Mahina rode this ship only once before. Then, she was strapped underneath in a glass container. Today, she saw the inside. An inside that she studied. Quickly, as the trio ran after their foes. She could ask the Grand Councilwoman for schematics. She needed to know this spaceship. Rescue missions should become a regular thing with how many experiments Gantu could take.

Nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. She could spend a year making sure no experiment felt abandoned. Hell, she could spend the rest of her life doing it.

Stitch found the control room. He snuck the two human girls inside. Mahina watched him sneak up to the experiment container. Hämterviel didn't notice, too obsessed with the newest prize. Gantu was maintaining the ship.

"Container ready. Select experiment."

Dr. Hämsterviel jumped for joy. "Oh ho ho ho! So many nasty experiments." He flexed his little cape, letting it flow like a typical movie villain. "I shall wreak mayhem on the stinky Galactic Empire."

Stitch plucked it away. "Thank you."

"What?!" Hämsterviel screeched.

"You little trog." Gantu chased after Stitch.

Stitch tossed it to Lilo. Lilo ran towards the door. Gantu blocked her path.

Mahina rushed behind the tall alien. She waved her arms. Lilo smiled.

"Pesky Earthling." Gantu aimed his gun at her.

"You want it? Catch." Lilo tossed it to the side.

Mahina caught it. She rushed to the side, avoiding Gantu again. Gantu aimed his gun at her, clearly wanting to fire but holding back. That surprised Mahina. She fully expected Gantu to shoot at her and Lilo.

Stitch shouted. "Meena nani quessta!" He crawled up the wall towards the ceiling.

"Why you little-" Gantu did fire the plasma gun at Stitch.

Mahina held tighter to the container. "Lilo! Look down!"

The little girl did. She saw a big red switch. The alien words 'circle window opener' beneath it.

"Get them back! Get them back!" Hämsterviel shrieked.

Mahina held up the container. She grinned, smug. She partly wished she were an adult again, a proper Megan Quinnn. If she were tall, she could kick the little cretin.

Lilo pressed the window button. A nearby circle window opened. Air very quickly

"The window's open!" Gantu exclaimed.

"Warning Window is open."

Gantu frowned.

Mahina lifted the container up. "Be free, cousins!" She threw it at the window.

The window kept sucking out air. The container fits right out the window. Gantu cried out, rushing for it. He pushed his arm out. It stopped the air from escaping.

Mahina and Lilo ran to the closed windows. Outside, in the space barely above Earth's atmosphere, the experiment container was held by Gantu.

"Whew." Gantu sighed.

The problem was, see, the container was made to be used by medium sized creatures. Gantu wasn't a medium creature. He's very big. He grabbed the bottom of the container, where the control panel was. His thumb covered the touch screen.

The 'open' switch.

==M!TF==

Mahina calmly walked into her cell. She sat down, facing away from the clear door locking her in.

"This should keep you two out of trouble...until Dr. Hämsterviel can dispose of you properly." Gantu scolded. He stormed off.

Mahina sat up. She traced her finger along lines in the metal.

"That didn't exactly work out...but at least we saved all the cousins." Lilo offered. She tried to sound chipper, but even her outlook was grim.

"Uhh." Stitch replied, just as dower.

"Maybe Jumba and Pleakley and Nani and David...will find them a nice home." Lilo tried again.

"Igeeba." Stitch agreed. He plopped himself down on the floor of his cell.

"Don't be scared, Stitch and Mahina. I'll figure out a way to rescue you two." Lilo promised.

"Yeah." Stitch mumbled.

Mahina tapped the wall. The metal echoed. She pressed her ear against it, tapping again. "Yeah, what he said."

"Nobody gets left behind." Lilo promised.

"Or forgotten." Stitch finished their family motto.

Mahina traced along the metal again. She bit on her lip. She scrunched up her eyebrows, eyes darting about the latest cage.

"Mahina?" Lilo called out. "Are you okay?"

She waved in the vague direction of Lilo. "Mmhmm. Totally fine." As she moved, she continued to tap along the walls.

"You don't look fine."

Mahina turned to Lilo, genuinely confused. "Huh?"

Lilo sat against the wall. In the cell beside her, Stitch did the same. "You're mad."

"What, no." Mahina crawled over to the glass wall of the cage. She placed her hand on the barrier. It hummed, shifting and shivering as the energy for her cell buzzed around it. It's actually very interesting and exciting, she wants to pause this heartfelt moment to investigate more

But Lilo was scared. Whether she's Mahina, Megan, or the much ignored Morgan, she couldn't leave a child scared.

Lilo shrugged. "I don't know. You just looked mad."

"Why would I be mad?" She asked. "We saved Pops and the experiments. Hämsterviel won't have them, and we're getting a close up look inside Gantu's ship! This is amazing!"

