Chapter 107

Aliens Are Attacking My House

"Help! I don't like the ocean!" Jumba heard Pleakley complain as the noodly alien tried to climb up onto the rock on which Jumba presently laid on his back.. "Oh, look. A friendly little dolphin. They helped sailors in the war一It's a shark! It's a shark, and it ain't friendly! It looks like a dolphin. Tricky fish! Tricky fish!" Jumba rolled his eyes. "Oh, octopus, come and help me. An octo… Octopus is worse than a shark! I hate this planet!" Pleakley finally pulled himself up to the top of the rock. He ripped a small octopus off of his face and threw it aside, then crawled up onto the rock, lying down in defeat right next to Jumba.

"Little monster," Jumba grumbled, still irritated over the fact that he had failed to recapture Experiment 626. After they lost momentum from the oxygen tank's propulsion, they spent hours swimming back to land, eventually settling on lying exhausted on a large rock.

Pleakley heard a beeping sound from his pouch, so he sat up and took the communicator out. He answered it and saw the Grand Councilwoman's stern face. "Uh, Agent Pleakley here," he said nervously.

"I have host patience with you both. Have you captured 626 or not?" she questioned, brimming with irritation.

"Um… Uh…" Pleakley tried to come up with an explanation, but his nervousness and failure to properly answer said all that the Grand Councilwoman needed to hear.

The executive leader of the Galactic Federation was having none of it. "Consider yourselves fired and prison-bound." Pleakley gasped at this statement. "Your incompetence is nothing short of unspeakable." With those parting words, the Grand Councilwoman hung up.

Fired? I'm fired? Oh, and I'm going to be arrested, but FIRED? Pleakley began to cry.

Beside him, Jumba broke into a wide grin. "We're fired!" he exclaimed, chuckling. He pushed himself to his feet, reinvigorated. "Now, we do it my way!" He then ran off in the direction of the town.

"Your way?" Pleakley mumbled, wondering what Jumba meant. It took a second for him to figure out what the criminal scientist was aiming to do. While Pleakley had been preventing him from taking action, Jumba had been forced to abide by the galactic law to not harm humans. But now, he was no longer bound by the law, seeing as how he had been relieved of duty and his arrest order had been revived. He was going to capture 626, no matter who might stand in his way. "Wait!" Pleakley cried out as he proceeded to give chase.

"It seems I've overestimated Jumber and Blinkley," the Grand Councilwoman mused aboard her mothership.

The ship's military captain, a twenty-foot-tall gray-skinned humanoid with a vaguely shark-like head which had two ingrown horns on either side of his mouth, solid blue eyes, three fingers on each hand, and elephant-like feet, who wore a black uniform with red lining, a blue belt with a V-shaped buckle, and a holster holding a plasma-firing pistol, glanced down at his superior. "Um, Jumba and Pleakley," he corrected.

The Grand Councilwoman waved it off. "Whatever. The mission is in jeopardy." She turned to the towering captain. "This could be your chance to redeem yourself, Captain Gantu. How soon will you be prepared to leave?"

Gantu smiled. He had been trying to get back into the Grand Councilwoman's good graces for years, now. He had been overenthusiastic and overzealous when he attempted to execute that abomination 626 and Jumba after the Councilwoman passed the duty of tracking them down over to the blue-haired stranger due to his failure to locate them on his own and his inability to overcome the invading monsters, and as a result had been relegated to patrol duties. He still retained nominal command of the ship, but had to defer to the Grand Councilwoman before making decisions, and his career had been on the fence for a long time, even while they attempted to track the rogue creature as he traveled from planetoid to planetoid in this ridiculous sector. Now, he was being instructions to recapture the experiment and fully reclaim his position.

"Immediately," he answered.

Sora yawned as he descended the stairs to the ground floor of his home. Entering the kitchen, he found his father talking on the phone.

"Alright. I understand. Thanks, anyway. Okay. You have a good day," Kumo said before hanging up. He let out a disappointed sigh. When he noticed Sora, he offered a soft smile. "Morning, Sora."

"Hey, Dad," Sora greeted.

"I was just making some phone calls. Seeing if there was anyone looking for someone to hire. To help Nani, you know," Kumo explained. "Your mother's out looking as well."

