Chapter 2: Meetings

The view from the ship window was a blur to Ani. By this point, she'd turned away from it and had delved into her switch; there hadn't been anything interesting for hours, so much so that she'd ended up napping along the way.

Most of the experiments who'd come with were seated around the ship; Hammerface, Sparky, Nosy, and Clip were going over papers they'd brought with them, quietly discussing their contents. Thresher was napping under a blanket-apparently having forgotten about the change in time zones according to Plasmoid, who was up in the front talking with Lilo and Zap. The only people absent from the main area were Kixx and Heat-Heat due to living in the back room, and Kixx because he wanted to keep him company.

Ani groaned in annoyance at the Switch's display of yet another "Game Over" screen-she'd been trying to get around the latest boss for the past thirty minutes, and even though the guidebooks had said it was easy if you just got some good shots in, she was still having a hard time with them.

It'd been late afternoon when they'd left, Hammerface keeping track of what everyone was bringing with. Heat had helped her pack her electronics, mostly taking charge of the power cables for them. He himself was, of course, already packed, though he'd still had to move some of his paints into the house before they'd left.

The ambience of the ship was interrupted by Plasmoid, who scuttled out from the cockpit and looked around at the remaining family. "So-island's in view. It's far off, but we're basically almost there given this ship."

"Alright, thanks Plaz; we'll get ready for landing." Clip said, smiling to the plasma experiment. He nodded before coming to sit next to Ani, who'd put her Switch down at hearing the news. "Hey Ani, how's the game coming?"

"Hard. But we're still almost there, ih?"

Plasmoid shrugged as much as his frame would allow, "Well, yeah-I think you'll like what you'll see when we land."

Ani nodded, "Cool-what's the island look like?"

"Eeeehhhh...pretty unassuming. It's remote, so they've got spirits runnin' around on it. Even has a whole natural magic source."

Plasmoid was interrupted by the husky voice of the final experiment from the cockpit, "It's not magic, we've been through this-"

"Yeah yeah, we all know you think it's chemistry Witch, please-keep explaining." Plasmoid quipped, shaking his head at Witch as she grinned at them from the front. She snorted, "I'm not! I'm just saying it's concentrated energy."

"But that's not fun."

"Well, magic's just science you don't understand yet. Anyways! Might wanna get yourselves ready, we're coming up on it pretty fast." Witch retreated back into the cockpit, leaving Plasmoid to nod to Ani, "Right-back in your seat while we land, 'kay? Just in case things get rough."

Ani stood up and zipped her switch back into its case, "Okay; I can go and explore once we land too, right?"

"Just as long as you take someone with ya." Plasmoid said, making his way back to the front, "Like I said, they have yokai-be careful if you're going out."

Ani couldn't help but feel a shiver up her spine as she made her way back to her seat; Izayoi was home to plenty of magical creatures like the yokai, and from what she'd read up on them, many of them weren't particularly friendly. But, at the same time, maybe the books were wrong...she had mostly read ones on mainland yokai after all…

Either way, she'd have to wait and see once they landed.

The turbulence of the landing woke up Thresher, who yawned and peered out the window at the approaching treeline.

"Welp." He said, stretching in his seat as Lilo began to park the ship, "We're here…"

"Yep." Ani cast a worried glance towards the cockpit at hearing her mother's tone; it was unusually stiff. Understandable given Stitch, but it still felt weird to hear from her…

She remained in her seat as everyone started to get up from theirs, the older series meeting up with Lilo in the front. Hammerface stepped up beside her and nodded to the later experiments, "We're heading out first, you can follow whenever you want, and, Ani?"

Ani peered out at him from her seat, eyebrows raised.

"I want you to be careful out here, alright? The yokai may not be the only thing we have to worry about."

Ani sighed and nodded to the gray experiment, the implications of the warning clear, "'Kay Hammer, I will."

Ani squinted from the ship's cockpit at the scene outside; Lilo was talking to Jumba and Pleakley, and given she'd only seen them before in family pictures, it was surreal to see them in real life. The older experiments were speaking with them, and she couldn't help but smile at Nosy gesturing around at the forest and ship-he'd done it for as long as she could remember, and it was comforting to see him slip back into the habit given the situation.

