Chapter 13: Just One Experiment Pod

"You seem rather… unhappy. Did anything happen to sour your mood recently, my dear Grand Councilwoman?"

From the outside of the reinforced bulletproof glass barrier, the Grand Councilwoman gave a wary leer at the prisoner inside the cell. It was highly unlike him to suddenly be in such a cheery mood. It was an anomaly, and all anomalies had to be accounted for. That was why she had taken the time out of her schedule to head down to one of the deepest bunkers in Planet Turo and visit him there at Solitary Cell 11B.

"Be honest," she said dismissively, brushing her black cape at the one inside, "Do you think that you'll know if anything unusual happened? You've been locked in solitary confinement for years. I would think that you won't even know what galactic year this is, let alone be able to keep up on the news."

The prisoner inside only smiled at her jab. "I have my ways. Don't you think that you of all people should know that?" Closing his eyes, he shrugged in a disrespectful manner, "After all, you are the Grand Councilwoman of the Galactic Federation? Aren't you supposed to be the hotshot of the whole universe? Obviously I would know of certain… rumours regarding matters for someone in your position."

"Hmph." The Grand Councilwoman's lips turned slightly upwards into a wry grin. "So you do know about it… the Jumba situation."

"Was that why you bothered to waste your oh-so-precious time to come down here? Just to see if I caught up on intergalactic news?" The prisoner sighed, "I think you have should make better use of your limited time."

"I will use my time as I deem fit," she lectured. "As for my guess, I just had a feeling that you'll know about it. After all, ugly rumours spread very rapidly. You of all people should know that, correct?" She locked eyes with the man in the cell, keeping her body language guarded when she saw him glower and fold his arms.

"Did you come here just to mock me?" he asked in a harsh whisper. He looked almost as though he was about to lose his composure.

"No," she replied, "That said, I came here to tell you that I already have this situation under control, so you can keep your smug comments to yourself. I hate to burst your bubble, but I guarantee you that this whole thing will end smoothly. Nothing will happen to me."

Keeping his expression neutral, the prisoner simply raised his arm as an acknowledgement. "I get you, I get you. But are you sure that you have it under control?" he repeated his question, as if hoping to goad her into a different answer.

Out of her control? The Grand Councilwoman smiled slightly at the mere thought. As if things would spiral out of control. The man inside was obviously baiting her, and she refused to fall for his trap.

After all, she had already sent out Experiment 625 and Agent Pleakley to Earth. Without that hasty Captain Gantu and his Armada, the press will be kept in the dark about the situation and out of the way. Once Jumba was back in her custody, she could waive 625's charges and please the pro-scientific communities that were against her and the Council. And then, after she handed down a very long prison verdict to Jumba, the whole case would be closed, right then and there.

The game plan was already set and in motion. She refused to let the doubts in her mind cause her to hesitate and second-guess herself.

"Yes, I am. Goodbye, Julius." The Grand Councilwoman straightened her collar before walking away and closing the surrounding vault around Solitary Cell 11B, leaving the area vacant once again.

"Just you wait, my dear Casey," the prisoner, Julius, sneered once the Grand Councilwoman had taken her leave. His voice changed from the calm and collected one he used earlier to a tone of voice that was as harsh as a tidal wave. "You don't know it yet, but you're running out of time. The control you have is slipping ever so slightly from your grip. But that's the one thing you don't want to happen, right? You want everything to be perfect, don't you? Don't you?!"

There was no answer or response to the questions that he yelled out manically. Still, he continued to maniacally shout out loud to an empty solitary cell, almost as though he expected a reply from the four blank walls around him.

Smirking, he reached down into a hidden pocket at his left thigh, feeling for a particular object. Gripping onto it tightly as though it was his lifeline, he lowered his vocal volume and tone from a loud howl to a soft, but smug, monologue, "Well, I hate to say it, but I'm afraid that you've already lost your perfect grip over this situation… and your Galactic Federation. Your tenure as the Council's leader is about to come to a rather abrupt end."

He then walked to the glass barrier and raised his arms wide open, as though he had just finished making a speech to an excited audience and was waiting for his applause after the grand finale.

"And I will make sure that I will personally be the instigator of your fall as Council Leader!"

Breathe in, breathe out…

Yeesh, running was hard work! He had tried to sprint away before Experiment 626 could see him, but unfortunately 625 found that he had underestimated his energy reserves. By the time he reached his destination, he was panting hard and almost resorted to crawling on the ground.

