Alternate Fate: Fantasy Alt 89

“The first thing I noticed about the kid was that there was something that wasn’t normal in the way he acted. That got me INTERESTED in him. The second thing I noticed was that he was bothered by the idea of me, an enemy, getting tortured…and that got me to RESPECT him.” Kila

CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE
良い、と愚かな不良
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE STUPID
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“I gotta admit,” Kioko spoke up as they all stood around the kitchen of a house that belonged to Obaa when she was in Japan at a young age. “To think you’ve gotten so far…” He looked Nick up and down as he sat down with Angel at the large, rectangular kitchen table with the others sitting at different seats. It went Ewa Lani, Gaiden, Ruin, Lucky, Charlatan, Morph, Crystallene, Stitch, Chops, Heartwing, Angel…with all of the humans on the other side. All of the rooms were, Nick noticed, very tidy.

“I’m glad to see you again, I REALLY am.” Chopsuey said, hugging Angel. “I was worried that you’d been sent back and I might not be able to see you here.”

“I thought about you when I was singing, actually.” Angel admitted. “The SW tried to get me to sing that song, but I wouldn’t do it for them, even when they threatened the people we were staying and hiding with.” She smirked. “So I sang them a complete mish-mash of the song. Ruined it. I thought they’d be fooled, but…” She hesitated.

“They remixed it and got it right?” Stitch said, sighing.

“They’re tricky bitches.” Angel admitted.

“You’ve got real skill.” Kioko admitted to Nick. “Your heart power is simply…” He shook his head. “I’ve not really SEEN too many people with that high a level besides me and Lilo.” He added.

“Heart power’s important ‘n stuff.” Heartwing spoke up. “It’s what powers Allforce!” He added cheerfully. “Good, happy emotions!”

“What lies in a person’s heart determines how strong their heart power truly will be.” Angel admitted. “Within Kioko’s heart is resolve.” She said. “Ambition. He wants the power to be able to make sure all the people he cares about get what they want.”

“Lilo’s heart seems to be filled with courage.” Kioko said. “I haven’t met a single soul braver than her.”

“Courage is the testin’ point of all virtue.” Nick quoted, thinking back to the huge “C.S Lewis Sayings” book he had at home.

“And your heart…I wonder what lies inside?” Kioko wondered. “Of course, I think I’ll see soon enough when you start fighting. Often what lies within the heart of a human will end up appearing in a partner.”

“Nick’s definitely got compassion!” Heartwing said happily. “Over and over again he kept on being nice to people even when they were doin’ AWFUL things. He even tried to get Leroy to be a part of our ohana.” He added. “And he’s likes that 627’s workin’ with us and he wanted us to nurse Leroy and his partner back to health despite how awful they were-”

“Wait…WHAT?” Kioko asked. “You…wanted to nurse…them back…to HEALTH?” He asked slowly. He was not honestly sure what to make of Nick now. Angel was looking at the kid like he was something very, very frightening. Neither one could understand ANY reasoning Nick would have for wanting to heal people like Leroy and his partner. They DOUBTED it was for their power.

“Well I couldn’t just leave them to die.” Nick said simply.

“You are a very unusual person.” Kioko decided to himself, slightly raising a single eyebrow.

Stitch spoke up. “Um, It’s nice to see you again, Angel.” He admitted, blushing slightly. “I noticed you let the hair on top grow out a bit.”

She blushed a little. “You, uh…like?” She asked nervously. “Yeah, I thought that having a smooth head made me look too bald.”

“Why do you have that mark on your face?” Nick asked Kioko. “Is it…like…a tribal marking?”

“Oh, no, no.” He said, laughing a little. “This is just something that looks good on me. I actually got it tattooed when I was about…YOUR age, really.” Kioko admitted.

“Say…” Morph spoke up. “Angel, I just realized something. You’re one of the last real surviving participants, aren’t you?” He asked.

“Really?” Stitch asked, looking confused. “The book’s last message on nearing the end only could appear when ten participants were left…”

“Kaiser didn’t count, remember?” Chopsuey reasoned softly. “At least, not according to that cloaked being we encountered.”

Angel shuddered momentarily, but none of the others noticed this sudden display of raw fear.

“So it’s Stitch, Chopsuey, AND Angel that are going to be the vying fighters for champion.”  Morpholomew reasoned. “Well, you three would probably make good champions. You all seem really good at heart.” He admitted.

“I trust you all.” Heartwing said. “When the time comes, you’ll know what to do, I think.”