Lilo continued to frown. "But we got captured. Your plan didn't work."

"It definitely worked." She replied.

"What?"

"It worked perfectly!" She cheered, trying to cheer up Lilo. "We're being taken to Hämsterveil's ship next! Once there, we can stage an escape and return to Earth! It'll be great."

Lilo shifted back, sitting cross legged. "You mean it?"

"Totally!"

"You wanted to get captured by aliens?" Lilo asked.

She blinked, confused again. "...uh yeah? Like- how else are we supposed to stop them? We wrecked the Grandcouncilwoman's ship with Sparky. Being inside is our only way of stopping them."

Lilo grinned. "So you have another plan?"

"Definitely! And it's gonna go even better than the first!" She wasn't sure if she could keep that promise, not exactly. She knew the experiments would be happy, and that's what mattered.

==M!TF==

Gantu locked them up in floating contaminants. Tiny little things, much smaller than the one Jumba was in from the first movie. At first, Mahina was very concerned about them having tiny prisoner prisons like this. Then, Gantu brought out a large one that shrunk to the perfect size for Stitch. It suddenly made way more sense.

Her hands were locked in the large, sealed cuff. She stared at it, playing with it like a finger trap. It sealed perfectly around her wrists, just enough that circulation wasn't cut off. Alien tech was so cool.

"You think you are so-" Hämsterviel stopped his upcoming rant. He realized his prisoners were good two feet taller than him. "Phone book! Phone book!"

"Phone book. Yes, sir." Gantu walked off to a nearby hall to grab a large stack of phone book.s

He put it down. Hämsterviel climbed up the stack, glaring down at the two humans.

"Ahem." He puffed up his chest. He grabbed his little cape, making swirls to be more dramatic. "You think you are so clever, don't you? You think you have outsmarted the infamous Dr. Jacques Von Hämsterviel. Well, you made one grave mistake, you oh-so-adorable little Hawaiian girls. You delivered to me Experiment Number Six-two-six. I will now clone him and create my own personal army! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Mahina paid very little attention to his rantings. She heard speeches like this for years. It gets easy to tune out. Also, did she mention she's surrounded by such cool alien tech? Yeah, her life is good right now.

"What shall I do with the little Earth girls?" Gantu asked.

"The red one is of no use to me. Keep the blue one, she can be used against Jumba." Hämsterveil leaned in. The containment holding Mahina floated forward. "I never did get to use the excessive torture."

Wait what? No. No that's not how this goes. She's supposed to be transported with Lilo. She Planned on going with Lilo!

Fuck. Okay, shit.

Mahina hissed. The gerbil giggled, clapping his paws together.

==M!TF==

Stitch got locked up in another room.

Loki was taken by Gantu.

Mahina was sent back to her cell. Unaccompanied. The containment floated her back to the cell. It's not where she wanted tobe, so she needed to think fast. First, she needed her hands.

"What do I know about these cuffs?" Mahina asked herself. "What do I know? It's constricting, but not constricting. Gantu removes them later. How? Gantu is able to release it with his huge ass fingers but I don't have big ass fingers!"

Mahina blinked.

"Oh." Mahina tilted the cuffs around. She pressed her chin against the metal. As she pressed down, she rotated her arms.

The device clicked. It opened up, collapsing to the ground.

She reached down at the containment hoverboard still carrying her off. It's just another flying device. That's something she knew how to destroy and control, it's literally so easy.

In ten seconds, Mahina turned the containment pod into a hovercraft. She sent it back down the hallway.

==M!TF==

Alarms went off. Mahina followed the loud screaming of Lilo. The little Hawaiian girl screamed for Stitch, but Mahina figured she wouldn't mind Mahina saving her too.

She flew through the halls of the ship. The automated doors opened along the way. It honestly made things more exciting. It always happened the split second before she'd collide with the heavy metal barriers.

The teleportation went off.

Mahina jumped off her new hoverboard. She ran to the control panel for Lilo.

Stitch let out a cry of anguish.

"Stitch?" Lilo called out. The little blue alien turned to them. "I'm in this one."

"Not for long!" Mahina raised her fist. She slammed it down on a big button.

The glass lifted. Lilo jumped on Mahina, sending the girl to the floor.

"Bologna order sent."

"Lilo-" Mahina coughed. "-hugs!"

Stitch cheered loudly. He leaped up, landing on Lilo & Mahina.

"Stitch!"

Her two friends giggled.

"You're both okay!" Lilo cheered.

Mahina rolled her eyes. Smiling, she hugged her ohana.

"What are you doing here?!" Gantu ranted. He stormed into the transport room.

