A/N: Happy Stitch Day! 6/26!
"But Nani!" Lilo begged. "Stitch and I have to enter the junior dog show again!"
"You already won last time!" Nani said. "You don't have to win again this year!"
"That's because Mertle admitted she cheated!" Lilo said. "I want the judge to say that Stitch is the true winner!"
"Ih! Ih!" Stitch agreed. "Meega meega true winner!"
"Well, I have to work," Nani said. "Why don't you ask Jumba and Pleakley? They went with you last time, so why don't you ask them again this time?"
"But Jumba is sick!" Lilo said. Jumba was really sick. He caught a nasty cold that made him sneeze and cough consecutively, made his nose run constantly, and his forehead was burning.
"Oh, right," Nani said. "Try asking Pleakley, if Jumba needs someone to take care of him."
Lilo took the advice and went into Jumba and Pleakley's room. "Pleakley, can you come with us to Honolulu?" Lilo asked.
"I have to take care of Jumba," Pleakley said.
"Eh, go with Little Girl," Jumba said and coughed afterward. "I will be fine alone. Larger Girl will fix me chicken soup."
"Plus, I'm not going there again until I'm filthy rich!" Pleakley said. "I had too many things to owe!"
Lilo and Stitch sadly sat on the couch, hopeless.
"I guess there's no way to go to Honolulu," Lilo said sadly with her hands on her chin.
"Ih..." Stitch replied sadly with his hands on his chin.
"It seems like this is an ongoing event," Nani said to keep their hopes up. "Why don't you guys wait for next year? You'll be able to go there again." Lilo and Stitch sighed hopelessly.
Just then, there was a knock on the door with Gantu's voice brightly greeting, "Hey, guys! I have something for you!"
"Hi, Gantu!" Lilo said as she opened the door.
"Reuben thought you guys might like these sandwiches," Gantu said. "They're also called 'Reuben'."
"Mahalo, Gantu!" Lilo said as she took the sandwiches from Gantu.
"Well then, see you next time! Aloyha!" Before Gantu gave him his goodbye, Lilo stopped him.
"Wait! Gantu!" Lilo called to make Gantu stop.
"What is it?" Gantu asked as he stopped walked and turned his head.
"You... you have a working spaceship... right?" Lilo asked.
"Yeah, but why?" Gantu asked.
"I was wondering if you can take me and Stitch to Honolulu- mmph!" As soon as Lilo summarized her request, Nani jumped in to grab her and hold her mouth.
Nani nervously chuckled and said, "Don't worry about anything!"
"MMPH! MMph! MMMMMMPH!" Lilo struggled angrily and aggressively.
"Honolulu? What for?" Gantu asked.
Lilo bit Nani's finger so that she can let go of her. "OW!" Nani yelped as Lilo bit her finger.
"Stitch and I need to go to Honolulu to enter the Junior Dog Show!" Lilo said.
"Lilo! You can't just ask him to take you to Honolulu!" Nani scolded.
"I mean, I don't really have anything planned," Gantu said. "Why don't we go together?"
"What?" Nani asked.
"You mean it?" Lilo asked happily.
"Sure!" Gantu gladly accepted the request. "I went there once, and it seemed like a nice place. Plus, Reuben never went there before, so he can come along!"
"Yay! Did you hear that, Stitch?!" Lilo asked.
"IH! IH!" Stitch cheered happily.
"I'm so sorry, Gantu," Nani apologized.
"You don't need to be," Gantu said. "The little one should explore things out there! She can't learn just by staying in Kokaua Town!" Then he added under his breath, "I mean, she did go into the outer space, but still..."
"Well, then," Nani said. "Thank you. And mind if I add a few requests?"
"All right," Gantu said.
"You must protect her at all costs," Nani listed. "And make sure she eats right, and don't make her talk to strangers."
"Piece of cake. Now, don't you worry anything about her, Nani, she's in good hands!" Gantu said to Nani. Then he turned to Lilo and said, "Now, Lilo, prepare to have another fun adventure in Honolulu!"
"YAY!" Lilo and Stitch cheered.