“Ode to Joy” began to play in a digitized tone. Dude, who had got that dial tone from Dr. Rupert since no one want to her his original dial tone, took out his cell phone and listened to it. “Ah.” He remarked. “Well, Ray wants us to get going to Hanyouu Hillside. We’d best get going.”

…

…

…

…waiting at the top of a hill marked by many cherry blossoms, everybody lounged around, waiting for Ray. Heartwing had taken a cherry blossom and was blowing it up and down in the air above his mouth as his tail curled slightly with each blow, and Stitch and Angel were picking their nose with gusto whilst Chopsuey was pretending to play the drums with two sticks and a stone.

Nick had taken Lilo aside…VERY far aside, so far aside the others wouldn’t hear, and was speaking with her. “Listen.” He whispered. “I’ve been thinking of a plan to expose the mole in our gang.” He told her.

“Uh-huh. Whatcha got?” She wanted to know.

“Baiting seems like a good idea.” Nick admitted. “It works like this: we start talking about the SW around all the others in such a fashion that the mole eventually, in the conversation, will slip out something only an SW would know.”

“What about a “double bluff”?” Lilo asked.

“A double bluff?”

“We get the mole to think that we’re doing something, but hint that we’re actually NOT going to do it…when in reality, we ARE going to do it. We’ll say, for example, that we’re all going to head to Kauai, but we’ll be whispering in secret that we’re not. The mole will think that none of us WILL be going and will then take the bait. But in reality…we WILL go. And the one who’s NOT there will be the one who knows us the least. If there IS a mole, it would be somebody who’d be in the dark about our true intentions. You and I always mean the first thing we say, don’t you think?”

“No kidding.” Nick admitted.

At that moment Ray’s voice called out from beyond the top of the hill and Nick and Lilo headed on back quickly to meet with him. He noticed Angel, and looked her over as Kioko smiled. “Hi. I’m Kioko.” He said. “This is my partner, 624, Angel.”

Ray just blinked, rubbed his chin, then shrugged. “Fine.” He said. “The more the merrier!”

They’d expected him to say more, he could tell, but he just smiled enigmatically. “We’re headed to the Sacred Grove. It’s where Yokai are born from the horns of the Great Forest Spirit as he sleeps. It’s got immense powers over Earth, it’s close by, and it’s a VERY good target.”

He then held up a silver disc, which hovered in the air, showing a hologram of Belle, Psyche, Mercy and Fu. “Hey guys!” Belle spoke in her Southern accent. “Listen up and make sure there ain’t no posers in your party. Experimental groups are stationed all over the world to try and halt the artifact-stealing that’s been going on. But all of them are in disarray as multiple parts of the groups are getting separated and appearing somewhere else!”

“We THINK the perpetrators are trying this tactic to deliberately throw us all of.” Fu Dog added. “Furthermore, some communications are getting cut off for unexplainable reasons. Even Jam, who’s programmed to jam signals, stated that he can’t UN-jam them.”

“And I cannot sense any sign of illusions or any other disturbances that might interfere.” Psyche stated sadly.

“So it’s gotta be something else.” Mercy said. “Something very powerful.”

“These SW are TOO powerful.” Nick stated, folding his arms. “I mean, SERIOUSLY, they’re ridiculously overpowered. What, do they have CHEAT CODES for LIFE or something?!” He wondered out loud in an angry tone.

“The bad guys don’t EVER play fair.” Belle remarked. “But…there’s some good news.” She added. “Victoria and Snooty are here and in on the plan too.”

“What?!” Lilo gasped.

“They were assigned in and they’re going to give it their all. And Snooty wants you not to worry, he’ll make you proud.” Belle added.

“But even IF the groups aren’t separated, they STILL don’t seem to be able to hold up against the SW!” Lilo said, frowning deeply and putting her hands on her hips.

“Oh, and uh, somebody else is here to talk with you guys. Maybe you know her?” Victoria’s voice spoke up as she held up a green experiment with a long tail..

“FLOOK?” Stitch remarked.

“Uh…what…are you doing?” Nick asked Flook.

“I was chasin’ after turtles!” Flook stated, making Victoria and Snooty’s holographic forms groan.

“Uhhhhh…” The others all did a sweat-drop, but Nick held his hand over his mouth slightly, whispering. “I THINK she’s fakin’ it.” Nick told them as Flook began to sing “The Turtle Song”. “She’s being overly stupid to disguise her real nature. I can feel it in my gut.”

“What…the…HECK?” Snooty stated as they all turned back to the holographic communication disc.