It was then that her gaze wandered towards the house...and caught two figures standing in its entrance.

Ani shrunk back from the window. Had he seen her? She hoped he hadn't-meeting Jumba and Pleakley was awkward enough, but meeting Stitch? She didn't know if she could even do that…

"Everything okay?" Thresher asked, walking up from behind her, "I'm guessing he came out from how you're acting."

Ani nodded, "I know he's probably really nice, but it's just so...weird. He's the whole reason we're here."

"Ah, yeah-and it's your first time meeting him too." Thresher peered out the window at the scene outside, "He's not coming out of the house, but the kid has if you want to meet her instead."

Ani furrowed her brow, "What kid?"

"You know, Yuna. Yuna Kamihara? She's out, probably to see how Hammer and Sparky're doing. Want to go meet her or...?"

Ani felt her stomach knot at the suggestion, "Um…I dunno..."

Thresher squinted back outside for a moment before turning back to her, "...If it helps, it's my first time meeting Yuna too. From what Hammerface says, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I do, but not you."

Ani shrugged, "I guess...only if you come out with me though."

"Sure."

Ani gripped her bag in one hand as she exited the ship, one of Thresher's tentacles grasped in the other. He hung back slightly, letting her pull him along; it was something he'd done her entire life, but this time, she wished he'd keep up.

Yuna was bent over when they came out, talking with Nosy and Sparky. She caught sight of them, and Ani shrunk as she caught her eye. Yuna however, was ecstatic.

"Oh-hi!" She exclaimed, waving at them and sprinting up, "It's Thresher right? And Ani? It's really cool you came over! My name's Yuna, but I'm sure you already know-Nosy kinda caught me up on everything."

"Yeah-I mean, yeah!" Ani coughed as she corrected herself, "I uh-we came to help too. With everything that's going on."

The knot in her stomach was starting to dissipate, if only slightly; Thresher and the others had been right. Yuna was as nice as they said, it was more just her and her usual shyness. And Thresher's.

Speaking of, she felt his tentacle retreat from her hand as he stepped up from behind her, taking a deep breath before introducing himself. "Anyways... hey Yuna-it's nice to finally meet you. How's Jumba and Pleakley?"

"Oh them?" Yuna's tri-tails bounced as she glanced over at the aliens, "They're doing great! Pleakley's gotten into making Ryusou-he's been going through all the libraries here for references. Jumba though...he's focusing on what's goin' on right now, so he's been kinda stressed."

"Ah...well, hopefully he'll get to relax once we get all this straightened out. How's-." Thresher began, but was quickly interrupted by Ani.

"...What's Ryusou?"

Yuna seemed to perk up at the opportunity to explain the word, "It's traditional Okinawan fashion-like our kimonos and stuff. He's been pretty secretive about it, but I get the feeling it's for something special later on."

"Really? That's neat!" Ani felt herself relax at the new subject-this was something she was a little more familiar with. "Back home we have our own stuff too-like my muumuu right here." She tugged at the sleeve of the dress, smiling up at Yuna, "We've also got stuff like shell necklaces-I'd bring mine, but I left 'em all at home."

Yuna opened her mouth to answer, but the two were interrupted by Jumba's approach, giving them a small nod as he walked into the hatch of the ship. Thresher sighed, waving at his creator before turning back to the girls. "...You two should go and do your own thing. I have to stay here in case I'm needed, and, well…" He gestured back towards the ship, "...Things are...you know. They're stressful."

Yuna's face fell at the mention, "Oh, right…"

"...Well-in that case, wanna go and walk around town for a bit?" She asked Ani, "Or the beach even-it's your pick since you just got here."

Ani nodded, "...Maybe the beach? Wait-actually-are there any areas we can look for stuff? 'Cause these guys told me about the yokai and all, so I just wanna make sure."

"'Course! I know all the spots, just lemme tell Tigerlily before we go, okay?" Yuna sprinted back into the house, quickly returning with a small bag of her own, "We have an hour before lunch, so it's plenty of time."

"So…" Yuna asked, the two walking down the path to the beach, "What's it like back on Hawaii? I hear they're similar to us since we're at the same latitude. Or maybe it was longitude, I dunno-but yeah."

