Okay, so this is kind of a set-up chapter. The real action starts soon. Still, I hope you enjoy this.

Stitch: "DK do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square, or other things."

...Don't you just love him?

Chapter 66: Race for the Experiments

Deeper in the Hawaiian Island of Kauai there were beautiful waterfalls in the lush tropical forests. Near one of these waterfalls, sitting in a pond was a large, black Gummi Ship the size of two houses mashed together. The ramp was down, and if one walked inside, they'd have found a meeting taking place.

There were four people sitting in chairs in the room, and a fifth was depicted on a large computer screen.

The first one stood at an impressive height of twenty feet. He had dark grey skin and small, light-blue eyes. His expression seemed to be stuck in a permanent scowl, and he wore black combat clothing. He resembled a giant, bipedal shark. Captain Gantu, former captain in the United Galactic Federation of Worlds.

The next one was much shorter. He had light brown fur, black eyes, a large, red nose, and three thick locks of hair sticking up comically from his head. He had two buck teeth that protruded from his mouth on opposite sides. He was happily eating a large sandwich. Experiment 625 was the only other one of Jumba's experiments to escape confinement, to be found by Gantu.

Xaynew sat in one of the chairs, which was much too large for him, having been designed for Gantu's species. He looked bored. He remembered how Ruxik thought Serndask had sent him on (what should have been) an errand, after he had failed his previous mission. Perhaps that was what he was doing to him now. Serndask was a harsh taskmaster.

Standing behind him of course, was a man in a black coat. He had long blue hair that came down on either side of his face. He had pointed ears, pale, yellow eyes, and an 'X' shaped scar in between them. Saix, the former second in command of Organization XIII, also known as the 'Luna Deviner.'

The one talking to them was a great distance away using a secure commlink frequency. Only his face could be seen clearly. He had white fur, and looked like a combination between a hamster and a rabbit. He had small, beady red eyes. A red cape with a yellow letter 'H' was visible around his neck. It was Jumba's old partner Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel.

"Your experiments will be in hand soon, Doc." Xaynew said casually. "But in exchange for our aid, we want yours for the Brotherhood."

"What makes you think that I need your help, Nobody?" The presumptuous alien asked.

All Xaynew needed to do was cock his eyebrow and look at Gantu. "Isn't this the guy who botched the capture of 626?"

Gantu glowered at him and bent down to his level. "I'll have you know, you little runt, that I was a captain in the Galactic Federation, and that I know twelve different forms of martial arts! And I captured this Experiment, didn't I?"

625 chose that moment to take a large bite out of his sandwich and spilled mustard-covered lettuce leaves down his front.

"Are you sure you want to take the credit for that?" Saix asked, face nearly expressionless.

Xaynew smirked evilly, "And it's not as if you did that much work anyway. You picked up a stupid little ball and dropped it in water.

"He's got a point." 625 said, wiping mustard off himself. "Heh. I could have done that."

"Too true." Hamsterviel rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to ward off a headache. "Alright. If I accept your assistance, what sort of aid would I be expected to provide to you?"

"You'll make the experiments available for our own use when they're ready for action." Xaynew looked him right in the eye when he said this.

"WHAT!?!?" He exclaimed, his eyes bulging. "The experiments are MINE! You hear me!? MINE!"

"Well, then we have nothing more to discuss." Xaynew stood up from his seat and turned around. He began to walk away, and Saix waited a moment longer before following him. They had only taken a few steps when he heard Hamsterviel grumble to himself.

"Aright already!" They weren't even half way across the room. Xaynew smirked. It was never a good idea to try and bluff a Nobody. He turned around and walked back into his chair. Saix took his place behind him again.

"We have a deal, then."

"Yes yes yes, fine!" He responded exasperatedly. "Let's just do this already!" He brought up a small hologram image in front of the computer screen. It depicted Experiment 221, and the computer panel below it listed off its capabilities.

"This is Experiment 221; the only experiment that has been activated as of yet."

"Hey! What am I? Chopped Liver?" 625 asked incredulously. Then a new light crept into his eyes. "Oooh, actually that does sound kind of good right now. I'm gonna go make some liver sandwiches, anybody want one?"

No one did. As 625 walked away, Hamsterviel began to bang his head against the console in front of him. Xaynew and Saix were very grateful that they couldn't feel annoyance at the moment. Hamsterviel's short temper was actually more annoying than 625.

"Whatever! Just find Experiment 221. The rest of the experiments are in a special container. Jumba Jookiba probably has it. I don't care how you get them, just do it before I arrive!"

He cut the transmission.

Lilo's house was a humble, homey place sitting on top of a hill that you could see the nearby town from. You could tell that a nice family lived there by the childish drawings hanging from the walls, and the many sets of shoes sitting by the door. They were all assembled in the living room, which had a great view of the forest below them.

"So this Hamster-Wheel dude is after the other experiments?" Yuffie asked.

"'Hamsterviel.'" Jumba corrected. "But yes. He is being after experiments. Is possible he is working with your Brotherhood of Dark to catch them."

"So there are six-hundred twenty-six experiments." Sora thought out loud. "Stitch is here, Hamsterviel and Gantu have 625, and 221 is out there somewhere."

