Chapter 18: When Keypads Strike Back

Did you ever had that sinking feeling in your gut that you weren't going to like what was coming — that instinct from within you which made it seemed that things were just begging to go wrong, and thus most likely would?

You have?

Well, that was the same feeling that experiment three-four-five, aka the Electron Circus' Great Elastico, was currently experiencing right now with regards to the mission that he'd been forcefully drafted into. With an exhausted sigh, the experiment found himself reflecting on the situation and solemnly looking back on the crazy turn of events that had led him to this point.

It was a little jarring to think that just a mere twenty-four hours ago, he was having an absolute blast, experiencing what had undoubtedly been the best time of his entire life up until now. But to be absolutely fair, Elastico felt that he had rightfully deserved his chain of good luck after the utter nonsense that he'd been subjected to prior.

He'd fallen from a height of thousands of feet from a rapidly decompressing spacecraft, something which would normally kill someone. However, he was fortunate enough to have an ability to cushion his fall and thus miraculously emerged unscathed. As if the gods of fortune favored him that day, he had also been additionally blessed to have landed in a location with a group of people who immediately appreciated and loved his innate talent of stretching his body to incredible lengths. The circus folks had even given him a name that the experiment felt truly fit him — Elastico.

Seriously, what more could he possibly ask for? If Elastico asked for any more, it would literally come up as him being ungrateful and selfish. This truly was a dream come true for the clownish experiment.

And then, as though everything that he'd been through was nothing but an illusionary dream, his past immediately came back to haunt him with a roaring vengeance. To be fair, Elastico had somewhat expected for his fortunes to turn at some point. Even an overly optimistic experiment like him felt that the windfall of good luck that he'd had been fortunate to have for the past few days had been all too good to be true. As a result, he wasn't that surprised when his good luck finally ran out… he just never expected for his change of luck to be that sudden, and so severe.

Elastico was a carefree experiment, living his life to the fullest by treating each and every day like it could be his last. This 'go with the flow' attitude was something the experiment had held with him since the beginning to help him weather through the old days that he'd spent back at the lab under his creator Jumba's scrutiny. Back then, his powers had been restricted by the scientist before he found himself being forced to the back lines as his creator immediately worked on the next experiment, having deemed 345 as being "too much of a loose cannon".

"You are good at distracting enemy forces with your elasticity, experiment three-four-five," Jumba had praised him with a pat on the head before narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice, the sudden mood whiplash causing 345's smile to drop. "Unfortunately, when you are doing so, you also inevitably distract yourself as well!" Jumba had told him as he let out an exhausted sigh. "Very bad. Very, very bad!"

With that final analysis, Jumba had apparently given up all hope on 345, basically shoving him aside like another failed creation, never again calling upon his aid or acknowledging him up until the point where the lab security had been breached by the Galactic Federation. Forced into a corner, Jumba had then given the order to dehydrate everyone. The implication was obvious — the big war against the Galactic Federation that Jumba had always hyped about was finally about to commerce in earnest. Much like the other experiments, Elastico's face was one of glee, although for a different reason as to most of the others.

The experiment knew that he would finally be free of this prison when he was reactivated. Frankly, he couldn't wait for that to happen. Unlike some of the others, to him it didn't matter where he was activated. Just so long as he was the master of the planet he was on and no longer had to put up with this, he was okay with anywhere.

Elastico thought that his big break had come when he found himself rehydrated back from his pod form. He'd expected to see a planet, after which he would immediately defect and simply live the life that he wanted to live. His expectations were subsequently dashed and proven dead wrong when he'd woken up and immediately saw Jumba's face again. To make things worse, his panicking creator and a mad hamster then proceeded to immediately fight over his powers in order for them to survive a spaceship crash landing.

Not the best place for him to be rehydrated. That much was blatantly obvious.

After that lucky escape and his subsequent recruitment into the circus, even his happy-go-lucky optimistic side had been prepared for any event to turn his wave of good fortunes around. Although he'd expected his luck to turn at some point, even he had to admit that his heart skipped a beat when he saw none other than Experiment 625 waiting for him right after he'd finished performing to an ecstatic crowd.

