Lilo's Magical Mission Chapter 29

The Grand Councilwoman had been particularly surprised to find that Dr. Domitian Pestus had sent her, of all things, a gift. And not just any gift. Among the small collection of gems the mosquito-esque scientist had sent her was, without a doubt, an experiment Pod. It had been buried down at the bottom, underneath some crystalline orbs, and the Grand Councilwoman had been quite pleased to look it over. Holding it aloft in her private room in the headquarters of the grand government that reigned over the galaxy, she smiled a bit to herself before making her way over to her desk. She was rather tired, and a little break would do her some good.

Her species had a special relaxant drug, they burned a type of incense to calm themselves down. Humming a bit, she arranged a "Clarity" candle, a "Relaxation" candle, a "Wisdom" candle, and a "Luck" candle on her desk, getting a lighter out.

But as she flicked it on and reached to light the "Clarity" candle, the room's newly added SPRINKLER system turned on, and she was doused in water along with her carpeting, the gems…and the Experiment pod.

"I should have lit the 'Wisdom' one first," she remarked with a groan, rolling her eyes before turning around, and realizing an insect-like experiment now was hovering in midair!

"This is just wonderful," she muttered sarcastically.

At that moment, the beetle-esque experiment's eyes glowed, the Grand Councilwoman staring in surprise as a bright flash filled her vision.

And she knew no more…

Back in Hawaii, Lilo emerged from the water after giving a peanut butter sandwich to Pudge the Fish.

"Alohaaaa!" Stitch called out, waving cheerily over at Lilo as he stood on the beach, Reuben up on a surfboard.

"Check me out? Do I got mad skillz or what?" Reuben boasted.

"Maybe if you put it in the water," Gantu remarked wryly, Reuben blushing a bit as he got off the surfboard.

Gantu got a call on his communicator all of a sudden.

"Oh. Interesting! It would appear that the Federation is calling me."

"Is that your girlfriend Scylla calling?" Lilo asked, Gantu nodding.

"Yes, I-sh-she's not my girlfriend!" he protested quickly, blushing deeply.

Lilo placed her arms behind her back in a coy gesture.

"If it's not romance," Lilo proclaimed, "then what is it?"

"I-It's just a battle partnership," Gantu insisted.

At that moment, Scylla's face appeared on the communicator screen, her visage looking somewhat…terrified. She clearly hadn't slept much, and she appeared to be nervous.

"Listen, Gantu, we need to talk immediately in private, and in person. Can you get to the Galactic Headquarters? It's an emergency. I need help, it's…it's an experiment. One got activated here."

Gantu couldn't help but cringe in a matter of seconds.

"Is it still on the loose?" Gantu asked quietly.

"Yes, and still around. Can you come?"

"Of course we can come!" Lilo insisted firmly, "we'll be there as soon as we can! Do you know what it looks like?"

"According to the camera feeds, it's a large, beetle-like one," Scylla explained.

"Got it," Lilo nodded.

It wasn't long before Lilo, Stitch and Gantu were on their way to the Galactic Federal Alliance's Headquarters, zooming through the stars as Lilo nonchalantly leaned back, listening to Elvis music as Stitch munched on some popcorn he'd brought. About two hours later, they'd arrived, touching down in the docking bay as Scylla met them at the door, quickly ushering them in.

"We have to keep what happened quiet. This is urgent. You can't tell anyone about what I'm going to show you," she said, heading for the Grand Councilwoman's chambers, opening it up and ushering them inside, "I've turned off the cameras for this wing to make sure nobody listens in. The Grand Councilwoman…has lost her memory."

They stared. The Grand Councilwoman was sitting in a nearby chair, holding her head, looking dazed and confused.

"…I feel…weird…where am I?" she asked, "…wait, I already asked that, didn't I? I'm sorry."

Lilo, Stitch and Gantu couldn't help but shudder at the Grand Councilwoman's words.

"W-Wow, just…" Lilo muttered.

"There's no doubt this experiment is a memory wiper," Scylla explained as she paced back and forth, "and releasing it here, in the heart of our Alliance has catastrophic consequences. What if we're hit with an attack? What if a crisis pops up on a planet? Grand Councilwoman Caldwell needs her memory back."

"If this mind-wiping experiment strikes even more members of the GFA, it could get even more disastrous," Gantu admitted, "do you have any idea which direction it went?"