"Well," Ani squinted around at the forest before answering, "It feels the same as back home, so maybe whoever said that's right. But I'm sure you've got different stuff here, we're just the same when it comes to weather."

Yuna nodded, "Yeah; Stitch's told me about the birds you have-like those honeycreepers? I heard they're really pretty from some of the others."

"They are-we get different ones depending on the island too." Ani said, "I'm sure you've got some cool stuff here though-I brought my camera just in case."

She held up her bag containing the aforementioned camera and smiled. Like her mother, Ani carried disposables, handing them off to the experiments to develop. Before his capture, Pix had often been the one to take her to the store to pick them up, but Plasmoid had filled in in his temporary absence.

However, at the mention of Stitch, Ani couldn't help but grow quiet, something she noted Yuna doing as well. She glanced up at the older girl as they walked, wondering if it was possible to change the subject to something else. Before she could however, Yuna continued with the new topic.

"I...heard about that experiment Jumba's treating. Is he...gonna be okay or…? 'Cause Jumba's been really worried about him, even though it doesn't seem that bad."

Ani sighed, shrugging her shoulders and kicking a pebble down the path, "I dunno the full story, so I can't really tell. All I know is that he's sad all the time and Lilo, Hammerface and Kixx are stressed about him. He said it's not normal sadness either-like he just feels like that all the time."

"Kinda sounds like he's depressed." Yuna said, "At least that's what Tigerlily said, I dunno what that means." She shrugged upon a confused glance from Ani, "But, I'm sure he'll get better now that Jumba's taking care of him, right?"

"Yeah…" The subject was starting to wear on Ani by now, and she slowed her pace. Yuna seemed to pick up on this, and cast an embarrassed glance towards the ground. "Sorry...I shouldn't've gone there…"

Ani sighed, "It's okay, it's just...Heat kinda helped raise me-well, a ton of experiments did, but there were some that really stuck around and he was one of them. I just...hope I can spend time with him again like I used to."

"He must be really important to you."

"He is. He actually taught me how to draw and he takes care of me when I go to our summer camp-he works at the health center there."

Despite the subject, Ani couldn't help but grin at remembering something, immediately blurting out the story, "He used to give out all these band-aids in case any of us fell on hikes-that was like his whole thing whenever we went out. And he'd take care of all our food too-he used to sneak in all this junk by saying it was for him, and then he'd give it to us."

Yuna perked up, laughing at Ani's story, "That's awesome-what'd he bring?"

"Potato chips, chocolate, Twizzlers, all kinds of stuff. Once he snuck in a cake slice for my birthday when he had to work late." Ani smiled, thinking back to the memory, "It's kinda why I wanted to come-I want him to feel better so he can do things like that again, you know? He liked doing that stuff for us."

Yuna nodded, "That's really sweet-I can see why you'd want to come and support him."

The conversation had distracted both girls from their intended destination, so they almost didn't notice the path turn to sand. Yuna started and raised her arms, shaking sand out of her shoes in annoyance, "OH-geez, I didn't even realize we were here…"

Ani blinked, gazing around at the small beach; it wasn't much different from the ones back home on Kauai, but even so, she could see-the leaves on the trees were different, and the air seemed...lighter?

She guessed it was the lack of seaweed on the beach.

Ani felt her hands almost instinctively reach for her camera, but stopped them, looking to Yuna with amazement at the beach, "Wow…it's pretty here-I mean, it does look like ours, but it's different, you know?"

She smiled, "We're just standing at the edge of it. There's a ton of cool stuff if you look closely. Like over there for example." She jabbed her finger in the direction of a bush growing at the edge of the forest, "I think they're blooming right now; wanna have a look?"

"'Course!"

The girls sped over to the bush; even from far away, Ani could see yellow blossoms growing throughout its branches. They looked like the hibiscus back home, but as they reached them, she could see a dark brown center in the middle of the heart-shaped petals.

She squinted-these looked like beach hibiscuses, only, they were here instead of Kauai. Even so, they were a comforting sight to see in such a different place.

"Aren't they neat?" Yuna's voice snapped Ani out of her thoughts and she nodded, "We've got these guys back home, only, we call 'em hau and beach hibiscus and other stuff like that."