The Experiment 625. At the moment at which their eyes had met, Elastico had thought that he was a goner. Thank goodness that 625 wound up being oddly merciful to him and had elected to spare him for who knows what reason.

Perhaps that same mercy was also a curse. He had the suspicion that 625's unwillingness to finish him off might lead to him slowly beginning to garner false hope that he'd manage to get away unscathed at the end of it all. But even an optimistic experiment like Elastico knew otherwise in his heart, the experiment very well aware that if he botched up whatever 625 wanted from him, he could kiss his career in the circus behind.

Sure, he had no doubt in his mind that he was able to stretch his way to safety if 625 turned on him, perhaps even fleeing to another island. But the problem was that an escape to get away from 625 would mean leaving the Electron Circus behind — something that Elastico was unable to fathom. A lot was at stake for Elastico. He was willing to live his life in pursuit from Jumba and Experiment 625, but to do that would mean abandoning the only family that he'd had, something Elastico couldn't accept… not even as a last resort. He hadn't come this far only to have everything be taken from him.

Hence, Elastico decided that he basically had no choice but to go along with 625's plan. It was not only for his own safety, but also for the sake of his circus troupe as well. Unwilling to lose his newfound happiness, the resigned Elastico thus consigned himself to do whatever 625 wanted.

He just never expected for that task to be something like this.

"Gaba is this place?" Elastico questioned the experiment next to him, tilting his head at a ninety-degree-angle by stretching his neck so that he could emulate an owl, putting in the extra effort just to emphasize his confusion.

"Why, it's a house!" 625 answered as they stood outside the structure while making sure to give the jittery experiment a good hearty pat on the back. The moment of contact caused him to jump and stretch his body gently. "Aren't you being a little panicky, Elastico?" he commented. "I mean, look at how calm I am right now…"

"Of course yuuga calm! Because unlike meega, yuuga aren't famous and on TV! Yuuga don't have anything to lose!" Elastico replied, nervously darting his eyes left and right as they continued to eye the house. "The difference is that the people around here know meega! If anyone sees meega doing this now, my career isa all but toast!"

"Eh, you know Elastico… if your career really ends up being toast, I can help ya eat up the remains," 625 offered, unable to resist the opportunity to make a bread-related pun much to Elastico's chagrin. The green experiment promptly rolled his eyes, momentarily forgetting about his worry as he cursed his current existence as the assistant of 625, who he was quickly finding out to be a very unorthodox partner.

"Now, your first task is very simple." 625 pointed up at the open window. "You see that window ledge, Elastico? I want you to pull us both up there. Easy-peasy."

Elastico felt a grin creeping up on his face as he stretched his arm out to grip ahold of 625's torso. Finally, a task that was very familiar to him! Flashing a grin that he hadn't shown throughout this whole ordeal up to this point, Elastico reached his free arm up to the windowsill, before propelling himself and 625 upwards as he retracted the stretchy limb. Abseiling across the wall, Elastico then threw 625 and himself into the window, the two landing in the room inside.

625 rubbed his head from the impact, shaking off his dizziness as he got to his feet. He silently walked across the floorboards to stop in front of the snoozing Experiment 626. "Now, it appears that this game between us begins again…" he drawled as he observed 626's chest rise and fall. "It is time! Heh heh heh!"

Elastico shook his head as 625 began to act as exaggeratedly as some of the circus performers he'd worked with back at the Electron Circus. No, arguably worse than them, if that was even possible. At least his colleagues were paid to act that way, while 625 was just doing it either as force of habit or to deliberately make him agitated. Following 625's gaze, Elastico pointed at the dark blue creature. "Um, who isa that?" he asked out of curiosity. It looked almost like one of Jumba's experiments, but if it was… he didn't recognize.

625 simply gave Elastico a passing glance as he lay his hand on the sleeping creature's light blue belly. "Oh, must I really spoil the surprise?" he droned with a bored expression. "You'll find out soon enough… once my vengeance is complete, that is."

