Chapter 1: S E P A R A T E

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A    P R O L O G U E . . .

This is the story of an alien named Stitch. He's a genetically created Experiment by Dr. Jumba Jookiba who crashlanded twice onto Earth. And he was created for nothing but destruction, mischief and evil. But things change. The first time was in Kauai, Hawaii, where he met a Hawaiian girl named Lilo, who taught Stitch how to be good and the key to "ohana", a word that means family in Hawaiian. However, time passed, and after a misunderstanding and a Galactic Federation mission, Stitch left for space again. This is where the second time comes in, as Stitch crashlands onto an island in the Ryukyus called Izayoi Island, where he met another girl, an Okinawan blackbelt and tomboy named Yuna. There, the two became best friends and Stitch gained knowledge of an Okinawan legend that would change his entire game plan. The two's journey continues to this day, as they trek around to get Stitch's good deeds higher and higher, so he can achieve a legendary wish from the island's "utaki", the Spiritual Stone. The magic number 43 comes to mind too...

...However, a multiverse can hold many secrets. What if there was more than just one Stitch? What if the worlds held more to the Galactic Federation than you imagined? What if there were people whose lives were devastated from fate? And what if "ohana" hung in the balance of much more than just your closest friends? This is what our story's setting on. A triad of this multiverse forming over the course of a Ryukyuan summer. And we'll find out just what it means when "ohana" evolves beyond just Stitch and Yuna. We'll find out what it means to be a Triverse. Unity is the key to the secrets of many worlds, even these...

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Chapter 1
S E P A R A T E


The stars themselves aligned perfectly on a day like today. However, Earth wasn't where these stars were found, it was a planet called Zurina. Farther away from the Milky Way, Zurina was among a sister system to the Turo system afar known as Auros.

The planet was mostly mountainous, save for the center, a vista of a city called Grandia. Grandia was perfect, trees in the right place, skyscrapers abound and any residents nearby could feel at peace. 

That was unless you realized the truth of this city- that it was corrupt behind its perfection, because a form of royalty, a prince named Ito, took over this city and wants nothing more but its "perfection" as its namesake. He even uses robots called BIOS-620s to enforce this, robots that bear a look almost like a genetic creation people should know. However, this peace was about to be challenged today...

Deep inside the palace walls in the center of the city, someone stood with a triangular rune in her hands. It seemed to be a diminutive hooded figure, with the only identifiable parts of her being a twin set of gigantic ponytails, a graphic mahogany sweater coupled with a neon red floral shirt, a pair of dark green shorts tied by a belt, and an odd set of green sandals combined with black socks. Socks and sandals, one would think? Regardless, she tapped a red jewel on the mechanism on her arm, talking into it.

"Kyohaku, you ready," she asked, as a familiar voice replied- "Ih. Explosive isa all set, princess. Tay get the Tri-Rune?"

Her tone simply erked back. "First of all, don't call me princess. Second, yes. It's in my hands right now and I'm waiting on your call, Kyohaku."

After that snarky reply from the girl, the other end bit back- "Fine. But tay know that isa all on you, okitaka?"

"Yes. Obviously, I know I'm in control here. Thanks, Kyohaku. Now... let's get this going before Ito catches us sleeping in his den," she slated back as she tapped the gemstone again, cutting off communications with him.

One couldn't see it over the dark of her sweater hood over her, but a smirk grew wide over her... a greedy smirk. Another tap of her gemstone purged the network of audio in the Grandia quarters with ease.

A moment later, a brief swooning of orchestra broke the peaceful silence of the city. a piece by John Adams, "Short Ride in a Fast Machine". But what followed broke the silence even more than that...

KA-BOOM!!

A large ball of fire erupted from Ito's palace! Debris and all fell too and fro from the devastation, and a simple shaded figure flew out with the fire. This girl took a dive into a tube nearby, a tube filled with an odd and alien oxygenated liquid called Chasita.

Normally, a resident of Grandia would use this to get from one location to the next at a good velocity, but this mysterious female was using this as her getaway. Her smirk within the Chasita Tube signed victory in her head, her stuffing away the giant triangular slab of stone into a pack on her back. However, her victory was halted by a simple word!

"HALT!! INTRUDER! RETURN STOLEN GOODS IMMEDIATELY!"