“What’s she doing NOW?” Lilo asked.

“She’s…trying…to climb a telephone pole…to get a SNEAKER. And cut the laces. With a pair of scissor.”

“OOOOOOOH.” Nick said, making an “Ouch, that’s gonna hurt” face. A moment later there was a BANG, a shriek of pain, and Flook’s form was seen flying through the air of the holographic projector.

The communication ended as Ray chuckled and turned the disc slightly. Now a NEW hologram was displayed…Aron waved at them all. “Hey!” He said. “After we helped, Belle’s gang, we’re going to where Belle is to help out.”

BOOP! Now Belle’s face appeared across from Aron. “Hold it! We’re not in Ireland anymore, we moved to SCOTLAND. And my gang‘s in Egypt.” Belle said, frowning slightly. “To protect St. Patrick’s bones, we need to hide them in a place where-”

“Huh? But I thought they were-”

BEEP! Now ANOTHER hologram appeared and Sun Park, Haley’s teacher, was shown with Kim, Trainer, Haley and Nightwing…

And a small, black experimental dragon baby in the latter two’s arms.

“Meet Eclipse!” Haley spoke up.

“Awwww, he’s got your eyes!” Pleakley said happily. “He’s cute for a little monster.”

Angel shivered at Nightwing, then went “Awww” at the sight of little Eclipse. Then she looked back at Nightwing and shivered again, then looked back at Eclipse and went “awww”.

“Ooh, look, he can blow fire!” Nick remarked as the little guy hiccupped and a burst of fire lit Sun Park’s dress up.

“YEEEEK!” She yelled, rushing off to get a fire extinguisher as somebody began laughing madly and another familiar face appeared as well, waving.

“Heya guys!” Kila said happily surprising them for God know how many times. “I’m SUPPOSED to talk about the intensity of the magical disturbances around the world, but I gotta say, it’s good to see you again, kid.” She told Nick with a big grin. “How you holdin’ up?”

“Great, Kila!” Nick said. Seeing so many friendly faces there…the pain from seeing death not that long ago was now fading away, replaced by the familiar calming warmth that was love, the love Nick felt for his friends.

Home. With them you are home. With them you are home and they know too that they are loved…

“There’s all sorts of problems that have been going on in the magical community.” Kila admitted. “We’ve got reports of unicorn herds being driven from their forests, there’s reports of SNAKES appearing in Ireland again, the Dragon Council is getting more and more nervous every day…”

Her partner, XR, rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and it’s times like this I wish Star Command would actually give more of a hoot about this planet.”

“It’s REALLY bad over in the Midwest of America.” Kila added quietly. “There’s a lot of reservations…Native Americans have always been at home with magical creatures and a lot of them have…gotten hurt…”

Silence. Then Aron’s voice spoke up. “Uh, problem.” He announced as some shouts came through on his end. “Some SW-recruited GOONS are here!” He said. “Call you right back!”

And with that, his communication hologram turned off.

…

…

…

… “How on EARTH did things get so far?” Aron wondered as bunyip herd yelped and ran past him from the oncoming black-wrapped humans that were advancing. Their faces were almost totally covered, save for a pair of dark eyes that peeked out at the top. All of them held up glowing green plasma beams…Aron blinked at the unique shaft attached.

“Waaaait…are those…Di Mortui Sunt?” He inquired, noticing the color of the shafts. “God Killers? You’re really going for overkill, aren’t you?” He asked. “That stuff can cut down to the ATOM.”

“Indeed they can.” The first one said, advancing.

“Too bad you guys are too slow.” Aron admitted.

“You don’t look THAT fast.”

“…I, ah…” Aron grinned broadly and jabbed a thumb upwards. “Wasn’t talkin’ about ME makin’ a move.”

The guy didn’t look up fast enough as 627 SLAMMED into him from above, grabbed his weapon, and with one swift move, decapitated him AND tossed it at another goon. He then grabbed the body and FLUNG it through the air, making the others bowl over. “HA!” He laughed happily. “I’m gonna kick ALL your asses!” He spoke up, jumping through the air, claws outstretched.

“Ooooh. OUCH.” Trixie remarked, entering the scene with Grey, Sweetpea and Rycon by her side as they emerged from an alley, watching 627 tear the goons apart. “Man’s legs weren’t meant to bend that way.”

“Or that many times. Or that fast.” Grey admitted, shaking his head.