"What do you call them?" She asked. Yuna gave her a sly grin before answering, "...You've kinda been saying their name since you met me."

Ani tilted her head to the side for a moment before she understood, "You mean you're named after these? That's awesome-it's really pretty!"

"You mean...the flowers or-"

"Both dummyhead-oops." Ani flushed and covered her mouth, though relieved to see Yuna smiling at the slip, "Sorry-mom passed that one down."

Yuna laughed, "It's fine; wanna go and see if we share some starfish?"

"Only if we do the same for sea slugs."

"Deal."

Lunch came soon enough, the girls racing each other back to the house. Inside, several of the later experiments were already eating, Hammerface and Nosy setting their plates on the table.

"Oh, uh…" Ani fidgeted as she watched the gray experiment start to put food on the plate, "Hammerface, can I-"

"Ask first. And make sure you bring your stuff back." He said, scooping rice into a bowl. "Tigerlily picked up some tempura, so you can help yourself with that one, I don't know how much you want."

"'Kay, thanks." Ani took the plate in her hands and nodded to Yuna, "I try and eat my lunch with Heat when I can. Wanna come?"

"Well, is it okay?" Yuna looked to Hammerface in confusion, but he shrugged, "Kixx in on the ship, so you ask him. He doesn't usually say no."

Yuna and Ani exchanged glances at the tone; it was a little dismissive, but given the situation and the dark circles under the experiment's eyes, it was easy to see why it was such.

"Come on-he's right about Kixx. I think we're good." Ani said, nodding to Yuna.

Kixx was reading something on his phone when the two entered, a full plate of food beside him. He glanced up and did a double take at seeing Yuna, immediately putting the phone away. "Oh, hey Ani."

"I'm guessing you're here for Heat, right?" He asked, raising his eyebrow at the two. Ani nodded, "Can Yuna come? She's new, but...please?"

The purple experiment's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced between the two, "Agh geez. Ani…"

Yuna placed her hands behind her back and shrugged, "It's fine if I can't; I know things are weird."

Kixx sighed, "You can come, but I need to tell him first. This is new to him."

He cracked open the door to the experiment's room for a moment before glancing at the two, "'Kay. He said it was fine, just don't bring up Ratface and keep an eye on the thermometer."

Yuna looked at him quizzically, but Kixx shook his head, "He's heat based and we both hate the gerbil. Just avoid the H-word and you'll be fine." The purple experiment held the door open for the two, Ani giving him a quick "thanks" as they walked past him. Kixx nodded and stepped back out, though Ani could see the door was left ajar. It usually was, but she couldn't help but feel some dismay at the reasons.

Stepping into the room revealed canvases stacked next to a desk overlooking a window; a mug holding pens, markers, and paintbrushes sat next to an easel, a laptop, and a drawing tablet, with small tubes of acrylic paint strewn around the desk. The bed was equally messy, the pillows and blankets looking as though the owner had just rolled out of them. An open sketchbook was seated at its head, displaying an unfinished work; it looked a little like Angel, but half of it was scribbled out.

The experiment himself was seated on a ledge next to a window, eating from a plate balanced on his knees. He flattened his ears upon seeing them, but smiled and held up a hand in greeting."Hi Ani, who's your friend?"

"Hi Heat-this is Yuna. Yuna, Heat." Ani said, gesturing back and forth between the two, "Thanks for letting her come."

"No problem. How's everything outside?"

"Pretty good-it's a lot like back home, but it's different up close."

Heat nodded, "That's good to hear; I'll clear some stuff out. Keep an eye on the temperature and tell me if it's getting too hot."

Yuna looked at him for an explanation, seeing a small smile spread across his face as he pulled a low table out from under his bed, "My powers are a little out of control right now."

"A little." He echoed sheepishly, picking up a half empty water bottle that rolled out alongside the table, the liquid inside boiling at his touch, "Lemme open the window just so you're safe. You can sit, just get some pillows."

The three ate in silence for a bit, Heat growling in irritation as he wrestled with the chopsticks. He eventually managed to clumsily grasp a piece of squash as he sheepishly glanced up at the two, "Anyways, how was the trip over Ani? Thresher tells me you were a little nervous, but I'm getting the feeling it may have just been him. Am I right?"