Elastico chose to drop the topic at 625's vague answer, although the experiment was definitely beginning to feel that there was more than what met the eye there. He cautiously watched as 625 then rubbed the belly of the experiment, prodding it until a muffled beep could be heard from within. Elastico jumped into the air at the sound, preparing to flee from the sudden noise until he saw that 625 was remaining perfectly still, evidently having expected it.

"G-Gaba is that noise?" he stuttered, averting his eyes and looking in the opposite direction of 625 and the blue creature.

625's smile went wider as he shot Elastico back a pleased response, "That noise, my friend, is what I'm here for… Jumba's very own experiment container!"

Elastico spun on his heel to whirl around at 625. The yellow experiment immediately whistled when he saw Elastico's panicked face, playing innocent and acting as though he hadn't just randomly dropped a bombshell on the clown. Experiment 625 acting dumb didn't stop Elastico from saying his thoughts out loud. "Gaba you say!? J-Jumba's experiment container? The one that isa supposed to hold all of us experiments? Gaba isa it doing in there!?"

Before 625 could answer any of his questions, the experiment container beeped faintly again from within 626's stomach, right a soft message was broadcast throughout the room.

"Six hundred and twenty-one experiments logged and functional," it informed. The voice message was certainly quite a bit of déjà vu to Experiment 625, especially since he'd literally just heard the message the previous day. After the pod numerical check, the container then gave the all-clear signal for a pleased end-user. "Experiment container ready. Please select experiment."

Even in his current state of mind, 625 was observant enough to notice that the status message beeped out by the experiment container had changed slightly, the experiment making a mental note in his head that the numerical value had decreased down from the 622 that it had spat at him the previous night. It had fallen by a numeric value of one, now giving the value of 621 experiments. But that was to be expected. It made sense for the counter to drop since he had drawn out Experiment 613, Yaarp, from the capsule. He would have been worried if the counter had dropped further, but since it was precisely at the value which he'd expected it to be, there was nothing to worry about.

Absolutely nothing.

It was clearly apparent that Experiment 626 appeared to be a heavy sleeper. 625 didn't know that the first time round, but if he had somehow managed to get away from the house even though a freaking noise-making experiment had been activated within close proximity, the yellow experiment was all but certain of that fact this time.

With this new knowledge, Experiment 625 knew better than to be hasty. After all, more haste equaled less speed. He certainly wasn't going to be as careless as he was in his first attempt and thus ruin the whole thing as a result. And as a fallback, 625 had Elastico in tow this time, so he knew that he had all the time in the world to find the one experiment that he wanted. He was going to take it slow until he was all but guaranteed three-one-six's experiment pod.

His eyes then hovered over to the nervous Elastico. Speaking of experiment three-four-five…

"Hey, bud!" 625 repeatedly snapped his fingers to grab his partner's attention. "Mind if you do the job for me while I slack off?"

Elastico shot 625 a deadpan stare until he realized that 625 was being serious. "Gaba? Yo-you want meega to do everything?" Elastico himself was shocked that 625 all but admitted that he wanted to lay back and use him as a crutch for the entire mission. "Naga-takabah! Not a chance there! What about yuuga, six-two-five?!"

"I already did my fair share for this heist… the planning portion, that is." Seeing Elastico still unconvinced, 625 slouched and began to yawn in an effort to make himself seem even more inadequate for the job. "Aw, come on and have a heart, won't ya? Help a buddy out, please? I really am lethargic, poor ol' me didn't get much sleep last night, you know?" Despite the flimsy excuse, Elastico had no choice but to concede with a sigh, knowing full well that 625 currently held his freedom in the palm of his hand, for the moment at least, so he pretty much had to oblige.

"Besides, I'm not sure if you're aware, but I've already done this once before. However, this is your first time here, so naturally as my understudy for learning about how to stealthily steal stuff, I'm going to let you have the honor of actually performing the task at hand. Good luck, mate!"

