Author Notes: If anyone wants to email me, they can. Sorry for not updating sooner.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo and Stitch.
Thru New Eyes
Chapter 5: Operation Splash Down
"Good day Superintendent Chambers, how are you this morning?" Principle Tanner said as he greeted his boss at the front drive.
"Good day Tanner. I trust everything is ready for my visit?" Chambers replied as he stepped out of his car.
"Yes sir! I have had the entire school grounds patrolled for any signs of mischief. Nothing will go wrong today." Tanner replied in an uneasy voice.
"I'm sure it won't. And for the last time, stop apologizing for the sprinkler system malfunction, new fangled security systems like that one always go haywire." Chambers said as he straightened his tie.
"I still believe it was the work of some of the students. The fact that it happened on the first day of school is just too suspicious. Not to mention the other various 'accidents' that have occurred as of late."
The old superintendent just sighed. "Andrew my boy, you are being paranoid. If it was something like someone's underpants on the flagpole, or itching powder in gym shorts, I'd agree with you. But faulty sprinklers and glitchy computers aren't pranks, just shoddy workmanship."
"But sir, the computers were flashing the same thing over and over again. True, the techs weren't even sure what it was, and it wasn't in any language familiar to the staff, but the fact of the matter is…"
"The fact of the matter is that it was nothing but random gibberish. 'Meega Nala Questa' is not in any language. I had my speech specialist check."
"Of course sir, I guess it was just a series of mechanical failures." the principle agreed, defeated.
"Well, now that that's over with, I think the rest of the school board has arrived. So let's begin our tour of your school."
What they didn't realize was at that moment they were being watched. "Okay, the targets are within range, prepare to fire on my signal." Lilo said from her position on the roof.
Meanwhile Knuckles was in the restroom with a remote control held out the window. "Ready on this end."
The principle and the four members of the board had just made there way into the front courtyard. "It sure is a nice day. Tell me Principle Tanner, do you ever let the children eat outside?" asked one of the board members, a man in his early 50's with a green sportscoat and a tie with golf balls on it.
"Oh sure, we normally allow the children to eat their lunches in the picnic area next to the playground." Principle Tanner replied..
"Is that such a good idea, seeing as that you have had some disciplinary troubles in the past few months? What if some of the children try to sneak off?" another member, a woman in her early 40's said as she looked over the groundskeeping.
"Mina, I have already had this discussion with Principle Tanner, those 'incidents' were no more than malfunctions. New-fangled computers, in my day…"
As Superintendent Chambers continued to rant on about the old days, Lilo gave the signal. "Okay, now."
Knuckles pressed the button on the remote, and the cannons fired the paint balloons high into the air. Lilo watched as they flew over her.
On the ground, Principle Tanner looked up just in time to see the incoming balloons, but too late to do anything but nearly faint. The balloons exploded and paint went everywhere. Principle Tanner was covered in red paint, while the members of the board were anywhere from having just paint on his trousers (the guy in the golf tie), to having a face full of paint. (Superintendent Chambers).
Principle Tanner saw the look on the boards faces. "I'm going to be fired, aren't I?"
"No." Chambers replied. "But I believe you now. You DO have a problem here."
Meanwhile Lilo had finished filming the entire thing, giggling as she packed away the camera. She then sprouted her wings, and after making sure it was all clear she flew down to the ground behind the building. She ran inside and stuffed the camera in her locker.
Filming the incident wasn't necessary, since Stitch, Richie, and Jason had been watching from the classroom window. And by the time Mina Jamerson stopped screaming and cursing, the entire classroom was paying attention. As well as every classroom on that side of the building. The laughter didn't make her any calmer, and Keoni blushed in embarrassment as he listened to the curses coming out of his mother's mouth.
While two of the other board members were trying to calm her down, Principle Tanner was apologizing profusely to the superintendent. "I'm so sorry Superintendent Chambers, I'll make sure that the hooligans responsible for this are found and expelled."
"It's alright Tanner, children will be children. Besides, I have a friend who might be able to help with your problem."
"A friend? I'm sure I can handle this myself if it means…"
"No, no, I'm not getting the state board of education involved, last thing we need is a bunch of busybodies. But it seems that your pranksters are a bit smarter than your average delinquents."
"I know who they are sir, if I could just prove it." Tanner pleaded.
"No, Principal Tanner, I think you need a new vice principal. Your former one resigned a month ago, didn't she?"
