The Tejina Chronicles: Final Days
By: Kioko the pirate
Chapter 4: A Rivals Request
The battle that Lilo and Stitch thought would end the tournament and separate them forever had taken a weird twist. Just as they thought their dreams would be dashed, and subsequently devoured by Slushy's icy dragons, there appeared an experiment that they never expected to see again. An experiment that they were positive had died in a horrific explosion. But now their whole perception of the events that had helped motivate them to become stronger had been turned on their heads.
"Angel…I can't believe it… she's alive,' thought Stitch as he continued to stare up at the beautiful, pink experiment, 'but that's impossible. We watched the "World One" explode, there's no way she could have survived. This can't be real. No, it must be real, it has to be.'
Lilo couldn't pull her eyes away from the female experiment either. Her mind burned with the same questions that coursed through Stitch's. 'Angel's alive? But how, how did she survive that blast?'
For the moment their questions went unanswered, they were in the middle of a battle after all. But now there was a new challenger on the field and Slushy was most displeased. The icy experiment growled deeply as he glared up at the interloper, who merely looked back down at him with an arrogant smile.
"And just who the hell are you?" snarled Slushy.
"It doesn't matter who I am," responded Angel as she turned to face the cold experiment, "you won't be around long enough to even bother with introductions."
Slushy's growl grew louder. "How dare you use such a condescending tone with me, you little bitch!"
"You know, for an ice based experiment, you sure are hot-blooded." said Angel as she casually examined her nails.
Jacob gulped and took a few steps back as his partner became increasingly infuriated. Finally, Slushy's anger and frustration got the better of him, bursting forth like a wave of scolding hot water.
"You know what, I don't care who you are! I'm just going to beat you to a pulp like I did Blue Butt over there! And since you obviously are pretty strong, I'm not going to hold back!" screamed Slushy with an insane expression on his face. "Jacob, let's make her regret ever interfering with us!"
Jacob nodded and flipped a few pages in the spell book. "Dioga Aisayado!"
With a twisted expression Slushy raised his arm toward Angel. Immediately, the experiments pointed hand split into three tips, each forming into highly ornate spearheads. Angel's smile widened as she watched the experiments arm morph into a trident. Suddenly, Slushy's arm blasted toward its target, sending out shockwaves that tore through the ground. Both Lilo and Stitch gasped, it was one of the fastest spells they had ever seen. In a fraction of a second it struck its target, obliterating the rooftop in the process. While Lilo and Stitch looked on in horror, Slushy began to laugh hysterically, nearly falling to his knees. But just then, his laughter stopped as he felt a tug on his arm, which still lingered in the cloud of dust that covered the top of the building.
With a sharp gasp Slushy looked up into the vanishing cloud, which, to everyone's surprise, revealed an unscathed Angel. Her toothy grin still stretched across her face as she held tightly onto the center spear of the trident.
"Was that it?" asked Angel, tilting her head to one side, "Pathetic."
With a simple twist of her wrist Angel shattered the trident. Slushy's eyes widened in shock as he watched the remains of his spell fall to the ground, vanishing into thin air a moment later.
"My, my, you all should be ashamed of yourselves." came another familiar voice from behind Slushy and Jacob. Lilo and Stitch's jaws fell once again as they looked past Slushy and Jacob, who also whipped around to face the voice, to see Kioko strolling up the street.
As usual a smirk sat upon his face as he made his way up to Slushy and Jacob. "You should know better than to fight in the middle of a public street, especially when using such high level spells. I know you two know better." said Kioko as he pointed to Lilo and Stitch.
"Took you long enough to get here." mocked Angel as she sat down on the edge of what remained of the roof.
"Well I'm sorry that I lack your speed." replied Kioko as he glanced up at his partner.
"I assume that you are her partner then?" asked Slushy as he eyed up the man.
"Indeed I am." said Kioko as he held up the black book.