Elastico stood defiant as his eyes hovered down. He didn't know who the six-two-five lookalike on the ground was, but every instinct within the experiment was telling him to stay the heck away from it, and thus he wisely chose to remain a sizeable distance away.

This stalemate persisted until 625 realized that trying to convince the terrified Elastico to approach 626 would only waste valuable time. "Ah, alright," he conceded as he let out a huff, with Elastico visibly appearing to be relieved as he was granted the concession. "I'll do all the hard work while you slack off. Ya happy now?"

As 625 walked up to the sleeping experiment on the ground, his normally mischievous eyes turned serious. "Alright, ya better listen up. Pay very close attention to what I'm about to say, Elastico. There's one specific experiment pod that I wanna get, and that's experiment number three-one-six. And I'm not gonna leave this place before I get it," he emphasized. "If it means that we're gonna be here until dawn to sift through piles of experiment pods, then so be it. But the important part is this, Elastico. If the person on the ground shows even the slightest sign of stirring, you use your elastic stretchy powers and get the two of us out of here, immediately." His eyes hovered onto the snoozing 626. "I wanna bolt from this place before he realizes anything is amiss. Ya got that?"

Elastico nodded at his order, the experiment's eyes darting between the open window and his captor. He was on the balls of his feet, preparing to stretch to safety and leave the vicinity the very moment something potentially went wrong. With 625, it was better to be safe than sorry.

625 slowly reached forward, prodding the soft underbelly with two fingers, before making three sharp jabs that caused Elastico to wince. 345 didn't understand what 625 was doing. If he was so adamantly against the sleeping person waking up, why did he poke him in the belly?

He got his answer as the being on the ground twitched. Almost ready to flee, he only stopped when he saw 625 sternly glance at him, signaling for him to stand down by holding up a paw as the yellow experiment looked on.

Experiment 626 then spat out the experiment pod that irritated his gullet even as his slept on gag reflex. The mucus-covered pod then landed with a clatter onto the wooden floorboard. 625 picked it up with mild disgust, rubbing the round pod repeatedly onto his fur to dry it off and clean up the excess mucus.

Once the writing on the pod was legible enough due to not being completely covered by gooey slime, he held the pod up to his eyes by using two fingers. The room was very dark, so 625 was forced to use his infrared vision to read the experiment number that was embedded on the pod that had been dispensed.

"Experiment number… two-seven-seven," 625 muttered in a slow manner, before letting out a groan when he realized it was the wrong pod yet again. "Gack! Why!? Of course the keypad just so happens to be misaligned and gives me the wrong pod once again. Of course it had to be! Must the stars always be misaligned for poor ol' six-two-five?" He shook his head with a grumble, before he gestured towards his partner in crime.

"Hey, Elastico! I don't have any need for this! Catch!" 625 made brief eye contact with Elastico before using an overhand throw to fling the pod over in his direction. The trajectory of the small flying object forced Elastico to stretch his arm out so that he could catch the pod before it clattered on the wooden floor.

"Oi, six-two-five!" Elastico viciously hissed as his arm retracted back with the pod safely in his palm. "Gaba you doing! Yuuga almost blew our cover!"

625 snickered at Elastico's flustered response. It would seem that Elastico would be just as easy to mess with as Pleakley was, much to his great delight. "Ah, no need to be so hard up!" he reassured the green experiment while trying to play innocent. "I was simply testing your reaction time. It's very good to see that you're on the ball."

As Elastico glowered at 625, the yellow experiment tiptoed back to the snoozing 626 and made another attempt at the pod, this time pressing his paw down at a different location. Jabbing his finger into the soft fur of 626's belly around where he suspected the keypad of the containing was, 625 once again attempted to press the keys which would lead to his selected experiment pod being ejected. "Experiment three… one… six," he muttered as he made another guessing attempt as to where the three, one, and six keys were on the keypad within 626's stomach area.