"Um, yes sir she did. Who do you have in mind?"
"Let's just say he's the one I like to call when things go wrong."
It was right after school, and the gang was brimming with energy. They hadn't talked about their prank all day, as to not give themselves away, but now Jason was about ready to explode. "Oh man, that has to be the funniest thing I've ever seen. Did you see the way that one woman completely wigged out? Awesome."
"Yeah, and Lilo got it all on tape." Stitch said, motioning to the camera bag.
"How did she get on the roof anyway? That door is usually locked." Knuckles asked as he put his book bag on his bike.
Stitch was about to make up an excuse, but Jason came to his rescue. "Who cares? Janitor probably left it unlocked. All that matters is the choice footage we got."
"Yeah, and that Principal Tanner never sees it." Knuckles added.
"Yeah, and that. We need to get down to the forest and remove those cannons before someone goes looking for them." Jason said as he hopped on his bike.
"I'm going to look for Lilo; I didn't see her come out." Stitch said as he handed the camera to Knuckles.
"Okay, but don't take too long. I think Richie is already started cleaning up, and he might start to get worried if we take too long." Knuckles said as he raised his kickstand and took off after Jason.
Meanwhile, Richie was waiting at the launch point, shuffling his feet. "Where are they, they should have been here ten minutes ago. Unless they got detention at the last minute. Again."
Just then Richie heard footsteps coming down the path. He turned around to see Principal Tanner standing on the edge of the clearing.
"Well, I never figured you'd be in on this, Richie. I figured I'd find Jason and Alex, and maybe that blue-haired kid, but not you. I'm very disappointed."
Richie was frozen in fear. Horrible thoughts flashed thru his mind. He knew he was going to be expelled, at the very least. Or worse, he could be arrested and sent to juvenile hall, where he would be beat up every day. And what would his parents think of him?
"Now Richie, I know that you weren't the only one behind this. And I bet Jason and Alex pressured you into it. If you just tell me what I want to know, I'll make sure that the superintendent goes lightly on you. Probably no more than a couple days suspension."
Richie snapped back into reality. Jason, Knuckles, and Chris were his best friends. He swore he would never tell on them. But he was frightened and about ready to cry, when he heard someone shout out.
"Hey, Principal Tanner!"
Richie opened his eyes to see Lilo coming from behind the trees. Principal Tanner spun around. "What is the meaning of this, young lady? You'd better have a really good excuse for yelling at me." Tanner said as he looked the interloper in the eyes, in an intimidation attempt.
Big mistake. Suddenly Principal Tanner's face became blank, as Lilo activated her control ability. She smiled slightly at her success, and then spoke to the now mind-numbed principal. "You feel tired. You are going to go the office and take a nap." Then a look of concentration formed on Lilo's face as she erased the principal's memories of the past half-hour. The principal then walked back up the path toward the school, just as he had been told.
Lilo half-expected to turn and see Richie faint, but he was standing there, not with a look of horror, but more surprise, which meant what Lilo was afraid of: Richie was frightened of her because of her experiment powers. She frowned slightly as she looked at the ground. "How long have you known?"
"Since the first day of school, when you flew away with Chris. You aren't going to erase my memory are you?" Richie said as he gulped.
"No Richie, I had a feeling you knew." Lilo said in a depressing tone. She knew she was in A LOT of trouble now. She had just used her powers, in public, with someone else watching her. If Cobra found out, he would go ballistic.
"I won't tell anyone Lilo, if that's what you are worried about. I don't really think anyone would believe me. But I need to know something."
"What's that?" Lilo asked looking up at him.
"Is Chris an alien too?"
Lilo looked back down at the ground again. Everything was falling apart at the seams. Richie knew now, how many more people would learn? How long before their secret was known to everyone?
Lilo's silence was answer enough. "Have you always been this way?" Richie asked, still instinctively keeping his distance.
"No, not always. At least not me. It's a long story." She said, not taking her eyes off the ground. She heard someone coming, and her head shot up.
At that moment Knuckles and Jason came running down the path. "Are you two okay, we just saw Tanner nearby. We figured he might how found our launching spot." Jason panted, clearly out of breath.
Knuckles however seemed to have no problem with breathing, and calmly looked the area over. "It doesn't seem like Tanner was here, we must have lucked out."
Lilo looked nervously at Richie, afraid he'd tell them what really happened.