Lilo and Stitch exchanged a look with Mahina. The older Hawaiian girl nodded her head. She grabbed the new hoverboard, dragged her two friends onboard, then flew away.

Gantu fired after them. Mahina flew faster than he could chase. She led him back to his own ship.

"You little trogs-!"

The connecting hallway approached. It made sure Gantu's ship stayed with Hämsterviel. As the door opened, smoke billowed.

Mahina made a quick turn. Just in time to be hidden in the smoke cloud.

Gantu rushed aboard his ship, thinking himself chasing his prey.

Mahina high fived Lilo.

Stitch called out for his cousin. The electric experiment buzzed inside the walls. He reformed beside Stitch. They high fived too.

"Sparky, hit it!" Mahina instructed.

The yellow experiment buzzed the nearby controls for the ship. Large connectors detached. Gantu's ship began to fall. More sparks came- faster and brighter. The ship quickly fell towards Earth.

"Bye-bye." Stitch giggled.

"Have a nice trip." Lilo waved the ship goodbye.

Mahina spun around. "I GET TO FLY A ROCKETSHIP!"

==M!TF==

Mahina piloted the ship into the water. She bounced, giddy. It's a beyond perfect water landing.

Lilo had Stitch throw Mahina over his shoulder. She grumbled. Stitch carried her downstairs.

The containment hoverboard held Hämsterviel, and his hands were cuffed. Mahina took great delight in cuffing him. It's something she hadn't done in over a year, and it's good to-

It brought a thought to her mind. A funny thought. Not funny like it's hilarious. Funny, odd. It sat strange in her chest.

She enjoyed arresting Hämsterviel. She didn't miss arresting people. Just arresting this one satisfied her. There's no craving for another villain.

Megan Quinn wanted that. Megan wanted every bad guy in jail, or getting help. She wanted to save people.

Mahina Jookiba wanted different things. Happier, smaller things. The kind of things that lightened the heavy weight on her chest.

She looked back. Stitch and Lilo were giggling with each other. Stitch kept hopping around a delighted Lilo. Sparky came by too. He swirled and zapped, a streak of yellow and bright blue around all of them. The smile on the yellow experiment was bigger than it's ever been.

To call it brighter would be cheesy, to say he had his spark back was even cheesier. Mahina couldn't come up with any other ways to describe it. The experiment was happy, happier than destruction did.

He needed something. He needed a permanent thing.

Mahina loved being here. She truly 100% loved being here with these people. It's only...Mahina also loved having a project. Something to do. A goal, a purpose. She thought it was saving Jumba, and putting away the alien that did it. When she thought of it that way, she was hollow. As she stared at Sparky, stared at Stitch, and even watched Lilo, Mahina knew a better answer.

A desire, soft and small, that struck her to her core. It's so quiet, she didn't even realize it was there. She wanted to bring people to their forever home, their

All she knew was one more solution awaited her. Sparky needed his one true place. Mahina would take him to it.

Sparky opened the ship door. It landed on the cliffside. Jumba, Pleakley, Bubbles, and the Grand Councilwoman waited.

Mahina beamed. Pops was okay, alive and healthy and safe.

"Aloha! We're back!" Lilo cheered. She and Stitch ran down the ramp.

"We brought you stuff!" Mahina added. She walked the containment hoverboard down to the cliffside.

"Mahina!" Pleakley rushed over to them. "Lilo!"

"Little evil genius!" Jumba ran faster, reaching them first. "My genius experiment!"

He swept her up for a hug. Again, just with him, the hug was soothing and nice. It reminded her everyone was safe.

"These manacles are too tight, you miserable, oppressive do-gooders, you." Hämsterveil complained.

Mahina snorted, snickering into Jumba's chest. The bigger alien put her down. He glanced at her, then at Hämsterviel. She grinned. Jumba laughed, winking at her and elbowing her side.

"Dr. Hämsterwheel." The Grand Councilwoman stepped forward. She marched ahead. Her squadron of guards returned. They advanced on the prisoner.

"Hämsterviel!" He yelled.

"We catch bad guy. You're welcome." Stitch chirped. He crossed his arms behind his back, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

The Grand Councilwoman nodded at Stitch, thankful. "Place him in the high-security gerbil cage."

"Hämster cage! I am hämster-like!" Hämsterviel complained

Her guards saluted. They took control of the hoverboard. It sparked brightly before lowering to the dirt. They turned to their boss.

The Grand Councilwoman looked at Sparky.

"Sorry! That one was me!" Mahina stepped forward. She punched the side of the hoverboard. It went back up in the air.

The guards took the prisoner away. He glared his beady red eyes back at them. "I will be back, you slobbering... stinking humanoids and other aliens!"

Mahina waved him off. Jumba ruffled her hair. She laughed, before shoving his hand away. Hugs were one thing, hair touching was something else.

