The Protagonist System
348 Coming Together Part Seven

Friday was a half day, because gym was in the afternoon and then there was cheerleader practice afterwards. Kim showed up for both and did her parts perfectly, too. Both Bonnie and Tara nodded to her, giving her respect, and Kim nodded back and left before she had to talk to anyone.

I kissed Tara and then kissed the air near Bonnie to make her blush and everyone laughed. She smacked me on the head for it, which made the all laugh again, and kept the both of us in our perceived social statuses. I left and drove my motorcycle to the motel where Nani was renting one of the cheap rooms.

Honestly, it was a dump. But, she only had to stay there for two more days, so offering to move her to a better hotel would be pointless, because she would refuse for that reason alone. I parked and pretended to pull various folders and things from inside my seat and stored my helmet. I walked over to the room's door and could feel three presences inside as I knocked.

“Woof, woof!” A growly voice said from the other side.

I blinked my eyes at the obviously fake dog, because they said the word instead of making the sound. I held in my chuckle at them inadvertently ruining a good strategy to keep themselves safe by failing like that, and smiled when the door opened.

Nani stood there with a blush on her face. “A-aloha, Mr. Stoppable.”

“Aloha, Miss Pelekai.” I said and held up the stack of folders and papers. “I hope you don't mind if I give you some time to go over my current finances before asking you for advice.”

Nani looked relieved and stepped back. “I don't mind at all.” She said and waved me inside. “Please come in and make yourself at home.”

“All right.” I said and stepped up to her and gave her a quick kiss. “Honey, I'm home.”

Nani made a squeak sound and blushed to a deep red, not expecting that at all.

“Nani? Who is it?” A young girl's voice asked.

“Woof.” That gruff vice said again.

“It's my new boss, like I've told you six times already.” Nani said with a sigh and closed the door.

I chuckled and patted her shoulder. “Unless it's interesting and catches her attention, she won't care how many times you tell her about something. That's just how kids are.”

Nani blinked her eyes at me as if I had shared a secret of the universe.

The bathroom door opened and neither of us were surprised when two soapy and suds covered beings ran out, laughing. They had been in the middle of a bath and thought it would be a great idea to surprise us with a visit. What actually surprised me was that one of them was a purple, fur covered animal, and they walked on their hind legs.

“The little girl is my sister, Lilo.” Nani said as she lunged to tackle and grab her, only she didn't succeed as the slippery little girl popped right out of her arms and laughed as she ran all around the room.

The other being was mixing their words between saying 'bark' and 'woof' as he chased her and caused even more chaos while everything in the room was being covered in the suds they shed all over the place.

“The other one is our dog, Stitch.” Nani said and relaxed on the floor as she waited for the noise to die down.

“Dog?” I asked and she nodded. “I'm not sure I should tell you this; but, if you bought him as a dog, then you were ripped off.”

“WHAT?” Nani and Lilo gasped as she and the 'dog' stopped jumping around and the three of them stared at me.

“That is a koala, a native species of Australia. It's an endangered species and protected by law, international treaty, and you need special permits and authorization to even have it in another country.” I told them and both girls looked shocked. “It's actually illegal to have one as a pet, because of their special diet and psychological needs. They are wild animals and need specialized care.”

“I bought him from a dog pound in Hawaii.” Nani said. “He's had his shots and I have his papers and everything.” Nani said and sat up.

I reached down and offered her a hand, which she accepted and I pulled her up to stand on her feet. “I bet you've been getting a lot of odd looks when you claim he's a dog.”

Nani nodded, as did Lilo and the 'dog'.

I didn't mention him speaking instead of barking, either. After he nodded, I knew he was much smarter than a normal animal. I couldn't get much from him with my telepathy, probably because as an animal, his thought processes were much different than a human's.

“Let me just make a call.” I said and took out my cell phone.

“NO!” Nani and Lilo gasped.

“You can't take him!” Lilo shouted and hugged the thing tightly around the neck. It wasn't choking, so it was much stronger than other koalas.

I sighed and shook my head as I hit the speed dial option and then put it on speaker. It rang twice and was picked up.

“This better be important, Stoppable. I'm in a very important strategy meeting.”

“I'm sorry for interrupting, Dr. Betty Director. I just stumbled across a potentially explosive international incident, that could cause a lot of strife with both the American and Australian governments, and I called you right away to ask for advice.”

The phone was quiet for several seconds. “Everyone, we're breaking for supper early.”

There were sounds of relief and then many shoes before a door closed.

“Tell me everything you know.” Betty said.