"Nope, guess we were lucky. But let's get these cannons out of here before he does show up!" Richie said, smiling softly, letting his friend know he had no intention of letting anyone else on to her and Stitch's secret. Lilo became less tense as she started to help Jason, who had begun disassembling one of the cannons.
Moments later, Stitch finally reached the clearing. Jason turned to face him as he came off the path. "All that looking for nothing, huh? Lilo was here the whole time, helping Richie get a head start. Now let's hurry and get these bad boys outta here before Tanner comes back around."
"Tanner was looking around here earlier? How are we sure he didn't find anything?" Stitch said as he hefted one of the cannons barrels over his shoulder.
"Don't you think he would be having been here waiting for us?" Richie said as he disassembled the last cannon.
"Yeah." Jason added. Then he stopped to think for a minute and then turned to Knuckles. "Hey, Knuckles, was Principal Tanner acting a little funny to you?"
Knuckles face also took on a thoughtful look. "You're right Jason. He walked right past us, but he didn't stop to question us, or even look at us. It was like he was in a trance."
Stitch attention immediately turned to Lilo, and the look made Lilo even more nervous than before. "Oh, it was probably just shock. I mean, we did just make a fool of him in front of his bosses." she said as she laughed nervously. Jason and Knuckles appeared to accept her answer and went back to work. Stitch on the other hand, still stared at Lilo, apparently not buying a word of it.
Richie then piped in. "He didn't look too good when I saw him in hallway."
"Well, then that's our answer Knuckles, poor Tanner was out of it." Jason said.
While the group finished clean-up, Richie watched Lilo and Stitch. Stitch seemed upset with her and Richie figured out why: apparently they weren't supposed to use their powers in public. And it was all his fault, she had used them to save his bacon from the fryer. He knew that now was the time, he had to confront Stitch about what had happened earlier, to keep this from harming his friend's relationship and him having to live with the guilt.
As the group was getting ready to haul the stuff away, Richie grabbed Stitch on the shoulder. Stitch turned around. "What is it Richie?"
"I need to talk to you in private for a moment. Is that okay?" Richie asked in a slightly worried tone.
"Sure," Stitch said as he turned back to the others. "Hey Jason, Richie's having trouble with his wagon. I'm going to take a look at it a minute, we'll catch up."
"Sure, just don't take too long." Jason said as he and the other started to haul stuff away.
As soon as they were out of sight, Stitch turned to Richie, who was starting to look anxious. But before Richie could say anything, Stitch spoke, in a soft and calm voice. "Lilo tranced Principal Tanner to get you out of trouble, didn't she?"
Richie drug his foot in the ground as he answered. "He snuck up on me. He said that if I turned you guys in, he'd go easy on me. I was afraid, but I would rather get expelled than lose my best friends. Then Lilo yelled at him, and when he looked at her, she used her powers on him to make him forget what he saw. But how did you know? And why did you look like you were mad at her?"
Stitch smiled slightly. "I wasn't really mad at her, it was more like she was being a hypocrite, telling me not to use my power in public, and then using hers. After turning to look at you, and how shook up you were, I figured out what happened."
Stitch then turned his back. "Did she tell you…"
"No, I asked, but she didn't answer. My dad said, a lot of times, that's as good as a yes. But I promised I would never tell."
Stitch turned around, a small smile on his face. "Thanks Richie. It's means a lot."
"Stitch, are you, you know, the alien that Lilo passed off as her dog for years?"
"Yeah, I am. It's funny how this one last summer changed my life and Lilo's forever." Stitch said as he grabbed the handle on his wagon.
"Would you tell me about it?" Richie asked as he followed suit.
"I'll give you the gist of it. You see, after spending years close together, Lilo and I started to fall in love. Jumba, my creator, made a serum so she could be an experiment too, then he made one so I could pass for a human."
"Oh," Richie said, knowing that there was more to it than that. But he didn't want to bring it up. He might have been imagining things, but he could have sworn that the moment Stitch mentioned Lilo's serum, he cringed. He wondered if there was more to it, something bad. He could only wonder and guess at the reason, but maybe one day Stitch would be able to tell him the whole story.
Meanwhile, at the small bench on the walkway, sat a dark blue experiment and a little boy. Chance had been sitting patiently as Siron told him of his findings the previous night. After he finished telling him of what he found out, Chance replied. "Yeah, I think that would be enough to do it. But I wonder what he was so worried about; you said that Lilo was now immune to Angel's song."
