I hope you're all still enjoying what you're reading. Then again, if you weren't, you probably wouldn't still be reading. I don't mean to bug you too much, but I noticed I haven't been getting that many reviews and comments lately (one on last chapter was just "Aww", and a previous one was from someone who had not even read the chapter and merely commented that the world arc was still going on). As always, I would like to hear what you're thinking of how the story is progressing. Also, at a few points in the story, I left subtle hints at some more in-depth background development (such as in the Tangled and Port Royal chapters), but no one left any comments speculating what those hints implied. I just want to make sure you're picking up on these things and speculating on what's going on in the background.

Anyway, read and be sure to leave reviews. If the reviews ought to be negative, offer constructive criticism. Don't flame, or you'll get a Blizzaga to the face. Thank you, and enjoy.

Chapter 108

Spaceship Chase

As the spaceship zoomed away, everyone continued to stare after it in shock. They could not believe what had just happened. Particularly not Mickey, Donald and Goofy, who could only guess the cause for concern based on minimal context.

Nani was on the verge of tears as she watched her little sister vanish into the sky. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stitch stumbling in their direction, dazed. As she recognized the dogーthat thing that had caused so much torment the moment it had come into their lives, her eyes burned with rage.

As his vision cleared and he started to regain his bearings after the fall, Stitch found himself being sent flying from the blow of a Keyblade. Nani stood above him, glaring down at the blue alien while holding the weapon above her. All eyes were on Stitch as he lay flat on the ground, save for those of Aqua, who was staring at Nani in confusion while uncertainly flexing her fingers.

"Okay, talk! I know you had something to do with this! Now where's Lilo?" Nani demanded. Stitch pushed himself to his feet, groaning in pain. "Talk! I know you can."

Stitch shook his head to clear his vision and turned around to address Nani. "Okay, okay," he said, holding all four of his arms out in an attempt at a placating fashion.

Nani screamed, either due to the creature actually proving that he could talk or by the fact that he had two extra arms, which he lacked the previous two days, and hit him with the Keyblade again, causing Aqua and Sora to wince. Composing herself, Nani stepped over until she was right above Stitch. "Where's Lilo?" she repeated.

"Wait, Nani! He's not the bad guy," Kairi tried to explain, grabbing her friend's arm.

"Yeah. He was trying to protect Lilo when the aliens attacked," Sora added.

"Aliens, plural? Like, not just that one guy?" Riku asked. Sora nodded in confirmation.

Nani ignored them, continuing to glare angrily at Stitch. "Where. Is. Lilo?"

Stitch sighed as he prepared to explain. "Liloー" However, he was interrupted as he was hit by a plasma bolt from behind, sending him rolling.

Jumba was on him in seconds, and he quickly slipped some four-armed handcuffs onto him. He let out a triumphant laugh. "Now all your washing is up," he gloated.

Pleakley joined them and flashed his badge, which was not one of a law enforcement officer but still indicated his allegiance, in Stitch's face. "You're under arrest! Read him his rights!"

Jumba chuckled. "Listen carefully," he said, before he began to slam his head into a tree trunk repeatedly.

Aqua retrieved her fallen Keyblade and pointed it at Jumba. "Put him down, Doctor Jumba." Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy brandished their weapons as well.

Jumba looked at her in bemusement. "Have we met?" he asked, not recognizing the woman who had a hand in re-arresting him over a decade before. He shrugged, then dropped Stitch to the ground and stomped on him.

"They the aliens?" Riku asked.

"Yup," Kairi affirmed.

Pleakley pulled his communicator out and dialed a number in it, ignoring the disgruntled Keyblade wielders. "Hello? Galactic Command? Experiment 626 is in custody," he reported proudly. "We'll wait right here." He hung up, satisfied. It was then that he noticed the heavily-armed warriors getting ready for a fight. He shrugged. "What? We're arresting an intergalactic criminal. Experiment 626 is a destructive monster, and the Galactic Federation sentenced him to exile on a distant asteroid. And I probably shouldn't have told you that."

"He didn't already serve his exile?" Aqua asked, confused. "The Grand Councilwoman said that she would consider lightening his sentence after I turned him and Jumba back over to her."

Jumba laughed, although he still seemed rather perplexed. "Oh, but only a few days after our recapture, 626 broke out again and escaped," he explained. Stitch used the distraction to slip out from under Jumba's foot.