"From the camera feed, it went for the garbage disposal wing in the far east section of the headquarters," Scylla remarked, "well, it is a beetle…"

"You don't remember anything about how you got attacked?" Lilo asked the Grand Councilwoman.

"I remember…blinding light…" she murmured, "…Grand Councilwoman Caldwell? Is that my name?"

"Yes," Gantu nodded.

"Stitch and I can go find this…Amnesio," Lilo remarked aloud.

"Gaba?" Stitch remarked, looking confused.

"Well, it causes amnesia, so…"

"I'll stay with the Grand Councilwoman. Try to help her remember who she is," Gantu offered.

Scylla nodded.

"Then you'd best be careful," Scylla advised, "this experiment might wipe your memories as well."

"We will!" Lilo said, giving a salute as she and Stitch headed off for the east wing, Stitch and her racing down the halls, people watching her barrel off, looking a bit confused.

Unbeknownst to them, while they were away, trying to take care of Amnesio, Hamsterviel was combing the island, looking for more experiments.

"This is much more relaxing without that oh-so-adorable Hawaiian girl interfering," he remarked, "I can now enjoy this lovely island!"

He plucked up another experiment pod to add to his collection that he kept in a pouch on a belt he had, taking a sniff of a big, white and pink flower.

"Ahhhh."

Little did Hamsterviel know, an experiment pod labeled 113 sat on the leaf of a palm tree. Then Hamsterviel accidentally bumped into the tree that held it, Hamsterviel cringing as the pod flopped down, bounced off his head…and landed flat into a small puddle.

And before Hamsterviel's eyes…a mammalian, purplish/blue-nosed experiment with a horseshoe-esque set of horns jutting from his otherwise-thin head, a creamy chest/belly with patterns up top, and stubby little feet. Hamsterviel gulped in fear. Oh no. OH NO. It was 113. The BAD LUCK EXPERIMENT…

Whose horns were glowing broadly as the sound of a horrific rainstorm began to manifest, Hammy realizing he, and his experiments in his pouch belt, were gonna be soaked. Hamsterviel howled, bolting off for a cave, desperate for protection…unaware that cave was where a family of foxes lived.

It was going to be a long day.

Hamsterviel almost sighed in relief as he found a place to sit, waiting for the rain to pass and hoping he didn't run into that pesky experiment again. Then he heard a distinct, angry growl as he slooowly turned his head, seeing a furious-looking Momma Fox as he "eeped". A few moments later, he was barreling around the cave, howling madly, Shoe nonchalantly walking towards the cave, towards the being that had found him. Hamsterviel scrambled for higher ground when he spotted Shoe out of the corner of his eye.

"You!" he cried out, eyes bulging out, now hopping onto a stalactite, clinging to it for dear life, "stop it! You're bringing me bad luck! G-Go away! These foxes are trying to EAT ME because of you!"

Shoe didn't budge yet he let out a mischievous snicker.

"I'll make you pay for this!" Hamsterviel howled, quivering in fear, clinging hard to the stalactite, his only hope to wait until the foxes fell asleep…

Meanwhile, Lilo and Stitch were now inspecting the garbage room, in the far wing of one of the Galactic Federal Alliance's headquarters. Some had given them looks as they passed by, but nobody seemed aware of the truth of the Grand Councilwoman as they peered on into piles of garbage.

"Nothing, nothing…" Lilo murmured while Stitch gagged at the stench.

All this garbage was interfering with his ability to smell the beetle. Then an idea came to him. He intensely listened…

Hearing a faint buzzing from the very far end of the room, about a football field away. The room filling the garbage was absolutely soaked with waste.

"Aka tiki baba," Stitch whispered, pointing at the far end of the room.

Lilo nodded, putting on her goggles, Stitch putting his on as well to try and keep this Amnesio from affecting their eyes. The Hawaiian girl and the blue experiment carefully crept closer to the beetle experiment, hoping to avoid making a sound that would alert it. They crept closer and closer to the teal beetle experiment as it munched away on a hunk of garbage before it happened! A communicator rang loudly. It had been accidentally tossed into the garbage and someone now entered the garbage room, looking around.