"Ahhhhh…" 625 moaned in exhaustion as he pushed against the door for the third time, this time with enough effort to finally open it. "I should have eaten a sandwich before sprinting like I was running a half marathon."

"Hey there, kid. What do you want today?"

625 cursed his short stature as the person behind the counter mentioned his height once more. Since he was once again using the cloak as a disguise cover, the hunched posture he adopted made him really look like a shy child to the local humans. But the fact that this human also commented on his height started to grate on the experiment. It wasn't his fault that humans were so tall in comparison to him!

"I'm here to purchase internet access. Just for two hours, no biggie!" 625 said, taking out the white Galactic Federation debit card. He reached up with his hand and put it on the desk for the cashier.

The cashier took the card, swiping it across the card reader before smiling. "Enjoy your two hours, sir."

625 wordlessly took the debit card back and walked over to a vacant desk with a computer. Jumping up on the swivel chair, he booted it up, humming as the computer started up. "Come on, work already," he impatiently tapped his fingers against the desk at the slowly booting computer.

As the computer finally showed the desktop screen, he let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. He only realised how close to the screen he was when his exhaled air turned the screen misty. Leaning back onto the chair, he apprehensively loaded the internet browser.

"Six-two-five, it is imperative that you remember this string of numbers. You can enter it on any computer with web connection to be gaining access to Jumba's top secret lair on the web!"

It seemed like ages ago when Jumba had briefed him about the emergency contact protocol. Since Jumba was planning for an intergalactic war between his armada of experiments and the Galactic Federation, the scientist had made preparations for a private network to be used as a method of communication between him and his experiments.

Although said war was not quite yet a reality, more important to 625 was the fact that Jumba's secret network was up and running. To his knowledge, the Council hadn't known about its existence, so they hadn't taken it down.

This meant that if he used the special set of coded numbers that he had been given by Jumba, he would be able to access the network by using the cafe computer as an access point.

He finished keying in his unique ID, pressing the ENTER key to find himself on a plain webpage, blue in colour but otherwise uncluttered in nature. On the top right corner, "Welcome, Experiment 625" was neatly displayed in plain font.

625 sighed to himself when he saw the page load. "Geez, couldn't Jumba have spent a bit more time planning the construction and design of this page? I mean, come on, look at this thing!" he complained out loud to no one in particular, "It's plainer than plain bread! At least you could have gotten someone else to design it for you if web design wasn't your forte!"

After noticing a few of the other customers glance at him, 625 shook his head and kept his mouth shut, refocusing back on the actual task. Great, now he was letting his sarcastic nature get the better of him again. Perhaps he was getting just a tad distracted from his main priorities?

But why wouldn't he? He needed to find out the truth, but what if the truth was better kept secret, something he didn't want to believe? Was it worth it?

He grimaced. Well, it was too late to turn back now. He was already one foot in the grave. Gritting his teeth, he went over to the user access control panel and selected the "Wrong User ID" option.

As he expected, on the page was a drop-down list filled with experiment numbers. And at the very top was Jumba's own personal user ID. He chuckled to himself. It looked like he had guessed correctly. Jumba had created this network a long time ago, and added his own ID to the list as an administrator so as to prevent himself from being locked out of his own system. It was a pretty smart move, really. This way, Jumba could use his own network on any computer on any planet so long as he entered his admin ID on his network.

But there was also a drawback. Since Jumba was using the same network as his experiments… it meant his own experiments could hack into his account by impersonating him. 625 chuckled at the sheer audacity for the idea. Bet the scientist didn't predict that, huh? That his own experiments would challenge his authority?

He didn't hesitate in clicking the hyperlink, bringing him to a password page. Well, of course. Jumba wouldn't just leave his own personal account unlocked, would he? He took a deep breath, deciding to crack the password via good 'ol brute force.

He had a pretty good feeling as to what Jumba's password was too.

Password: evil genius

Access denied.

625 furrowed his brow, "Oh, come on!" Okay, maybe Jumba wasn't a complete novice when it came to passwords, but it didn't mean that he was on the wrong train of thought. To continue to try again, he decided to enter more variations of Jumba's favourite catchphrase.

Password: EVIL GENIUS

Access denied.

Okay, so it wasn't in all caps. He had thought that it might have been, given that Jumba had no indoor voice whatsoever. Even in the short timespan that 625 had known him, he had realised that Jumba's idea of soft was… the opposite of the official definition of soft. He had a unique way of speaking, after all.