Nani stepped forward, edging around the others until she was at the front of the crowd, facing Jumba and Pleakley. The aliens looked at her nervously, unsure how to react to the civilian.

"Where's Lilo?" Nani asked.

"Who?" Jumba asked.

"Lilo, my sister," Nani clarified, pleading now.

Jumba and Pleakley traded glances, and Pleakley shook his head. "Uh, sorry. We do not know anyone by this… uh…" Jumba replied, trying to deflect his involvement, even though he was starting to feel bad for the woman.

"Lilo! She's a little girl this big! She has black hair and brown eyes, and she hangs around with that thing!" Nani screamed, pointing at Stitch on the last word.

Jumba sighed. "We know her," he admitted.

"Bring her back."

"Oh, we can't do that. Uh-uh," Pleakley told her. "That would be misuse of galactic resources."

"See, problem is, we're just here for him," Jumba explained, holding Stitch up to demonstrate.

"So she's gone?" Nani realized, devastated.

"Look at the bright side. You won't have to yell at anyone anymore," Pleakley said, chuckling nervously. Riku, Kairi and Donald glared at him, unamused. Nani fell to her knees, weeping. Pleakley backed up until he had rejoined Jumba and Stitch, not sure what to do.

"Come," Jumba said as he started to lead Stitch and Pleakley away.

Kairi looked down at Nani, then back up in the direction in which the spaceship had gone. She shook her head defiantly. "No! This can't be it! There has to be something we can do!" she protested. She turned around to face her companions, looking for them to back her up. "We can't just give up like that. We have five Keyblades, a boatload of magic, and a spaceship! We helped so many people so many times. We have to… We have to be able to do something! We can't lose her!" As she spoke, tears rolled down her face. She seemed to be on the verge of breaking down like Nani, but she willed herself to stay strong and look for a way to fight.

Sora, Riku and Mickey were the first to be inspired by Kairi. They attempted to come up with a plan to catch the giant's spaceship.

Stitch listened to Kairi thoughtfully, then turned around and walked over to Nani. "O'hana," he said.

Nani looked up at him. "Huh?"

"Hey! Get away from her!" Jumba barked, picking Stitch up by the head.

"No!" Nani pulled Stitch out of Jumba's grip and setting him in front of her. "What did you say?"

"O'hana means 'family'," Stitch said. Donald and Goofy shared puzzled looks. "Family means nobody…"

"Nobody gets left behind," Nani continued the motto carried to heart by her sister.

"Or forgotten. Yeah," Stitch finished. Pleakley looked at Jumba, perplexed. Jumba simply shrugged. Stitch turned to Jumba and chattered something in his alien language, which only Jumba and Pleakley seemed to be able to understand.

"What?!" Jumba shouted in annoyance. He picked Stitch up and began to scream in his face. "After all you put me through, you expect me to help you just like that? Just like that?!"

Stitch nodded. "Ih," he answered.

"Fine." Jumba took out a key and unlocked Stitch's handcuffs.

"Fine? You're doing what he says?" Pleakley asked in disbelief.

"He is very persuasive," Jumba replied.

"Persuasive?! What exactly are we doing?"

"Rescue."

"We're gonna get Lilo?" Nani asked, beaming.

Stitch smiled widely. "Ih."

"Great! Now, how are we going to get her?" Donald asked.

Jumba chuckled. "We're going to follow them," he said as if it was obvious. He set Stitch down and began to lead the party through the woods.

Mickey nodded, taking his word for it. "In that case, we'll need to make sure the big guy doesn't escape before we can catch up," he said. He turned to Donald and Goofy. "Let's get in the Gummi Ship and block his escape." Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement, and they followed the king to the nearest access point.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up! This is going to clash with galactic protocol!" Pleakley protested. "Interfering with federation law enforcement and assaulting law enforcement personnel will bring about legal repercussions!"

Sora smirked. "We'll take it up with them if they decide to enforce that," he quipped.

"Tell them that the next time they come into our jurisdiction, they should discuss terms with us," Riku added. "Especially if their 'protocol' leads to one of our own being kidnapped." Sora bumped fists with him.

Pleakley rolled his eye. "Oh, good!" he said sarcastically. "I was hoping to add theft, endangerment, and INSANITY to my list of things to do today."

Jumba laughed. "You too?" Stitch laughed as well.

"Must be Saturday," Riku added.

