Chapter 22: Shells

Thresher's vision adjusted to morning light shooting through the curtains of the Pelekai's living room. It was a soft pink, and he could see the faint outline of the forest beyond. It was now the morning after his procedure, and while his knee was fixed up, it was still sore and he'd have to take it easy for the next week according to Jumba.

...He'd also be having to stay for two. Possibly three.

He was just happy to be able to run again.

He blinked and yawned, stretching his back and going to sit up...right before realizing he wasn't alone.

Someone was curled up next to him, and his eyes widened upon seeing who it was. Thresher hesitated, but gently placed a tentacle on Heat's shoulder, watching his sides gently rising and falling as he slept. He had his arm around Thresher's chest, and his face was buried against his side, the only portion visible being a single closed eye.

He hadn't seen Heat since yesterday when the two had been separated. Scratch that-he had, but Heat was asleep, so he wasn't counting it. Likewise, given Heat was currently not where he was supposed to be-curled up next to him instead of in that bed, Thresher guessed he'd been through the same thing.

Thresher's thoughts were interrupted by Heat, who shifted, blinking up at him. Upon realizing he was awake, he smiled and hugged him tighter, eyes squinting in the morning light.

Thresher returned the smile, pushing himself up on the cushion he'd settled into for the night.

"Morning Heat."

Heat sat up along with him, rubbing an eye, "'mornin' Thresher."

"How's your energy?"

"Better. What about your leg?"

"Sore, but getting there."

The conversation's direction seemed to stagnate slightly, as Heat's face changed from happy to concerned. He crossed his arms and fixed him with a worried gaze, watching Thresher's cheeks redden.

"...Why...did you do that yesterday?"

Thresher glanced at the ground in embarrassment, "I...I wanted to help, and…"

"...and I guess I...well…"

Heat sighed, blinking at the strips of light beginning to seep through the blinds, "But...I mean...your other reasons. Like…"

"Like what Hammerface did. And what I did. Yesterday." He finished awkwardly, the two now both watching the sun rise through the curtains. "'Cause I know you have them from how you act; we're all kind of obvious about it."

Thresher was silent for a moment, thinking to himself before beginning his explanation. "Well...I feel like I don't do anything to help, you know? I notice things, and I don't say anything about it. Not even about myself. Like...I knew about my leg-for a while actually, but I didn't say anything…"

"...Is it because you're afraid? 'Cause you kind of came off as afraid."

"Kind of, but I also just...don't want to deal with it, you know? Like how you wanted to find out about your charge? I'm the opposite. I didn't want to know what was wrong with me."

Heat was silent after Thresher finished, watching the room gradually turn lighter. It was understandable; he knew that kind of fear well-but then there was the fact Thresher had clearly known something was wrong for a while, but said nothing for his own comfort…

It wasn't that he was angry-he sympathized with all of this in fact-but he could still feel some disappointment at him hiding things for so long…

He paused, then pulled the octopus experiment into a gentle hug. Thresher tensed, but quickly returned it. Heat felt a tear land on his head from the taller experiment, "I'm really sorry…"

"Don't be-it's okay. I'm not...I mean...sure I'm kind of disappointed, but I'm not gonna blame you for being scared. I was scared too and I came into my stuff on accident since Gantu found me on the phone with Sparky…"

"And hey...you're getting better, I'm-well-I'm mostly better now, so's Plasmoid. Hammerface is taking some stuff for his immunity too, so...we're getting there, right?"

Thresher smiled down at Heat, still hugging him close. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"See? Just...just try and talk with us more okay? About stuff like this."

"I'll try."

"Thanks Thresher." Heat smiled and got up, heading towards the window. He opened the curtains and peered out at the front yard. "And hey-different view from the ship. That's pretty cool."

"What do you think?" He turned back towards Thresher, but was suddenly interrupted by a familiar red plasma blast hitting him. His fur immediately absorbed the heat, leaving a solidified ball to thump to the floor.