********
The next day, Gantu took Lilo, Stitch, and Reuben to Honolulu on his ship. Gantu dressed in a tourist outfit like he did last time he went to Honolulu. "How was that free flight for you guys?"
"It was really fun!" Lilo said. "And faster!"
"Ih! Ih!" Stitch agreed with Lilo.
"Gotta save money instead of riding an airplane," Reuben said.
"Oh, by the way, Reuben?" Lilo said.
"Yes?" Reuben asked. Before Lilo explained, she placed a dog leash around Reuben's neck. "Hey, what is this?!"
"Um, you have to pretend to be a dog..." Lilo said.
"Bark! Bark!" Stitch barked so that Reuben can imitate.
"What?!" Reuben said. "I can speak perfectly fine! Why do I have to act like a dog?!"
"People are not used to children that look like you..." Lilo said apologetically. "Please? Just this once?"
"Oh, all right, all right!" Reuben said. Then he sat like a dog, cleared his throat, and barked, "Woof woof..."
"Thanks, Reuben!" Lilo said as she hugged Reuben.
Gantu chuckled to himself and said under his breath, "I got something to make fun of him now!"
"Hey! I heard that!" Reuben said.
*********
At the hotel, Gantu checked in with the receptionist. It was the same hotel that Lilo and Stitch went to with Jumba and Pleakley.
"Mr. Gantu..." the receptionist said. "One adult, one kid, and two dogs... how will you be paying for the rooms?"
"With this credit card, please," Gantu said as he gave his card to the receptionist.
"Hey, you came again!" The judge said. "With the rare blue-furred ectoplasmic detection dog! And is that another dog of yours?" She asked as she pointed at Reuben.
"Nope, just Stitch!" Lilo said. "Enter him in all competitions, please."
"Bark! Bark!" Stitch barked.
"Woof woof!" Reuben barked after him.
"Oh look at that, that dog is so ugly!" A random boy who joined the competition insulted as he looked at Stitch. He looked like one of the stereotypical rich boys with his blond hair pushed back, wearing a small tuxedo that fit him just right with a red bowtie, a pair of gold glasses, and both of his ears pierced.
Stitch growled at them and leaped on him as he screamed, "Rah!"
"Ah! Daddy! Help!" The boy screamed as Stitch tackled him.
"Stitch! Stop!" Lilo screamed, startled. Reuben also helped Lilo pull Stitch away from the boy.
While Lilo tries to pull Stitch away from the boy while the boy's dog barks, the boy's dad interfered and scolded Lilo. "Hey, control your dog better, you little brat!" The man yelled. He also looked like one of the stereotypical rich men with his blond hair pushed back, wearing a full gray suit with shiny black shoes,
"Sorry, sir..." Lilo said.
"Kids these days don't know well to respect other people!" The man continued to scold Lilo. "Looks like your parents did a horrible job raising you!" Lilo was too scared to say anything, and she was nearly crying as he said the word 'parents'.
As soon as Gantu finished checking into the hotel room, he heard someone harassing Lilo. "Hey!" Gantu said as he intervened between Lilo and the man.
"Dad!" Lilo screamed as she held onto Gantu's leg.
"Wait, what?" Gantu asked.
"Hey, you're her father?" the man asked.
"Um... yeah!" Gantu thought for a moment and came to a decision to pretend to be her father. "You got a problem with my daughter!? Huh, fella!? You got a problem with my parenting skills!?"
The man, startled, shook his head.
"Now, beat it! If you don't want the knuckle sandwich," Gantu said as he raised his fist in front of the man's face.
"I'm just... I'm just gonna go..." the man decided to leave. He quickly grabbed his son and ran away from Gantu.
Gantu frowned at the man until he was out of his sight, then he turned to Lilo with concern written all over his face. She was looking down sadly. Stitch and Reuben were trying to comfort her by gently tapping on her back. "Are you all right, Lilo?" Gantu asked as he bent down to her after the man was out of their sight.
"I'm fine," Lilo said. "I'm sorry I called you 'dad'..." Stitch and Reuben both looked at Lilo, then at Gantu, then at Lilo, then at Gantu.