"Here we are." Jumba moved a curtain of foliage aside, revealing a large red spaceship with white designs, a large body, and long, thin, low-set wings. Sora and Kairi's jaws dropped at the sight of the ship.

"What? Did you think we walked here?" Jumba joked.

Gantu punched commands into the computer console, a satisfied smile on his face. "This is Gantu, requesting hyperspace clearance," he said.

"Stand by for clearance," a voice came through the speaker.

Unbeknownst to Gantu, Jumba's ship rose above the clouds. It was clear to see that the red crew-intended spaceship was far larger than Gantu's single-person craft. Lilo looked up to see the ship appear, and she saw Stitch, Nani, and Kairi standing at the cockpit window. Stitch waved to her and Kairi smiled comfortingly. Lilo waved back and started to smile.

"Hang on. It looks like there's something in your way," the voice on the other end of the comm link warned him. "Hang on. Plotting a point for a new hyperspace trajectory."

"What the…?" Gantu shook his head. "Connect me to the Grand Councilwoman." He was unaware of the ship moving up beside his own.

A moment passed before he heard the Grand Councilwoman's voice over the comm. "Gantu, what's going on?" she asked.

Gantu smiled proudly. "I thought you'd like to know that the little abomination is一" He was cut short as he heard the other ship honk its horn. He glanced out the window to regard it in confusion. Stitch flipped upside-down and rubbed his rear end on the window mockingly. Gantu screamed, realizing that his prey was no longer in his custody.

"Yes, Captain?" the Grand Councilwoman pressed impatiently.

Jumba turned the steering wheel and tilted the ship so that the end of the left wing bumped Gantu's ship from below, giving Gantu a strong jolt in the cockpit.

"I'll call you back," Gantu grumbled before hanging up on the comm. He then steered the ship to follow Jumba's vessel through the sky, unveiling a ray gun from underneath the craft in an effort to shoot his adversaries down. "How did you get out of there?" He fired photon bolts, but they all missed the larger ship.

"So, what exactly are we doing?" Nani asked.

"We got his attention by showing him that we have something that he wants," Riku explained. "Now we're stringing him along, making him play by our rules until we get what we want."

"Goading him into a fight he can't win," Aqua mused. "That sounds familiar."

"Don't worry. We are professionals," Jumba assured Nani. He noticed that Stitch had accidentally broken a lever and was chewing on the broken stick. "Hey! Get that out of your mouth!" He reached over and grabbed for the lever. Nani facepalmed. Riku rolled his eyes.

Sora studied the damage. "Got any replacement parts around? Screwdrivers and drills? Anything for maintenance in mid-flight?" he asked.

"Uh, there should be some in the cargo hold," Pleakley replied. "What are you going to do?" Before he had even finished the sentence, Sora was gone. He returned a minute later with the tools he needed.

"Chip and Dale made sure that we could fix the Gummi Ship if it was damaged," Sora explained. "Considering how many times we got shot and bumped into asteroids, it was a good skill to learn. Most of the fuselage was put together by just linking Gummi blocks together like Legos, but the machinery and consoles were put together the old-fashioned way." He quickly began dismantling the plates covering the control gears and worked on replacing the broken lever, while Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Stitch, and Nani watched in amazement. When he was done, he replaced the cover and screwed it back on, then stood up and wiped sweat from his forehead. "All fixed."

Kairi clapped, impressed. "Nice job," she commended.

"Thanks," he replied.

Suddenly, a photon beam shot through the ceiling, dispersing on the floor in the middle of the center aisle, startling Pleakley. Noticing that Gantu's shots could breach the hull, Riku beckoned Pleakley to come to the front, while he and Aqua took a defensive position behind the others, prepared to block any lasers that might come in from harming them.

Jumba noticed that he was flying the ship back to the island, and straight into a mountain pass. "Hold on," he told his passengers before turning the ship sideways to fly harmlessly between flanking rocks. Gantu banked to the side, strafing a mountain as he attempted to avoid it. He managed to regain his balance in midair and flew alongside the mountain, although he was unable to go right after Jumba's ship due to the rocks between them.

"Okay, is showtime!" Jumba shouted. Stitch cackled and scurried over to the emergency exit, grabbing onto the handle as he prepared for his part.

Aqua nodded. "I'm with you, Stitch," she said, twirling her old Keyblade, Stormfall, in her hands. She had contemplated using the Master's Defender for the upcoming task, but she had not attempted that function of Keyblade transformation with it before, and elected to use what was familiar to her.