“Anyhow…” Trixie went on as she faced down Aron, with 627 finishing up and tossing a severed arm away. “It’s a good thing that you kept the Crystal Skull safe.” She told one of the new veterans, that is, Ovni out of all experiments.

He blushed. “Well, you know…I try.”  He told them all happily. “But we can’t just keep taking the planes here on your planet all around. I mean, they’re fast, but not THAT fast.”

“True, which is why we’ve been trying to set up better ways to transport from one location to another…”

Grey then heard something. His very powerful ears picked up slightly and he turned his head to look at an alley down the street…where a faint glow was coming from. He began walking towards it, and Sweetpea, seeing the glow HE saw, followed after. Rycon tapped his foot, sighing as he waited for Trixie to finish her point on dimensional portals and turned to ask Sweetpea what SHE thought of it all…

He noticed she was entering an alleyway some distance away and quickly ran after her into the alley just as Trixie finished.

“So anyhow, whatcha think?” She asked Aron.

“Well I think that portal spell might really work. Grey, you’re the one who’s studied dimensional gateways the most, what-” Aron turned his head.

Grey…Sweetpea…and Rycon…were both gone. Aron blinked. “What…the…?”

…

…

…

… “Raz, how are you doing?” Felix asked as he and Dupe and one of Dupe’s clones stood guard outside of an ancient crypt in Egypt. “I HATE being here. It’s so…DUSTY and DIRTY!” He remarked.

“Where’s Phantasmo? He’s with you too, right?” Razgriz asked on the communicator he wore.

“He’s possessed a statue of a half-naked due holding up a scepter.” Dupe explained, nodding his head.

“Right.” Raz said. He was deep, deep in the crypt and about to switch a golden statue that was meant to hold a Pharaoh’s soul for a well-made fake. He reached out with his paws, biting his lip. Easy…easy…

Suddenly darkness blinded him. He rubbed his head…

And then all went to normal…save that he was now holding TWO artifacts and he had NO idea which one was fake. He quickly put one of them onto the stand and then sighed. “I HOPE that was the right one.” He said softly.

…

…

…

… “Why doesn’t Star Command give a hoot about this planet?” Lilo asked Kila.

Kila’s eyes dropped down slightly. They could feel waves of shame coming from over the holographic communicator Ray held in his paw.

“I…left Star Command in secret when I got a feeling in my gut about the tournament on Earth going wrong.” She admitted. “I wasn’t SUPPOSED to leave. And Star Command was too with a request from the GFA, who wouldn’t even tell me any details about the missions they’d send other rangers ON!” She remarked. “They always kept things in the dark, they STILL are. I got tired of being there at Star Command. I could tell things were going to go bad, so I left along with XR.”

“Listen, I think it’s time I said you something important.” Nick said. “But I need to talk to Sun Park. Alone.” He added.

The others looked confused, but they all nodded. It must have been important. Ray handed Nick the holographic communicator and Nick waited until the others were out of earshot to speak up. “Okay, here’s the thing.” Nick told Haley’s teacher. “We’ve got a plan, Lilo and I. We’re going to be constantly changing the location of where we are actually going to. So that why the Mole won’t be able to keep up to date about where we’re going. We’ll constantly be changing destinations so the Mole can’t alert the SW.”

“We’ll need an ARTIFACT to guard though to make this work..” Lilo decided on the spot, rubbing her chin. “Something holy, something important. We’ll only let one or two people in on where we’ll be putting the artifact and swear them to secrecy, then we’ll move it again, letting only one or two people in on where it’ll go…when it DOES get stolen, we’ll have a clear idea of who’s the Mole!”

“Clever!” Sun Park admitted. “But…” She raised a finger up. “Where will you get that holy artifact?”

“Well…don’t we have a bunch of angels currently being healed in our ship?” Lilo asked.

FIVE MINUTES LATER…

“You’re NOT taking the Spear of Destiny.” Azazel said, folding his arms. The angel had black eyes with a golden/amber tint and was frowning deeply, his large wings held tightly to his sight, taut and angry. He looked a bit better…the fight with the female experiment had taken much out of him. “I BARELY kept it away from that one who called herself Dryspell…” After Rupert’s gang healed the angels, they activated a spare ship-filled capsule to send a few of them to Japan after finally getting a signal from Ray.

Nick rubbed his chin. “Dryspell, eh? So she sounds like a heat-user. She literally drained you of most of your fluids? Sucked you out?”