Another experiment pod thus sailed through the air. As 625 picked it up from the floor, he found himself disappointed once again. "Number oh-oh-seven," he dismissed as he threw the pod to Elastico again. "Next!" he barked before Elastico could even grab the pod that was currently in the air.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down please, six-two-five!"

625 ignored Elastico, starting to become impatient at the results that he was getting. More and more experiment pods were spat out as he continued to use the method of trial-and-error to get the pod that he wanted, although rather unfortunately for everyone involved, he kept getting duds over and over again.

"Experiment oh-oh-seven? Come on, now that number's just completely way off."

"Oh-two-oh… nah! Unless you add about three hundred to that number!"

"Six-oh-two? Gragh, I don't need another six-series experiment! Six-one-three was enough! My ears are still ringing from the last one, that bloomin' loud noisemaker experiment!"

"C-Choota…" Elastico let out a rare curse, keeping his head down as he threw all the reject pods out of the window, using the downtime to listen to 625 continuing to ramble on and lament about his unfortunate streak of luck with regards to finding the experiment pod that he wanted. The clown jester groaned as 625 pressed on with his mission with no regards to his surroundings. The experiment was oblivious to everything that was around him, almost like he was in his own little world…

"Experiment pod selected."

…his own little world where that simple phrase was his addiction. Elastico could see that 625 relished those words — the constant thrill with every gamble that the next experiment would be the one he was after, the elusive experiment three-one-six.

Even if it never was.

"Experiment two-oh-two?"

Elastico tilted his head when he saw 625 looking at the next pod that had been spat out with a look that wasn't utter disdain for once. "Hey, that's the inverse of oh-two-oh!" 625 commented with a surprised look as he rubbed his fingers against the red experiment pod. "I guess I could keep you as a good luck charm, in hopes that I manage to get experiment six-one-three's reverse… oh, just where are you, three-one-six?" he moaned as he pocketed the pod.

Praying before he mashed on 626's belly again, 625 closed his eyes with a sigh before picking up the next pod that 626 gagged up in his sleep. Picking it up from the wooden floor, he held it up to the moon, the reflection of the moonlight through the window illuminating the pod serial number.

"Three… one… six…" 625 murmured, almost instinctively tossing the pod aside to Elastico due to expecting yet another reject. Thankfully, his brain managed to catch the experiment number that he had said out loud in time before his muscle memory messed him up.

"Wait just a darn minute! Experiment three-one-six? For real!?" the pudgy experiment did a double-take, his jaw slackening in shock before his lips curled up to form a smile. "Experiment three-one-six! Yes! Yes! I finally got it! Ahahahaha!"

"Good! Yuuga got what yuuga want," Elastico hissed as he saw 625 grab firmly onto the yellow experiment pod. "So can we go now? This place gives meega the creeps!"

"Oh, sure thing. Let's get outta here! Waa-hey!" For once, 625 didn't mess with his expectations. Just solely by the fact that 625 hadn't gave a sarcastic reply to banter with him, it became quite clear to Elastico that 625 had gotten his prize and wanted to quickly leave as well. 625 pointed towards the window as he walked across the room. "Plan's simple. You lower me down to the ground with your stretchy little arms. You can do that for me, can't ya?"

Elastico glared at 625 as the mischievous experiment flailed his arms about as he was saying the statement, his erratic movement a clear jab at Elastico's stretchy hands. Honestly though, Elastico just felt more irritated than anything. He'd spent less than a day with Experiment 625 and promptly came to the conclusion that the experiment was so good when it came to verbal spars and pushing buttons that it might as well be his primary function.

Nevertheless, he put that all aside, quickly grabbing 625 and jumping out of the window, inflating his body to a round orb that surrounded 625 until they hit the ground and he reverted back to normal.

"Nice trick, Elastico." 625 dusted himself off as he stood up. "A little disorientating and dizzy, but useful nevertheless. And thus I will award your performance with an eight out of ten score." As he chuckled one last time at the gaping Elastico, 625 proceeded to open his palm to check that he still had the pod with him before grinning and starting to strut away.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Elastico turned on his heel, confusion apparently on his face as he called out to 625. "Gaba yuuga doing?" he confronted his partner as 625 palmed the blue orb in his hand, "Meega thought that yuuga were retrieving the experiment pods for Jumba?"