Heat shot Plasmoid an irritated stare, "I'm gonna take that as a "not good enough" unless you start explaining."

Plasmoid snorted, "Why? Thought I already got my point across. And I'm too low to the ground to see that by the way."

Heat's face reddened upon realizing what Plasmoid had actually blasted him over, "What? I can't have a sappy talk with Thresher once in a while?"

"Only if I moderate it. Anyways, Hammer just got up, so him and Nani are gonna be in charge of breakfast." Plasmoid sidled over to the couch and hopped up on it, stretching his legs, "Feels good to not have to worry about those crappy migraines anymore-"

"Plasmoid! Language!" A call came from the hallway, causing Heat and Thresher to start laughing and the scorpion experiment to throw his head back in embarrassment, "Ah geez-sorry! I forgot we'e not in the ship anymore!"

"That's fine Plaz, just know for next time, 'kay?" Nani said, walking into the room, "How're you three holding up? Good?"

"Ih!"

"Great-I'm gonna go and get breakfast going then."


"So. View from the room. Good or bad?"

"What're you talking about? Of course it's good. Or do you mean bad like the ship or more of the forest or what?" Angel asked. She was in the middle of pouring maple syrup over waffles, and it was apparent to everyone she was purposely using all of it.

"Well I mean. Bad like you can't get a good enough view." Heat reached out and grabbed the bottle out of Angel's hands, causing her to pout, "You're hogging it and we don't even live here. You can give me some at least."

"Hmph." Angel sat down and blew a raspberry at Heat, but still answered his question. "Small windows, but once you get out of it, you can see everything, right?"

She looked to Lilo and Stitch, who nodded through mouthfuls of egg.

"See?"

Thresher smiled, "That must be pretty neat."

"It is; on really clear days, we can see almost all the way to the beach." Lilo said, "Our roof opens up, so we can see all the stars at night. It's really cool."

"Sounds like a beautiful view you've got there. You're lucky." Hammerface said. He looked rather absentminded, having been mostly quiet throughout the conversation. Heat peered at him, but Hammerface seemed to look away from him.

He frowned. "...Anyways, what's going to happen today now that we're better? More checkups or…?"

"We have something planned. Can't say, but we do." Hammerface said, nodding to Jumba, "These two wanna take you to the beach while we work out some stuff here. So it's kind of a checkup, but not anything serious."

"Is being correct-mostly." Jumba said, "I am wanting to see the progress the two of you have made given your charges, but, also, is just being relaxing day at beach. With one-eyed noodle."

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Pleakley exclaimed, causing Hammerface to snort, "And now you've gotten one of the little monsters in on it too, great."

"Have not, 033's simply being himself again."

Hammerface shook his head at the budding argument before turning to the other three, "I know it's the beach and you haven't been there often, but be careful. All of you just woke up from different procedures and we don't want relapses for what's going to happen later today."

Heat raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

The 0-series smiled at the question, "You'll see. Lets just say you'll like what we have planned. Or what Nani has planned. I get to sit on the couch and...do nothing." His shoulders slumped at the last point; no matter how long ago he'd had the programming removed, he was still facing the consequences…

"...That's not true Hammerface, come on." Nani said, grinning at the tool experiment, but he just shrugged, "What? Walking around town? That's hardly anything."

"You can stop minimizing it you know."

"What, and make them suspicious?"

"I'd say they're catching on pretty quickly…"

Hammerface flushed at the idea, "How?"

"May be attitude 033. You're overreacting again." Jumba said, "Is not being dramatic occasion, no need to panic."

"...Which reminds me." He held up a finger before placing a small box on the table, "It is being your first official day of treatment 033-you'll take one every other day and you'll be visiting me every week, like these three."

It was now Hammerface's turn to pout, huffing as he fumbled with the pillbox, "Thanks. How many boxes do I get to take back with me?"

"To being safe? About five. Don't let Gerbilboy see them."

Hammerface sighed as he held one of the pills up. It was a pale orange, the measurement etched onto the surface near the bottom.