This girl flipped around in the liquid in order to meet eyes with who challenged her. As she thought, three of the mecha known as BIOS-620s were behind her in the tube, flying after her. Their build seemed almost alike a certain "evil genius" scientist would've built them.

This made the young vandal pipe up. "I knew this would happen... well, you wanna play? Okay..."

From out of her pockets, she pulled out what looked like an odd playing card. The card had a starlit background and a hexagon pattern, but what was even weirder was what she did with the card, jamming the card into the mechanism on her left arm. In a barrage of light and sparkles, a glowing and almost steampunk-like sword spawned, glowing a powerful stream of aquamarine blue. The blade looked like it was tempered with the powers of galaxies inside itself.

Taking one hand, she grabbed the sword, and finished her sentence- "...let's play rough."

One of the three BIOS-620 units boosted right for her using its claws, but the girl was prepared and made easy work of the metal being, slashing it with a quick slash of her sword and kicking it down out of the Chasita stream, as it flew down into the city. Its impact was met with a explosion rampaging through the plaza it landed on.

Another of the BIOS-620 units aimed lasers at the girl, only to have a sword be flung right into its face. "Bangarang!!" she yelled as the galactic blade was tossed into the mech, causing it to falter and fall below. This time, this BIOS-620 fell into a flowing river nearby and blew up, polluting its everclear waters. There was one left.

One last BIOS-620 the young female was faced with. "This is gonna be a cakewalk," she thought.

That was until a voice she recognized cut through this battle like a knife with a cackling and insane ambition. "A-- ah-hah!! There you are, you stupid girl!! HA!!"

At that moment, the last BIOS-620 got picked up by a giant black dash red robotic leg and with ease, crushed to pieces as it was tossed below. What the real focus was on is an even bigger mech that flew in. The appearance was jet black and crimson. What's odder was that this mech was nothing more than a spaceship with giant robotic legs and a cape enshrouded with electrical plugs on the fritz, barely even able to fit in the Chasita Tube and phasing through the liquid. A gestalt mech in its likeness. The girl knew this enemy by name.

"Mechanos!"

Her call was right, this automaton was Mechanos, a robot known for being a Galactic Federation prototype spacecraft that went AWOL due to an electrical problem. Some say this electrical problem was what made it look and even act like what it does today...

"Yes, princess! HA! It's me... eheheh... now, what are you doing here on this fine planet? A stroll? Maybe even... oh, STEALING SOMETHING THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE EVERYTHING!? AHAHAA!!" Mechanos screamed from its glowing green yet pixelated face on the cockpit.

The girl had to retort back. "None of your business, you overgrown tin can. Now, why don't you just go back home?"

Mechanos merely cackled insanely at this. "Now, you've gone and hurt my feelings... Heh. HAHA! Well, I guess you're going to have to pay for this!! HA!!"

His cry vaulted multiple electrical plugs at the youngster, as she had only little time to reply. Using her blade, she spun it around and blocked the plugs, only with little electrical drawback from each plug as it hit her galactic blade.

Something coursed through her mind, as she looked ahead to see a sharp right turn around a alien skyscraper coming up. "Maybe if I hit it right, I'll... right!"

Mechanos cackled insanely again. "HAD ENOUGH... huh!? HA!! HA--"

Another call from the girl burst through this with quick thinking and precision- "Bangarang!!"

The sword hit the gigantic Mechanos and caused him to fly off-tilt. However, the odd part was that there was no painful grunts coming from him as the blade caused him to go off course... only insanity. With little time, the messy automaton smashed into the side of the skyscraper, causing every piece of the building to come crashing down below to the ground atop the abomination.

The sword came flying back like a boomerang, as the girl caught it, making a quick way to a rendezvous point in a upper alleyway unaffected.

Only a few words escaped the girl's mouth. "Rest in pieces, you insane bucket of bolts. Hmph..."

Of course, Mechanos wasn't so easily taken down, but it was a mere subduing so that the girl could get away...

Waiting in the alley was a weird sight. Experiment 626? No. It was Experiment 626, only... different. A spiky hairdo, ear ring, and an attire of a Galactic Federation officer was on him. On top of that, he had a mechanism much like the girl's, and on his left arm, a piece of stolen Galactic Federation technology in the form of a electronic claw arm of sorts.

He was sidled against the wall when something erupted from the Chasita Tube nearby, the runaway girl. She wasn't soaked from the Chasita, surprisingly, but she breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped forward.