As the ship reached the end of the mountain pass, Jumba turned back to Stitch and Aqua. "This is it," he told them. He gripped the steering console tightly, indicating that Sora, Riku, Kairi, Nani, and Pleakley should hold on tight to whatever they could grab onto. He swerved, and the ship turned sharply just as it exited the mountain range, coming right into Gantu's path. The alien officer could only gasp in horror before his vessel hit the larger craft, sending him spinning.

"Go! Go! Go!" Stitch shouted in excitement. He pulled the release lever and opened the emergency door, letting himself fly out into the air. Aqua threw her Keyblade and jumped out after him. Stormfall turned into a Keyblade Glider, scaling and shifting its parts until it functioned not unlike a floating chair with a long, thin cone on the lower front and two arced pieces connected by a thin cylindrical bar that almost gave the glider the appearance of a compound bow. Aqua fell feet-first and landed in position on the glider, her feet resting on the frame of what had once been the teeth of her weapon, and grabbed onto the center bar, sitting on the edge of the back piece. With the glider propelling itself on its own, Aqua flew down to catch up to Gantu's ship.

Stitch, laughing maniacally, landed on the windshield of Gantu's ship, much to the giant officer's surprise. He crawled over the hull and down the back until he grabbed onto Lilo's capsule. Lilo smiled, happy to see him and realizing that he was going to rescue her. He began to claw at the glass, trying to break it but thus far only creating gashes.

Gantu gritted his teeth, realizing where the experiment was. "Little savage! Get off my ship!" he snarled. He pressed a button, which caused the thrusters in the back to turn so that the flames were blasting directly at Stitch. Although the fireproof Stitch suffered no serious damage, he was hurt enough that he was thrown off and fell through the air.

"Stitch!" Lilo cried out.

To everyone's horror, Stitch fell to the ground, bouncing high a few times, before landing face-down on an asphalt road.

Up in Jumba's ship, Kairi gasped. "Well, that's not good," Riku commented.

Gantu grunted. "Computer! Locate experiment 626," he commanded.

"626 LOCATED," a computer voice replied. A red marker triangulated onto a digital map of the island, indicating Stitch's exact coordinates.

"We finish this now," he muttered in a dead-serious tone as he flew in a beeline toward Stitch's location.

Jumba looked down at Stitch through a set of binoculars. "Stitch is unconscious," he observed.

"What do we do now?" Nani asked anxiously.

Jumba shrugged. "Stay close. Look for some kind of opening, perhaps."

Sora pressed his face against the window. "Come on, you fluffy little animal. Come on," he whispered in a pleading tone.

As Gantu prepared to fire, Stitch stirred, then shot to his feet when he saw Gantu's ship diving toward him. He jumped out of the way just as Gantu fired, narrowly dodging to green blast.

"No!" Gantu cursed. He banked upward in order to make room to turn around and try again.

Lilo pressed herself up against the capsule's glass, looking down at Stitch. "Don't leave me, okay?" she begged.

"Okay… Okay…" Stitch said sadly, not sure what to do from there. He heard a honking noise and turned around to see a gas tanker driving along the road toward him. His eyes narrowed as he came up with an idea, faster than a supercomputer. "Okay," he repeated, more resolutely, not willing to let anything get in the way.

Aqua ascended until she was level with Jumba's ship. "I can try to get Lilo out, but we should probably keep Gantu distracted," she said.

Sora held his Keyblade up at eye level, coming up with ideas to help. "I'm good with distractions," he offered. He focused on his bond with Stitch, and smiled as a shape formed in his mind. He turned back to Riku and Kairi. "Wish me luck!"

"Do you have room for another person in whatever you're going to do?" Kairi asked, not wanting to stand by and do nothing to help.

Sora shrugged. "I think we can manage."

Kairi ran over to join Sora. "Hold on," he said. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he held his Keyblade pointing down with both hands gripped on the handle. He walked over to the door, with Kairi walking with him, and then they jumped out into the air.