“Indeed, and it was IMMENSELY UNPLEASANT.” Azazel snapped. “I ALMOST had her, and I ALMOST got the Spear of Destiny through her BACK, but…” He hesitated. “…I could not stab anybody in the back. Especially not a woman. And then she turned around and told me if I didn’t DROP the spear she’d gut one of my men…”

“So she took advantage of you being chivalrous…yeaaah, that sounds like the Shulraska Womi.” Nick admitted.

“Look, this’ll help us get back at them for what they did to you. We need to use it to identify a traitor in our midst.” Lilo said.

“It’s true that if an opponent seems to know too much, this means a traitor is walking free. Often that is the case.” Azazel decided. “Well…” He bit his lip. “…I am not sure. The last time I trusted my gut I left Star Command to walk the path of God and guard relics most holy. But…I’ve failed him.”

“He’s always forgiving though. That’s what Page liked to say.” Nick spoke up.

“…I need to pray on this.” Azazel decided, walking off. Nick and Lilo waited for him outside of the medical bay, leaning against the wall. About half an hour later, he came back.

“God has told me this shall be settled justly should I agree to your plan. I am putting my trust in you.” Azazel informed the two, handing them the beautiful lance as it sparkled like a diamond.

And so it began!

“Okay Dr. Rupert, Ray…” Nick and Lilo told Ray. “We’ve been told to move the Spear of Destiny to Chicago…we need you to be ABSOLUTELY QUIET about this.” They insisted.

“Oui, I shall resist!” Dr. Rupert said, saluting.

“I can keep a secret just fine.” Ray agreed.

And so Nick and Lilo took their partners and the spear off to Chicago for a few days to hide out, see the town…and Nick took Lilo to a fair. He spent thirty dollars trying to win a big stuffed pink bear that cost 2 bucks to make.

“I don’t get it.” Stitch thought out loud as he looked the scene over. Chops sipped some hard lemonade and smiled.

“He’s not trying to win that bear.” He told Stitch as Nick held the prize up at long last. “He’s trying to win HER.”

Next, they informed Dude, Heartwing, Morph and Spud of where they’d be moving the spear…they were headed off to Ukraine.

“Look at THIS. It’s a giant Sodoku board!” Lilo said, pointing up at one building.

“I can’t read Ukrainian though.” Nick admitted. “Can you?”

“You know, if you stand on your head…” Stitch spoke up, legs wheeling about in the air. “It seems to spell out something.”

“What?” Chopsuey inquired.

“….uhhhh…let’s go…get something to eat.” Stitch said, turning bright red as Chopsuey laughed at the sight of Stitch tugging Nick and Lilo away.

Next Nick and Lilo let Aron, Belle and Nani in on the secret. They were going to be going to Japan again.

“Keep it on the down low.” Lilo insisted.

“Cross mah heart, hope ta die.” Belle told them.

“So it’s true.” Nick remarked. “All those weird things CAN be fit into vending machines here.” He told her as they looked at one in a city on the outskirts of Kyoto’s plains.

“Elvis Impersonators. Cool. Let’s get one!” Lilo decided.

Nick deposited two hundred yen into the machine and a small can popped out. Nick popped the top and a very fat Elvis impersonator began to swing his hips. Thus, our heroes went blind for a good twenty minutes as they stumbled around, trying to find the way out of the subway and almost getting run over by a train as the Elvis impersonator butchered “Burning Love”, which sounded more like “Buw-nin’ Ruv” and actually made Lilo cry.

“NEVER AGAAAAAIN!” She sobbed as she clung to Nick tightly a few hours after.

Unfortunately the next attempt…in which they told Heartwing, Dude and Pleakley about going to Paris…ended in disaster. They had just gone off the plain and were checking their bags when they discovered that the huge trunk which had contained the spear…had been rifled with. It was gone.

“But there’s no WAY Heartwing or Dude coud have taken it.” Lilo said.

“Could Pleakley really be a criminal mastermind?” Nick wondered. “…” He frowned deeply at this and rubbed his chin.

“In any case, we should call up the others and meet back up with them post haste.” Stitch decided.

“Indeed!” Ray’s voice called out from the communicator. Lilo held it up as his face appeared. “We need to meet back in NYC. The sooner you get there, the better.”

…

…

…

…Unfortunately, when they DID arrive, only Ray’s gang and Belle’s gang were there. Razgriz was appearing on the vid-screen and was the only one present who seemed happy.

“Sorry you guys screwed up.” Raz told Nick and Lilo. “On the other hand, seeing THIS might cheer you up! I heard you like Shrunken Heads. Whaddya think about…Golden Statue holding the Pharaoh‘s soul?” He asked Lilo, dramatically pulling it out of his little knapsack.