Sora shook his head. "I really wish there was something we could do to help her," Sora said. "I don't know Nani and Lilo as well as Kairi does, but they're still friends."

Kumo nodded. "I understand. We all loved their parents. Hokulani had a smile and a sense of humor that warmed up the whole town. And Ikaia was always up to help anyone who was in a pickle such as this." He sighed. "I miss those two."

"I feel bad that I missed the funeral."

"Hey, don't worry about that. Heck, they'd probably be glad that you spent your time helping your friends, or your o'hana, as Hokulani would say."

Sora chuckled. "I wish we could have seen them after coming back. Riku and I would tell Mrs. Pelekai about what we saw, and we'd all trade stories about the worlds beyond this one. Then we'd tell the kids stories around the midsummer campfire like she did when we were little."

Kumo laughed. "Yeah. She always put a new spin on that story every time she told it."

"I still imagine seeing some of the worlds like she described," Sora admitted as he grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard.

"And Ikaia always kept one ear to the ground. He helped businesses fill openings and people find jobs. With him helping out, something like the surfboard rental shop would have balanced out within a couple of weeks."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked, setting a bowl and spoon on the kitchen table.

"Well, after Christopher graduated and got another job, Mr. Kuhkini had to shuffle around to balance out the schedule. Claire and Ricky had to take extra shifts."

"Huh," Sora remarked, considering what his father said. "Did they ever find someone to replace him?"

Kumo thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't think so. In fact, I think I saw Claire at work when you guys were out yesterday. She used to only work on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

They both stopped dead as they realized what that could mean. After a moment, they bolted out through the front door, running down to the beach to check the rental shop, eager to find if they could help Nani get a new job after all.

Thanks, Mr. Pelekai, Sora thought, smiling.

Stitch groggily awoke, having fallen asleep the previous night with his head buried in the open book. He heard a rustling in the trees around him and slowly stood up. Was this what he was waiting for? He looked toward the source of the sound, waiting for his hope to arrive.

He gasped when he instead saw Jumba step through, aiming a yellow plasma blaster with red armor at him. Jumba chuckled as he found his errant experiment. "Don't run," he warned. "Don't make me shoot you. You were expensive." He stepped forward slowly, not wanting to startle the cowering Stitch and cause him to flee. "Yes, that's it. Come quietly."

"W...Waiting," Stitch pleaded.

"For what?" Jumba asked, confused. He stopped and looked down when he stepped on the storybook.

"Family," Stitch answered.

"Ah. You don't have one," Jumba replied coldly. "I made you."

"M-Maybe… I could…"

"You're built to destroy," Jumba reminded him. "You can never belong."

Stitch sighed, certain that Jumba was correct, but wanting to believe differently. "But I… T-Ter...ra…" he mumbled, blubbering slightly.

"Now, come quietly, and we will take you apart," Jumba ordered in a less-than-reassuring manner. As he took another step toward the experiment, Stitch turned and ran away. "No, no, no, no. Don't一don't run! Don't run!" The evil genius sighed and gave chase.

Nani sat at the kitchen table over an empty cereal bowl, mulling over everything that had happened and everything that was about to happen. She looked up at the clock, which read 7:13. She sighed, knowing that in just a few hours she would be separated from Lilo.

Lilo walked into the kitchen, despondent, with Kairi right behind her, and stopped when she was facing Nani. Nani looked up and flinched in surprise when she saw her. She quickly wiped her eyes so that Lilo would not see the tears. "Lilo! I didn't hear you get up," she said. She noticed her sister's sad expression and looked on with concern. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Stitch left," Lilo told her.

"Really?"

"It's good he's gone. He didn't want to be here anyway."

Wanting to comfort her sister and knowing that things were only going to get more depressing, Nani approached Lilo and knelt in front of her, resting her hands on her shoulders. "Lilo, sometimes you try your hardest, but things don't work out the way you want them to," she explained softly. She wanted to explain what was about to happen to them and assure her that it will be alright in the end, but she did not know how to do so even for herself. She cupped Lilo's face in her hands and lifted it up so that their eyes met. "Sometimes, things have to change. And, maybe sometimes they're for the better, even if…"

She was interrupted when she heard a knock on the front door. Thinking it was the social worker, she hugged Lilo protectively, but her fears were alleviated when she heard David's voice call her name. She and Kairi ran over to the door and she opened it to see David standing on the porch, panting heavily, and Sora right behind him, both evidently having run up to the house as fast as they could.