"Kairi!" Nani screamed, horrified. She stood up to go to the door and check on them, but Riku grabbed her arm to keep her in place. A moment later, they saw a silver-and-yellow two-person space pod fly in front of Jumba's ship, an energy bubble forming over the cockpit in which Sora and Kairi sat, with Sora in the front seat and Kairi behind him. Jumba and Pleakley recognized the shape as resembling the police cruisers used by the Galactic Federation, particularly aboard the mothership and starships, with a fully-organic shape consisting of an oblong ellipsoid shape, two engine thrusters on the back, an aerodynamic fin on top, and a pair of photon blasters folded out on the sides. After showing the ship off to the others, Sora steered the Keyblade Cruiser down toward Gantu's ship, flying side-by-side with Aqua's Keyblade Glider. Aqua gave Sora a thumbs-up. Sora returned the gesture while Kairi gave her an "okay" sign.

Deeming that Sora's vessel was better-suited for retrieving Lilo, Aqua accelerated her glider and rode alongside Gantu's ship. Manually turning the bow of her glider by the handlebar, she charged up an energy bolt, which was set up like a nocked arrow, and fired it at the side of the ship.

Jolting from the hit, Gantu looked at the radar to locate the attacker. He directed the gun to swivel and aim for Aqua and fired. Aqua cast Barrier and blocked the hit, much to Gantu's bewilderment.

"What sort of shielding does this cruiser possess?" Gantu wondered. "It doesn't seem to emit the same radio frequencies as a standard one. Computer! Bring up a view of the assailing cruiser." A camera image appeared on the screen showing Aqua flying beside the ship. "That Earthling who tried to interfere with my takeoff. Hmm… There's something familiar about… her…"

Aqua fired another shot at the ship. Gantu growled in frustration. "Blasted little…!" He lurched the ship to the right, bumping into Aqua and sending her veering off. However, she regained her balance and flew back in to strafe the hull.

Sora smirked as he watched Aqua pester Gantu. "I think the distraction is working," he said.

Kairi nodded. "Let's move in."

Sora nodded in reply and accelerated the Keyblade Cruiser so that it closed in on Gantu's ship, hovering only five feet behind the rear. Lilo looked down at him and Kairi, her expression showing that she was glad to see them. Sora prepared to open the windshield and try to rescue Lilo, but stopped as he examined the capsule and took stock of everything around him. He noticed that the capsule only opened on the end, and it was held shut by the magnetic lock that fixed it to the ship. Gauging its size, he also realized that it was too big for him to wrap his arms around, and he also realized that he could not get much closer without suffering a severe risk to his and Kairi's safety.

Unable to reconcile the conundrum, Sora glanced back at Kairi. "You know, I think our plan might be missing a few steps," he admitted.

Kairi nodded. "Yeah. I was thinking the same thing," she agreed. "What do we do now?"

Sora shrugged. "I guess we stay in position until we figure something out."

"I guess that's the best we can do."

"Why are they not doing anything?" Jumba asked as he spied the Keyblade Cruiser floating behind Gantu's ship but doing nothing else beyond maintaining a position.

"I guess they're struck trying to figure out how to get Lilo out safely," Riku guessed, borrowing Jumba's binoculars to get a look, although he struggled to use it properly due to the fact that it was not designed for a human.

"If they can't get close enough to get her out safely, then we need to stop the ship," Pleakley declared. "This would be easier if we were in the vacuum of space and could simply force it to stop moving, provided we had the resources, anyway, but in atmospheric conditions with relatively strong gravity and air flow, we'll have to bring it to the ground."

"He is right. But Gantu is too stubborn to simply do what we ask," Jumba added.

Riku stared intently at Gantu's ship, trying to think of something to turn the tide in their favor. Shooting it down risked great harm to Lilo, so that idea was thrown out immediately. He considered breaking into the cockpit and hijacking it, but a fight would most likely cause extra trouble. Plus, the controls were meant for someone who was twenty feet tall, so none of them would be able to properly commandeer it, unless there was an autopilot (which most likely would not respond to their orders, anyway). He also doubted that using something such as Gravity magic to bring it down forcefully would prove effective so long as the engines and thrusters remained active. He shook his head in frustration, unable to think of a plan that would work.

"Hey, does anyone know where Stitch is?" Nani asked.

"TARGET 626 IS IN MOTION. SPEED IS 84," the computer informed Gantu. A red blip on the radar helpfully showed Stitch's motion at a rapid velocity.