“Wowwww!” Lilo remarked, turning it over. “It’s BEAUTIFUL!”

“Wait a tick.” Trixie said, appearing in the view screen and looking the statue over.  She noticed something deep, deep within the bottom of it, printed in small golden letters. Hard to see, but…still…

“…made…in…Taiwan.” She spoke out loud.

“GOOOOHHHHH!!!” Everyone groaned as Raz’s smile vanished.

“Mother of HELL!” He remarked angrily. “HOUDINI! This is YOUR fault, isn’t it?” He called out.

“I mistook a switch for a fruit, it could have happened to anyone! How was I supposed to know the switch would shut off the torches?” Houdini whined.

“I’m GONNA-”

The vid-screen exploded by force of sheer anger. Everybody blinked.

“God have mercy on Houdini’s buttocks.” Nick finally said.

“Could this day get any-” Haley began as Nightwing patted her arm.

“Bad news guys.” Jake said sadly, walking inside. “We’ve lost contact from 15 experimental squads…they fought hard…but they lost.”

Nightwing’s eyes went wide. “But that’s not possible. None of the experiments have been returning to Jumba’s lab or we’d HEAR from them!”

“What about Izayoi?” Yuuku asked nervously.

“Well, Kijimuna told us that nothing’s happened over there but…” Jake hesitated briefly, then went on. “…The Spiritual Stone is gone. And…Slushy…and Salvyatee are…they’re not there either. Vanished. And none of the Yokai there have ANY idea what happened to them. Their memories weren’t modified or anything, the Council did magical checks.”

“Damn…the Spiritual Stone, gone?” Ray muttered. Stitch frowned angrily, deeply at this. The STONE?! What about SLUSHY?!

“This…this…RRRGH!” Nick punched the wall angrily, ignoring the pain. “All we have GOING for us is…” He sighed deeply. If this plan to discover the mole didn’t work…if none of the few people they’d talked to which KNEW anything about a moving-things-around-idea…then they were dead in the water. Pleakley was probably the only real suspect they HAD now, and even THAT was…LUDICROUS!

“We should take a break.” Kim told them all, sighing. “Let’s try and relax a little.”

“How about I make everybody a drink?” Chopsuey spoke up. “I can mix a MEAAAN margarita!”

Though Nick and several others declined the margarita and got themselves some other drinks, soon everybody was sitting around the large table in the shop of Jake’s grandfather, or sitting on couches or bean bag chairs, just trying to take a breather.

Angel spoke up, breaking the silence. “I can’t believe the tournament’s on hold. Sometimes it’s just really hard to believe.”

“You ought to cherish what time you HAVE here.” Trainer told Angel, frowning slightly as she stood by Kim.

“I know how you feel though, Angel. Being in the tournament means a certain degree of fear is always present in your mind…” Chopsuey spoke softly. “You always worry…what day will we will be sent back and have to say goodbye to our bookkeeper?”

“Yeah, I rather go back to the lab soon than live in fear on Earth.  I…I HATE this stupid tournament.” Angel muttered. “And I’ve got no idea on how to get Jumba to change the rules either. He used to threaten us sometimes: “If you trying funny business, am sending others to kick hiney”!” She remarked in an imitation of Jumba’s voice that was so spot-on a few of the veterans laughed.

“Well if you want to return so badly…we’ll oblige you.” Ray spoke softly.

“Yeah, ain’t no thang but a chicken wang.” Belle added ominously.

“What’s THIS all about?” Kioko wanted to know as Nani flipped her book open.

“You were willing to side with the SW to save yourself. If you’d had any guts you would have defied them through and through.” Ray snapped.

“We reckon y’all might be a traitor.” Belle spoke up.

Well THAT did it.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!!!” Stitch roared out angrily. Everybody turned to look at him as he pointed at Ray and Belle. “You stupid veterans! “By the book”, that’s how you do things and WHERE is it getting us?! You don’t seem to CARE about the innocent people that keep getting hurt in this whole horror, all you’re interested in is mission progress! You weren’t bothered at ALL about us losing our comrades either!” Stitch snapped. “My buddy Slushy is GONE and all YOU could say was what a shame it was that the stone was gone! That freakin’ ROCK!”

“But Angel-”

“Angel didn’t SING her special song, and they were threatening to hurt innocent people if she DIDN’T!” Stitch snapped.

“Sometimes innocent people get hurt in war!” Ray began.