"David!" Nani greeted in surprise.

"Sora!" Kairi added.

"We think we found you a job!" David told Nani, smiling.

"You what?" Nani gasped.

"Old man Kuhkini's store," David clarified. "But we've gotta hurry!"

Nani's eyes lit up. "Oh! Uh, okay." She went back to Lilo and knelt down to her level. "Lilo, baby, this is really important. I need you to stay here for a few minutes. I'll be right back." She kissed her sister on the forehead and smiled. "Things are finally turning around!" She returned to the door and faced Kairi and Sora. "Can you two watch Lilo for me while I'm gone?"

The two teens nodded. "Of course," Kairi replied.

"Thank you." With that, she ran out the door and down to the trail, following after David. "Aw, David, I owe you one," she said gratefully.

"That's okay. You can just date me and we'll call it even," David teased.

Sora and Kairi smiled widely as they watched Nani and David go. They had a feeling that things would work out for everyone.

"How'd you find the place?" Kairi asked.

"My dad and I were talking about Lilo and Nani's parents, and Dad mentioned how Mr. Kuhkini had been shuffling his employees' schedules around after the one guy left. He didn't put up a help wanted ad, so Nani didn't pick it up," Sora explained. There was a pause as he noticed something amiss. "Hey, where's Stitch?"

Kairi's expression turned sad. "He ran away last night," she told him. "I guess he thought he'd only cause more trouble if he stuck around."

Sora shook his head. "That's too bad. They were really starting to become close. And I know he didn't mean any harm." He sighed. "I just hope he finds what he's looking for."

Suddenly, they saw two green blasts shoot from the trees and hit the ground on the path, and Stitch came running out on all fours. Jumba ran out after him, knocking a tree down with his bulk in the process, and chased after him with his plasma gun.

"Come back here, you little…" Jumba grumbled.

"What theー?" Sora could not complete his thought as he watched Stitch run up the stairs and dash between him and Kairi. Jumba followed, his weight putting strain on the wooden steps and causing a few to split. Before Sora and Kairi could react, the rotund alien plowed right by them, knocking them aside while barely registering them.

"Hey!" Kairi complained. As she pushed herself to her feet, she glanced down to the trail and noticed a few Shadows materializing. "Uh oh."

Lilo was about to return to her room upstairs when she heard the commotion. She turned to see Stitch come into view, panting.

"Stitch?" The blue creature ran up to her and she noticed that he was slightly panicking. "What is it?" Stitch shushed her and took her by the arm. He was about to lead her away when they heard Jumba burst through the doorway.

Jumba stepped into the hallway and grinned. "Oh! Hiding behind your little friend? Won't work anymore!" he gloated as he started to approach them, hefting his blaster. "Didn't I tell you? We got fired this morning."

Realizing that the scientist was not going to hold back if Lilo was in the crosshairs, Stitch directed the girl to run away.

"New rules," Jumba continued before shooting his blaster at Stitch. Stitch fell backward onto the stairs, but stood back up, holding the plasma in the shape of a ball in his hands. Jumba looked on, impressed, while Stitch laughed. His laughter turned to yelps of pain as the plasma started to sting, and he tossed it from one hand to the other before throwing it into Jumba's face, knocking him back into the living room. While Jumba pushed himself back up, Stitch went over to find Lilo.

"Come out, come out, from whomever you're hiding behind," Jumba called out as he started to make his way back through the hallway.

Kairi jumped in from behind him and struck him in the shoulder with her Keyblade. "Leave them alone!" she shouted.

Jumba flinched from the blow, but turned and swatted her away. "Little girl with flowery stick…" he griped. He turned back to resume his hunt only to see Stitch throw himself at his face, then kicking off of him to grab onto the wall, which his hands and feet stuck to. After briefly taunting Jumba, he began to crawl away across the wall.

"Come on! What's the big deal?" Jumba complained as he started to walk after Stitch.