"Kind of. Yuna and I visited one of the beaches here." Ani said, "I was still a little nervous though."

"Nervous?" Yuna asked, smiling, "Of me? Come on, I'm not that scary am I?"

"You do have some pretty scary tri-tails…"

Yuna snorted into her water, covering her mouth with her hand, "Oh my god."

Ani giggled, watching Heat smile at both of them. It was a sad one though-it'd been like that for the past month. She didn't know how to describe it, but his eyes were always so...dull, for lack of better words.

But, it was still nice to see him smiling at least-he hadn't even done that in a while.

"Alright-pigtails aside, it's nice of you to visit Yuna." Heat said, nodding to her, "I'm not sure how much you know, but I'm getting some modifications on my powers. And some other stuff too."

Yuna smiled at the thermal experiment, "You're welcome-it's nice to meet you. I don't think I've ever seen a cousin like yourself before-you're pretty cool."

"Huh-thanks." Heat's eyebrows raised, but Ani thought she could see the dull look in his eyes waver for a moment; he must've liked the comment. "Most people don't say that about me. Or at least most humans, that is."

"Well, then most humans are wrong then." Yuna said, swirling a piece of tempura in with its sauce, "I'm just glad you could come, even if it's for alterations."

Heat nodded, "It's nice to get a change of pace as well. I've been in here for a whole month by now, so I'm looking forward to when I can get out. Maybe see that beach you two went to."

"Oh-yeah! It's got a bunch of tide pools and it's far enough away from the yokai, so you won't have any trouble there." Yuna exclaimed, "If you want, I could dig up some guides for our town too."

"That'd be nice; I'll check 'em out when I stop burning things." Heat sipped from his glass of water, seeming to concentrate as he did so. "...Never thought I'd have to concentrate just to keep this thing cold." He said, shaking his head in annoyance, "I can't wait to get this fixed."

"Did Jumba say anything about when he can alter you?" Ani asked.

Heat shrugged, "He was a little dodgy about it, but he said it'll probably be tomorrow. The hard part's with a certain blue uh..."

"Nevermind." He said, his eyes darting away from the two. Yuna and Ani exchanged glances; both of them knew to some extent what some experiments thought of Stitch for leaving Kauai, but it was always awkward to see a slip from one of them. To Ani, it was especially such; Heat was usually extremely careful to stay away from the topic of Stitch, but not within the past month.

Ani and Yuna looked back to the experiment, but he only frowned at them in response. "...Ah; sorry. All you need to know is that we're going to try and patch stuff up while we're here for my things."

"Well, okay. I hope things go okay for you tomorrow then." Yuna said, "Speaking of-is there anything Obaa and I can get you while you recover? Just so we're safe?"

Heat smiled, "Aw-no thanks; I'll be fine. I'll probably just be tired and I already have my own bed. If anything, I should be thanking you three for letting us stay here."

Ani found herself starting to drift, something Heat seemed to realize-she was roused from her thoughts at him getting up from the table and walking over to a cabinet next to his bed. He whistled as he took something out and paused for a moment before coming back, a large glass container in his hands.

"I won't be having any use for these since my powers are getting adjusted, so you can take whatever you want." He said, nodding to the container as he popped its lid off, revealing an abundance of different cookies and chocolate bars, "By the way, Yuna? If you have allergies, I have another container with different stuff."

Yuna stared in amazement, but Ani instantly grabbed a fistful of Almond Joys from the container, "Ah cool-thanks Heat!"

"...You're sure you won't have a crash though?" She asked, pausing before she'd retreated back across the table. Heat shrugged. "If I crash, then Hammerface'll probably screech and then get Jumba. Don't worry."

"Want one Yuna? Or…?" He asked, nodding to her. Yuna shook her head after a moment of surprise at the offer. "Oh-yeah! These're kind of all American though, so I'm not too familiar with it. Do you have any you'd recommend or…?"

"Ah-that's fine! Should I pick for you then?"

Yuna nodded sheepishly; Heat took a napkin and fumbled with a small flower-shaped cookie deeper within the container, taking it out and handing it to her. "I forget what these are called, but they have a fruit center, so they're pretty good."