“Oh don’t give me that CRAP!” Nick yelled. “This isn’t WAR! This is the selfishness of one single group being TERRORISTS!” He snapped. “And think of all we’ve been through and seen! White had chaos power on his side and HE got murdered by a freaking battle-crazy lunatic that cut a dragon that was taller than Mt. Fuji in half! One of them outmatched Kaiser one on one! All of these fighters are immensely strong!” Nick went on. “UNFAIRLY strong! We lost a LOT of our friends trying to take the bad guys on by ourselves! The stupid Dragon Council can’t handle the magical world’s threats and yet they’re asking US, who are losing those we love left and right, to fix this problem for NOTHING!”

Nick’s fists were clenched very tightly as his voice became dangerously low and threatening. “I do…not…CARE…if you say you’re all powerful. If you WERE, you would have been able to STOP the SW by now and NOT RELY ON US! WE’RE GETTING KILLED AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS “The mission is all”. Well FUCK YOU!” Nick finally screamed out.

There was silence. Dead silence. Nobody said a thing. Then…

“…alright. We admit it. We’ve been…holdin’ back our power.” Belle finally mumbled. “Me and Ray were champs of da past tournament. Aron was too. And Slushy.”

Eyes went wide. Bugging out. And that was an understatement.

“AND Slushy?” Stitch asked. “…he never told me…” Stitch mumbled sadly, looking at the ground, biting his lip.

“We HAVE been holding back, we didn’t think the SW would be so powerful. We underestimated them. If SLUSHY was taken down, then…” Ray sighed. “The Tejina Hateshi seal has been holding our powers back, but now we have to be more assertive.”

“I doubt whoever fought Slushy played fair. They probably took advantage of his hemophobia.” Belle told them all.

“Slushy had a fear of blood?” Stitch croaked out. “He didn’t…tell me that either…”

Chops put a single paw on his brother’s shoulder to comfort him. Stitch barely felt it though. He barely felt anything now.

“There’s another truth that we’ve kept from ya.” Belle admitted. “We were really mostly sent here to…keep an eye on YOUR progress, Stitch.” Belle added. “You wouldn’t believe the potential you have.”

“Then why did Jumba send 627 to keep an eye on me instead of you?” Stitch wanted to know, looking a bit surprised and slightly annoyed. Belle looked down at the ground. She didn’t say anything else. “Hmph. I don’t even know if…if I can win anymore. I could barely hold my own against Slushy or Angel, these SW are…”

“It’s OKAY.” Lilo said. “I don’t know what’s coming, but I’ll help you any way I can, Stitch.” She told her partner. “Ever since Mom and Dad died I’ve been feeling helpless for a long time. I couldn’t help Nani out with the house, I wasn’t physically strong or fast, but…being with you, I feel…I feel brave enough to do anything.” She told Stitch. “It’s like you’re an angel, a ghost of Christmas Future that showed me what I could become…and I’m gonna help you be the champ, even if YOU feel like giving up!” She said dramatically.

Everybody looked at Lilo, and they seemed touched. Belle then smiled and began to slowly clap. “That…that was good.” She said gently. “You’re really somethin’, kid. You are.”

“So what are we going to do now?” Nick asked, feeling proud of Lilo.

…

…

…

… “You want me to do WHAT now?” Leroy asked Coco.

“Just get to know them.” Coco told him as he led Leroy into the ship’s main bay where the others were looking over a view screen. “TRY and connect. It can’t hurt. Most of these guys are really nice, and Nick’s stupidly forgiving. Try with him first.”

“So how goes the plan to expose the mole?” Trixie asked Nick as she faced him and Lilo from the screen.

“Well, we let the Dragon Council in on the plan and they decided to implement something similar. Positions of artifacts around the world are being shifted around and only a select few know of where they’re going.” Lilo told them.

“Soon we’ll have one of them stolen…and BANG! We’ll know who the mole is. Because we’ve also let a select few HERE in on the secret.” Nick added. “We needed a bigger pool to test our hypothesis, I suppose the scientific term is. We’ve got-”

“Uh, I really, REALLY didn’t want to be the bearer of more bad news…” Jake’s face said as it popped up on a vid-screen that hovered in the center of the main bridge. “But…ten more relics have been stolen. And NOBODY knows how they all vanished.”

“TEN?!” Nick gasped. “TEN?! One or TWO I could understand, but…TEN?! What is this thief, a friggin’ Houdini?”

“Yes?” Houdini spoke up from a vid screen.

