marks. As if the children didn't notice, they slapped a collar around 636's neck and attached a blue leash to it. Blinking, 636 tugged at the collar.
"Huh? Eh... bark!" she said, waggling her head around and attempting to nibble on the leash. That's what normal dogs did, right?
"Mom! We're going to take the doggie on a walk." Matt stated. He and Lizzy rushed for the door, then froze at Mom began to talk.
"Not until you're done with your homework, young man," Mom said, picking him up and setting him on the chair in front of his homework.
"Oh, come on, Mom! Do I HAAAAVE to?" he whined, dropping his arms to his side. Mom gave him a stern look.
"Yes, Matt. You don't want Mr. Cleaver to come over, do you?" she said in a tone that sounded like she herself was afraid of this man.
"No, Mom. Ok, I'll do my homework," he said, sighing and picking up his pencil.
"Thank you," she said. "You can take her out on a walk when you're done."
"Yay!" Matt said, setting the pencil to the paper and beginning to write. 636, meanwhile, crawled over to the fridge and pulled a can of soda out. Lizzy rushed over and attempted to pull the can out of her hand.
"No! Bad doggie!" she yelled, grunting as she tried to pry 636's fingers off the pop can. 636 growled, then began to bark very loudly, sounding just like an Earth dog. Lizzy screamed and let go, running behind Mom. Mom sighed, putting a hand to her face. She picked up a lemon and threw it at 636's face. 636 was so surprised by this that she stopped barking and looked up at Mom. 636 blinked two times, then lifted her lips to show her teeth. Mom narrowed her eye, then scooped up the leash and yanked terribly hard on it for being Plorgonian. Almost choking 636, she dragged her outside and tied her to the tree.
636 just rolled her eyes. She could bite through any material. She looked down at the blue leash and picked it up, inserting it into her mouth. She bit down, expecting the leash to fall limp in her two hands. But it didn't. She raised an eyebrow, then began to gnaw at it for quite some time. After a while, it seemed apparent that she couldn't chew through it. She sniffed the saliva-coated leash, then cursed in Tantalog. It was made of Experillium.
Experillium was a somewhat new element created by the Galactic Federation as the only substance that could not be chewed through, sliced, or damaged in any way by genetic experiments. The previous attempt at this element was being used in experiment containers. They were almost experiment-proof, but not quite. And then 636 got an idea.
Matt looked up and out the window at the sound of a very loud car horn and a large crashing song. A tree had fallen right in the middle of the road, but bottom end was cleanly cut. He hopped off his chair and watched at more cars crashed into the first one. Loud sirens of the security systems in the cars reached the whole town and seared through the house. Lizzy screamed. Mom sighed. Plorgonians had no ears to plug.
After they had asked about ten houses, Jumba, Stitch, and Lilo all plopped down next to a tree at the next house. Lilo looked down the long street and moved her eyes from house to house until the road came to a point in the horizon.
"This is going to take a while," she said. A weird noise, sounding like a knife slicing through wood, swam through all three of their ears. "What was that?" she asked. Stitch turned around and yelped. Most of the tree behind them was hovering above the stump, and behind the gap in the middle was Experiment 636.
"Egata! 636!" he yelled, pointing. Lilo and Jumba swirled around and gasped.
"Stitch! Get 'er!" Lilo yelled, backing up. Stitch growled and leaped for her through the gap. 636 jumped to the side, still holding up the tree. Then she swung it at Stitch, knocking him across the yard and through the fence. She staggered back because of the weight, then sloppily swung at Lilo and Jumba. The two ducked, and 636 let go of the tree. It crashed down behind them and dug into the grass, sliding across the yard and into the street.
Stitch rubbed his head, then crawled through the hole and dived for 636. She and Stitch rolled around in the grass for a while, punching and biting each other. Stitch's alien parts detracted, and 636 retracted her fifth and sixth arms, along with her fourth spike. They looked exactly the same at this time, and finally they pushed away from each other, only to stand up and growl at each other and stand their ground.
Lilo looked at them both, then looked up at Jumba.
"Uh... Jumba? Which one is Stitch?" she whispered. Jumba scrutinized them both, then looked at Lilo and shrugged. "WHICH ONE OF YOU IS STITCH?" Lilo yelled across the yard to them. They both turned to Lilo at exactly the same time.