It was him, but he wasn't keen on the idea of taking this; knowing him, he might forget it, or worse, lose one of the boxes...then again, there were always replacements…

He placed the pill in his mouth before downing it with orange juice, nodding towards the younger series afterwards, "The six of you stay with Jumba and Pleakley, okay? We're getting free experiments from around town for this."

Heat raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Okay then…"


The trip down to the beach took some time, in large part because of Pleakley's insistence on bringing an entire beach setup. He was encouraged to leave most of it at the house by an exasperated Hammerface and Nani, but the six of them were still cramped in between a bag filled with beach toys.

Heat was smashed up next to Angel, Lilo, Stitch, and Thresher, trying to ignore Plasmoid; he was nestled on the floor of the buggy, and was smirking up at them from his spot.

"Enjoying the trip?"

"Enjoying the view?"

"Very funny."

"Guys, come on…" Lilo said, crossing her arms and shifting in her seat, "We're not that far away-the beach's just up ahead."

Thresher sighed, "There's not much you can do to stop them..."

"Yeah there is." Angel piped up, causing Heat to instinctively move away from her and Plasmoid to shrink into the depths of the car, "See?"

Stitch snorted, "Tay got freaked out just by youga saying that-not bad."

"The horror's in the implications." Heat said, narrowing his eyes at Angel, "That and she's given me wet willies before."

"Oh right, didn't she do that on the way to the market when you had to deal with Babyfier's powers?"

"Yep."

It was then that the car stopped, Jumba exclaiming they'd arrived at the beach. Heat and Thresher quickly made their escape, near climbing over each other to get away from a now giggling Angel.

They were just as quickly overtaken by Plasmoid, who flew out of the car so fast he nearly skidded into a tree. He twisted back around to hiss at Angel as she exited the car, giving him a wide grin.

"Eugh-why are you like this?" Heat stuck his tongue out at Angel and backed further away from her, "You treat car rides like...like."

"Huh."

The thought occurred to him he'd only been on two of these.

Lilo and Stitch in the meantime were helping Jumba and Pleakley take the beach gear out of the buggy. Thresher stepped over to help, but Jumba was quick to wave him away.

"Not to worry 544, we have being-"

He was interrupted by Pleakley's yell, having nearly tripped over himself when taking one of the bags out of the car.

Jumba put his head in his hand, "...Never mind."

"544, why don't you…" He glanced around before taking one of the towels out of the bag and handing it over. When Thresher didn't take it, he sighed, "Listen-I know you are wanting to help, but I didn't spend two hours looking at the inside of your leg just to have you bust it up again, alright?"

Thresher nodded, feeling shyness start to rise up again, "You just...you brought a lot of stuff…"

"I know, but is being something we can handle. Go off with 609 and 617 while we set up...or try to."

Thresher hunched his shoulders, but nodded, making his way back over to Heat-now joined by Lilo, Stitch, and Angel, the former two managing to escape unloading the car.

"Hey, Thresher, are you okay?" Lilo's voice was quieter than usual-she tended to lower it for him, and a quick glance told him everyone else felt the same-they were all giving him concerned looks.

He sighed, "I guess…"

Thresher flushed upon seeing Heat, Angel, and Plasmoid's gazes flatten, but before the latter could speak, they were cut off by Lilo.

"You know, it's...well-they're just worried about you, so that's why they want you to take it easy."

"I get it, it's just...hard when I don't...do much."

At this, Plasmoid let out an annoyed sigh, "What about going with Heat and Angel and Felix to get Gantu's cure? Not everyone likes conflict, it's fine to be one of those people, Thresher."

"But yeah though, giving you the Hammerface treatment sucks anyways-it's that way for all of us when it comes to heavy lifting." He finished, shrugging at the taller experiment. "Hammerface hates it too; they're trying, but they're not us, so things are probably getting lost in translation."

This seemed to perk Thresher up a bit, since his eyestalks rose from the ground. Plasmoid could see a slight smirk forming on his face at the idea. He grinned. "See? They're all just a bunch of Hammers."