“No, dear, not you.” Raz said gently. Houdini sighed and walked off, head hanging as the vid screen turned off.

“Well this sucks.” Frequency said appearing from the screen, sipping on a margarita. “But I can tell you WE ain’t no thieves.” He told Ray, who was looking him over with suspicion.

“Why is that?” Ray wondered.

“I ain’t gonna betray family, y’heard? Don’t be a stiff, du-”

Shut up and put your money where you mouth is, that’s what you get for wakin’ up in Vegas!

“Uhhhh…sorry. My phone.” Frequency remarked, blushing nervously. The lovely-shaded blue experiment reached into his red and white shorts and pulled out a “Samsung” phone. “Duuude, talk to me!” He said.

“Your current plan to expose the mole isn’t going to work, I’m afraid.” A voice informed Frequency, and in that moment they saw his eyes flash with a hidden fury.

“…oh really?” Frequency said quietly, turning the phone on speaker. “The plan won’t work? Why not, ya stroppy?” He snapped.

“Now, now, if I acted the Bond Villain, you’d all realize your mistake.” The voice said cleverly.

“This guy is GOOD.” Leroy remarked. “…at least I THINK it’s a guy. It sounds like he’s using a voice synthesizer.”

“How can you tell?” Nick asked.

“I know from personal experience.” Leroy bragged.

“But…I’ll tell you this since I can’t ignore my sense of fair play.” The voice on the phone added. “You can call me Jaden. We’ll be talking soon.”

With that, the call ended. Frequency looked down at the phone, frowning. “Damn it, he blocked my Caller ID…and I got VERY good Caller ID, man, it goes right down to the friggin’ STREET number n’ stuff. This is major uncool.”

“Does this person even WORK for the SW?” Nick wondered.

“ANOTHER force besides them that exists to bust our balls?” Leroy wondered.  “Obviously God dislikes us.”

“Uhhhh…guys?”

Aron’s voice appeared on a vid-screen that floated in. He nervously gulped. “Uh, the thing is…we…kinda…lost Grey…and Sweetpea…and Rycon…” He mumbled.

“How could you friggin’ LOSE them?!?” Ray snapped angrily.

“Well, one moment they were there, and the next…they vanished into an alley but…we couldn’t find where they went after!” Aron remarked. “I’ve no idea what happened!”

It was then that Flook appeared far behind Aron. “Hey! You gonna tell them I’m here?”

“You’ve BEEN here the entire time WE’VE been here.” 627 snapped, rolling his eyes as he appeared on the vid-screen. “Following us and doing an AWFUL job at it. You think we can’t see your tail stickin’ out from behind that dumpster and all that?”

“I don’t suppose you could tell us anything about the Shulraska Womi?” Lilo asked nicely.

Flook put one paw digit to her lip and appeared lost in thought. “Well…I’m not REALLY supposed to tell you anything about Simsbury.” She told them. “The HQ’s supposed to be a big secret.”

“…but you just…told us…” Frequency said, blinking.

“…oops!” Flook remarked.

“Nick, are you SURE that she’s just PRETENDING to be stupid?” Stitch asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Well, I guess it’s time to head there and bust heads, isn’t it?” Nick decided. “Nip it in the BUD. Thanks, Flook!”

“Now hold on!” Flook said. “I’m not letting YOU guys go there! It would be bad ‘n stuff.” She told Aron. “I’ll kick your shiney hiney!”

Aron and the others took up a battle position as Flook raised her paws at them. And then…

“…uhhh…oops.” Flook blinked. “Just remembered. Cougari’s not here and I can’t cast spells without her.”

“OYYYYYY.” All of Aron’s group moaned, doing an anime drop on the spot.

“DORK.” Belle remarked.

“Dipstick.” Nick decided.

“Cor blimey.” Kioko mumbled.

“By Tallest Grapa’s pain, she has the intelligence of a HOGULUS.” Darth realized listening as well from yet another screen.

“God, you SUCK.” Ray remarked.

“Sock?! AHHH!!!” Flook yelled, running around in circles. “I hate socks! Keep them away from me! YOU SHALL NOT FEAST ON ME!”

“…627…if you could?” Aron remarked.

“Right.”

With a loud, long, drawn-out-yell, Flook was thrown through the air and vanished Team-Rocket-style into the sky. 627 clapped the dust off his paws. “THAT can be my good deed for the day.” He decided.

“Looks like she’s blasting off-” Nick began with glee.

He was immediately whacked over the head by Kioko’s book as Angel sniggered.