"That phone's got be around here somewhere!" announced the illithid ambassador, his octopus-esque head looking around the room as Lilo and Stitch peeped and ducked, the beetle-esque experiment rising high, the illithid ambassador staring.

"What the—?"

A blinding light shot forth from its eyes, the illithid staring stupidly, drooling a bit, Amnesio sweeping by him as Lilo and Stitch glanced up. Their heads had been out of the way of the flash and they looked at each other.

"So that's how he does it!" Lilo realized, having been aware of the flash through her eyelids from the faint glow that comes from a large light source, "that big flash! We just gotta make sure he can't glow! We'll need…like…a capsule that's light-proof."

"Ih!" Stitch nodded.

"Let's call up Scylla and ask her where they'd keep those," Lilo offered, bringing up her communicator, ringing her up, "hello, Scylla? We know how that beetle experiment does what it does. It uses a flash from its eyes. We need a capsule that's light proof."

"One that's pure black or the like, you mean?" Scylla remarked, "oh, you could ask for one in the research and development section, it's close to the armory in the north wing. You'd best hurry though. I've been getting reports of other people somehow losing their memory…"

Lilo couldn't help but cringe a little bit. How much more people have to lose their memory and how much would it take the reverse the effects?

They made their way to the Research and Development section of the headquarters, finding of all people, a snake-like alien that was wearing goggles atop its head in a thick labcoat as it held up a few cups for some of its lab partners to test out. It cheerily smiled at them all as they each drank the contents, which were clear, absolutely clear, even more so than water. The snake scientist turned, smiling at Lilo and Stitch.

"How can we help, misssss?" he inquired.

"We need to find a light-proof containment capsule for a…well, a pest that's infested the station. About…this big?" she held out her arms to show Amnesio's size as the snakey scientist smiled back and slithered off to a nearby cupboard, the other lab workers smacking their lips after tasting the odd liquid, "whatcha havin' them test?"

"Truth serrrrum!" the snakey scientist said in his faintly hissing tone, "I want to see how potent it's become. Beforrrre, it just made you slightly more likely to be open and honessssst. I wanted to craft something that would absolutely compel you to tell the truth."

"Does it work?" Lilo asked.

"Assssssk them a question. Any question that could be at all embarrassing while I get yourrrrr capsule," the snakey scientist intoned as Stitch approached a faintly deer-like lab worker.

"How fat are you?" he asked the woman.

"Stitch, you don't ask a lady—" Lilo began to scold, the deer frowning.

"I'll have you know—"

Then her voice got monotone.

"I am 121 pounds and immensely depressed that I no longer fit into my college sweatpants, let alone my college jeans."

Lilo blinked.

"Wow. It works great. Hey!" she turned to a mouse-like lab worker, "what's it like working here?"

"I live in perpetual fear that Dr. Serpentarius will eat me in a white wine sauce."

The snakey scientist cringed.

"Ooooh. Maybe it works too well," he muttered, pulling out the needed capsule, "see, this is why we adults have lying, little girl. Because sometimes the truth really just plain didn't need to get out."

Stitch plucked the capsule out of the doctor's hands while he grinned.

"Well, thanks for the capsule!" Lilo chirped, "we'll be sure to catch the beetle!"

The snakey scientist smiled warmly back as Lilo and Stitch headed out, Lilo taking the split second to call up Scylla again.

"Scylla, where was Amnesio last seen?"

"…L-Lilo?" Scylla whispered out, "it…it got inside my room. I'm hiding in the closet!"

Lilo gasped. They had to rush back!

"Don't worry," Lilo replied, "we're on our way!"

Lilo hung up before she and Stitch began sprinting. They barreled down the hallway, racing as fast as they could, Scylla holding her hands over her mouth. She could hear Amnesio buzzing around the room, the Grand Councilwoman currently locking herself in the bathroom, wisely choosing to stay away from the creepy little beetle-esque experiment. Amnesio got closer to the closet. Closer…closer…

Without warning, Lilo burst in and fired a beam from her wand at Amnesio, knocking him off his guard. Amensio went flying through the air, slamming into the wall, moaning and groaning, holding his skull as Stitch shot through the air, the black capsule held high and snapping it shut over the beetle-esque experiment, sealing him in.

"Gotcha!" he proclaimed.

Grinning, Lilo gave Stitch a high five.