Stitch nudged him with his foot, now smirking himself, "Naga do that, they're trying to be nice."

"By babying us?"

Heat huffed and shook his head, "You know what he means Plasmoid."

"Right-I'm gonna go head down the beach with Stitch, so you guys can just like, sit around and talk or whatever." A now irritated Angel grabbed Stitch's hand and practically dragged him away despite his protests, leaving Lilo with the other three.

"Hey! Angel, come on!" Lilo called after her before letting out a defeated sigh, "Not again…"

Heat flattened his ears at the sight; he didn't know much about Lilo, but he did know enough to see she didn't like being left without Stitch-especially when said separations involved him being dragged away by someone else.

Namely Angel.

Neither of them said anything about Angel's time at the house when she worked for Gantu, but he had to wonder if there'd been some past issues between the two; they were awkward around each other, and Lilo would often latch on to someone else whenever she was around.

He shook his head at the sight before gesturing to the others, "...To be fair, she is right-we should follow them."

They nodded, Lilo seeming to perk up, if only slightly, "Yeah-oh! I forgot!"

She sprinted up next to the bushes, standing on her toes and pointing to a certain stretch of beach. "I wanna show you that stretch over there-there's a ton of weird stuff that gets washed up next to those rocks."

"Huh-sounds cool; why don't you lead us there and we'll catch up with the other two?" Heat said, Thresher nodding in agreement behind him.

Lilo smiled, "Sure! Lemme just get my camera first."


The walk down the beach was surprisingly short, Lilo taking her time to point out all her favorite sights to the three experiments. Plasmoid kept up with her and led the conversation, while Heat and Thresher hung back, surveying the ocean waves crashing besides them.

They were abruptly stopped by the discovery of Stitch and Angel, both of whom were bent down over a large pool surrounded by rocks. At the sight of them, Lilo broke into a run, quickly catching up to them despite the protests of the other three.

Lilo however, didn't seem to notice as she bent down next to the two experiments. "What'd you guys find? Is it another lobster shell?"

"Dunno! Isa cool though, whatever it is." Stitch had already picked up whatever they'd found, holding it up in the sunlight. It took a bit of squinting, but Heat could make out something sharp gleaming in the sun.

Unease kicked in at the glare and he quickened his pace, leaving a watchful Plasmoid to catch up with Thresher.

"...What is that?"

The object in Stitch's hands looked like a piece of bone; it was a pure white, gleaming softly with drops of ocean water. Bits of sand were stuck to the bottom, and Heat could see the faint outline of stripes-cut off by the sharp edges of the broken object.

Lilo glanced up and shot him a confused look-but only momentarily, her eyes lighting up upon realizing why he was worried. "Oh-it's okay Heat! It's a clam shell; we find 'em like this all the time. I actually have a bunch at home."

However, her explanation only confused Heat further, the other two clustering behind him as he tilted his head in at her and the later six series in confusion. "A...shell?"

"...Isa these things that wash up on the beach; tay's made from sea animals-some kind of build their own, but others are just like that from the beginning." Stitch explained, "We like collecting weird ones-like this one." He held up the broken shell in front of the three, gesturing for one of them to take it.

Heat hesitated, but took the shell and peered at it, tracing the broken edge with a finger. It was hard and he could feel a definite point to it, but it was quite dull upon closer inspection. He could see the stripes a little more clearly as of now, and the base was a soft pink and purple.

He could feel both Thresher and Plasmoid struggling to get a better view and passed it between them, Angel now finally breaking away from Stitch to join them.

"It's pretty cool right?"

Lilo's voice cut into the observations as she reached for the shell. Heat gingerly returned it as she went on, "People make a lot of stuff out of them-not something big like this, but smaller ones. Some are really hard to find though, and there's some you actually can't take, so it gets kind of confusing."

"Huh." Plasmoid squinted at the shell before smiling up at Lilo, "It is-thanks for showing it off. Gonna keep it or…?