"Yes."

"That means there are still six-hundred twenty-three experiments somewhere." Mickey finished. "Where are they?"

"Ah! That is where genius comes in!" Jumba turned around in his seat behind the couch and rummaged around behind it for something. "Where is it being, now...?"

"Ahem..." Lilo handed something to him. It was a metal, basketball-sized circular container on a little pedestal. "We uh... sort of borrowed it."

Jumba snatched it from her and set it on the coffee table in front of him. He pressed a single button on the sphere and the top popped off. It floated above the lower half, and in between the two parts, hundreds of tiny, colored pods floated and rotated in a double-helix pattern.

All of them leaned in close to get a better look.

"Are those...?" Donald started to ask.

"Cousins!" Stitch exclaimed excitedly. He got onto the table on all fours and stared at the floating pods, stubby tail wagging.

"Yes." Jumba nodded. "Remaining six-hundred twenty-three experiments dehydrated for easy, convenient transport. Only can be reactivated when placed into contact with water. Then take on true form, and wreak as much havoc as possible!" He couldn't hold it in, and burst into a round of evil laughter. Pleakley slapped him in the back of the head, and he caught himself. "Oh... Oh, is not good."

"He's scaring me." Kairi whispered to Sora.

"Good, then it's not just me."

"We must keep these safe from Gantu." Jumba said. "Perhaps we can take them off world?" He looked at King Mickey.

"But then Gantu would chase them! We can't let that happen." Lilo interrupted.

"Then we put these in secure storage area back on own ship." Jumba said. He pressed the button on the container, and it closed up again. "Will have to go to hidden hiding place to put it there, though."

"Alright." Mickey said. "Some of us will escort you to your ship to put away these experiments, while the rest search the islands for Experiment 221."

"Sounds like a good plan." Riku said, standing up. "So who goes where?"

"I'll take Jumba to the ship with Axel." Mickey said. "The rest, split into groups and comb the island for the loose Experiment."

"Hey, could we call him 'Sparky?'" Lilo asked.

"You named him?" Axel asked.

"It's better than 'Experiment 221.'"

"Point taken."

So apart from Mickey, Axel, and Jumba, there were three groups. The first consisted of Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. The second was Nehrut, Bariss, and Stitch. And the third was the pair of Riku and Yuffie.

Leaving Lilo in the care of Pleakley, the teams left the house.

Jumba held the experiment's container in his arms closely, like a small child. Mickey and Axel walked on either side of him like an honor guard. Their weapons were out and they were ready for action as they walked down a path that had been made through the forest, but it didn't seem like they would be needing them. Everything was quiet and there was no sign of Heartless or Nobodies.

Perhaps Axel jinxed them when he thought that.

A handful of Nobodies emerged from various hiding places in front of them. Five Dusks, five Berserkers, and five Paladins advanced slowly toward them.

Jumba shifted the container over into his left arm, and pulled a plasma cannon from the pack on his back. Holding it in just one hand, he aimed it at the closest Berserker's face. He fired a rapid burst of plasma bolts into its face, hitting it five times between its eyes before it fell backwards, dropping its giant claymore to the ground.

Mickey leapt toward the first Paladin, striking toward its head. Its wide axe blade shot up and caught the blow. Mickey pushed his blade off of its and pole-vaulted over the Nobody into the chest of a Berserker. He pushed off of it and jumped out of the way of its falling weapon, which got stuck in the ground. He threw Kingdom Crown into its chest, and it let out a bright light.

As the Berserker died, Mickey jumped over an attacking Dusk, which was then destroyed by a blast of fire. Axel leapt through the ashes, and sliced into a Paladin twice. He jumped toward a Berserker, and blocked its strike with his chakrams. He set them on fire, and pushed up. Both of his weapons shot out of his hands into the Nobody, setting it aflame.

As it was falling, he twisted around to block a Paladin's strike. Using one weapon, he tossed its axe away and impaled it using the other. He then threw both at a pair of Dusks, and while they were still airborne, he grabbed another one by the throat and enveloped it in flames.

Mickey lept past him and beheaded a Paladin in midair. When he landed he rushed toward the last Dusk, which was destroyed by a burst of plasma fire before he could reach it. One of the remaining two Paladins ran toward Jumba. He backed away rapidly, as it advanced, deflecting fire with the blade of its axe. He stopped, and when the Nobody was right in front of him it struck. But its target was no longer there.

Jumba had lept away with surprising speed for one so big, and was firing again. This time, the shots found their mark, and the Nobody fell to the ground. Jumba blasted two more times for good measure, and then turned his attention back to the fray, where the King had just taken out the fourth Berserker.

The King then proceeded to duel the Paladin, striking low, and then leaping toward its face with blade swinging. This was a particularly skilled Nobody, and it was smart enough to anticipate the attacks, and reacted fast enough to block them. But not so in tune with its environment to notice Axel coming up from behind.

It faded away three seconds later. Only one Nobody remained, and it was a Berserker.

It slammed its weapon down at Mickey, who was just barely able to leap away from it. Axel threw both of his burning chakrams at it, and they pierced its chest and went completely through it.