"It's... it's fine," Gantu replied. "Let's just go back to our hotel room. We have a big day tomorrow."
********
That evening, Reuben made sandwiches for everyone. He had all the ingredients he'll need in order to make his perfect sandwich. "My specialty, Reuben sandwich!" He announced as he passed each of them a sandwich. "This is the perfect way to save money! We can do the touring and the dining out tomorrow! But tonight, we feast in here!"
Stitch devoured his sandwich. Gantu happily bit into his sandwich. When he peeked over at Lilo, she was sadly chewing on her sandwich.
"Lilo is the sandwich not that good...?" Reuben asked, a little bit disappointed.
"Oh no, it's good," Lilo said. It was supposed to taste good, but she was too distracted by what happened earlier.
When the night fell, Stitch and Reuben were so full that they were able to fall asleep quickly. While they were asleep, Gantu decided to ask Lilo about her parents. "So, Lilo..." Gantu asked cautiously. "Where happened to your parents...?"
"It was rainy one night, and they went for a drive," Lilo said, sitting up next to Stitch and Reuben who have already snoozed away, looking at one of her multiple copies of her photo with her whole family before her parents passed away. "That's why I act differently from others. That's why I give Pudge a peanut butter jelly sandwich. He controls the weather and I don't want other people to go through the same thing as I did. People think I'm weird and crazy for that. So they treat me differently and don't want to be my friend. It's hard to find someone that actually likes me. That's why I care so much about my Ohana." Gantu felt pressure exerting on his eyes. "'Ohana' means 'family'. 'Family' means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten... Good night, Gantu..." She placed the photo under the pillow and snoozed away along with Stitch and Reuben.
Gantu watched Lilo drift away to sleep and quietly locked himself in the room and wept. Her story has shattered his heart into a million pieces. He thought about the way he treated her in the past when they were enemies. He almost exiled her to the other planet, nearly stomped on her, nearly drowned her, and all those things he did that tortured and nearly killed her. Gantu had trouble breathing while trying to not make any loud noises while cry. He let out a deep yet silent gasp and sigh and wiped his tears more.
When he felt that he finished crying, he slowly exited out of the bathroom, but he did not feel like sleeping. Just not now. He carefully lifted sleeping Lilo and gently placed her on his bed, and covered her with the blanket. He then went back inside the bathroom without locking the door and went into deep thought, without realizing that crying made him sleepy.
********
When the next day came, they all went to the Junior Dog Show.
"Alooooha! Kids and canines! Welcome to the 10th annual junior dog show! I'm Mitzi Suzuki, president of the junior kennel club! Joining me is Clover Choi, teen hula champion and all-around nice girl!"
"Aloha!" Clover greeted.
"Please welcome this year's junior handlers and their proud pooches!" Mitzi said.
All participants, including Lilo and Mertle with Gigi, had their dogs lined up and ready to be in the contest. Gantu and Reuben were sitting in the audience seat. When Gantu took the picture of Lilo and Stitch, the flash made the tourist next to him flinch that he dropped his ice cream. "Hey..." Gantu said to himself. "That boy is also there!"
"Who? Who?" Reuben asked.
"The boy whose father harassed Lilo!" Gantu said as he pointed.
"Oh yeah! I remember that guy!" Reuben said. "Wow, he has a Samoyed!"
"Hmph! 626 will win anyways!" Gantu said as he crossed his arms.
When it was the time for agility competition, Stitch again, rocked the whole competition with his acrobatic skills. Spinning, sliding along the rail, jumping over the hurdles AND spotlights, using the ceiling lights as ropes to spin himself into beautiful poses above the ground, but he did not use another dog on the lever. Instead, he just landed gently after spinning in the air. Everyone applauded for Stitch's acrobatic skills.
Meanwhile, the boy's Samoyed was slower than even Gigi. It seemed as if it was unmotivated to walk.
However, the results were ironic. "Samoyed takes agility!"
"Yay!" The boy cheered.
Everyone else, especially Lilo, Stitch, Reuben, and Gantu, was confused.