"Took ya long enough... Pagoota," the odd Experiment 626 said.

She retorted back. "Shut up, Kyohaku Stitch. Let's see you try and make this mission any easier, especially with Mechanos trying to kill yours truly. Seriously, we're not having mecha-madness again."

Kyohaku Stitch simply shook his head. Knowing this, Kyohaku Stitch's reputation held high because of his bounty hunter status... but of course, that came crashing down when he took in this odd girl. Who was she?

"Well, okitaka, if you got the Tri-Rune, take off the hood and let's see," Kyohaku paused as the girl took off her mahogany hood.

The face it revealed was surprising. It was a young girl, 8 years old, with messy flaxen hair, one spike of it notably coming out on her forehead. Made sense with the twin ponytails she had tailing her. Her face had golden lashy eyes and freckles.

One only had to take in just how young this girl was to be doing things as dangerous as her, Kyohaku Stitch continuing- "...Yai Galaxia."

Yaiko Galaxia and her double Kyohaku Stitch served as galactic criminals running away through the galaxies for years, dubbed the Astral Jumpers due to their reputation and ways. But Yai had much more to her... something that she didn't choose to tell to many folks since Kyohaku found her.

However, you could tell that whatever it was she had hidden away, it made her cold. Very, very cold and critical. One could even say this girl had to mature early in her life.

"Well, fine. I brought this our way, so we may as well take a gander," Yai said, taking out the stone triangle from the back of her pack.

This stone triangle they retrieved came from Ito's collection of tablets from around the galaxies, often telling of worlds far away or apart. This one in particular was called the Tri-Rune. The twin set of eyes that gazed onto the stone revealed what it looked like.

It was a triangle picture with three humans on it- a young girl with an odd island hairstyle vaulting her hand for a much older teenager with glasses. A girl in the back with an X-shaped scar. And three aliens spread throughout this galactic nexus, looking suspiciously similar to the Experiment 626 nearby. It felt like it was a legend of some kind, but Yai gave an odd look.

"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Seriously, look at this!", she said. "There's three of you? That's gotta be impossible, Kyohaku. And this girl and this guy? The guy I could care less about... but this girl? Something about her rubs me the wrong way... don't know if it's that smile or that odd carefree embrace, but maybe I can repress that..." a growl followed before she continued.

"And what about that girl in the back, is that supposed to be me?" Kyohaku piped up. "Maybe isa just a lucky guess?"

"Maybe it's just a piece of trash we should hang onto" she bited back.

"Princess, naga call it that!" Kyohaku stated, only for Yai to rebel once more. "And why not!? It told us nothing... and if that is me, they got the likeness off... Especially with that scar."

Yai and Kyohaku's argument ended with her stuffing away the stone tablet into her pack again, with her giving one more retort. "Oh, and one more thing? Don't call me princess. You know how much I hate that name with a vengeance..."

"Okitaka..." Kyohaku Stitch groaned at Yai.

Yai finished their business with a final beckon. "Now, let's get out of here, Kyohaku- before we get Mechanos or Ito on our backs... heck hath no fury like a metal abomination or an angry Royal."

Met with a nod, Kyohaku used his claw and scratched right into a wall nearby. However, the wall wasn't producing rubble from being scratched at, but a gateway. Kyohaku Stitch was ripping right into space to open a portal to another world, as that's what his Galactic Federation arm was supposed to do- create gateways to other worlds. Experimental Galactic Federation tech at its finest, one would think.

Thus, with the portal open, Kyohaku Stitch waved Yai in, as the two left deep into the galactic portal out of Grandia. Where were they going? Nobody knew for sure, but it was obvious this wasn't going to be the last time we'd see the Astral Jumpers around these parts...

♦ ♦ ♦

The stars also made their way to a city... though it wasn't closeby in our solar system. Could it have been in a parallel one? One imagines, as this Earth city had its lights and sounds erupt from the nocturne. Kamakura was the name of this Earth city, and it was a city that was immersed in a busy body environment and was the closest city in proximity to Japan's industry front of Tokyo.

In most cases, Kamakura was also a big surfer's hotspot and one of the biggest places that celebrated a cartoon character known as Stitch... you heard right, "cartoon character". Of course, from a small ice cream shop in the city streets came the call of a young teenager...