Stitch spat an accusation which only Jumba could understand.

"I'll put you back together again," Jumba assured. He ripped the dishware cabinet off of the wall. "I'll make you taller, and not so fluffy!" He began to throw plates like throwing stars while Stitch crawled on the ceiling to avoid them, which caused the plates to break holes in the ceiling.

"I like fluffy!" Stitch shouted back.

Outside, Sora ran around the perimeter to make sure that the Heartless would not get into the house. Fortunately, they all appeared to be ground-based, so their mobility did not prove disruptive. However, he was annoyed that their growing numbers prevented him from helping Kairi, Stitch and Lilo. He knocked a Heartless which resembled a tiki head into the stream and dispatched a trio of Shadows with a Blizzaga spell, cursing at the fact that the Heartless just had to show up right then, of all times.

Further away, Pleakley ran onto the trail, having followed Jumba as closely as he could, which was to say not very close, only to see the destruction that was occurring as plates shot straight out of the roof. "No, no, No!" he screamed in panic, before running to catch up to the incident which was underway.

Jumba finally ran out of dishes to throw, so Stitch stood upside-down on the ceiling confidently, not realizing that the holes in the ceiling formed a near-perfect circle with only a few points holding the platform in place. "Yu porma dissy!" Stitch taunted.

"Oh, leave my mother out of this!" Jumba shot back.

The ceiling, unable to hold itself up due to the damage surrounding Stitch's platform, broke and smashed on the floor, breaking right on top of Stitch. The experiment groaned in pain.

"You could do with a makeover," Jumba joked as he started to move debris aside to try and dig Stitch up.

"No!" Lilo screamed as she ran at him and slapped him, rather feebly, with a broom. Not interested in concerning himself with the little girl, he gently pushed her aside. Stitch lunged at Jumba, tackling him, then picked him up and threw him through the wall.

Kairi grabbed Lilo by the arm and led her to the back door. "This way," she called, beckoning the still-snarling Stitch to follow. "If we make it toー" She did not finish the thought as she opened the door to find Pleakley.

"You're alive!" Pleakley shouted, relieved to see that the humans were unharmed.

Kairi knocked him down with a Blizzard spell, and Lilo slammed the door. "They're all over the place!" the child screamed.

They heard Jumba laugh and turned around as he stepped back into view. "Running away? Here." He pulled out what appeared to be a Swiss Army Toiletry Kit, which opened up so that each tool plus the handle made a six-pointed throwing star. "Let me stop you!" He threw the kit at Stitch, but Kairi stepped in front of him and Lilo and cast Reflera. The kit bounced off of the barrier, forcing Jumba to duck to avoid getting hit in the face. Kairi used the distraction to lead Lilo and Stitch away.

Before Jumba could resume pursuit, Pleakley entered and grabbed him by the coat. "Where's the girl?" he interrogated. "What have you done with the girl?"

Kairi, Lilo and Stitch ran back into the living room but stopped when a pair of Heartless appeared suddenly. Stitch let out an alien curse and lunged at one of the monsters, ripping it apart with his claws. He then proceeded to jump out through the hole where the wall and window had once been.

"Stitch? Where are youーcrud!" Kairi spat as her attention turned to five more Shadows materializing around her and Lilo. Lilo ran past two Shadows and climbed up on a chair to reach for the phone. "Lilo, go! Find Sora! No, wait. Don't. There are Heartless out there. Call the police!" Kairi punctuated her instruction by stabbing her Keyblade through a Shadow.

"Hello? Cobra Bubbles?" Lilo said when the recipient picked up her call. "Aliens are attacking my house."

"I said police, Lilo! 9-1-1!" Kairi scolded. She slashed at a Shadow while two others clawed at her legs from behind.

When he heard what Lilo was doing, Pleakley panicked. "No, no, no! No aliens!" He ran over to try to stop Lilo from saying too much.

To everyone's shock, the entire remainder of the front wall caved in, shattering into splinters from a powerful force. Stitch stood in what used to be the doorway, holding the old Volkswagen Beetle above his head. "Blue punch buggy!" he yelled before hitting Jumba with it like a baseball bat, sending him crashing into Nani's bedroom.

