Chapter 17: Who Turns Him In? -or- Let Meega Explain

KAUAI, HAWAII

Lani wasn't so quick to let them get away with this, so she used her invisible force to hold onto the ship from the ground. With the propulsion they set against her, Lani dragged along the ground. Dirt marks left in her place, she stood horizontally on a tree to stop them from escaping.

"626!" Lani struggled. "If you're going to save her, go! I can't hold on much longer!"

"Oketaka," 626 nodded.

626 ran quick to another tree, climbing up and tipping it to the sides. Angel helped him ground it, both of them -along with 627- pulled it back to send 626 to the ship. The ship was a good few stories high, almost too high for Lani's range if she hadn't set her hold at the right time. Angel and 627 let go of the leaves, sending 626 rocketing to the ship. He hooked onto the side, crawling down to reach Lilo in the containment pod. He scratched at it to try and weaken the glass, however Ramthar was prepared for it. He set the engine at a higher power and turned the fires of the ship towards 626.

As much as they tried, Lani and 626 weren't powerful enough to keep their hold. Captain Gantu's ship broke free of her invisible force, sending her back to the earth. The same could be said for 626, as his burnt body plummeted to the ground. Lani reached a hand up to try and stop them, this time feeling another force grabbing her. Turning around and seeing 628 commanding the new weight, Lani shook her head. She couldn't hold off the weight for long, making it worse that she was sure 628 would easily break her hand.

So as Captain Gantu's ship retreated, as did all feeling from Lani's wrist.

Hearing the deafening cries of the partially all-seeing girl was enough to set off Angel's own fuse. She lunged at the very experiment who sent pain to her friend, making sure she paid. 626 and Lani felt defeated, nothing could have made things worse. So in comes and enraged Nani with a stick, whacking 626.

"Okay, talk," Nani glared at 626. "I know you had something to do with all of this. Now where is Lilo?"

"Nani, put the stick down," even in pain, Lani still remained the peacekeeper. "It's not all his fault."

"But I want answers," Nani struck 626 away again. "So talk! I know you can."

Nani really had him this time, though he wondered what her reaction would have been if he spoke. Stepping forward with his hands up to tell her "okay" only earned him another hit away, making him skid onto the floor in pain.

"Where's Lilo?" Nani steamed in anger.

"How's he supposed to answer if you keep hitting him?" Lani helped 626 stand up with her good hand. "Go on, tell her before she strikes you again."

"Lilo..."

Before 626 could answer her, he and 627 were blasted back with a plasma ball. Only 626 had been pinned and cuffed by Jumba, while Pleakley kept 627 under lock. Lani tried to move them away, finding that the action put too much strain on her wrist.

"Jumba, Pleakley!" 626 pleaded in near panic. "Aka boocha of this! Meega aka choota!Yuuga naga smish!"

"You're under arrest," Pleakley smiled at their victory. "Read him his rights."

"Listen carefully," Jumba smashed 626 against a tree.

"Hey, leave him alone," Lani glared at them. "Jumba, stop this. Pleakley?"

"Hello?" Pleakley made a call on his communicator. "Galactic Command? Experiment 626 is in custody. We'll wait right here."

"Will you both just listen?" Lani went to undo 627's binds. "Kavi, ikata."

"Evil," 627 smiled obediently.

As 627 lunged at the current bounty hunters, Lani and he were both surprised when he floated in the air. That could only mean 628 was in control of it, since Lani couldn't at the moment. There 628 stood, smiling triumphantly with a white sphere twirled in her fingers.

"This one certainly put up a good fight," 628 held up the pod. "I wonder how much of one 627 will put up."

Lani knew that even with 627's power, he couldn't stand a chance against her. 627 himself knew he couldn't win this fight, though many would question his intellect. 628 had the upper hand of the situation, which she intended on using before she got to 626. This was just to let him know what was to be, a way to prepare him for the worst to come. 628 compressed 627 into a ball, letting him shake before he was dehydrated into a blue pod. Lani and 626 gasped as they heard 627 scream before hand, same as Lani when 628 hurt her.

"Not much of a fight, 627," 628 smiled as she caught a dehydrated 627.

"Kavi/627!" 626 and Lani called out to the pod.

"And I'll also be turning in 626, if you don't mind," 628 turned to Jumba and Pleakley.

"I am not thinking so 628," Jumba objected with a laugh. "We are capturing 626 fair and square."

628 verbally fought Jumba and Pleakely over the reward, feeling it rightfully hers after they kept her in pod from. The fighting just never seemed to stop, Lani noticed. It seemed that once one part of the battle ended, there was some entirely different disaster that had to follow. Lani knew it was because of her, though she never would have guessed it would be this bad. There seemed like no hope of getting Lilo back, the ship would just fly higher as the time passed. They wouldn't listen to Lani, so someone had to get their attention.