Just then, an evil smile crossed Slushy's face. "I see, obviously you two have grown quite strong throughout this tournament," said Slushy as he glanced at Jacob, who gave a small nod, "but it looks like you haven't gotten any smarter! Getting so close to your opponent without your experiment at your side, how foolish! Jacob use a spell now!"
Without hesitation Jacob flipped a few pages in the white book and summoned an "Aisaredo" spell. Both Lilo and Stitch's hearts stopped for a moment as the chunks of razor sharp ice blasted toward Kioko. But the man's smile didn't even fade. With seemingly inhuman agility Kioko dodged every chunk of ice that came his way. As the spell faded Slushy and Jacob, as well as Lilo and Stitch, were left with expressions of disbelief.
"That was a mistake." said Kioko after a short chuckle.
Slushy took a cautious step backward as he looked up at Kioko, but as he did something to his right caught his eye. The icy experiment turned and found him self staring into Angel's pink palm.
"Wh…when did she?" stammered Slushy.
Stitch, who was still looking at the spot where Angel had been, looked toward her with astonishment. "She's so fast, I didn't even see her move!"
Slushy took another step back as the black book began to glow with its eerie black light. "See ya." said Angel with a smile.
"Darkoten." said Kioko with the same casual tone that Lilo had used at the beginning of the fight.
In a flash Slushy was engulfed in the orb of swirling, dark energy, and purple sparks. Even over the roar of the spell Slushy's painful screams reached everyone's ears. Suddenly, as Jacob looked on in terror, the white book exploded into green flames. Jacob yelped and dropped the book to the ground, where it disintegrated in an instant. As the dark orb faded both the white book and Slushy were gone, a small crater taking his place. The street now fell into silence as everyone stared speechlessly at Kioko and Angel. Just then, as Stitch stared at the two partners, he was struck by a realization.
'Wait a minute, this isn't right. Slushy's been defeated but I still feel his power bearing down on me. How is that possible? Unless…' Stitch's eyes fell onto Angel, 'I've been sensing her power this whole time! That would explain why Slushy wasn't proving a challenge; I was overestimating him. Angel's power overshadowed his so much that I couldn't distinguish between the two! How'd she get so powerful in only a year?'
Stitch was not the only one in awe of Angel's strength. Sweat now ran down Jacobs face as he looked between the pink experiment and her partner. He never could have imagined that his partner could be defeated by a single spell, even after being drained of his strength after a fight. Just then a thought occurred in the boys mind. There was no reason why his partner, his friend, should have been defeated!
'We were so close,' thought Jacob, 'Slushy was going to win. But no, those two just had to show up and ruin it! What cowards, attacking an experiment when he's weak and acting like they're hot stuff. They're nothing but egotistical cowards!'
Without another thought, Jacob bent down and grabbed a shard of glass that lay on the street. With his face turning red with anger, the boy took aim at Kioko and charged forward with a yell. Kioko seemed taken off guard at first, but as the boy got closer a calm smirk crossed his face. With an enraged scream Jacob thrust the razor sharp piece of glass right toward Kioko's gut. But before it could make contact, Kioko grabbed a hold of Jacob's wrist and in a flash drove his fist into Jacob's stomach. The boy's eyes shot open as his breath was knocked from him and he fell to his knees.
"Give it up, kid. It's over," said Kioko as he and Angel walked around Jacob, leaving the boy to fall over onto his side. "So, can we offer you two some help getting home?" Kioko asked.
"You mean you two don't want to fight us now?" asked Stitch with genuine curiosity.
"Are you kidding me," laughed Angel as she walked over in front of Stitch, placing her paws on her hips, "look at you. As beat up as you are, a small child could wipe the floor with you."
"Glad to see you haven't lost your sense of compassion," joked Stitch, "So how long have you two been watching?"
"Long enough to see you get your butt handed to you." chimed Kioko.
"Hey, we were winning before Slushy used that anti-friction spell." replied Lilo as she crossed her arms defensively.
"That wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't shown up." smiled Kioko. "Now, shall we get you two back home so that you can tend to your wounds?"