"Yep! I have a whole collection of ones like this-and of ones that look like Presidents."

"Ah. Neat."

Lilo smiled and jabbed a thumb down the beach, "There's gotta be more around here if we found one this big. Wanna head down there?"

"We'll go slow too, right?" She shot Angel and Stitch a flat look, the former rolling her eyes at the implication. "I got bored okay?"

"Why?" Heat crossed his arms, "'Cause we weren't talking about you enough?"

"Yep."

"Of course. I'm gonna lead you two then."

Angel and Stitch both pouted at this, the latter stomping his foot in the sand, "Awwww-but meega's the one that got dragged over here!"

"Then me being in front of you means she can't do that."

Stitch sighed, "Okitaka…"

Heat shook his head as the couple made their way behind him, but their disappointment didn't last-Thresher and Plasmoid very quickly found themselves pulled into a loud conversation with the two as the group picked up pace.

"...You okay?" Heat asked Lilo, "I know how she can be, so…"

Lilo shrugged as she glanced over her shoulder, "Well...maybe a little, but I'm trying to put it behind us."

"It is kinda difficult though, with you guys always at the ship…but still. I was a little hard on her when we first met. I mean-sure she was with Gantu, but I didn't know that and I got kind of…well..."

Lilo trailed off, but Heat's ears flattened at the unspoken word.

Jealousy...to be frank, wasn't something he would expect from Lilo. But he supposed it made sense; Stitch was her best friend and he'd heard the Myrtle horror stories, so him being rushed away would certainly sting a little.

He gave her a careful nod, "...You don't have to finish that-it's fine. You and Stitch are close, so I get it."

Lilo smiled, "Thanks Heat."

"I'm gonna try and talk with her more-not right now, but sometime." She said. She was now walking backwards with her hands in her pockets, one being stuffed with the clam shell they'd picked up earlier. Heat could see his comment had cheered her up a bit. "It'd help me with this, right?"

"It will. It's cool you noticed and you're trying with it."

"Yeah-which reminds me-we were looking for shells weren't we?"

Heat started in the sand upon realizing they'd gone off topic. "Oh right!"


Jumba and Pleakley called them back after some time-how long it'd been before they did, Heat wasn't sure, all he knew was that he'd been staring at a rock bed with Lilo and Plasmoid for what seemed like hours.

It was fun he guessed-it didn't really feel fun, but it was calming. So far, he'd found himself several tiny bits of glass, some clams, a few cone shells...it was nice in a way he couldn't really articulate, but what'd snapped him out of the activity was actually getting splashed by the approaching tide.

"Ah!" He yelped and lurched back, kicking up sand as he did so; the water was cold for him-he couldn't feel "cold", but he could feel there wasn't much energy in it-in fact it momentarily shaved a bit from him as it'd hit.

"609! Are you alright?" Jumba's voice came from above Heat as he turned to look up at him, "We're being ready to leave now, so let me know if you are feeling tired on the way back-may be a splash, but you just got reformatted."

"Oh...yeah." Heat glanced from the ocean to the small shells in his palms. "Can I take these back with us?"

"Don't be seeing why not, just check them for anything inside before we go."


The trip back to the house had come at around noon, Heat and Lilo having pooled both their findings in the car on the way back. The house was soon in sight, and both aliens quickly exited with the experiments (and Lilo) in tow.

The house was a little quiet, but Heat almost immediately cast a confused glance towards his creator; there were a ton of people inside-he could sense them all over the place, and there were so many it was almost disorienting.

Jumba caught his gaze and winked the furthest eye, causing him to tilt his head in confusion. Just what was going on here? Was this what Hammerface and Nani had been setting up?

There was only one way to find out…

He slowly ascended the steps to the house with the others and waited as Jumba and Pleakley opened the door. There was no one inside from the looks of it, but Heat wasn't convinced.

He was halfway in through the door when the lights suddenly flickered on. A multitude of different shapes simultaneously jumped out from their hiding places with a single, gigantic shout:

"SURPRISE!"