"Jumba?" 625 had a wry grin on his face as he said their creator's name with a tone that was brimming with contempt. "Really now, Elastico? You actually think that I'm doing this for Jumba? What a joke! Hahahahah!"

As 625 let out a cruel laugh, a sneaky look crossed his face, one that rapidly grew at a rate that was directly proportional to the dawning terror of Elastico's own paint-covered one. The jester experiment simply wrung his fingers at the sight. Although the mission had been a success, he was now starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing.

Once 625 finally calmed down, he continued to speak with a more subdued tone, "Ah, but I never did explicitly say that now, did I?" he chuckled as he playfully snapped his fingers. "Got ya there, didn't I? As the old saying goes, never assume anything without first confirming it, pard! Heh heh!"

A look of worry crossed Elastico's face. "But if experiment pod not for Jumba, then who isa it for…?" he asked hesitantly as he twiddled his fingers, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer to his question.

And sure enough, his trepidation proved to be correct.

"Why… they're for me, of course." 625 took a small bow as he rolled his eyes in response. "Oh come on now, don't act like you're so shocked, Elastico," said 625 as he poked Elastico in the belly. "Isn't the answer blatantly obvious? If the pod isn't for Jumba, then it's certainly going to go down to the person who's next in line, aka yours truly!" 625 finished off with a wink as he continued to poke Elastico in the purple spot that was in the middle of his belly.

"Meega hate yuuga. Meega hate yuuga so much. So, so much."

625 let out a hoot of laughter at Elastico's blunt statement, which only caused the green experiment to scowl even further. "But I should thank ya for the assistance rendered nevertheless. You are dismissed for now, Elastico," he said as he waved three-four-five off in a dismissive shoo-like manner. Elastico, realizing that he had gotten the go-ahead to flee, wasted no time at all in saying his farewells, the experiment reaching to a nearby lamppost and using the tension from stretching there to propel himself forward — and as far away from Experiment 625 as physically possible.

625 watched as Elastico disappeared before holding up the yellow experiment pod with a sense of elation. Despite everything, Elastico had been an invaluable help to him, and though he won't admit it out loud, he was glad that he seeked the help of the troupe performer. Plus, it felt good to have a victory for once after all of the setbacks he'd had since ending up on Planet Earth.

He continued to stroll along the roadside until he found a body of water that he'd marked earlier on, conveniently located in a fountain outside the Birds of Paradise Hotel. With a flourish, he tossed the experiment pod into the water, making sure to hurriedly take a few steps back, albeit not for the obvious reason.

625 chose to keep his distance as a soft glow began to illuminate the water beneath the surface. It wasn't as though he was scared of the experiment, but he would certainly prefer if the splash didn't get his beautiful fur wet. He had already despised it when Blubby had shoved him into water when they landed on Earth and matted his yellow fur from head to toe as a result. Maintaining the safety distance, 625 paced around the round fountain, watching intently as tiny bubbles began to froth up to the surface of the pool.

A sudden flash of blistering light shone for a second. Far, far away, inaudible to six-two-five's—as well as six-two-six's—ears, the experiment container let out an ominous message about the new development.

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

As the glowing light dimmed down, it revealed a pink, blob-like being — the eponymous Experiment 316 who 625 had been eyeing for so long. He chuckled in delight as 316 landed in the pool of water with a small splash. As they locked eyes, 625 reached to his back and pulled out an object, waving it at the pinkish experiment.

"Over here, good boy."

316 instantly cooed when he saw the object in 625's paw — a large, tender deep-fried chicken wing. He hopped out of the fountain and greedily snatched the chicken wing from 625.

"You like that, huh? Maybe one day I should make ya a chicken wing sandwich…" As 316 tenderly munched on the wing, 625 smirked to himself. He could already tell by this point, Jumba's habit of meticulously logging down everything about his experiments was going to be his eventual downfall.

