Grand Testing Tale -- page 43459

Chapter VII

Lilo, Stitch, and Pwing had piled into the Experiment Retrieving Vehicle (or ERV) and were searching for both Kaian and any wounded Experiments.

As Stitch drove, Lilo turned to Pwing. "Hey, Pwing? Earlier, you said 'No, but we almost did'. Who were you talking to?"

"Will you chill already?" Pwing hissed. At first, Lilo thought she was talking to her, but then, after a two-minute pause, she said, "Oh, you were talking to me, Lilo?"

Lilo opened her mouth to reply, then quickly shut it. Pwing, although often deadbeat serious, would sometimes randomly say random things at random times. Why? Lilo didn't know. She decided to avoid the question by saying something very clever, something that Pwing would never ever expect in a million billion trillion years:

"Never mind."

***

The gang never found Kaian, but they did discover who he had struck: Splodyhead, the plasma-shooting hunter. Splody had been injured (he had been ferociously electrocuted and had been bitten and clawed all over, his worst wound being the large gash near the base of his neck on the left side) since 11:45 last night. He had dressed his wounds as good as he had been able, but because he was more of a hunter than a caretaker, he had still lost a lot of blood. He had been found lying unconscious in the middle of the Kayotiyo: the Meeting cave.

After he was rushed back to the house for medical attention, Stich and Pwing returned to the cave to try and track down Kaian. They had ordered Lilo to stay back at the house, to which she had replied, "This bites."

Stitch was the first one to catch a scent leading away from the cave. When he sniffed it (it smelled like vanilla, chocolate, and mackerel), he could almost pick up an emotion...well, if it was an emotion, it was a totally emotionless one.

Hatred.

Pure hatred.

But forget about what Stitch and Pwing felt when they realized it was Kaian they were smelling.

As they followed the scent backwards, Pwing heard something. Voices.

"Hey, Stitch!" she whispered, "Get down into a crouch!" Stitch glared at her with an expression that read, 'What the hell you talking about, woman?', but he did so, anyways.

The two aliens crept forward slowly, in the same style a cat uses to creep up on a mouse, until they were perfectly hidden under a bush.

Stitch listened carefully. He heard nothing. He looked over at Pwing and hissed, "I hear nothing!"

"Listen harder," she replyed simply.

"I did!" he persisted.

"You did in the Experiment style," she said, "Remember, you have Shigan blood in you, as well as other types. Hmmm...this will be a good lesson for you."

There was a pause.

"Huh?" Stitch didn't get it.

Pwing smiled. "Believe it or not, you still haven't learned all your powers yet, only ninety-five percent of them. Try using Kri Yon Ti. It's a type of meditation Shigas use. All you do is slowly clear your mind of everything familiar."

Stitch shrugged. He might as well try, otherwise Pwing could totally kick his little furry butt. He closed his eyes and listened, slowly clearing his mind. The sounds of the forest drained away...the sounds of Pwing's slow breathing beside him...he had never listened this hard before!...the very sound of his own thoughts and heartbeat...

Then he heard them.

Experiments. Five of them. Richter, Yin (a water Experiment), Yang, Slushy (a snow Experiment), and Sparky. Sparky sounded frightened. Richter sounded furious. The others were backing up Richter.

"Why are you blaming me?!" Sparky demanded in Ohanan, "I was in my lighthouse all night last night!"

"I can't believe the Traitor Shiga," Richter retorted, also in Ohanan, "I haven't seen, heard, or scented any electrical Shigas anywhere!"

Stitch stifled a gasp. Richter believed Pwing was lying? He remembered that it had been Richter who asked who was the same element as Kaian.

"I went nowhere near Splody's cave!" Sparky protested, "Heck, I do not even know WHERE he lives!"

Richter hissed spitefully. "There were signs of electrocution all over Splodyhead's body. There is, as D5 admitted, only one of us who is electric!"

Yin, Yang, and Slushy echoed their agreements. From beside him, Stitch sensed Pwing tense up.

Stitch heard Richter, Yin, Yang, and Slushy close in on Sparky. "There is no reason as to why we shoudn't get rid of a killer such as yourself."

"I AM INNOCENT!" shrieked Sparky.

"I doubt that," Richter spat, "Yin, Yang, Slushy! Why don't we take the traitor for a swim?"

No sound of electrocution from Sparky. Strange--why wasn't he fighting them?

"No!" Sparky pleaded, "I will short-out for a few minutes if I even touch water! I will surely die if I am covered in it!"

"Too bad," hissed Richter, "Tell it to the ghost of Queen Tizrah--as if she would even take a killer like you."

(Note: 'Tell it to the ghost of Queen Tizrah' is a saying that actually was started by a hair-eating Experiment named Clip, who, after giving someone a bad haircut by mistake, remembered about the time she had heard Pwing talk about her now-dead mother and said that phrase. The customer didn't understand her, decked her, and refused to pay the bill.)

Right after Richter had finished speaking, Pwing lept from her hiding place so quickly and snarling so loudly that Stitch's concentration snapped. Acting totally on adrenaline, he charged after Pwing through the bushes and onto the beach...then froze.

There--taking on Richter, Yin, Yang, and Slushy all by herself and whupping them big-time--was Pwing!