"Impossible," Gantu muttered. He recalled the various abilities that Jumba had listed during his trial, including being bulletproof and fireproof, able to see in the dark and think faster than a supercomputer, and strong enough to lift three thousand times his size. A full analysis of the doctor's notes listed the additional abilities of shockproof skin, the ability to crawl on perfectly-smooth walls and ceilings, perceive infrared and x-ray light, retract certain appendages, and amplify sound waves. Nothing ever mentioned such an incredible speed.

Turning his attention away from Aqua's attacks, he flew his ship in the direction of the experiment's trajectory.

Stitch, having stopped and commandeered the gas tanker, drove up a volcano mountain. Barely able to see over the dashboard and using heavy rocks to hold down the gas pedal, he steered the truck until it fell into a river of lava. The truck sank into the molten liquid, and Stitch scampered out and climbed up onto the tank before the tractor unit became completely submerged in the lava.

Gantu hovered over the volcano, trying to fire at Stitch. Lilo could only watch, terrified for the blue alien. Stitch waited for the ship to come closer. Sora, Kairi, and Aqua looked down at him wondering what he was planning to do.

"Abomination," Gantu spat.

"Stupidhead," Stitch remarked. He dug his claws into the tanker and pulled, ripping a hole in the steel container. A jet of gasoline shot out and fell straight into the lava. Fire shot up the jet, igniting the gas until it entered the tank and lit up the entire contents. The tank erupted in a fiery explosion, launching Stitch high into the air. The experiment flew straight up to Gantu's ship and smashed through the windshield, landing on the dashboard. "Aloha!"

Aqua flew around in front of the ship and jumped off of her glider, summoning Master's Defender and smashing a larger hole in the windshield, landing next to Stitch on top of the dashboard. Riku conjured a Corridor of Darkness and stepped through it, coming out in Gantu's ship, next to Aqua. He raised his Keyblade, preparing for a fight. "License and registration?" he remarked.

"I've had enough of this!" Gantu shouted angrily. He glared at Stitch, Aqua, and Riku in turn, before his eyes fell back on Aqua. His eyes widened as he finally recognized Aqua. "You! You're the one who interfered with my arrest of the abomination and nearly cost me my job!" he accused.

He swung his fist at Aqua, but she blocked with her Keyblade and pushed his arm back. "You should have done your job right!" she shot back. "Land this thing right now!"

"Let me think about that." Gantu swung his fist at her again. Aqua called up a Barrier and blocked the hit. He then tried to smash Riku, but Riku slashed at his wrist with his Keyblade. Gasping in pain, Gantu retracted his fist and tried to punch at Riku with his other hand. However, Riku stepped out of the way, and Stitch grabbed his wrist and used it to lift him up, smashing his head into the ceiling.

Gantu had had enough of dealing with Stitch's antics, and he turned his efforts to slamming his fist down on him. "You're vile! You're foul! You're flawed!" he snarled with each hit. Stitch dodged the first two, but the third connected. However, Stitch simply held the fist up with two arms.

"Also cute and fluffy!" Stitch retorted. With that, he threw Gantu out of the cockpit. Riku and Aqua ducked to avoid being caught as collateral. The giant flew over the Keyblade Glider and landed on the wing of Jumba's ship, which Jumba (at Pleakley's insistence) had flown over so that they would catch him.

Aqua waved teasingly to Gantu, then turned to Riku and Stitch. "Okay. Now, let's get Lilo," she said.

Stitch nodded and jumped up to the ceiling. He crawled out and onto the top of the ship, making his way to Lilo.

Riku knelt and looked down at the console. "We need to do something about this ship. We can't just let it keep flying unmanned," he declared. "But it doesn't look like we'll be able to use the controls."

"Maybe we could override it with an Entice-G," Aqua suggested.

Riku shook his head. "That's up on the Gummi Ship. I don't think we'll really be able to get it and use it."

Before they could come up with any new ideas, the ship lurched and they stumbled. They looked outside and saw that Gantu had drawn his blaster and was firing plasma bolts at the ship. He was trying to hit Stitch, but the experiment avoided each shot. When one of the blasts hit and damaged one of the turbines, the passengers took the cue to leave. Aqua jumped off and landed on her glider, dismissing the Master's Defender. Riku hesitated, but Aqua beckoned for him to jump. He did so, and he threw his arms around Aqua's waist when he reached her. They flew off, making their way to the larger ship. Gantu shot the turbine again, causing it to release smoke and make a chopping noise. Realizing that it was going to explode in a minute and another shot would cause it to blow up immediately, Aqua shot an energy arrow at Gantu, knocking the blaster out of his hand. She flew over Gantu, and Riku dropped down. He spun around and hit Gantu in the face with his Keyblade. As Gantu began to stumble away, Riku cast Mini, shrinking him down to four feet in height. He caught the alien officer by the arm and pinned him down on the wing.

