Between Us, Rings - Chapter 41

Click frantically chased after Monochrome. Not since his activation, had he acted so much on instinct. To him, it was like his boojiboo was calling out to him. However, no matter how desperate, or how hard he tried, he was unable to catch the black car. Once it disappeared around a corner, it was lost to him. Still in a blind fury, and out of the need to protect the love of his life, Click continued running around town. Nothing was going to stop him, nothing was going to get in his way. Behind him laid a wake of destruction, despite not being a strong or fast experiment, he found himself tearing through fences, benches, anything that wasn’t solidly built.

From an outside perspective, it was impossible to tell who or what caused the destruction. Any attempt at recording or capturing the blue creature was inexplicable stopped. It was like technology itself was on his side. In the end, no one would know that cute innocent Click was the cause for such mayhem.


Victoria skipped a few paces ahead of the rest of the group. “That was so much fun! We really need to do that again!”

“It really was.” Kel agreed. “Mr. Kawea had a really good idea.”

Once the field trip was over, the group was free to do as they wished. With their teacher out of the way, they decided to walk back into town together. It wasn’t a very far trek by any means, and they planned to split off once they reached their destinations.

Lilo pouted at the girls comments. It seemed like everyone got what they were after except for her. “I really wish I had found that bird. We tried so hard and I really want to move onto my next set.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it next time.” Victoria had waited a moment for them to catch up to her. “You’ve never been one to fail twice.”

“Could you stop being so supportive, Victoria. I’m trying to complain here.”

After the laughter from Lilo’s retort died down, Kea’s eyes shot towards Devon. “You might not have been the only one not to get their shot, Lilo. Were you able to take any pictures, Devon?”

The tall boy didn’t say a word, instead only making a huff. He had been all set up for the perfect shot when the twins disturbed him with question after question. In the end, he never did take a picture.

“Kea! Don’t tease him.” Kel said, lightly tapping his brother on the head. “We were the ones to stop him after all.”

“It’s not our fault. He didn’t have to listen to us.”

The twins continued to go back and forth. They had a lot of fun teasing the group, all in good spirit though. Daniel had walked a few paces behind the group. His eyes never once left Lilo. His earlier attempt to have lunch with her failed, but he wasn’t going to let it bring his spirits down. He took a few confident steps, breaking into the middle of the group.

“Hey, Lilo.” He began, getting her attention instantly. He nearly froze when he caught her eyes. “I was wondering if you would….” He trailed off, completely stopping in place.

Everyone wondered what had made him cut off so suddenly, until they too saw what he had seen. The group had just turned around a corner, but none of them expected a trail of destruction to stretch before them. It gave Lilo and Stitch odd chills, bringing back memories of the past before they were joined together. The trail stemmed from a single point, a large window on the side of an electronics shop on the corner of the street opposite of them.

Lilo and Stitch recognized it instantly. “That’s Clicks one true place!” They started heading towards it, not caring if the group behind them followed. “What could have happened here?”

Without warning, Daniel suddenly ran past them. Covering the distance in mere moments. When he reached the building he dropped his bag and began calling out.

“Mom!” He shouted, looking through the window. “Mom? Where are you? Click?!”

The two reached him just as he started calling out for Click.

“You know Click? This is the store your mom runs?” Lilo couldn’t believe that in all the times she had checked up on their cousin, that she never once met Daniel there.

“Yeah.” Daniel’s tone had changed. Normally the happy go lucky Daniel was replaced with a very serious one. It was obvious that he was clearly worried about what had happened to his mother’s store. “Mom!”

He headed towards the door, and just as he was about to grab the handle, the door swung open. Out from the shop came Mrs. Jefferson, Daniel’s mother. “Oh, Daniel sweetie, it’s you.” She looked from her son to the two who were standing just behind him. “And Lilo and Stitch too! It’s so good to see you again.” Despite her pleasantries, it was clear she was really worried.

“You know them?”

“Of course I do. They’re the ones who brought us Click all those years ago.”

“She did?” He quickly turned back to Lilo. The surprise on his face was great, and he planned on asking her many questions later. However, there were far more pressing matters. “What happened here? Are you hurt? Where is Click?”

The rest of the group took their place behind the three in the entryway. They had overheard that the shop had belonged to Daniel’s mother, and were eager to find out what had happened to it.

“I don’t know where Click is.” She admitted sadly.