Lilo was both surprised and relieved when the boy knelt down and offered his hand to her. But as she slowly reached up to take his hand a sudden bolt of pride made her withdraw. "I'm fine, I can get there on my own." the girl said defiantly as she got to her feet.
"Me too." agreed Stitch as he tried to get to his feet. But unlike Lilo, the experiment had little strength left and could only manage to lift himself an inch or two off the ground before falling back.
"Bull," blurted Angel as she reached down and grabbed Stitch's arm. Stitch winced painfully as he was lifted to his feet and his good arm was draped over Angel's shoulders, "you need all the help you can get right now."
Stitch only gave a defeated sigh as he was helped away by the female experiment. For the first half of the trip back to Lilo and Stitch's house the conversation was dominated by talk of the battle with Slushy. Stitch only wished he had been knocked unconscious, because a majority of what was said were criticisms by Angel. He felt like he was being scolded, but fortunately for him the conversation soon switched over to the questions that had been on his and Lilo's minds since they first saw the female experiment.
"So let me ask you two, what the hell happened on that ship?" asked Lilo, looking at Kioko and Angel as if they had performed some great magic trick.
"We defeated 6-2-7, what else?" responded Kioko with a small laugh.
Lilo just rolled her eyes. "That much is obvious. But how did you two survive that explosion? From where we were it looked like it tore apart the entire ship."
"To be honest, your guess as to how we survived is just as good as ours," said Kioko as he placed his hands on the back of his head and gave a sigh, "The only thing I can think of is that when we used the final spell it teleported us away, or something, to keep us from being caught up in the blast."
"Final spell? Was that the giant eye ball we saw in the sky?" asked Lilo.
"That's right," smiled Kioko, "6-2-7 had us on the ropes, but at the last moment we unlocked the last spell in the book, which subsequently unlocked all the remaining spells in the book, and with it we defeated him."
"Wait, you've unlocked every spell in the book?" blurted Stitch in disbelief.
"You betcha'." smiled Angel proudly as Stitch's jaw dropped in amazement.
"So, where exactly did that spell transport you to? It couldn't have been anywhere on Hawaii, we would have seen you before now." said Lilo.
"Believe it or not that spell transported us to Japan." blurted Angel as she looked up at Lilo.
"Japan?" exclaimed Lilo.
"That was our reaction," said Kioko as he lowered his arms and tucked his hands in his pockets, "neither of us can remember anything about how we got there, the only memory we have, after 6-2-7, is us waking up on a beach in the middle of the night. At first we thought we were on one of the Hawaiian Islands, but after an hour of walking we came upon the city of Tokyo."
"Wow, but wait… if you guys landed in Japan, why'd it take you so long to get back? It's not like Japan's a deserted island." asked the young girl.
"Well our problem was funding," laughed Kioko, "You see, I don't have a bank account that I could access and my wallet was still in our room when the ship exploded, so, needless to say, we were penniless. And as it turns out, the airlines don't give free tickets to people who lost their cash in a fight with a super-powered alien experiment. So Angel and I were forced to find some way of earning money to get home."
"How'd you do that?" asked Stitch.
"By taking any job we could, that's how. Since we don't know Japanese our options were limited. We ended up working for this tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant. I got a job as a waiter and cook, while Angel got a job working on street corners." explained Kioko.
"Oh my god, Angel," gasped Stitch as he looked over to her, "I'm ashamed of you! You should know better than to sell your body like that."
"Not like that you imbecile," growled Angel as she tightened her grip on Stitch's neck, causing the blue experiment to wince, "they had me holding up a sign for the restaurant."
"Though, you did have that one fat, creepy guy ask you for some 'special time'." remarked Kioko.
"Yeah well, I gave him some 'special time' with my fist in his doughy face." Angel said as she threw a punch with her free arm.