"Well, I have theorized on that, and have come to several possible answers. The first is that she is just immune to the powers of the other experiments. This does not however make her immune to all forms of mind-control."
"So you think you might have anti-mind control powers?" Chance said as he reached into his backpack and took out some candy. "Ooo, mommy packed me gummy bears!"
Siron looked at the little boy in amusement for a moment. It was amazing how small children could get excited over things like candy. Chance may have been slightly more mature in certain matters, but Siron could tell that in other areas he was still a seven-year old. "I do not believe I my name would be warranted by such a harmless, yet essential, function."
"Yeah, you're right." Chance said as he bit the head off of a red gummy bear. "He more likely gave you powers to beat her up, and don't think he'd want to hurt the original."
"That was my second theory. Perhaps a clone could be made of her. However, a clone would be powerful, but not nearly as sadistic."
"And that's a bad thing?" Chance said as he flipped another gummy in the air and caught it in his mouth.
"Of course not, it is actually quite a good thing. But the clone would not have the memories of the original, so it would not have a reason to return to Earth."
"Unless somebody sends it. And you don't know, the clone might be reborn with memories. Anything can happen." Chance then looked down at the bag of candies, held it over his head, and began to stuff as many of them into his mouth as he could.
"The chances of a clone having the memories of the original are extremely low unless the creator takes steps to have the memories implanted. Otherwise, it's extremely unlikely. And why are you stuffing those candies in your mouth?"
Chance turned to the alien and swallowed the gummies. "Cause its fun. Don't you like to have fun, Siron?"
"I, I know what fun is, at least the definition of the word. But I don't think I have ever done anything fun. Ever since I was activated, my life has been one question after another. I've been so focused on finding out the truth about myself, I haven't had time for anything else."
"Well, what do you think is fun?" Chance said as he dug into his backpack. "I think its fun to listen to music." The small boy pulled a device from his pack. "Here, this is one of my old mp3 players. I found it in my room the other day. My mom thinks it's gone, so I think it will be ok if you have it."
Siron took the small device from the boy's hand. "Thank you." He looked the device. "This is the first gift I have ever received."
"You're welcome. Hey, I think I have an idea. Maybe you should, you know, spy on Lilo and Stitch. Maybe if you watch them long enough, they might revel some information on Lilith."
"Lilith? I don't understand what you are talking about." Siron said, puzzled that the boy had called the evil version of Lilo by a name. How did he know that was her name, and was it?
"Oh, I overheard her mumbling to herself, and that was one of the few words I made out. It sounds evil, and she looked kinda freaked out when she said it."
"You seem to have a knack for find information in the strangest of ways."
"It's not strange. When you listen closely to people, you learn lots of things. My friend told me that."
"Oh, so I should listen in on what Lilo and Stitch are saying? But I'm not suppose to be seen by either of them."
As before, we faced with a difficult question, Chance started concentrating. "Let me think about it for a second." After a few moments of silence he spoke up again. "Maybe she has a diary? And if she doesn't, I'm sure that one-eyed alien that likes to wear dresses does."
"An event of such a magnitude would of course be recorded. But how to get in the house undetected?"
"You live with a genius scientist, doesn't he have a cloaking device or something?"
"He does I think. I think it is in storage, next to his time board. Thank you for your advice." Siron said as he rose from his seat.
"You're welcome, but I gotta go home. I have to finish my homework before dinner or I don't get to play on the computer." Chance said as jumped off the bench and took off running. "See ya later. And good luck!"
Siron also took off for home, the small device his friend had given him in his hand. He knew he would have to take some chances to find the answers to what happened on that day, the event that lead to Jumba's change of heart and most importantly, his true purpose.
Richie had just arrived home, after an extremely long day. So much had happened. He helped paint bomb the school board, almost got expelled, and the most shocking thing, discovered his best friend was an alien. He had suspected it, but is was still almost overwhelming.
"Mom, I'm home!" Richie called out from the living room.
"Welcome home sweetie! I made a snack for you. It in the fridge." Mrs. Evans replied from the kitchen.
"Thanks mom. I'm going to my room and draw for a while, ok?"
"Ok dear, but remember to finish your homework."
"Yes ma'am." Richie said as he shut his bedroom door.
Richie set his backpack on the bed and went to his desk, only to have one more surprise.
"WHERE IS MY SKETCHBOOK?"
End Chapter 5
Next Chapter
A Diary, A Discovery, And A Disappointment