Kairi's jaw dropped. "No! Stitch, put the car down! Stitch!" She watched Stitch throw the car at Jumba and groaned. "Why do I have to do this alone?"

"They want my dog," Lilo told Mr. Bubbles.

"There's no need to alert the authorities!" Pleakley pleaded. He took the phone from her and made a poor attempt at alleviating concern. "Everything's under control." Lilo quickly took the phone back from the skinny alien.

"Lilo? Who was that?" Cobra asked from the other end.

"Oh, good. My dog found the chainsaw," Lilo said.

Kairi stopped immediately after destroying another Heartless and blinked in confusion. "What did she just say?"

"Lilo! Don't hangー" Cobra was cut off as Lilo hung up the phone. At the same time, Stitch jumped back over yet another destroyed wall from outside, revving up a chainsaw.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Sora shouted as he jumped through the hole in the front wall. He cast Zero Gravity on the chainsaw, lifting it out of Stitch's hands and causing it to power down. "Was the car bit really necessary?" he complained He cast Thundara to destroy the Heartless surrounding Kairi, then ran over to check on her. "You alright?"

Kairi nodded. "I'm fine. I've been keeping Lilo out of danger, but this is getting out of hand," she replied.

Sora surveyed the damage around him, including what remained of the ceiling and roof. "I noticed."

Meanwhile, Stitch found Jumba's plasma blaster and pointed it at his attacker. The instant he pulled the trigger, however, Jumba shoved a carrot into the muzzle. "You shouldn't play with guns," Jumba teased, not realizing that the gun was starting to hum and fizzle, as the charged plasma buildup was melting the circuitry and overloading the weapon.

However, Stitch recognized this problem. "Oh, okay," he replied as he handed the gun to Jumba.

"Thank you." Jumba then blinked as he noticed the humming start to get louder. "Oh, I just remembered. It's your birthday." He passed the gun to Stitch and began to walk away, not wanting to be near when it exploded. "Happy birthday!"

Stitch tugged on Jumba's coat and tossed the gun back to him. "Merry Christmas!"

"It's not Christmas," Jumba retorted, tossing the gun back to Stitch.

"Happy Hanukkah!" Stitch threw it back to Jumba, who, not wanting it to explode from sudden damage, caught it again.

While Sora wondered how either of them could know about Christmas or Hanukkah, Kairi noticed Pleakley pick Lilo up and high-tail it.

"We're leaving Stitch?" Lilo asked.

"Trust me. This is not going to end well," Pleakley replied as he ran down the stairs, weaving around Shadows as he fled with the girl.

"What do we do about the gun?" Kairi asked as she turned her attention back to Stitch and Jumba, whose skirmish had devolved to the point where the two of them were quite literally playing hot potato with the overloading blaster.

"We could use time magic to slow down the detonation and get it out of here fast," Sora suggested.

However, Kairi was skeptical. "I'm not sure we're advanced enough with that spell to get it far enough away before the magic wears off."

While they were debating, though Sora seemed set to give it a try, Stitch and Jumba continued to juggle the unstable blaster between each other.

"My…"

"Mother.."

"Told…"

"Me…"

"You…"

"Are…"

"It!" Stitch shoved the blaster into Jumba's hands, but realized it was too late as the weapon reached critical mass.

"Ha! I win!" Jumba shouted triumphantly, only to take a split second to remember what was happening.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled as she threw herself at her friend.

One second later, the plasma blaster exploded into a green smoke cloud, blowing the entire house to pieces. Debris flew all over the place. One piece hit Pleakley in the back of the head and sent him rolling across the trail, dropping Lilo in the process. The girl looked back and stared helplessly at the smoldering remains of her home.

As he flew down to the island in his spaceship, Gantu saw a green cloud that could only have been caused by a plasma detonation. He smiled. I've got you now, Trog.

Riku's eyes widened and he stood up from breakfast, a shocked expression on his face. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

Chikyu and Iwa traded horrified glances, knowing exactly what he was referring to. "It sounded like an explosion," Chikyu said.

Riku ran outside and climbed up onto the roof of the house, trying to locate the source of the noise. Peering in all directions, he saw smoke rising up from the hill, the source concealed by the foliage of trees. However, he was familiar with the area, as well as the fact that there were not many residences on the hill. He dropped from the roof just as his parents stepped outside to join him.