Hold on… a unique way of speaking?

Could it be that easy?

Password: evil geniusness

Access code accepted. Welcome, Jumba.

No way! So the password WAS a variation of "evil genius", just garbled with a extra "-ness" due to Jumba's style of talking.

625 rolled his eyes. Well, that "password" didn't take too long to crack at all. Three measly attempts was seriously all it took. Jumba really shouldn't have set the password to all his important data as a permutation of one of his favourite catchphrases. For someone that was smart enough to be able to modify genetic code at will, that was an incredible lapse in security.

Oh well. That security lapse was a mistake that he would shamelessly capitalise upon.

Loading up Jumba's personal account, 625 hurriedly looked up the admin logs and searched up his experiment number.

"Ah, there we go. Experiment six-two-five," 625 read out loud upon finding his own experiment log. "Primary function, sandwich maker, yaddi yaddi yadah…"

His carefree expression suddenly dropped as a particular line in the log caught his attention as he scanned down the document. "What the…" he gasped. This wasn't what he had been told by Jumba in the slightest!

To an observer who was paying close attention, they might have noticed that the figure behind the computer screen had clammed up and was rigidly still. Beneath the cloak, 625's entire posture radiated of nervousness. He was completely frozen in shock, unable to even look away from the words on the screen. Only his right hand, scrolling the mouse, remained mobile.

How many times had he read through his own experiment log by now? Twenty? Forty? He had completely lost count of how many times he had scrolled back up and reread the document.

Wasn't this what insanity was like? Expecting a different outcome despite doing the same thing over and over again?

He had prayed that it was all a lie, that he had read the words wrongly. But alas, that wasn't possible. Jumba had signed the logs with his own digital signature, as if mocking the idea of him doubting the authenticity of the experiment log.

625 didn't know how to feel. The first time he reached Jumba's signature at the bottom of the log, he was completely floored. He had no obvious reaction, just pure shock. After that initial disbelief wore off, he felt himself getting furious. Not his usual irritated style of anger for once; this time it was pure rage.

But after thirty minutes of slamming the mouse against the desk and getting a verbal warning from the store clerk, 625 felt his hatred dissipating, just ever so slightly. The experiment log had answered all of his doubts, except for one.

"Why me?" the experiment lamented to himself, unheard by anyone in the computer cafe. "Why did it have to be me, Jumba…?"

Of course, one obvious answer popped up into his head. Experiment 626, wasn't it? He didn't even have to look up 626's experiment log to find out the answer to that.

Although…

His curiosity got the better of him as he booted back to the experiment log page and opened his successor's log. Instead of the four that Jumba had entered for him, there was only one for 626, typed very recently.

Log Number 1, it read. Remember what I said about everything going according to plan in my Experiment 625 log? Well, Jumba now takes back everything he said.

"Hmph! Serves him right," he muttered as he continued scanning through.

I had just activated Experiment 626 using the fusion chamber, but that good-for-nothing gerbil came and ruined everything! He managed to take experiment container from right under my nose! When trying to retrieve it, 626 sent the ship on a crash course to unknown planet, which I later discovered is called Earth.

625 peered closely. Well, wasn't this interesting. So this was the real reason Jumba had jumped bail. It hadn't been intentional at all!

Despite that, he still harboured anger towards Jumba. In the end, Jumba was still the one personally responsible for leaving him behind on Planet Turo. And that was not even mentioning the other things that Jumba had written on his own experiment log.

Of much more pressing concern to 625 was the statement, "He managed to take experiment container from right under my nose". When he had actually been in the lab, he had never actually seen any of the other experiments. By the time he had been activated, Jumba had already dehydrated them all.

But even he knew the importance of Jumba's arsenal of experiments. They were his personal army. Being separated from them would be a huge blow to Jumba.

It is interesting to note that 626 came out exactly as planned. He is cunning and devious, having tricked my former partner into crashing his very own ship in the first place. I am very proud of him, but unfortunately that makes it so much harder for me to catch him. You see, 626 has accidentally swallowed the experiment container in the crash.

Wait, what? 625 double-taked, trying his best not to laugh at the sheer hilarity of what he had just read. Really? He ATE the container?

This is an absolute disaster! First off, I now have no access to any of my dehydrated experiments at all.

"Too bad," 625 cheerily commentated over the log. It was almost like he was in a conversation with his old creator again.