Still. For now, Hämsterviel is out of their Ohana's hair.

"What are we going to do with you, Sparky?" Lilo hummed, thoughtful. "Let's see."

"Wasn't I clear? I had a plan." Mahina stepped up. "He's already got a place."

Lilo frowned, tilting her head. Stitch copied her. "But he makes bunches of power. It keeps blowing things up- like light bulbs and spaceship consoles."

"Unless!" Mahina interjected. "We got a big enough lightbulb! A thing so big it wouldn't explode when Sparky touched it!" She pointed off at the old lighthouse.

The others on the cliff looked. They all quickly caught up to Mahina.

==M!TF==

Mahina brought out the jumper cables. Lilo and Stitch watched her. Sparky was still staring up at the giant old lightbulb.

"Kanjijibe. Zz-zz." Stitch cheered. "Ha ha!"

Mahina stuck the cables to Sparky. Positive to positive, negative to ground. Sparky powered up.

The lighthouse charged up. After so many years, the lighthouse buzzed back to life. It began spinning around in the dark of night. Mahina and Lilo squinted away from the light. More than that, the lighthouse suddenly got a whole lot warmer.

The trio cheered. Sparky buzzed in circles, whirling around with the light. The jumper cables fell off, but the power kept going. Sparky was powering up just by being themselves now.

Satisfied with a job well done, the trio went back down to the ground.

"-which makes it all the more tragic...that Earth is now infested with illegal genetic experiments." The Grand Councilwoman was saying. The trio paused at the lighthouse door, listening to her finish. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to evacuate the planet...and have them destroyed."

"What?!" The trio exclaimed.

"You can't destroy the experiments!" Lilo argued.

"You didn't even give them a chance to be good yet!" Mahina argued.

"They're ohana!"

"Our cousins!"

"They all have one place where they each belong!"

"Like Sparky at the lighthouse!"

"And Stitch with me!"

Stitch waved. "H-ha. Hi!"

"In fact, I'm starting to think... we're all cousins." Lilo tried. "Even me and you."

"Pops is my pops! Pleakley is ours too!" Mahina added. "We changed them, we can change others too. But you gotta let us try! Please!"

The Grand Councilwoman held up a three finger hand. The two girls quieted.

"Very well. I won't destroy the experiments." Lilo and Mahina squeaked, softly. They held hands, beaming at each other. "If you can retrieve each and every one and find, as you say, the one place where each belongs."

They accepted. They didn't even think about it, they accepted. Mahina rushed to Jumba for another hug. Lilo and Stitch spun around.

"But they're out there right now...and they're all very bad, right?" Pleakley reminded everyone.

"Yes, is true...but once experiment is turned to good...is completely useless for bad." Jumba explained. He lowered his voice for Mahina. "I'm trying to fix for 627. Hee heh heh."

She snorted. Jumba was so funny. He can't make anything truly evil, even if he tried.

"I hereby designate you Undercover Intergalactic Experiment Retrievers." The Grand Councilwoman decided. "...and Stitch, too."

Stitch's ears perked up. "Oh. Mahalo."

"That's crazy talk! There are 625-"

"Twenty-three." Jumba and Mahina corrected.

"Uhh. A whole lot of pods out there. How are you going to find them?" Pleakley asked.

"It'll be easy... like an Easter Egg hunt." Lilo cheered.

"Yes, but even more deadly." Jumba said.

"Ain't that even better!?" Mahina jumped up and down.

"You must find them before they get wet." Jumba warned.

Mahina stopped jumping. "But that's boring." She walked over to the parked hovercrafts. "Fine. Experiment Retrievers, let's go!"

Lilo and Stitch rushed over. They hopped in their hovercraft. "We've got 625 cousins to find."

"623." Stitch and Mahina said.

"We already found Sparky." Mahina reminded her. "625 is with Gantu, so I guess we already know where they are. So yeah, 623."

Lilo rolled her eyes, teasing them. "Whatever."

The hovercrafts lifted in the air. The trio vanished off into the night, ready to work.

The adults stayed behind for a little more conversation.

"Are you sure they can handle this?" Bubbles asked the two adults supervising them at home. In his mind, he's already working on an email to HQ and to Nani Pelekai.

"Lilo is a very persistent little girl." Pleakley stated. "Mahina is very smart, and great at arguing."

"And with 626, they make one hotshot evil-genius-experiment catching team." Jumba cackled.

Pleakley perked up. "Hey, maybe the Grand Councilwoman will let us go home with her this time."

The ship was already gone. They even hitched the other spaceship with them. They flew off into space, two passengers notably absent.

"...I'll get the wig." Pleakley stated. They walked back to Bubbles' rental. They also needed to call the girdle shop about their order. It's very exciting!