“What?”

Mrs. Jefferson hesitated, wondering if it would be okay to say with Daniel’s friends there. Deciding there wasn’t much choice, she began to explain. “You see. Click was having one of his little fits. It was a little worse this time, but he was getting back to his usual self. Just when everything seemed to be fine, he suddenly jumped out through the window. He was calling after his little friend Monochrome, but I didn’t see her.”

This was sounding all too familiar to Lilo, Stitch, and Victoria. “What do you mean by ‘fit?’?” Lilo was pretty sure what had happened already, even so she still had to make absolutely sure.

“For the past little while it seemed like he would lose control of his actions. He would get really fidgety and shake. Usually it would pass, but this time…well…afterwards I gave the clinic a call. Apparently Monochrome has also gone missing.”

Lilo, Stitch, and Victoria shared a look of concern. Like they had thought, it was exactly like what had happened to Stitch.

“We’ve dealt with this kind of thing before.” Lilo admitted. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Click back.”

With a reassuring smile, Lilo and Stitch started heading down the street. Soon, they were joined by Victoria. She had helped them with this matter before and would do so whenever they needed it.

“I’m coming too.” Daniel announced as he ran up.

“So are we!” The other three followed suit Kel looked amazingly happy to announce that they were joining. “This sounds like it’ll be really cool.”

Lilo stopped in her tracks. She didn’t expect everyone to have her back in this. “Are you sure you all want to come? I don’t really know what’s going to happen. It could get dangerous.”

“I can’t speak for everyone.” The determination set in Daniel’s eyes told her that he wasn’t going to back down. “But Click is my friend. Whatever happened to him, I need to be there.”

Devon coughed to gain everyone’s attention. None of them had heard him speak since the first day of photography club. “If something’s happened to one of your friends…we’re all going to try to help.”

Lilo didn’t really think she was going to need everyone’s help. As far as she was concerned, just the three of them would be able to find and contain Click and Monochrome. However, they didn’t really have time to argue. Every second was one that could send the two cousins even further out of control.
To top it off, explaining why they couldn’t come would cause even more troubles. Instead, she admitted defeat and let them join.

After searching to no avail, Victoria kicked a broken fence post. “So, are we just going to follow the destruction like we did last time?”

Daniel gave her an odd look. “What do you mean last time? This has happened before?”

Kea’s interest had been piqued. “You did say something about dealing with this kind of stuff.”

“Are you going to tell us about it?” Kel finished.

“We don’t have time for that.” Lilo got on her knee to be closer to Stitch. She wished they could just talk openly, but they couldn’t as long as the group was around.

Speaking in hushed tones, the two figured out their next move. The trail had quickly run cold, and without any witnesses they wouldn’t be able to track Click by themselves. Thankfully, Stitch knew exactly who to ask for help, and Lilo agreed with him completely. Giving him a light pet on the head, she stood back up to take the lead. If their plan worked, they would be able to find the two love struck experiments before any more problems could be had.


Monochrome shivered in terror in her cage. She didn’t understand why she was suddenly captured. She was even more confused as to why it was Gigi’s friend that had done it. All she could do was sit still and await whatever fate they had in store for her.

“This will do.” Sam pointed out a small trail that led up into the forests. “We can hide it up there.”

One by one they exited the car, making sure no one saw the caged creature. After a few minutes, the area was clear and they hurriedly headed into the forest. Myrtle could feel Monochrome start to shake in the cage. She did her best not to pay attention to it, not wanting to feel any worse about what she was doing.

“How far in do we have to go?” Lea asked. She absolutely hated hiking, and her current slip on shoes were not doing her feet any favors. She could already feel the knots starting to form in her muscles. “I am so going to the spa after this.”

“We can totally do that after.” Sam led them all through a small opening in the trees. “But we have to go all the way up first.”

Everyone groaned when they saw a fallen tree was blocking their path. One by one they made their way over. Jen helped Abby down after she tore a large hole in her new jeans on a stray branch.

“Look at it this way.” Jen said, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Once this is over we never have to deal with that pesky Lilo again.”

Monochrome’s ears twitched when she heard the girl’s name. Lilo? What does this have to do with Lilo? She tried her best to focus on happier thoughts. Not wanting to dwell on the fact that she was being taken deeper and deeper into the forest, away from her home. Someone…please help me… Click…


After an hour of searching, Finder suddenly stopped moving. Lilo, Stitch, and their friends stopped to watch what his next move would be.