Kioko just chuckled while Lilo and Stitch only smiled awkwardly. "Anyway, this place barely paid anything, so it took us almost an entire year to save up enough money. Even then we only got enough to buy our way onto a Russian cargo ship that was heading to Hawaii. But they didn't like us being passengers so they put us to work, me as a cook, due to my newfound experience, and Angel as a deck hand because of her excessive strength. Then, after a couple weeks at sea, we arrived in Hawaii, just in time to save your butts."
"Sounds like you two had an interesting adventure." smiled Lilo.
"It stunk," blurted Angel, "usually I'm not the type of girl who gripes about her appearance, but that musty cargo ship murdered my fur. It feels slimy."
"You smell like day old fish and vodka." said Stitch after sniffing Angel's arm, which once again caused Angel's paw to clamp down on his neck.
"You're lucky that you're so injured, otherwise I'd punt you to the other side of the island." growled Angel as her eyebrow twitched in anger.
"It's ok, Angel. You can get cleaned up at our house, both of you can. You can even stay for dinner if you want." offered Lilo.
"Really?" asked Angel, surprised by the girls offer.
"That's very nice of you, Lilo," Kioko said with an equally surprised tone, "thank you. It has been a while since we had a home cooked meal."
"Or a hot shower for that matter." added Angel.
"I agree with that." said Stitch with a sly smile.
Angel's patience finally snapped and in an instant she had Stitch in a headlock, forcing his nose into her armpit. "How does it smell under there, huh?" shouted Angel as Stitch struggled to get free.
Lilo and Kioko could only laugh at the antics of their partners as they made the final turn onto the driveway leading to the house. Needless to say, Nani was surprised, not just by the fact that Stitch was still around, but that Lilo and him had brought home guests. However, it didn't take long for everyone to get settled in. After getting themselves cleaned up, Kioko and Angel joined their hosts for a steaming hot meal. The conversation consisted mainly of humorous stories that Kioko and Angel had gathered in Japan and at sea. But as the meal drew to a close the conversation became more subdued.
"I still can't believe you two are here. I mean you can't imagine how relieved I was when you showed up. Not only because you saved Stitch, but because it also meant that today wasn't the final day of the tournament." said Lilo, who could barely contain her joy about how the day had ended.
"Have you forgotten," asked Kioko after taking a sip from his drink, "we told you that we would be the ones to defeat you. We weren't about to let some two-bit experiment beat you."
"Well, no matter what your reason may have been… thank you."
Kioko raised his hand and wagged a finger. "You shouldn't be thanking us. I assure you that this tournament will end with the four of us, and as soon as Stitch is back to full strength we will finally see who will be the champion."
"I understand," said Lilo as she glanced over at Stitch, "and I just want you two to know that we won't rub it in your faces when we win." grinned Lilo as she looked between Kioko and Angel.
Stitch's ears fell to his shoulders. It seemed there was no escaping the end of the tournament, no escape from being forced to leave Lilo's side. She was still as dead set as ever on making him champion, and now the only two people who they could possibly make a truce with appeared to have made up their minds as well. If they were anywhere near as stubborn as Lilo, there was no hope of changing their minds. The smiles on their faces only verified that idea.
"What's wrong with you?" blurted Angel, after noticing her fellow experiment's gloomy demeanor.
"Nothing, I'm fine." responded Stitch as he slowly rubbed his arm.
"You don't seem fine. What's the matter, you're not scared about fighting us are you?" asked Angel with a small smirk.
"Of course not," snapped Stitch as he quickly looked across the table at Angel, "I can't wait to have another shot at fighting you. I'll finally be able to stop your boasting. It's just that… I'm really going to miss this place."
A sympathetic expression washed over Angel's face as she watched Stitch rest his chin on the edge of the table. "I know what you mean, Jumba's lab will seem like a prison cell after all this tropical beauty."
"Yeah." agreed Stitch with a solemn tone.
The room fell into an awkward silence as everyone's minds bristled with thoughts about the end of the tournament. Though none of them would come right out and say it, none of them wanted the tournament to end. But, their loyalty to one another and the promises they made kept their voices silent. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Nani cleared her throat and got up from the table.