But more importantly, I can be calculating that the container metal lining can only withstand 626's stomach acid for just a couple of weeks. If I do not get it back by then, the lining will dissolve. This will cause all the experiment pods inside to activate simultaneously, the result of which will implode 626 from within!

Inside his head, 625 imagined an egg in a microwave oven. Yeah, that probably would not end well. That outcome would be a gory mess that he would rather avoid witnessing, if for the sake of maintaining his appetite.

So now I have no choice but to be taking 626 apart in order to get back the experiment container. If I do not dissect him to remove container, he would be finished!

625 raised his eyebrows, tilting his head in thought. Dissection? Hm, that wasn't right… was it?

Even though dissection has only 2.7% chance of fatality, 626 has run away, terrified of the idea! I must find him before it is too late! What is an evil scientist like me to do?! What should I do…?

Dr. Jumba Jookiba

Well, this was very interesting indeed. It looked like Jumba was under the assumption that he had to dissect his own experiment to get the experiment container back.

Too bad 625 personally knew that that wasn't the case. He grinned to himself. Jumba had made one very careless mistake. It was an oversight that was understandable given the situation. When Jumba was arrested, he probably had no chance to analyse the data that he had taken from him. Since he and 626 were very similar—too similar, actually—if Jumba actually had the opportunity to analyse the data, he would know that there was another method to extract foreign objects introduced into the digestive system.

Pressure points.

Given that he was a big eater, the first tests Jumba had run on him were on his dietary habits. He had eaten multiple sandwiches as part of Jumba's experimental checkup, and had stuffed himself silly thanks to being in the vat of orange liquid for so long. After eating so much that he felt bloated, Jumba had prodded his belly and one specific poke made him gag out his previous meal out of reflex, wasting those oh-so-scrumptious sandwiches.

Jumba had taken down a note, but it looked like he hadn't remembered the incident. Unfortunately for him, he was more concerned about the aptitude and attitude tests and didn't really pay attention to the physical tests. Jumba most likely thought it was a fluke or that he was legitimately ill and nauseated.

Too bad for you… you've just given me an invaluable advantage!

Now the question was, what was he to do?

For the first time in over an hour, 625 smiled to himself. Well, at least now there was absolutely no conflict in loyalties whatsoever towards the mission. Armed with this new knowledge, he couldn't help but feel his fur bristle in anger, feeling a sense of animosity towards his creator.

Jumba could be nabbed by the Council for all he cared! Furthermore, it was the most convenient option to him. All he had to do was simply let Pleakley lure Jumba into a trap, and then he would simply deliver the coup de grâce by handing over all of the experiment data on the network to the Council at Jumba's retrial. Virtually zero effort, just the way he liked it!

But was that really the best outcome?

625 grimaced. No, that would be way too simple. Jumba needed to pay much more for what he had done. He would deliver Jumba to them on a silver platter, but not before securing his own future. What would happen to him after all charges against him were dropped? As Experiment 625, he had nothing. And that was assuming the Grand Councilwoman wouldn't go back on her word and lock him up again. He wasn't going to let himself get betrayed again.

But once he guaranteed a favourable endgame, it was time for him to join in. There was no way he was going to let Pleakley have all the fun now. It was time for him to shake off his laziness and jump to the front lines.

But he would he be able to do that? One look at him and Jumba would instantly recognize him, putting the whole recapture mission in jeopardy. Yeesh, so many variables for him to take care of!

He shook his head, trying to focus on the problem at hand. How could he make it so that he can actively take down Jumba without the scientist recognising his identity?

Wait just one blooming moment! 625 straightened himself up as he recalled one of Jumba's boasts on that fateful day.

"My evil geniusness has allowed me to create six hundred and twenty four other genetic experiments before you, each and every last one of them with their unique and destructive capabilities designed to cause absolute chaos across galaxies! From shape shifter to Snootonium enricher, I have made it all!"

From shape shifter to Snootonium enricher…

That was it! A shapeshifter! Jumba had made a shapeshifting experiment before! He immediately pulled up the search feature, quickly receiving an instant response from the speakers of the computer.

"Search complete. One match for search query located. Experiment three-one-six, primary function: shapeshifter."

Number three-one-six, huh?

He smirked to himself, logging off the network and shutting down the computer.

The full moon shone brightly against the night sky.

It was a beautiful night. The skies were clear, the waves were breaking gently on the Hawaiian beach, and a cooling summer breeze was responsible for making the leaves on the trees rustle just ever so slightly.