It wasn't long before they were examining the black capsule, Scylla using a scanning device to look over it and frowning before putting it away.

"I cannot find anything that would possibly explain how to return its victims memory."

"I think we might have to ask Jumba, then," Lilo realized, "I mean, he made them. He wouldn't make something like Amnesio here without some way to cure the amnesia just in case it turned on him."

"I don't know, he's half mad genius, half idiot scientist…" Scylla grunted, "…but I suppose he is our best option. Let's go find our fat little four-eyed friend. He's in the prison wing, luckily Amnesio never made it down there!"

"Let's hope it's not a lost cause," Lilo nodded to Stitch.

"Goobaja!" Stitch chirped, raising his fist into the air.

About an hour later, Jumba was looking at them from across the way in his jail cell, frowning slightly as he raised his large head up. He slowly blinked all four of his eyes, and then spoke, at long last.

"And what are you doing here?" he inquired, "no interest in talking. Unless you're here to freeing me, is nothing to discuss."

"Amnesio is loose," Lilo replied.

"What?" Jumba paused.

"Your amnesia-inducing beetle experiment. How do you cure his victims?"

Jumba chuckled darkly, putting down the book he was reading and slowly rising off his bunk bed, grinning.

"Well, well, well. Am desperately needing Jumba's help, eh?" he inquired, "and what is in it for Jumba?"

Lilo and Stitch exchanged glances.

"…what do you want?" Lilo asked quietly.

"Letting Jumba out, and I will give you password," Jumba said, steepling his thick fingers and grinning, "experiment needs special password for to restore memories."

"Is it your name?"

"Are you thinking Jumba is so egotistical would be making password own name?" Jumba sniggered, shaking his head back and forth.

Well, it seemed Lilo had a bit of a dilemma in her hand, knowing what Jumba did when she first met Stitch.

"Hmmmm," Lilo turned to Stitch, who glowered at Jumba, "how do we know you'll even keep your word if we let you out?"

"How do I know you will?" he retorted, "but you are needing password, and I am needing out. Make choice."

Lilo cringed. What could they do? Just letting him go free seemed dangerous. Unless…

"We'll let you out," she said with a sigh, "I promise."

Jumba grinned as he rubbed his big hands together.

"Wonderful! Now, the door, if you could?"

"Stitch? Get the door," Lilo sighed, Stitch seeing a glint in her eye.

Clearly she had a plan.

"Ih," Stitch nodded.

"This is humiliating."

Jumba was indeed out, but now he had on strong cuffs around his arms and hands, and around his thick legs. He was being released…into Lilo's family's custody, and would stay on Earth in exile. Since the experiments were his, and there would most likely come a time when they'd need the creator's expert advice, the government had decided it best to let him just stay where his little experiments were, rather than wasting the time busing Lilo and Stitch up to the headquarters again and again.

Besides, he ate for three prisoners, and he was costing them a fortune.

"Thank you so much for restoring my memory," the Grand Councilwoman said as she shook Lilo's hand, "thank you even more so for keeping all of this quiet. You handled yourself very well."

"I can't believe your password was literally your wife's name," Scylla told Jumba as he grunted.

"Jumba was wanting something would not repeat often as password. After she is stealing bank account, did not ever want to speak Mary Mac's name again!"

"If it makes you feel better, I've looked it up. She's not named Mary Mac any more. She changed her name to better befit her new status," Scylla added.

"What's that?" Jumba inquired.

"Maria HahaIgotthehouse," Scylla answered.

Jumba began to moan again.

"Now what?" Gantu huffed.

"What else do you expect of me?" Jumba pestered.

"Stitch!" Lilo called over.

Stitch unfurled a long scroll that flowed forth and flopped in front of Jumba as he stared, looking down at it as Lilo read off the list after she cleared her throat.

"First, you're gonna tell all the experiments we caught you are very sorry for ever mistreating them. And you're gonna ask him for help makin dinner, help cleanin the house, help doin the laundry… and you're gonna tell Stitch he's a great experiment every day, and then…!"

"I am sorry I am asking!" Jumba sobbed as they led him off to Gantu's ship, the whale-like alien laughing uproariously as Jumba wept, "I've never seen such blatant coercion, blackmail and manipulation! Have you ever considered a career in evil science?"

"There are better ideas," Lilo grinned, "but we're getting to a good start."