“Is he stuck?” Kea asked, he was a little skeptical of the aardvark’s ability of finding things. However, he had seen weirder things happen on Kaua’i. “He’s just sniffing the ground…”

Suddenly, Finder shot his nose up into the air and started honking.

“Click is somewhere nearby!” Lilo announced. “Everyone look out for him!”

“I forgot to ask before.” Kel began as everyone frantically looked around. “But is Click a two foot tall chipmunk with bright blue fur and dark round eyes?”

Daniel raised an eyebrow at the girls spot on description of his friend. “That’s exactly what he looks like. How did you know?”

“Because he’s up on that traffic light over there.”

Everyone looked in the direction the girl was pointed. Click was standing on top of the traffic light. With a single hand he held on, looking around in a frenzy for any small sign of his boojiboo. Cars whizzed by below him. With the summer having just started, there was a large increase in the number of tourists. It was one of the worst times of the year for driving. One small slip and there would be a huge accident.

With Lilo’s approval, Stitch jumped into action. “Be careful!” She called after him.

In a matter of seconds, Stitch joined his cousin on top of the light fixture. Completely lost in in his search, Click didn’t even notice that he was no longer alone above the racing vehicles.

“Click.” Stitch’s voice was but a whisper, not wanting to startle his cousin. Sadly, hearing his name suddenly without any warning made Click lose his grip for a moment. It was only a second, but it was enough for him to lose his balance and begin to fall.

“Click!” The group of teens were unable to help. The only ones who could do anything were Lilo or Stitch, however, Lilo was stuck. She wouldn’t be able to get to Click in time without revealing her abilities. That in turn would then reveal her secret to the world.

His shrill squeak was cut short as Click felt himself dangling in the air. Working up enough courage to open his eyes, he saw Stitch had caught him by the leg, holding onto the traffic light by only his feet.

With the danger passed and the two experiments back on solid ground, Daniel rushed to Click’s side and hugged him.

“Daniel?” Click squeaked. “Gaba youga doing here?”

The boy completely ignored the shocked gasps of the three discovering the animal could talk. “I’m here looking for you, stupid. Did you think you could run off and I wouldn’t come looking?” He hugged Click even tighter, relieved that his friend wasn’t hurt, aside from a few scratches.

Before Click could answer, Lilo stepped forward. As touching as the reunion was, they only found half of the couple they were looking for. “Click, Mrs. Jefferson said you were calling out for Monochrome. Did you see her somewhere?”

Click hesitated before answering. Just thinking about Monochrome being caged up angered him greatly. He tried to keep his cool, but Daniel was able to feel him shake in his grip.

“Ih.” He finally said reluctantly. If anyone would be able to help, it would be cousin Stitch and Lilo. Click recounted what he had seen. The caged Monochrome in the back of a black car, filled with teenage girls. One of which looked oddly like Gigi’s friend. Most of the group didn’t know who Gigi was, however it didn’t take long for Lilo, Stitch, and Victoria to figure out who took Monochrome.

“It’s definitely Sam and her gang.” Lilo announced to the group.

“Why would Sam want to take Monochrome?” the boy asked.

“Probably to get at me.” The group became silent. It wasn’t a secret that Sam detested Lilo, but none of them thought that they would stoop to animal stealing. “I’m just surprised even Myrtle went along with it. That doesn’t matter now though. Don’t worry, Click. We’ll get Monochrome back for sure!”

“Meega coming with youga.” Demanded Click.

Lilo knew better than to argue. She knew from experience that nothing would be able to stop the little guy from getting to his love. Flashing a smile towards Stitch, she saw him give her a look that told her there would be nothing to worry about.

“If we’re going after those snobby preppy girls…” Kel began. “Then we just need to grab a few things we’ve been saving up.” Kea finished for his sister.

Daniel felt pumped. He had never been a part of a rescue operation before, the excitement was overly addictive. “It’s all well and good to be prepared. But how are we going to find them?”

Lilo giggled at his comment. “Finding them is going to be the easy part. Right, Finder?”

The small red cousin saluted and then honked his nose. He was more than happy to help find his cousin. With everyone by their side, Lilo was sure this was going to be easy. The twins ran off to grab what they had mentioned earlier, and once they returned, everyone was ready to save Monochrome.