However, on this night, the vegetation was not just rustling because of the wind. A certain figure was rubbing against the dense bushes by crawling against the ground… while complaining at the same time.

"This dirt is making my fur all muddy! That's like, super unhygienic! I mean, would I want my sandwiches with grimy dirt on them? Bleh!" Realising that he was ranting way off topic, and rather loudly to add, 625 lowered his volume before continuing. "Then again, I'm too lazy to wash all this dirt off… and there's the fact that water sucks."

Yeah, laugh all you want, blubber-face, but that substance IS pure evil!

Shaking the thought of water away, he looked up to find himself nearing a house. "What's this random house doing off the beaten path like that anyway?" he commented.

It had taken him a while to track Experiment 626 down and pinpoint him to the exact location he was staying at, but it wasn't an impossible task.

All he had to do was simply go back to the animal shelter wearing his cloak—amazingly no one could tell his identity despite what a horrible disguise that was—and pretended to be an auditor, asking the caretaker on duty for all the necessary documents.

Glancing at the latest document filed, he managed to get what he wanted. The one who adopted Experiment 626 was a girl by the name of Lilo Pelekai, and the house she was living in was located outside the main neighbourhood.

Now that he was actually near the house though, he had to be more careful. Making sure his sensitive ears heard absolutely no noise coming from inside, he slowly approached the location.

"Come on," he mumbled as he crept his way around the perimeter of the wooden house. "There's got to be a way in somewhere… aha!"

There was a window on the ground floor at the back that led to the kitchen that wasn't grilled. It happened to be small enough that someone of his size could jump up onto the ledge and into the house, which 625 proceeded to try to do…

…before failing miserably as his jump was nowhere near high enough for him to clear the height. "Oh, okay! I can't even jump, like, four feet?! Is this about my weight?" he moaned before getting some nearby flowerpots to use as leverage.

Climbing onto the window ledge, he was relieved to see that on the other end of the window was a kitchen sink. At least he could use the drawers there like a stepladder to get out of the house via the same window when he was done with his objective.

Tiptoeing as quietly as he can, he used his infrared vision to locate 626, which wasn't really that hard thanks to 626's distinctive shape. The experiment was on the second floor. Walking up the stairs, he opened to room door to find… a complete mess. It looked like 626 had already started to destroy whatever he could get his hands on.

His eyes finally landed on the blue figure that was lying on the ground. There he was — Experiment 626!

Turning to him, 625 was amused to see the experiment snoozing. "Well, what d'ya know? Out like a light," he commented. The experiment was navy blue in colour, but other than the ears… nothing much really looked that much different as compared to him.

He observed a crushed can of coffee gripped tightly in 626's left arm. Ah, this explained it. The caffeine probably knocked him out when the energy crash happened. This was one of the reasons why he never dipped his toasted bread in coffee, the other being that it kind of ruins the original taste.

But with 626 out like a light, this was a prime opportunity for him. Tracing 626's belly, 625 managed to make out the round shape that was the swallowed experiment container. Reaching slightly below the rounded edge, he felt a flat surface. Grinning, he realised that this was the touchpad, basically the computer to the container. 625 tapped the belly once in that area and was rewarded by hearing a very muffled computerised voice.

"Six hundred and twenty two experiments logged and functional. Experiment container ready. Select experiment."

There it was! The shapeshifter experiment was within his reach!

All he needed was just one. He wasn't greedy. Just one experiment pod would be enough to fulfill his plan.

He estimated the position of the numbers on the numerical keypad, before entering in the numbers carefully. "Three… one… six!" he muttered as he entered each number in precision.

626 suddenly gagged in his sleep, spitting out the pod. It was lucky that his saliva was mucus, which wouldn't activate the experiment. 625 quickly dove for it as it arced across the room. The last thing he wanted was to lose such a tiny pod. Luckily, he managed to catch the pod as he landed on the ground belly-first. Getting back up, he clenched it in his palm, ready to make a break for it if 626 woke up.

Although it looked like 626 was a heavy sleeper. After coughing up the pod, he immediately just returned to his original position. Heh, all the better! Now, all that was left for him to do was getting out of here.

The experiment container gave out a faint confirmation, "Experiment number—"

A loud yawn suddenly interrupted the container's message, making the rest of the words inaudible. 625 flinched and cursed his complacency. The girl! He had completely forgotten about the girl in his single-minded focus on 626 and the container! To make matters worse, his stunt to catch the pod earlier seems to have woken her up!