"Hey! The judge is being biased! Stitch definitely won that one!" Reuben said.
"What is going on with her?" Gantu asked. He groaned as he placed his chin on his hand.
"It's okay, we'll win the next one," Lilo, disappointed, said to Stitch, who was also disappointed.
"Oh..." Stitch groaned.
During break time, Gantu noticed the man who harassed Lilo. He angrily watched him as the man complimented his son for winning the contest. After complimenting him, he looked around, tapped the judge, and quickly handed her an envelope while no one else was looking. The judge opened the envelope and carefully pulled out part of what was in there. It was full of leafy greens.
"Hey, he's cheating!" Gantu said as he noticed the man handing the envelope full of money. "The judge is accepting the money too!? I ought to-"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, fish brains," Reuben said. "You can't use violence against people!"
"But-" Gantu spoke but Reuben interrupted him.
"Come on, G, you always had a problem with ethics," Reuben scolded. "We have to figure out a way to get him caught without using violence."
"Like what?" Gantu asked.
"Like this, for example," Reuben said as he held up the experiment pod. "Experiment 547. It records the private moment of the enemies! Lilo made it good and records the important crime scene!" Reuben said as he pointed at the large screen. "Very useful, don't you think?"
"How did you bring it in a pod?" Gantu asked.
********
"Hmm... where is Experiment 547?" Jumba asked himself as he looked in the drawer where he kept the re-dehydrated experiment pods while coughing in between. "Pretty sure I put it in here..."
Then the computer beeped and said, "Experiment 547 activated. Primary function: Record the enemy's most private moments."
"Looks like 625 has been digging in my drawers again," Jumba said, not surprised, but then he sneezed so forcefully that some of the mucus came out of his nose.
********
"I have my ways," Reuben said as he dropped a drip of water to activate it. Experiment 547. Lilo named him Cam.
It looked like a black video camera, only with ears sticking out that looked like Stitch's ears, only black. Reuben led Cam to the man who was cheating by paying the judge. It videotaped the whole scene and showed it to Reuben and Gantu as it opened its other camera. "Perfect," Gantu and Reuben said simultaneously.
"All right, Stitch," Lilo said to Stitch, who had no idea what Reuben and Gantu were up to. "Are you ready?"
"Ih! Stitch ready!" Stitch answered.
When the second competition started, even though they thought it was weird that the Samoyed won the agility, people all cheered for the Samoyed, except for Gantu and Reuben. The boy was waving proudly and the boy's father smiled delightfully, and Gantu signaled Reuben with a thumbs up. Reuben whispered into Cam's ears and Cam played the video on the large screen showing the scene where the rich boy's father handing the judge an envelope of money to make a deal to make his son win every competition.
Everyone gasped. The rich boy looked in shock. The boy's father awkwardly walked out as he whistled while everyone else was glaring at him, and the judge covered her face with her clipboard. The man quickly grabbed his son and their Samoyed and ran out of the building.
"Umm... there has been a technical difficulty," Mitzi said.
"We'll be back later," Clover said.
The old man who seemed to be the moderator of the whole event said to the judge, "Please follow me..."
When the moderator and the judge stepped outside the building with Mitzi and Clover, everyone else started to murmur: "How can the judge do this?" "It was definitely weird when she let the Samoyed win when the blue-furred ectoplasmic detection dog showed better acrobatic skills!"
"Where did the video come from anyway?" Lilo asked Stitch.
"Naga nota," Stitch replied with a shrug.
When Lilo looked around and saw Gantu, he smiled as he pointed at Cam. "It's Cam!" Lilo said. "He recorded the situation!"
"Ooh!" Stitch said.
The moderator came back with the clipboard, while Mitzi and Clover followed after him, except the judge. The moderator said through the microphone and announced, "I'm sorry about the inconvenience, folks. The judge and the competitor have violated the rules and so, they are disqualified. I will be the judge of the competition. We will restart the whole competition with the fair and square."