"Meega!" they both called out, raising their hand and waving it about. Their heads turned toward each other, and their faces set in determination to get Lilo to say they were Stitch. Lilo put a hand on her face and whimpered. Jumba then noticed something. A small speck of blue was coming from the crease from one of their necks, but this color was not part of their fur.
"Aha! That one is 636!" Jumba yelled, pointing at the one with the discolored speck near her neck. A blue cord unraveled from her neck, and Stitch dived for her only to have 636 leap away at the last second and smash through the window of Lizzy and Matt's house.
"Doggie! What did you do that for!" Mom screamed, kicking 636. 636 blinked, looking at the foot that had kicked her, then at her face. She swiped at Mom's legs and tripped her up, then raced down to the basement with Stitch following after her.
"626 NALA QUEESTA!" 636 screeched, knocking down anything beside her to obstruct Stitch's path. Though the house might have been a bit small, the basement was larger than ever. She hit a dead end and whirled back around to turn left a little ways back. She pushed down a wooden dresser, almost crushing Stitch. He stopped in front of it, then leaped over it and continued dodging whatever 636 pushed into his path.
636 came to a door. She opened it up and closed it, only for Stitch to knock it off its hinges and drop it to the floor. His face was totally angered now, and 636 could tell. She looked around frantically for something to shove at him. She leaped onto the ceiling and broke the gas line, letting the transparent and odorless gas pour into the room.
636 smashed through the wall behind her, and the air immediately turned very dense and hot. 636 bent down and looked at the furnace lying in front of her. She then got a very evil idea.
"FORE!" 636 screamed as Stitch stuck his head through the hole she had made. Stitch yelped and burrowed out of the way at the furnace came hurdling toward him. It crashed through the wall and clattered to the floor, coals spilling out of the door hanging ajar. 636 then poked her head through the door and looked down into the hole Stitch was hiding in.
"Bye bye, cousin," 636 mimicked in Stitch's voice. Then she squatted down and pushed with her legs, holding up a fist and crashing through the ceiling. Stitch raised an eyebrow, then realized that fire and gas did NOT mix.
Lilo was taken aback when 636 suddenly crashed through the floor and landed next to her. 636's head twisted this way and that, anxiously looking around for something. She saw the door, then dived out as Stitch came crawling through the hole.
"GAS LINE BROKEN!" Stitch yelled. "FURNACE IN SAME ROOM AS GAS!" Jumba gasped, realizing the intensity of the situation. He snatched up Lilo and Stitch and ran out of the house, followed by Mom and the kids.
And then the house asploded.
636 stood still on the street, laughing manically and watching the red hot fires burst up, then fizzle out while still in the air. Smoke rippled from the remains of the house as the small Plorgonian family stared forward in horror. Lilo looked at 636 in dismay, then looked up at Jumba. He had a large frown on his face as he stared forward at the destroyed home. Mom's shocked face slowly twisted into one of pure rage.
"Do you know how much money you've just cost us!" she screamed. 636 growled, fur standing on end as she stood on her hind legs. Mom paid no attention, however.
"We can barely make it as it is! IT'S LIKE YOU WERE PROGRAMMED TO WRECK PEOPLE'S LIVES!" she screamed. This was something 636 had never experienced—being yelled at. 636 blinked, then snarled after realizing the feeling was not one she liked. She tackled Mom and started to punch and scratch her until Matt snatched up 636's leach and yanked her off of Mom.
"Doggie! What is WRONG with you!" he screamed in her face. 636's ears flicked back as she raised a fist in the air. She swung her fist, but is surprisingly it a transparent force field of some kind. It was then she realized she was in a capture container.
"NALA QWEESTA!" she screamed, pounding repeatedly on it to no avail. Stitch scooped her up and closed the lid on the container, then gave her to Jumba. Jumba stuck the container to his back, then turned to the family with a very apologetic face.
"Am very sorry about all dis. Here, have the moneys," he said, pulling out a wad of Earth cash from his pocket and stuffing it in the lady's hand. She gaped at the money. Earth money was worth 100 times more than Plorgonian money, and Jumba had pulled out many tens and twenties.