"BANG! "Chromium Spikes"! ...Read 'em and weep," the teen said, placing a trading card down in a heated game of the city's famed card game, "Stitch to the Cosmos". Another young boy looked nearby, inspecting the scene of the attack he was up against in the game.

"You... You didn't!?" he blinked in astonishment, about to shout out a name...

"KYOZUKI!! HOW DID YOU TAKE DOWN MY "MECHA-LOID CANNONBALL"!?"

Yes, the teenager in this ice cream shop playing the card game was named Kyozuki Yamada, yet everyone called him Kyo. He was a tall 13-year-old sort, with a flamboyant red and spiky hairstyle, and a set of orange glasses to boot covering his brown eyes. He also had the look of a laidback punk, with a floral shirt, a pair of beige shorts that were done with a belt and a pair of Sony headphones around his neck at almost all times. Laidback wouldn't be far off, as he also had big-time surfer under his traits. Much like the rest of the Kamakuran folk, he was a crazy Stitch fanatic, yet he was one of the biggest.

"Well, dude, it was a simple stroke of luck... "Chromium Spikes" just wipes out your "Mecha-loid Cannonball" with its effect. Spikes launch, he's devastated and I'm left with the last laugh! Good game though, Daichi, but you're not getting my "Sharp-Dressed Stitch" card today!", Kyo said with a laugh to his friend Daichi.

Daichi was an even different fare. He was a boy with langsat skin and a rather simple attire of a orange muscle shirt with a belted pair of dark green shorts. His green eyes looked astonished at the game he lost, but even weirder was his frizzy black hair with a single speck sticking out of it all. This boy was Kyo's accomplice, always challenging him to some kind of game for the stakes of his rarities... seldom would he come to win though.

"You-- you-- Impossible! How'd--" Daichi was at a loss of words.

Kyo though, sent him along- "You oughta know the Conquest booster packs came out today! The GAME-Haruda Shop got them, and Mrs. Yamashiro was kind enough to give me a buy two, get one free special!"

Daichi sat with a melting sundae nearby still dumbfounded as to how his "near flawless" attack plan failed in the card game, as Kyo sat back up, stuffing his card deck into his pocket.

"Well, I'm hitting the road, it's been fun, but I promised Chiro I'd hang with her tomorrow and I'd need a snooze," Kyo walked off, as he flicked a yen coin at the table that Daichi was left to sit at, giving a call back.

"Oh, and by the way, that's for you. It'll pay for the half-melted sundae you never finished. Consider it an Aisu Machi tab..." following that with a sheepish laugh on his way out, leaving Daichi with a sigh and a recalculation for him.

Yet Kyo came back again with one last chirp- "One more thing... smooth moves at the "flash-mob" tonight!"

And with a wink, he finally left, leaving Daichi wallowing in defeat.

The Kamakuran night was balmy but calm, as any big city in the summertime would. The Kamakura cityscape was aglow with Stitch marketing and real life affiliations- Coca-Cola signs, giant Mickey Mouse heads, billboards of many a real life product placement, the works of what you'd find in real life.

Kyo walked silently with his headphones over his ears, the sounds of loud techno music drowning out the remaining night noise, thinking about something on his mind... what it was wasn't really well known. However, the night sky had other says in the matter, as his look in the sky from the sidewalk he was standing on met with a shooting star from above...

He propped his headphones on his neck as usual, shutting the music he was listening to on his phone off.

"Huh... a shooting star? Dude... That's o-- wait, what!?" His astonishment came from what the shooting star was doing, something no ordinary star would do out of the blue.

The star quickly gave a green glow as it was on a crash course down to Kamakura! The path of the flying object jettisoned left, right, every which way until it hit the nearby Edoshima Electrical Railway, jittering the electrical power here and there. Kyo couldn't believe it, a shooting star just crashed into the city railway and there was something nearby to help this query.

A setup of TV boxes nearby in an electronics shop started with a "breaking news" report from a male news reporter.

"This just in! An unidentified flying object, commonly seen as a shooting star has come crashlanding down into the fields inbetween that of Edoshima Electrical Railway. We urge those city folk in Kamakura not to go into the area until the situation is cleared and cleaned up. Any and all electrical problems and train derailments is entirely due to this unexpected event. Any inconvenience..."

The news reporter droned on and on urging the Kamakuran folk not to go near the Edoshima Electrical until it was dealt with. Kyozuki though had an idea in his head... While he was at most times a coward, there was no way a star could come crashing down from the sky and there be something not fishy about it. So he started running for the Electrical Railway's place, just west of where he was in the city, the smoke rising from the wreckage afar.