Sora and Kairi saw Stitch come into view on the back end of the spaceship. Sora opened the windshield, and Kairi pointed her Keyblade at the capsule. When Stitch was just above it, Kairi fired a thin beam of light at the glass and drew a rectangle. Stitch grabbed onto the split pane with the palm of his hand and threw it away, then slipped into the capsule and scooped Lilo up into his arms.

"You came back," Lilo said joyfully.

"Nobody gets left behind," Stitch replied. Lilo kissed him on the nose, earning a soft smile.

Kairi stood up and reached her arms out for them. Stitch jumped out of the capsule, and Kairi caught them. "Got you! You're all right now," she said. Lilo gave Kairi a hug.

Sora piloted the Keyblade Cruiser away from the Gantu's ship before it exploded into an enormous cloud of smoke which filled the air, engulfing everyone. They all flew blindly, hoping not to crash into each other and hoping that everyone was alright.

A moment passed before they all escaped the cloud, only to realize that they had all gone in different directions. Sora and Aqua steered their crafts around until they caught up to Jumba's ship, flying side-by-side to the right of the large vessel. They could see that Riku and Gantu were still safe on the wing. Sora, Kairi, Lilo, and Stitch were perplexed to see that Gantu was now smaller than Riku, but Sora, Kairi and Stitch figured it out as they noticed the spell start to wear off and Gantu began to grow back to his normal size.

"We'll need to set down here, quick," Pleakley advised. "Carrying Gantu and Riku on the wing all the way back will be too risky."

Nani pointed out to the ocean just off of a beach, where very few people could be seen.. "We can park there," she suggested.

"Well, here we go," Jumba said. He flew around and brought the ship down in the water, safely bringing it to a stop two hundred feet from shore. The most impact it caused on anyone in the surrounding area was creating a large wave that disrupted a few people sitting on their surfboards.

Sora brought the cruiser up next to the emergency exit, where Nani, Jumba, and Pleakley had gathered, and opened up the windshield. "I think I have about two minutes left with this transformation," he announced. "But I think I can get everyone to shore in a few trips. I'll drop themー" pointing back to Kairi, Lilo and Stitch "ーoff and then come back for you guys. Gantu can probably wade on his own." He drove off to do just that. At the same time, Aqua gave Riku a lift.

A few minutes later, the party was safely on the shore. Since he had lost his blaster and his ship was destroyed, Gantu was not motivated to pick a fight, even without the four Keyblade wielders standing ready to bring him to his knees if he tried anything. A crowd had gathered around them, a few brave souls asking what had just happened, though the group did not let them come too close to Lilo, Stitch, and Nani. The only ones they allowed to come near were David, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Riku's parents, and Mayor Braska. The commotion and reports of sightings of the aerial battle drew a larger crowd, and also led the police to the scene. Mr. Bubbles followed them, not seeming very surprised at what he was hearing.

"So, you're from outer space? I hear the surfing there's choice," David said, impressed, as he sat beside Stitch.

"Nice Keyblade Glider," Aqua complimented Sora.

"Huh? Oh, you mean the space pod?" Sora asked, at first not sure what she meant. "Not exactly. I don't think it's the same as what you did. It's a transformation charged with Dimension Energy drawn from my links to my friends… if that makes sense."

Aqua nodded. "I think I've heard of that before, and I've used Dimension Energy, too. Just, not for transforming my weapon. More for using different abilities."

"Gosh, are you guys alright?" Mickey asked.

Sora turned to Mickey and nodded. "Yeah. We made it out fine," he replied. After a moment, he blinked and looked back at Mickey, Donald and Goofy. "Wait. How did you know to come back down here? We only just got back a few minutes ago."

In reply, Donald pointed over his shoulder. Everyone looked up to see the Grand Councilwoman, flanked by a pair of lizard-like soldiers in grey bodysuits. Jumba gulped at the sight, and Stitch sighed in resignation. Aqua's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. Everyone else quickly caught on, even though Pleakley was the only other person who was acquainted with the Grand Councilwoman, and deflated in dismay.

They were going to take Stitch away.