"But Jumba! That was our pizza money!" Lilo exclaimed. Jumba raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.
"No it wasn't. But nice try," he said, smirking. Lilo blinked, then looked over at Stitch. He seemed strangely quiet and calm. Lilo looked at Jumba once again.
"We got the experiment. Let's go home," Lilo said. Jumba began to follow Stitch and Lilo, but then seemed to remember something.
"Hey... where did Pleakley ever go?" he asked. Lilo turned her head back to look at Jumba.
"Huh. I don't know," she said. "Stitch! Sniff him out!"
Stitch nodded. "Ih!" He stuck his nose in the air and began to search.
After following 626 for around 10 minutes, a voice popped up from behind Jumba.
"Do you want to know where your friend is?"
"Who said that?" Jumba asked harshly, reeling around.
"Who do you think, Jookiba?" the voice said again. "It's 636, you idiot!"
"I knew that."
"I know where Pleakley is," she said.
"No you don't. I did not install you with Finder's capabilities."
"Actually, you did."
"I did?" Jumba scratched his head.
"Yeah, yeah you did. You just forgot."
"Actually, I think I did get a good conk on the head."
"Exactly. So, if you'll just let me out of here, I can—"
"Ohhh, no no no no! You little monster, you think you can trick me that easily!" Jumba roared, turning round and round in an attempted to meet eyes with 636.
"Yes, I do," 636 replied bluntly.
"Yoooouuuuu!" Jumba hollered, pulling the container off his back and sticking his nose up against the container.
"Jumba! Stop it! She's only getting to you so you'll accidentally drop her container or do something so that it opens! " Stitch yelped in his alien language, taking the container out of Jumba's hands and slapping back into place on Jumba's back.
"Ah, thank you 626. That was close one," Jumba said, patting Stitch on the head. 636 narrowed her eyes as she watched Pleakley disappear into the coffee shop about fifty feet back. She figured she might as well get off on a good foot with them so she can use their trust with her against them.
"Pleakley just went into the coffee shop," she said, sighing.
"What makes you think that I'll believe you?" Jumba asked, obviously annoyed. 636 tried her best to turn around in her container and look at Jumba's face.
"What would I gain by telling you false information? I'm in this infernal contraption," she said with a bit of impatience. Jumba though about what she said, then sighed.
"She's right," he said.
"What?"
"Gaba?"
Jumba nodded. Stitch and Lilo looked at each other, then looked back at Jumba. He had a look that made him seem determined to check the coffee shop. They shrugged, then followed Jumba, who had turned around and began walking toward the coffee shop. They both looked at 636, who sported the most innocent face at the moment. They both raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Jumba barged into the coffee shop, much to the dismay of Pleakley, who was just about to open the door. Jumba didn't know Pleakley was now sandwiched between the wall and the door, so he looked around the shop franticly before scowling and reaching back for 636's container.
"You lied!" Jumba yelled, eyebrows pointed down in annoyance and nose touching the glass. Sheeko looked around the shop, then noticed there was something green stuck between the floor and the bottom of the door. She just pointed over to the door, and Jumba looked over and also saw the green blob. He slowly pulled the door away from the wall and shut three eyes, squinting with the last one.
Pleakley looked from Jumba to Lilo to Stitch to 636 and back to Jumba, then collapsed onto the floor, mumbling something about evil coffee-inflated doorknobs.
"Oh! Am so sorry, Pleakley! I didn't know you were behind door."
More mumbling.
Jumba reached down and picked Pleakley up by an arm and stood him up straight. Pleakley took in a few breaths, then said, "Oh, no problem. I was just leaving anyways. They don't have any 100 Cona Coffee."
Lilo then whispered into Stitch's ear, "So that's why he's not about to jump through the roof." Stitch giggled, then stopped when he saw Pleakley glaring at him.
Jumba smiled, then helped his friend out of the shop and in the general direction of their ship.
"Let's go home."
Note for readers: I'd just like to say how thankful I am that you've read my story! I'd also like to apologize for procrastinating so much on my story. I will try to work as much as I can from now on. I also thank you all for your wonderful reviews. If you haven't reviewed but are reading my story, PLEASE review! I'd love to hear what you have to say. :)