“The Demon Who Cried Stitch”

By: M.W. Roach

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Ch.1 “Roustabout”

Lilo paced in front of Jumba’s laboratory door. She turned impatiently and banged on it with her fists.

“Jumba! Hurry up! I need Stitch to help me train my army of earwigs to attack Mertle’s house!”

“Almost finished!” Jumba called back.

Moments later, the door opened, allowing Lilo to enter. She sees Stitch sitting on a table.

“He looks the same.” Lilo pointed out. “Did you do anything?”

Jumba smiled and stood by Stitch’s side.

“Stitch got upgrade. Now has Evil Genius Language Translator. Can speak and understand 33 different earth languages including Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese and even ancient Hebrew!”

Lilo nodded. “Pretty impressive. How does it work?”

“Language Translator activated by high-frequency pitches.”

Lilo stared at Jumba blankly. Knowing the child had no clue what he was talking about, Jumba laughed and proceeded to explain.

“It reacts to whistles. When 6-2-6 whistles, he flips to different language, like remote control, no?”

“Ooh, cool…Go ahead, Stitch! Give a little whistle!”

Stitch licked his lips, whistled and began talking. “Hola! Lilo, me hablo espanol!”

“Cool! Umm…Jumba, how does Stitch go back to speaking English?”

Jumba shrugged. “Keep whistling. He’ll find it.”

“Lilo! Come here, quick!”

Lilo sighed at the sound of Nani’s voice.

“C’mon, Stitch.” She muttered as she headed out the door.

“Yo venido!”

Upon seeing her little sister, Nani handed her an open envelope.

“What’s this?” Lilo asked.

“Read it!” She encouraged eagerly.

Lilo opened the letter, smiling as she read it.

“Alright! A trip to Chicago to visit my cousin! Can we go?”

Nani nodded. “We’re goin’ alright!”

Lilo leapt for joy. “Stitch, too?” She waited for a response.

Nani sighed and looked at the ground. “I’m sorry Lilo.”

Lilo turne to Stitch, who was still stuck in Spanish mode. She clasped her hands together in a pleading manner.

“Stitch, I…I really wanna go.”

Stitch sighed. “Si, bien. Stitch permanezca aqui.”

Lilo sighed with relief and hugged her alien. “Thanks, Stitch.”

“De nada.”

Excited about the adventure ahead, Lilo turned to Nani. “Let’s go to Chicago!”

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3 Days Later

Lilo hugged Stitch and kissed his nose before placing him in a cage at the kennel.

“I’ll be back in 2 weeks, okay?”

Stitch nodded. “Ih.”

Lilo waved good bye and left.

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3 hours later, Stitch was already beginning to grow restless. He paced around in his cage. It was impossible for him to just sit in there for 2 weeks. He had to go with Lilo, no questions asked. He tore the door off the cage with ease and leapt out. He climbed up the wall to a high window. He punched a hole through it and took off towards the harbor.

Stitch was 20 minutes too late to catch Lilo’s ship to Honolulu. So, he hopped on another. It arrived another 15 minutes later. Stitch jumped off and looked around. The airport had to be around there somewhere. He perked up his ears and listened. He heard an airplane. He made a run for the source of the sound. He tried to control himself in the large city. He had to. He couldn’t disappoint Lilo by destroying the capital city of their home.

He traveled through the airport by crawling on the ceiling. There were so many terminals; he didn’t know where to begin. He didn’t even know where Lilo was going. All he knew was it ended with an ‘o’. A voice caught his attention.

“Flight 619 to Tokyo is now boarding.”

That’s all Stitch needed to hear. Tokyo ended with an ‘o’. That must be where Lilo was going. Now, he had to get on the plane.

After finding the plane he was going to board, he dashed outside to where a couple of guys threw luggage and pet carriers into the cargo hold. The boys were more interested in the stewardesses then their work. Perfect timing. Stitch scurried over to a pet carrier, kicked out the Yorkshire terrier that occupied it, and took its place inside. He was loaded into the plane. Once inside, he burst out and crawled inside a food crate. He wanted to surprise Lilo.

12 long hours later, the plane landed. Stitch pressed his ear against the side of the crate. The voices were muffled, but one of them sounded like an old man, the other, a woman.

“Your order is here, Mr. Higurashi. One box of freeze-dried Ramen. 112 packages.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hokati. This will help my granddaughter, which is ill with pink eye. A really bad case, too.”

“Oh, dear! Give her my blessings.”

Stitch couldn’t understand the people. Maybe Lilo’s cousin was Canadian or something? It didn’t matter. He couldn’t wait to see Lilo’s face when he popped out! He felt his box being lifted and set in a vehicle. After, yet another hour, the vehicle stopped and Stitch’s box was taken into a house.

“Kagome! The food is here!” The old man’s voice rang out.

“I’m coming Grandpa!”

Stitch perked up his ears at the sound of the girl’s voice. It wasn't Lilo, but her cousin, perhaps? Stitch took a peek from a hole in the box. The kitchen was empty. The old guy must have left. He quietly crawled out. Suddenly, a heavenly scent grabbed his attention. It came from a yellow backpack. He looked inside, then crawled in. Just as his rear end disappeared from view, Kagome ran into the kitchen, grabbed 6 packages of the Ramen, tossed it into her backpack, grabbed it and dashed out of the house. She didn’t appear to hear the low growl that rose up from the depths of her bag or the loud “Ow” that was spouted when she threw the packages inside. Stitch was being violently tossed around inside the bag. Kagome ran into the well house and hopped inside.

Inuyasha waited on the other side when Kagome appeared.

“You’re an hour late! What took you so long?” He snapped.

“I had to wait for the Ramen to be delivered! You wanted it, right?”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s eat.”

Kagome set her bag down and reached for the soup. Again, she was, completely unaware of the little blue hand that was giving her the soup. Once the soup was done, everyone gathered around to eat. Now, it was time. Stitch exploded out of the bag, arms wide.

“ALOHA!”