"Where's Lilo?" Nani asked so low she managed to stop the aliens' spat.

"Who?" Jumba asked her.

"Lilo, my sister," Nani restated.

"We do not know anyone by this..."

"Lilo!" Nani cut Jumba off. "She's a little girl this big!" She held her hand down to show the size of her sister. "She has black hair and brown eyes and she hangs around with that thing!"

It was understandable that Nani was less than happy, to put it very lightly. It seemed to her that things went downhill as soon as she let Lilo keep 626, even more so when they found out he was an alien who brought along more trouble from space. Every second she spent doing nothing was more time she had to be further from Lilo, so Nani was not in the mood to sit on the sidelines anymore. She demanded action now, so Jumba had to comply out of fear.

"We know her," Jumba sighed in defeat.

"Bring her back," Nani ordered.

"I'm sorry to say that we cannot, miss," 628 told Nani.

"Why not?" Nani had to ask.

"That would be a misuse of Galactic Resources," Pleakley pointed out.

"Problem is, we're just here for him," Jumba told Nani sympathetically.

"So she's gone?" Nani summed up with tears beginning to form.

"Look at the bright side, you won't have to yell at anyone anymore," Pleakley tried to lighten the mood.

Nani was in tears, her little sister -who she fought so hard to keep by her side- was gone with no hope of returning. The very thought broke her, it was like losing her parents all over again. Only worse, this time she could have stopped it. It hurt 626 to see her so down, he even shed another tear at the sight. Nobody saw it though, as Jumba ordered Pleakley and even 628 to leave her to her sadness. 626 didn't want that, he wanted to go help Lilo. For his own reasons mostly, though a part of him wanted Nani not to cry.

"O'hana," 626 said to her.

"Get away from her," Jumba thought 626 would just make it worse.

"No!" Nani had to let 626 finish his sentence. "What did you say?"

"O'hana means family," 626 made her remember. "Family means..."

"Nobody gets left behind," Nani continued.

"Or forgotten," 626 nodded.

626 showed Nani the first kind thing he's ever done, making her feel she misjudged him greatly. She remembered something Lani said when they got 626, about Lilo seeing a light in him. Nani couldn't see it fully herself, though she hadn't really tried. She saw flickers when they all spent the day at the beach together, it was the one time he hadn't been out to wreck everything in sight. Her thoughts on the past were interrupted by Jumba, who bellowed about letting 626 go after all this trouble he put them through.

"Ih," 626 nodded at his creator's recapping question.

"Fine," Jumba gave into him.

"You're doing what he says?" Pleakley questioned as Jumba set 626 free.

"He's very persuasive," Jumba shrugged in response.

"Persuasive?!" Pleakley couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What exactly are we doing?"

"Rescue," Jumba was excited for this plan.

"We're going to get Lilo?" Nani smiled, hopeful.

"Ih," 626 nodded in assurance.

The idea that they were going to rescue Lilo was set, almost everyone was in agreement to this. There was just one more speed bump they had to pass over to do so, 628 was not agreeing to anything so soon.

"Ahem!" 628 called attention to herself. "Did you all forget about me? Why should I let you go, 626? After all, we have unfinished business to attend to. You dehydrate me..." She used her power to lift 626 up. "...I dehydrate you. Let's see how you like your own pod form."

"Don't!" Lani stopped her for the moment.

"To repeat myself, why should I?" 628 glared at her.

"Because..." Lani thought of a way to help. "...Because doing good makes you feel good."

"So you are the one who taught that nonsense to 624," 628 shook her head.

"It's not nonsense," Lani defended her motto. "Doing good gives you the power to overcome anything."

"You are absolutely right," 628 nodded to her. "Unfortunately, 626 is not good. Here is your proof."

628's eyes started to glow as she glared at 626, curving him into a ball with her invisible weight. 626 struggled against it, unable to find the strength to overcome this pressure. Though he had recently turned over a new leaf -somewhat-, it proved to be not enough to break the grasp of 628. The grey experiment held off Lani and the others with her other hand, all while 626 slowly shrunk. A piercing scream escaped him as he found himself loosing consciousness, turning for the first time into a red experiment pod.

A/N: I'm beginning to believe myself that things will never be alright here. I took this way farther than I was originally going to. Although, I still like the way it's headed -oddly enough. You gotta have a storm to appreciate a rainbow, right? Fortunately because of Good Friday, I'll give you all another chapter that's a bit lighter than a lot of my recent ones. It's not really a holiday, but it gives me extra time to buff out a few plans of mine. So let's continue and see how 626 manages to get out of this one.

Disclaimer: Lilo & 626=Disney/Sanders, Lani & 628=Me. And that's the way it works.

Next Time: As the race to save Lilo begins, how far will everyone go to rescue her?