But yet he had a set of eyes behind watching him... a man in a black suit with black shades eyed his running after the railway.

Tapping into an intercom of some sort, he said in a gruff voice "Guys? A boy's enroute to the emergence site... Wait until morning to scope the area of any suspicious activity."

A few minutes later, Kyo's speedy arrival there wasn't met with any authorities on the patrol, in fact, the event was far too soon for anyone of the sort to arrive. Kyo did see though just what this star tore through on its descent, as power lines sparked outside and there was noticeable damage on the railway's side.

"Oh my God... What ripped through here like a tidal wave?" he stated without a delay. However, down in the lower fields supporting the rails was where Kyozuki wanted to be, so he made his way down rather carefully what with the damage, his careful turning into dopey within the minute...

A lot of yelling and quick saves down the path had an out of breath Kyo step out of into the narrow fields inbetween where the railway met up with beams and paths. "AH! A-- fine, fine! I'm outta here! First a bunch of electrical wires and now stupid cats, give me a break... wha?"

Kyo had just laid eyes with the damage done... most of those beams were toppled over, and what looked like a sign for a movie upcoming wrecked. There was even a shovel knocked over nearby, probably from a worker nearby.

But that wasn't what shocked Kyozuki, what shocked him was the amassing of green smoke that rose from the landing site of whatever this odd "shooting star" was...

Kyo stepped forward, looking a little fearful for his life, yet still curious all the same. "Uhh... hello? Anyone in there? Olly olly oxen-free!"

No sound seemed to come out of the wreck that was the "shooting star". Unease began to grow from the suspenseful scenario...

But so sudden was the worst that came out of the ground, the sight of a shadowed claw that rose up from the landing space, a claw that instantly sent a shot of fear into Kyo's heart what with the growl that followed behind.

He looked on, trying to inspect just what had stepped out from the "shooting star", but something seemed to ring a bell about this claw.

Yet the claw wasn't the only bit revealed in time, as a body rose up from the ground. This body was small, stubby, set with four arms, two legs and a set of spines and antennae.

Kyo gave a worried yelp, his eyes widening from behind those glasses of his, as the smoke blew away to unveil just what it was that stepped out of the wreckage of the supposed star that fell from above, loud growling included.

He knew it a mile away as just a cartoon character in the city he lived in, one who lived with one of two little girls, but the doubt of him being in reality stung in hard.

"S-- Stitch!? ...No-- No way!!" Kyo said, as the blue monster in front of him stood with a genuine urge to hurt whoever he was looking at... keyword: him.

A growl, a yell from Kyo and the bang of a shovel nearby was all that was heard in the railway's lying fields. Silence after. Yes, Kyo took to defending himself with the shovel nearby knocking the fright out, with the right decision made.

This was the night that Kyozuki Yamada had met Experiment 626... and the victor was told by the sound of sandal-laden footsteps carrying something in a box, more like. Was it an attempt to kill the beast? Or an attempt to save a misunderstood creature?

The answer was quite obvious knowing a fanatic like Kyo.

"A Stitch... in reality?" were the only words left as Kyo ran back to his Uncle's house, masking the truth...

♦ ♦ ♦

Yet still within our solar system, Earth was still an important part of our story. But where on Earth where we? Sunlight gave its light down upon from the skies above, an island breeze swaying too and fro from out here. The humidity, the skies and all else that this was indeed the tropics. Islands could be seen from the distance. The peace of this was almost tranquil, like one could fall asleep to the sounds of the oceans rolling and the nature of the scenery...

However, that peace was short-lived, as a boat slashed through the ocean waters afar. The boat seemed like your standard tourism boat, but alas, signs pointed against that from the driver singing something.

"My Bonnie lies over the ocean! My Bonnie lies over the sea," a elderly man with buck teeth, white frizzy hair and a sailor's attire sang.

He finished this up with a beck farther back the ship. "Ahoy, are you newbie islanders gonna come out to see your new home? C'mon, c'mon!"

This man was actually known afar and wide as Mr. Meade. Off where they were headed, he was heralded as a master of the railways, riding his train Polly across the paven paths. He often graced a nice cap and overalls with his rail job.

However, sometimes he would also double as a captain of a ship, thus where his steamboat Bonnie came in here. It appeared that his boat wasn't a mere empty this time around either...