"It looks like it came from Nani's house," Riku told them.

Iwa gasped. Chikyu cursed. "I'll get my people up there," the police chief said.

"Isn't Kairi up there with Nani's sister?" Iwa asked.

Riku nodded. Without another word, he ran down the street, taking the best route to reach his destination. As he sprinted, he began to hear the sirens from a police car and a fire truck.

Nani ran up the street from the beach, elated by the outcome of her interview. She stopped and watched in confusion as she saw Riku run past her at top speed. "What is he…?" she wondered. She then heard the blare of a siren and turned to notice a fire truck coming from the same direction as Riku. Her face fell as she began to fear what this could mean. "Don't turn left," she pleaded. Almost immediately, the fire truck turned left, heading up the hill on which she lived. As if to confirm her fears even more, Riku followed after giving the truck time to pass him. "No…" She ran in desperate pursuit.

When she came up to where her home was, she gaped in horror at the ruins of her pulverized house. The deck and stairs were intact, although there seemed to be a hole under where the kitchen was, but the house on top was nothing more than smoking wood and metal shrapnel. Pieces of her car were strewn about on the opposite side of the stream, the remnants melted and contorted into irreparable, flaming scrap. She saw a dark blue car with the familiar figure of Cobra Bubbles standing beside it. She ran up to him, not noticing Stitch as he pulled himself out of a pile of wreckage in a daze. As she approached, she could hear Lilo's voice, and was relieved to hear that she was safe, only to remember what the social worker had said he was coming to do.

Riku, Mickey, Goofy, and Aqua, along with a fireman, dug through the debris, trying to find Sora and Kairi, who had not yet been located, while the other firemen used a hose to extinguish what remained of the fire. They were startled when they heard another explosion, although one that was most likely not on the same scale as the previous one, and turned to identify the source. They saw debris fly from the middle of the pile of what had once been the house, breaking into splinters and flying thirty feet, and then Sora and Kairi climbing out of a newly-made hole in the pile.

Not stopping to greet Riku or the others, and not taking time to reflect on the fact that she had just used a third-tier spell to protect herself and Sora, Kairi clambered out of the wreckage and ran down the stairs, calling out Lilo's name. She stumbled when the bottom step broke beneath her foot, but she kept going. She saw Mr. Bubbles holding Lilo in his arms and ran over to them, reaching Mr. Bubbles' car at the same time as Nani. Just as they caught up to him, they watched him put Lilo in the passenger seat of his car.

"Please, don't do this," Nani begged.

"You know I have no choice," Bubbles said solemnly.

"No! You're not taking her!" Nani yelled, desperate and angry. Lilo turned to them, shocked at hearing this. "I'm the only one who understands her! You take that away, she won't stand a chance!"

"You're making this harder than it needs to be."

"But you don't know what you're doing! She needs me!"

"Is this what she needs?" Bubbles shot back, gesturing to the destroyed house.

"That wasn't her fault! Please," Kairi pleaded.

"It seems clear to me that you need her a lot more than she needs you."

Lilo processed the information, horrified. They were going to take her away from Nani. She did not want to lose her big sister. And Nani seemed to be so hurt by the thought. She had to get out of there. She could not lose her only remaining family.

She reached up and opened the door, then slipped out and ran away.

Stitch watched the confrontation from a distance, dismayed and ashamed of himself for letting it happen. He made a horrible mistake in allowing Jumba to follow him to Lilo's house. He made an even greater misstep by failing to contain the damage and instead escalating it himself. Jumba was right. The Grand Councilwoman was right. The entire Galactic Federation was right. He was nothing more than a monster, and everything he touched only came to ruin.

Bubbles sighed. "I am sorry, Nani," he said sincerely. "I do wish things could be different."

Nani was on the verge of tears, realizing that there was nothing she could do to stop Mr. Bubbles from taking her sister away. Kairi approached her, sympathizing with the young woman's plight. She loved Nani and Lilo like sisters, and she wanted there to be some way that she could help them, but it looked as though that would not be possible. Her eyes full of tears, she hugged Nani, not expecting to comfort her, but wanting to at least offer a shoulder to cry on.