"Good thing we came." Axel said to Jumba, dismissing his weapons. "You'd have been alien flambe."

"Ah..." Jumba contradicted, stowing his gun away. He pointed his finger in Axel's face. "You being underestimating Jumba Jookiba, red-headed pyro-man."

"Uh, guys?" The King interrupted, tapping his foot impatiently. "We have to keep going. Which way to the ship?"

"Right, right. Is this way." Jumba set off down the path, Mickey and Axel following right behind him.

Minutes later, they arrived in a large clearing big enough to hold Jumba's ship.

The ship itself was large and red, marked occasionally with white lines. It looked something like a jumbo-jet, with large wings, and huge engines in the center of them. The cockpit windows were tinted blue. Its boarding ramp on the side was already lowered, waiting for them.

But they weren't alone.

"Freeze." Gantu was standing in front of the ship, also waiting for them. His plasma pistol was already in hand, and aimed directly at them. "Hand over the experiments, Jookiba."

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy walked together down one of the streets in town. They were supposed to be looking for the rogue Experiment 221, but there was a slight problem with that.

"Uhh... How are we supposed to find him?" Goofy asked.

Sora had to admit that he had no idea whatsoever. Since leaving Lilo's house they had just been wandering around town looking for any signs of strange activity. He was starting to wish that they'd brought Nehrut along. He'd have just scanned the area and found the experiment.

"We'll just have to look around." Kairi said.

And right on cue, they heard screaming from far off. They traded glances, and took off at a run in the direction of the noise. Kairi and Sora took to the air as they ran. Kairi grabbed Donald from under his arms, and Sora awkwardly pulled Goofy up on his back.

They followed the sounds of the screaming, and quickly found the place they were looking for. It looked to be a deluxe five-star hotel. Sora could see a pool in the back, and couldn't help but think that a pool defeated the purpose of coming to the beach. And it was from this hotel that dozens of people were running.

"Ya think Sparky's down there?" Goofy asked.

"I hope you're being sarcastic." Sora said, landing in front of the hotel. The lamp post by the front gate suddenly exploded from the inside.

Just a moment before Sora's group encountered the newly dubbed 'Sparky', Nehrut, Bariss, and Stitch were searching an open-air market just outside of town. Local merchants were selling all manner of produce to local citizens and tourists alike.

Which one of those is Stitch?

Stitch had gotten a bit distracted by a cart packed high with cantaloupes, and was currently running wild inside of them somewhere. Nehrut was trying to yank the little blue alien out before finally deciding to just lift him out with his mind. When he did, the creature's face was covered in cantaloupe flesh.

Bariss quickly tried to apologize to the little, wrinkled old woman near the cart. Her hair was long since grey, and pulled into a bun. The glasses she wore were large enough to make her eyes seem as large as the cantaloupes she was selling. The annoying thing about this was that she seemed oblivious to the fact that anything was going wrong, and she was near deaf.

"I am really sorry about him." She was speaking very slowly and clearly.

"'My Aunt Willie worries about Tim?'" She repeated (or so she thought). "I'm sorry, sweetie, but you're going to have to talk sense."

As Nehrut struggled to hold back his laughter, (and Bariss tried to correct her) he sensed something. Sora's group had made contact. They'd found Sparky.

He walked up behind Bariss and tapped her on the shoulder. "Give it up, Bariss, she needs a hearing aid. Sora and the others have found the experiment."

"Cousin?" Stitch immediately turned his attention away from the watermelon he had been sniffing, and his ears perked up.

"Yep. So let's get going."

As they walked away, the woman called to them, "I'd get home soon, if I were you Paris!" This was what she thought Nehrut had called her. "It looks like bad weather is coming!"

Nehrut and Bariss stopped dead in their tracks. They looked at each other, and then into the sky. Sure enough, dark storm clouds were beginning to roll in. How had they not noticed?

"Hello brother."

Xaynew walked out from behind a coconut stand not five feet in front of them, smirking. Telekinetic appeared behind him.

Nehrut sighed. "You've got to be kidding me."

"You know, I could get used to this place." Yuffie said, looking dreamily out over the ocean.

She and Riku were walking down the beach where they had met Stitch, Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakley earlier. It was beginning to seem that Sparky had moved on, they hadn't found a trace of him on the beach.

Subconsciously, Yuffie reached over and took Riku's hand. He smiled.

"If you like this place, then you'll love our islands."

"I thought you considered them boring?"

"I guess I've learned to appreciate them a bit more now."

Yuffie pecked him on the cheek, and looked back over the ocean. There were dark clouds approaching rapidly from the horizon. "Hmm... Looks like there's a storm coming in... Wait, a storm!?"

"So?" Riku asked, confused.

She rolled her eyes. "A storm coming out of nowhere on a world where we know the Brotherhood is?"

Riku's eyes widened in comprehension. "We've gotta tell the others.""

But they were met with an unfortunate sight when they turned to leave. Saix stood there, looking mildly interested at the two. In his hand was his huge, ornamental-looking claymore.

"My, my. Don't you make a charming couple?"

Well, it gets better from here. ^^;

Review, please!