"Well since it looks like everyone is finished, Lilo why don't you help me clear the table?" the older girl asked as she picked her plate and cup.
Lilo nodded and started to get up but was stopped as Kioko motioned for her to sit back down. "Why don't you let me and Stitch clean up for you," said Kioko as he got up and walked over to Nani, taking the plates from her hands, "it's the least we can do after you girls worked so hard to prepare dinner."
"Oh uh… sure, thank you." said Nani, caught off guard by the boys offer.
Kioko just smiled, placed the dish in the sink, and turned on the water. "Now why don't you ladies go relax, we'll have this done in no time."
The three girls all nodded and headed off into the living room, leaving Kioko and Stitch to their cleaning duties. The two of them moved relatively quickly through their chore, neither saying much to one another. But after a few minutes Stitch finally broke the silence.
"Why did you have to volunteer us to do the dishes?" whined Stitch as he lazily scrubbed a pan, "This is so boring!"
"Oh stop your complaining," Kioko said as he finished drying a plate, "it's a nice gesture, and besides there's another reason why I volunteered us."
"Oh yeah, and what would that be?"
Kioko stopped drying for a second and gave a deep sigh. "I have a favor to ask you."
"A favor? What kind of favor?" asked Stitch as he cocked his head to the side curiously.
"I couldn't help but notice how you reacted to Lilo's vows to fight. You don't want this fight to happen, do you?"
Stitch lowered his head and stared into the soapy water that filled the sink. "I did at one point, but not anymore. I don't want to leave Lilo behind."
"I thought so. Well to tell you the truth… I don't want this fight to happen either."
"What," exclaimed Stitch in confusion, "at dinner though it seemed like you were eager to fight."
"That was just for show." said Kioko as he put down a plate and looked into the living room. Angel was the only one left; Lilo and Nani had gone off to tend to other tasks around the house. The pink experiment now sat quietly on the couch slowly running her paws down her long antenna. "Even though there isn't anything I wouldn't do to make her champion… I don't want to lose her."
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Just try to talk to her. See if you can't get her to put her battle plans on hold for a little while. In return, I'll try to do the same with Lilo. That's all I ask."
"Why don't you talk with her? She's your partner after all."
Kioko smiled and looked over at Stitch. "Have you talked with Lilo about laying down her spell book for a while?"
"Yeah," sighed Stitch, "but she refused to listen. She said it was crazy that I would want to give up my dreams of becoming champion just to stay here on Earth."
"And that's exactly why I need you to talk to Angel, and why you need me to talk with Lilo. Through the course of this battle we've reaffirmed our partners with how we want this tournament to go and what we want from it. After so long it's near impossible for us to convince our partners that our minds have changed all of a sudden." explained Kioko.
"But if we can't convince our own partners, what hope do we have of convincing each others partners?"
"I'm not saying that it will work, Stitch. But please… just try. Please?"
Stitch didn't know what to do as the man looked upon him, a look of desperation in his eyes. Growing uncomfortable, Stitch scratched the back of his head and looked past Kioko at Angel, who had moved from the couch over to the window seat, and was now staring out into the night. He had trouble believing that there was anything he could say that would change Angel's mind. Likewise, he doubted that Kioko would be able to change Lilo's mind. Yet a small glimmer of hope, deep in his heart, urged him to at least take a chance. After all, if he truly wished to stay with Lilo on Earth, he would be a fool not to take every chance he got.
Finally, Stitch gave a heavy sigh and looked back up at Kioko. "Ok then, I'll give it a try."
"Thank you, Stitch. I really appreciate it." said Kioko as a large smile crossed his face.
"But, you have to promise me you'll try hard to change Lilo's mind too. I mean you're going to have to talk your heart out!" Stitch said as he wagged his finger authoritatively.
"Don't worry, I'll do my very best."
Well that's the end of this chapter. I wasn't planning on ending it here, but the length of the conversations between the partners forced me to separate this chapter in two. Which of course has forced me to do some remodeling of the next chapter. But I don't think it'll take me too long. Please review.