Bubbles turned to get into his car, but stopped as he looked through the window to see that the seat was empty.

Kairi and Nani broke their embrace when they heard Bubbles start to call out Lilo's name. They peeked into the car window and realized that she was gone. They started to desperately call out for her as well.

Stitch watched as they went into the trees in search of Lilo, followed by Sora and Riku. Glancing down, he saw the photograph of Lilo with her family. Two of the corners were burnt up, but it was mostly still intact. The depictions of Lilo, Nani, and their parents were untarnished. He picked it up and studied it sadly, before deciding that he should return it to her.

He scurried through the woods, using his enhanced hearing and smell to track her before he finally caught up to her. He tapped her on the arm to get her attention, startling her, then stepped out into full view. He handed the picture to her.

Lilo noticed the burns on the picture and took on a cold, angry expression. "You ruined everything," she accused bitterly.

Stitch was surprised by the reaction, but decided that she was right to think so. Thinking that she deserved to know the truth, he showed her his true form. A pair of antennae grew out of his forehead and three foot-long spines extended from his back. He raised his arms and allowed two extra arms to grow from his sides.

"You're one of them?" Lilo said, feeling shocked and betrayed. Stitch lowered his arms and nodded. Angrily, Lilo shoved him away. "Get out of here, Stitch."

Suddenly, they both heard a click and turned around, too late as Gantu fired a net that closed around them and sent them tumbling across the ground. "Surprise!" he shouted triumphantly, laughing. He walked over to the net, clearing thirty feet in three steps, and picked it up. Stitch struggled to break out, but the polymer would not be pierced by his claws. "And here I thought you would be difficult to catch! Oh, silly me."

Nani and Kairi walked through the woods, calling for Lilo. They heard heavy footsteps, almost sounding like an elephant marching, and saw Gantu right in front of them. Nani screamed in terror and leaned up against a tree for safety. Kairi held her back to keep her out of harm's way as they watched the giant pass by.

They watched Gantu march over to his spaceship, a black vessel with yellow line prints, with two jet thrusters and a pair of wings on top. The ship appeared to be designed for one or two passengers, its size mostly suiting Gantu's own. He took a tubular capsule off of his back, to which it was magnetically attached, and opened the lid on the end, then emptied the captive contents of the net into it, closed it, and hooked it onto the back of his ship. "There you go, all bucked in for the trip," he gloated. He then noticed Lilo in the capsule next to Stitch, but did not seem concerned. "And look! I even caught you a little snack." Lilo gasped in fright. Chuckling to himself, Gantu began to march to the front of his ship.

Sora, Riku and Aqua caught up to Kairi and Nani. "We couldn't find her. Any luck on your end?" Sora asked. It took a few seconds for the three of them to notice that the girls were staring at the spaceship in horror. When they followed their gaze and squinted to identify the small figures in the capsule, they all collectively gasped.

Nani ran to try to reach the ship. "No! Stop!" she cried desperately.

Aqua turned her gaze to the giant and scowled as she recognized him. Summoning her Keyblade, she ran up alongside the ship just as Gantu was settling into the cockpit. "Hold it right there!" she yelled.

Gantu glanced out at her and frowned. "I don't have time for any interference." With that, he pulled his blaster pistol out of its holster and fired it at her, hitting her square in the chest and sending her sprawling. Not wasting any more time, he closed the cockpit and powered up the engine. The thrusters lit up with blue flames and blew air backward, causing Nani to fall backward. Sora and Riku ran to try and intercept the ship.

Stitch jumped up and grabbed the edges of the lid, using his claws to try to pry it open. He could only get a small seam opened, but he managed to contort himself so that he could squeeze through. He climbed out and stood on the glass casing, but before he could do anything else, Gantu gunned the engines and the ship flew off, causing him to fall away.

In a final desperate attempt to stop the ship, Sora threw his Keyblade, but the ship managed to get out of range, and the weapon flew harmlessly. The party stared at the receding spaceship, in shock at what they had just seen happen. Mickey, Donald and Goofy came upon the scene, wondering what was going on.

Nani took it the hardest. "Lilo…" she muttered weakly, terrified that she had just lost her sister for good.