The first of the faces to step out the back of the boat were a twin set of new faces... or so one would imagine. A girl with long, blue hair stepped out into the sunlight. In addition, another face what looked like a goat-like creature also stepped out. The girl had blue eyes, a yellow hairband around her head, a red scarf around her neck and a fragrant yellow dress. Her face was cute and perky at that, as her blue eyes finally laid eyes over the ocean ahead.

"Oh my... THIS was where our good friend lives?! My, my... when she visited Hong Kong, she never went on about this at all, right Milston?"

Her little creature replied with a simple sheepish "Keh".

Her little beast, while looking alike a goat, had a fragrant beige and pink coat with blue horns, along with yellow claws and hooves. The girl spoke again-

"Well then... looks like she has little ol' Yoko coming her way... thanks Daddy," following up with the cutest giggle one could've heard while alluding to a "her" of some kind.

This girl and monster combo were the Hong Kong natives Yoko and Milston. Yoko was a particular girly girl priding herself on her adorable look, while her small friend Milston had a bit of a short fuse.

Milston though had a bit of a secret being kept that really applied to his look harkening to a goat. He was related to a certain "evil genius" where they were headed. In addition to this, it seemed like she had a good friend out there too, as she and her partner Milston were moving out with her father to their new home... wherever that was.

The noise of the two talking brought out another of the new faces, another girl about a year older than the young Yoko. A person of color with solid green eyes and a odd hairstyle, she stepped out. The way she looked also had something odd, as she was dressed in a magenta shirt, teal pants and it was all done up with a heart-emblemed belt.

"Hey, what's the funky noise out here? We getting close to home yet?" she said. Yoko and Milston looked in confusion at her. Did she just spit out slang from back in the 70s?

The girl shifted a brow- "What? Was it something I jived out?", she continued.

Yoko finally spoke, "Umm... no, not that! Your "jive talk" is fine! It's just... who are you? You also heading where we're going?"

The girl nodded with a fab way. "Yep! Sure am. My name's Jenna, how fly is it to meet you, huh?", following that weird display up with a shake of Yoko's hand while she looked just as confused...

This girl, Jenna, was another of the folks heading to a place anew. Her family and her lived in Osaka before and due to unforeseen circumstances, it forced them to take the move.

Jenna was unique though. Remember that weird hairstyle? Turns out she was the only one in her family with a afro! A big spiky afro! To top things off, it seemed as though her slang was stuck almost 30 years ago in the 1970s, though she didn't seem to be under disco fever... yet anyhow.

Yoko finally broke her confusion with a chime up. "Jenna, huh? My name's Yoko, cutest of Hong Kong... or one of them at least!"

She then motioned to her little buddy Milston. "And this is Milston," the beastie following up with his brightest signature "Keh".

"Nice to meet you!"

Yoko shook Jenna's hand with laughs from both the girls and even moreso, it seemed that before they even made it to their new destination, that Yoko and Jenna made a friend in one another, despite Jenna's... 70s fixed self.

"Aww, seems like you young'uns are already makin' friends," Mr. Meade said.

However, there was one more of the families moving that had yet to be seen. Right at the back of the boat and farther away from the rather silly captain and the two new friends was one last girl, a bit of a tall one at that. She seemed rich, as her look and clothes represented.

Her look? She had luxurious caramel hair done up in a pink bow and abound in spiral curls, alike a TV celebrity named Princess Michigo... but perhaps a little too much like her. Her purple lash-coveted eyes, a warm colored frilly shirt and a pair of jean shorts almost akin to daisy dukes also defined her. She didn't speak a word yet, but she was holding a picture of a blue-haired boy.

"I don't care what they say, Takumi. I don't care what happens!! I'm still gonna keep that crush for you! You handsome soccer player! I may be moving away to some backwater place far from Okinawa New Town and away from my friends... Toriko and Mokiko... But whatever!! I won't... give up my love for you. I promised those two I wouldn't! Ever! EVER!!"

She ended that monologue of hers hugging the photo like someone insane would their straitjacket.

Upon opening her purple eyes, she chuckled, realizing just how insane she might've sounded right now. Or rather... she did sound to a curious Milston nearby her.

"Keh keh?" Milston said, poking her leg. This ritsy girl looked down at the weird goat creature... and what followed was a loud scream.