The competition restarted. Stitch, again, rocked the whole competition with his acrobatic skills. Spinning, sliding along the rail, jumping over the hurdles AND spotlights, using the ceiling lights as ropes to spin himself into beautiful poses above the ground, but he did not use another dog on the lever. Instead, he just landed gently after spinning in the air. Everyone applauded for Stitch's acrobatic skills once more.
The moderator examined him for the 'Best in Breed'. "Hmm, well-groomed, smooth fur, well-organized nails, and quite obedient!" When Stitch opened his mouth, the moderator examined the inside of his mouth and said, "Wow, look at that teeth-scaling! The best blue-furred ectoplasmic detection dog I've ever seen!"
Stitch eventually got the trophy for being the 'Best in Show'. Everyone applauded for Lilo and Stitch.
"You go, my cuz!" Reuben cheered. When someone looked at him in surprise, Reuben said, "I mean... woof woof!"
********
"Congratulations, Stitch!" Lilo said as they were all walking back to the hotel.
"Stitch winner!" Stitch cheered.
"How about if I treat you guys?" Gantu offered. "Let's go have some fun at Honolulu!"
"Really?" Reuben said. "You sure you have enough money for it?"
"I'm in the mood," Gantu said. "Come along!"
"Yay!" Lilo and Stitch cheered.
Gantu took Lilo, Stitch, and Reuben to several tourist attractions, including Kapi'olani Palace and Kīlauea, as Gantu took pictures of all three of them. He asked another tourist to take pictures of him with them also. After visiting tourist attractions, he took them shopping and bought souvenirs for all of them. Finally, they had dinner at a tiki restaurant and enjoyed their plates.
Lilo and Stitch returned after dinner as Gantu landed in front of their house. "I'm home!" Lilo said.
"Welcome back, kiddo!" Nani said as she hugged her. "How was Honolulu?"
"Stitch won the competition!" Lilo said proudly
"Ih! Ih!" Stitch showed his trophy proudly.
"And Gantu took us to Kapi'olani Palace, mount Kīlauea, shopping, and bought us dinner!" Lilo said.
"I'm glad you had fun, Lilo," Nani said as she hugged Lilo again. Then she patted Stitch on the head and said, "Congratulations, Stitch! You really earned it!"
"Is Jumba still sick?" Lilo asked.
"He's getting better now," Nani said. "I think Pleakley just got him some chicken soup."
********
"I brought you some soup, Jumba!" Pleakley said.
"Did Larger Girl make it?" Jumba asked after coughing.
"No! It's all me!" Pleakley lied.
"Then I won't be eating," Jumba said as he faced away from the bowl of chicken soup.
"I was joking, Jumba, Nani made it!" Pleakley said.
"All right, then" Jumba said. Before he reached for the soup, he sneezed, making Pleakley splash his own face with the hot chicken soup.
"OW! BURNING! BURNING!" Pleakley ran into the bathroom quick to wash his face with cold water.
********
"Lilo, 626," Gantu called.
"Gantu! Thank you so much for letting them have fun," Nani said.
"Not a problem," Gantu said. "They left the pictures in the ship, so I grabbed them to give it to them."
"Thanks," Nani said as she received them.
"Then later! Aloyha!" Gantu walked away from their home to get into his ship when he was interrupted by Lilo.
"Gantu! Wait!" Lilo called.
Gantu turned to Lilo and said, "What is it?"
"Umm..." Lilo hesitated, "you know how Jumba is my uncle and Pleakley is my aunt?" Lilo asked.
"Yeah?" Gantu said.
"I was wondering... can you be my uncle, too?" Lilo asked.
"You want me to be your uncle?" Gantu asked.
"I understand if you don't want to..." Lilo said, a little disappointed.
"No, no, Lilo," Gantu said as he lowered himself to get closer to Lilo. "I'd love to be your uncle!"
"R-really?" Lilo asked.
"Really, Lilo," Gantu said as he gently smiled. "We had so much fun together and it feels like I have a family now. I'm happy to be part of your Ohana."
Lilo smiled as she opened her arms to receive a hug from Gantu.
Gantu smiled back as he carefully picked her up and gently embraced her.