'Log Number 3

Today is upsetting day for Jumba. After completion of test run for three-one-six's successful creation, Jumba decided to go get nice delicious chicken burger from intergalactic fast food restaurant to celebrate. However, the instant Jumba stepped one foot into lab at Galaxy Defense Industries, experiment three-one-six's attention was piqued and my little monster gobbled up Jumba's pack-away chicken wing meal in one bite before Jumba could stop him!

Argh! How very infuriating! Now I have to be going back to fast food restaurant to reorder meal. But it is being curious to Jumba… I am surprised that three-one-six liked that food so very much that he practically demanded more of the tasty morsel from me. He was being absolutely adamant about it as well, to the point where he refused a direct order from me… me!

Must make mental note about this incident. Love for chicken wing snack is possible weakness for three-one-six. What a shame that experiment three-one-six has fatal flaw for others to exploit. It would appear that unfortunately, three-one-six is not Jumba's perfect genetic experiment after all…'

While reading Experiment 316's entry at the computer café, 625's eyes had glazed upon that tidbit of information that Jumba had noted down. Utilizing it to his own advantage it was now clearly paying off. He never would have suspected three-one-six of having a fondness for chicken wings had he not chanced upon Jumba's own notes, but with that knowledge he pretty much managed to have 316 under his thumb as of now. It was a start, but hopefully he would be able to completely gain 316's trust and utilize its power soon enough.

Still, he had to admit that he felt stupid for carrying the piece of chicken all the way from the Electron Circus to the Birds of Paradise Hotel. Truth be told, he would have left it there to begin with, but 625 wasn't sure if someone else would steal it before he arrived in the vicinity, which would leave him without a way to control 316. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened with Experiment 613, so 625 just chose to play it safe and bring the piece of oily food with him throughout instead, despite the fact that it was certainly sticky and covered part of his fur with oil.

But whatever. It was a small price to pay in the end for 625, especially since he now had Experiment 316 and his transformative shapeshifting powers at his disposal. Now, everything was finally falling into place. The time for jokes and fooling around was about to draw to a close.

Soon he would have his revenge. It was only a matter of time.

"It's about time for me to make my mark on this world… and I intend to do it in style!" Experiment 625 clenched his paw as he looked up to the moon high above. "Y'all better prepare yourselves, citizens of Kokaua Town! My revenge on Jumba starts in earnest tonight, and I'm afraid you humans are gonna be caught in the crossfire! But too bad! I refuse to play second fiddle to anyone ever again!"

Experiment 316, still engrossed in munching on his chicken wing, briefly looked up at 625's mad declaration before continuing on with his meal. Unperturbed or even the slightest bit embarrassed at 316's reaction, 625 continued on his impromptu speech with the backdrop of the Birds of Paradise hotel looming behind him, lifting his right paw high up with a determined flourish, the gesture making it seem almost like 625 truly thought that he could reach up to the distant stars that were in the night sky above.

"Boy, howdy! It's time for this place to prepare for some major trouble, for your good ol' trusty sandwich maker is now in town. Y'all better bet that I'm ready to dish out mayhem, specially topped with tartar sauce! Heh heh heh!"

Author's Note:

Alrighty! This story arc finally draws to a close. Can't believe it's taken close to ten months to wrap this thing up, especially considering Morpholomew was first hinted at five chapters ago.

Feel free to look up all the experiment numbers of the pods that were thrown aside by 625 — I ensure you that I won't forget them. Unlike what I did in Chapter 4, this time I won't be listing down their experiment-names translation since every single one of them will pretty much get involved in one way or another, so I'd rather not spoil it for you — you'll have to actively look them up for yourself (unless you already know them) or simply read on if you're interested.

But I hope I did a good job in changing up the standard L&S formula for these past few chapters… because these next few chapters (not to spoil) and the new story arc that'll premiere next chapter will shake things up even more than before. Do look forward to that, for we're finally coming close to the climax of Act 1 for this fic.