Jenna and Yoko rushed back to the back of the boat. "What the?"

Turns out the two girls found Milston atop this new girl's head, as she screamed "GET IT OFF!! GET THIS THING OFF OF MY HEAD!!" She growled and threw poor Milston off her head, as Yoko caught him.

"Hey, what's the big idea being so mean to Milston?" Yoko asked, clearly not pleased.

"I'll tell you what it is, that's no normal goat that rummaged through my hair!! That's a freak of nature," the girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

Jenna then retorted- "I'd rephrase that if I were you...", giving a smirk. Our new girl gave a look clueless as to why, as she sniffed... smelling something... burning.

A simple eye roll up revealed what it was burning. Turns out, Milston apparently left a few sparks in this girl's hair and it caught fire! She yelled loudly again as Jenna quickly grabbed a bucket filled with seawater nearby and put out the slight sparks.

However, in the process, the girl's appearance quickly took a turn, as she was drenched from head to toe, her attire and her luxurious hair... well, weren't so luxurious anymore.

She growled angrily, pointing at Jenna and Yoko along with the now shoulder-perched Milston. "HOW DARE YOU!! My hair's a national treasure in New Town, and now look at it! It's all... a mess!"

Jenna jived back as any- "Hey, now if we didn't put out that disco inferno, you'd be paying the price, missy! Now, apologize to lil' Milston!"

The girl crossed her arms and gave a shrill judge. "How about never in a million years?!"

Yoko tried to step in to resolve things. "Now, now... look, you're probably heading the same place we are and it's best we don't have any bad blood, right? Right?"

Milston merely chuckled at this "bad blood" comment as this new girl merely looked with a vengeance. "You just made bad blood with me, remember that..." the girl said before walking past them into the boat's rooms.

But not before coming back- "Oh, and by the way? 70s lingo and irresistible cuteness are so out this year!"

Jessica turned around, swiftly marching off again to go fix herself back up.

Everyone had to wonder just who that was who caused the ruckus. She seemed like such a bully.

"Geez... what a rowdy dreamgirl" Jenna said.

Yoko nodded and asked "Yeah, who was she?"

Turns out Mr. Meade at the front of the boat had an answer. "That, gal pals was our new rich resident... her name's Jessica, hailing in from that fancy Okinawa New Town over the way. Her father says she had to give away quite a lot to come this way... and while she's not a fan, she's making due. Or at least, as much ado as someone like her just showcased..."

Jessica. One could tell from how much she cared for herself and herself alone, her maribelle-like dialect and just all around shove-y nature that Jessica wasn't necessarily good news. Milston laughed again, recalling the Takumi picture she carried with her.

"Anyways, now that everyone is acquainted, why don't you young'uns look ahead at your new home on the horizon?" Mr. Meade said. Jenna, Milston and Yoko looked ahead, or rather Yoko and Milston looked again.

Across the ocean waters the boat was cutting through like a knife lied an island on the rise. The island was covered in forest, beach and town in particular and looked as pristine as any of the other places out here.

Jenna spoke "Holy... what is this groovy place?"

Mr. Meade finally spit the words out. "Well, m'girls- welcome to Izayoi Island. This is where your new home is."

Izayoi Island lied among the Ryukyu Islands, where Mr. Meade's boat Bonnie had sailed through in order to reach here. But not just any of the Ryukyus, Izayoi lied south of the Okinawan mainland.

Izayoi was known for its tourism, culture and even moreso- happenings involving a blue creature of some kind and his friend a proper blackbelt, whose name remained up in the air. Pristine and beautiful were two words that came to mind upon the sight of Izayoi Island.

The island also had some mysticism to it, yet how though remained a mystery unless you actually lived on the isle.

Turns out that Jenna, Yoko and Jessica were moving into fair Izayoi here, all for different reasons. As the ship was coming closely into port on the Chitama Town harbor, complete with its boats and wavecrashers, Yoko let loose words that summed up the excitement of moving into this place.

"Well, guys... this is gonna be something supercalifragilisticexpiali... doh... how'd the rest of that word go?"

However, it turns out that the island was expecting these new folks... It didn't seem like it at first, especially pulling close to the Chitama Town harbor, but it was so. But alas, what of a certain other two Izayoi islanders, this murmured girl and blue beast? Did they know about the coming of these folk?

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Stitch Triverse, BOOK 1: UNIONWhere stories live. Discover now