"Thanks Heat; I'll have it after my stomach settles." Yuna said, smiling to the thermal experiment. He returned it, "That's a good idea. Speaking of." He nodded to the both of them and gestured towards the door, "It was nice spending some time with you, but I've gotta sleep off my lunch and get ready for that alternation. You might wanna head out and do your own thing, okay?"

"Oh-right! Thank you for letting us eat with you Heat." Ani said, the girls making their way out the door. Heat smiled after them, holding up a hand as he began to clear off the table.

The day seemed to drift from that point on; according to Thresher, Lilo had immediately taken Stitch off to the side to explain the situation, so Ani and Yuna would be without him for the day. Plasmoid, Zap, and Witch were off talking with Tigerlily, and Hammerface, Clip, Sparky and Nosy were doing the same with Obaa, setting up plans for the experiment's living situations. This left Thresher and Kixx to be the ones helping the girls set up Yuna's room-as she'd offered for Ani to share it while she was visiting. The sun was sinking by this point, and Ani couldn't help but peer outside the room in curiosity, the yokai books she'd read coming back to her as the sun continued to set.

"Okay-that should do it. What do you think?" Thresher's voice snapped Ani out of her thoughts and she peered over at the bed...or now, the bunk bed the two had helped set up. Witch and Hammerface had made quick work of adding the extra bed, so there wasn't much for the two fighting experiments to do but move it to a better location-currently, across from the window.

Ani looked to Yuna, who nodded, "It looks good! Thanks guys-I really appreciate you doing this."

"Well of course, we're going to be staying here for a few days at the very least, we may as well." Kixx said, "Aaaaaaannnddd we may also have to watch you tonight-everyone else is either getting ready for Heat's alteration or trying to settle things with Blue Boy."

Yuna blinked, "...Um…"

"Kixx." Thresher shot the 6-series an irritated glance, and he held up his hands, sighing, "Right…"

The crop thresher sighed and shook his head before catching Yuna and Ani's faces; they'd upset them a little, it was obvious from how disappointed Ani looked. Before he could apologize however, Yuna cut in.

"Guys...why're you...are you mad at Stitch?"

"Because...I get it if you are, it's just…" She trailed off and crossed her arms. Ani did similar, fixing both experiments with a glare.

They looked to each other before Thresher spoke, his voice heavy, "...We're really sorry. To answer your question though? It's complicated. We know why he ran off, but we're also upset with him for doing so because of how we're all affected by it."

"We try to not slip up like that, it's just that with us around him after so long, and with all this going on? It's harder to not." Kixx added, "But you two are right-I shouldn't have called him that."

Yuna thought to herself for a moment before answering the two, "Well, thanks for apologizing. I can see what you mean, it's just awkward to have you randomly take a swipe at him, you know?"

"We get it. We try to not do that." Thresher said, nodding, "And we have someone here to remind us when we slip up, right Ani?"

Ani couldn't help but grin at the octopus experiment's words, seeing as the two had apologized so quickly. Thresher turned and smirked at Kixx, narrowing his eyes as he did so, "See? I fixed it for you."

"Okay, Monster's Inc reject."

Thresher muttered something under his breath, causing Kixx to snort, "No, we're not setting up a swear jar for me."

"I did that with Angel and it worked wonders."

"In what, making you rich enough to get yourself a new juicer?"

"It's her fault for not breaking the habit."

"I can't believe you." Kixx walked to the door with the 5-series and looked back at the remaining group, "I get the feeling we may be ordering tonight since there's so many of us, so I'm gonna help with that. Come out when you can, okay?"

"'Kay, thanks Kixx-we'll come out in a few minutes then." Ani said, waving to the two as they left. As they did so however, her eyes were once again drawn to the window of Yuna's room. As it turned out, the ship was partially in view from it, the lights turning on as the last rays of light disappeared beneath the treeline. Despite the now optimistic mood, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous as to the alteration tomorrow...and her mom's situation with Stitch…

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Yuna, who nodded to the door, "Come on-we should go after them before Thresher starts setting up prices for Kixx's nicknames."

Ani smiled, "Yeah-lemme put my bag down first."