The girl tossed about, before stretching her arms and rubbing her eyes. Shoot! This was really bad! In less than a couple of seconds, her vision would be clear! He had no time to hide or run back down the stairs! Eyes darting left and right, he looked for the quickest escape route and went for it.

That "escape route" happened to be jumping out of the second floor window. Although, suffice to say, being a 600-series experiment, it didn't really hurt at all.

Although his poor bum had a pretty large painful bruise from the impact. Bah, if only he had a pillow on something to cushion his fall…

But all of that that didn't matter now! Not when he had finally managed to get what he wanted! "Hey now, Jumba. Don't say I didn't warn ya!" he said to himself, "In this cruel and harsh world, it's gotta be either you or me, and trust me, me and my sandwiches ain't going down without a fight!"

Holding up the small yellow orb in his palm to the moon, he triumphantly cackled. "Because with this shapeshifter experiment, I can be completely incognito! Ain't nobody going to boss me around anymore… hey, wait just a darn minute!" His face completely fell as the light from the moon illuminated the pod.

"This ain't experiment number three-one-six!"

Under the pale moonlight, 625 managed to see the number 613 printed onto the orb. He shut his eyelids, frustration clear on his glowering face.

He had entered the number on the keypad in reverse order. Instead of entering 3-1-6, he had accidentally entered in the numbers 6-1-3 and therefore had been dispensed the wrong experiment pod.

Scowling, 625 flung the incorrect pod away in anger. "Home run!" he spat, as the pod sailed away like a baseball, "Good riddance to you!"

With the girl awake, there was no chance of him making another attempt at Experiment 316 tonight. He would just have to try again another time.

However, in his agitation and hastiness to leave the scene, he had unintentionally forgotten what the Grand Councilwoman and Pleakley had briefed him about Planet Earth.

It was filled with water… and contact with water was what activated the dehydrated experiments in the experiment pods.

As the pod continued to bounce and roll, its path eventually crossed that of a water puddle. That slight contact caused the small orb to glow with a bright yellow flash that was visible for about a second, before the light disappeared as though nothing had happened.

In the middle of the silent night, no one was able to hear the experiment container beep out a muffled warning, one almost inaudible within the confines of a sleeping Experiment 626's stomach.

"Warning! Experiment six-one-three activated. Primary function: noisemaker."

A teal coloured creature with a foghorn attached onto his head materialised in place of the pod. Propping up his body on his tail to get a look, he tilted his head left and right before realising the situation.

He had been activated, on a foreign planet no less! That meant that it was time to accomplish Jumba's mission… to create total devastation to his surroundings using his natural ability.

And he proceeded to do just that, bouncing once on his tail to prepare before uncurling his foghorn-like antenna and letting loose a ear-piercing sonic blast.

625, who was walking away after throwing the pod, clutched the yellow antennas at the side of his head that doubled as his ears. "Yeow!" he winced, "Hey, now! What was that for?"

Turning around, he realised his folly. He had intended to dispose of the experiment pod, not activate the experiment within!

"Oh, for crying out loud!" 625 frustratedly thrust both his arms out, before immediately regretting that decision when a second sonic blast burst forth, threatening to burst his eardrums due to his close proximity to the high-decibel noise.

As Experiment 613 continued to blast deafening blasts of noise with excitement, 625 hurriedly took his leave. "Just my luck! Seriously, what are the chances?" he lamented as he scurried away, hands still clutching his ears in fear of suffering from any hearing loss.

"Come on! Can this night possibly get any worse?!"

Author's Note:

Want to know what's the whole deal about the experiment log? Well, I'm not telling… yet.

This chapter marks the beginning of a new arc, finally ending that admittedly kinda draggy adoption arc. But more significantly, it also marks the start of the main meat of the story and what most of you are probably looking forward to — the precious L&S experiments! They finally appear! Everyone cheer!

Also, I did say something about Yaarp appearing in Chapter 4's A/N, didn't I? Y'all saw this coming after that suspicious denial, right? Right?

AllyplusReuben: If I made this a genuine one-to-one copy of the Lilo and Stitch movie and not a Canon-Divergent AU like I'm doing now, then I guarantee that replacing Stitch with Reuben would result in the movie ending before the 10 minute mark because he'll be lazing in his cell immediately and not even bother trying to escape to Earth. :P