“It's not much, since I really did just stumble across it.” I said and told her how I met Nani, how she was part of my family now, and that her problems were my problems.

Nani looked both embarrassed and pleased and she was about to hug me, only to stop when she realized she was covered in soapy suds.

“I see.” Betty said. “Is there anything else I should know about this situation?”

Nani looked over at Lilo and Stitch, made a silent decision, and took a deep breath. “Yes, there's something else you should know.”

It was my turn to stand there as she told her story about finding the dog, about the antics that happened because of that, how a member of both an alien government and the US government had been hunting them down for the same reason, Experiment 636 now named Stitch, and how their house had exploded and left them homeless.

Instead of trying to rebuild, they fled with the help of someone called The Grand Councilwoman, that didn't look like a woman at all, and that she would call off the hunters as long as they stopped Stitch from causing anymore chaos.

The last bit of important information that Nani shared was the name of the former CIA agent that helped them, Cobra Bubbles. Both I and Betty sucked in surprised breaths.

“What is it?” Nani asked me.

“Bubbles is a legend in the Global Justice Network.” I said and Betty hummed in agreement. “He's done more in the background to keep the world running than any other agent in existence.”

“All right, I'll make some calls.” Betty said. “Stay there, don't do anything stupid, and I'll try to smooth this potential mess out before it blows up in our faces.”

“What about the dog registry?” I asked. “It was technically a legal purchase, especially since the leader of an alien conglomerate of worlds said it counts as ownership for Stitch.”

“It's worthless for anyone with a set of eyes as good as yours.” Betty complimented me. “Also, we aren't a member of their conglomerate and her authority doesn't go very far if no one but us knows about it.”

I chuckled. “That's true.”

“We also don't want her sending more agents here to handle things if we don't comply with her orders, so I'll contact reps from the Australian government and I'll try to get you a limited zoo permit. You'll have to come in to test out your medical skills in taking care of exotic animals, however.”

“That's not a problem, Director. I'm free all day Sunday.” I offered.

“Good. I'll contact you if anything disastrous happens and will see you first thing in the morning on Sunday.” Betty said. After a short pause, she spoke again. “It was a smart decision to bring this to my attention as soon as possible, Ron. Good work.”

“Thanks, Dr. Betty Director.” I responded. “Have a good night.”

“To you as well.” Betty said and hung up.

“What just happened?” Lilo asked. She hadn't loosened her grip on her 'dog' at all.

“My new boss is keeping his promise to take care of us.” Nani said, her voice full of gratitude. This time, she ignored her soapy hands and clothes as she hugged me around the neck and pulled me into a passionate kiss.

“EWWW!” Lilo yelled and tumbled off of the bed and ran back to the bathroom, dragging poor Stitch along, and she slammed the door.

“Now that I've gotten rid of the witnesses that are too young to hear, can you tell me how you personally know the head of a global spy agency?” Nani asked me sweetly as her grip around my neck tightened. She obviously thought I was spying on her and wanted to know why.

I held up the stack of folders and papers. “That's in here, too.”

“Wh-what?” Nani asked and let me go.

“You can't honestly assess my finances without knowing what I spend my money on.” I said and flipped through the folders ad passed her the one with the hangar details and paying the maintenance crew.

Nani opened it and started to read. Her face went red as she saw the numbers and she lifted her eyes from the papers to look at me. “How are you affording these outrageous charges?”

I grinned at her and held up the rest of the stack. Nani huffed at me and put the folder she had on top and led me over to the bed. She saw the mess of it and sighed, then grabbed the blanket and sheets to haul off and tossed them onto the floor.

A moment later, she had her own soapy wet clothes off to leave herself in just her bra and panties, dried her hands and arms off on a dry part of a sheet, and climbed onto the bed. I set the stack of folders in front of her and sat on the edge as she spread them out and started going through them. I knew it would take her a while, so I took off my jacket and stayed silent while she worked.

Half an hour later, a quite water-wrinkled and still naked little girl came out of the bathroom with an equally soaked purple koala. I walked over with two large bath towels and draped one over Lilo and rubbed her head vigorously to make her laugh, then I carefully dried the rest of her off and wrapped the towel around her.

Lilo looked really happy and I tossed the other towel over Stitch. He shouted something that sounded like 'no' and tried to run. I was much faster than him and scooped him up and repeated what I did to Lilo's hair. The little girl laughed and laughed at Stitch's head looking like a porcupine and I quickly dried the rest of him.

I handed a nice antique brush to Lilo and pointed at the bed. She nodded, understanding that I wanted her sister to take a break and to brush her hair. Stitch growled at me and looked about to attack, so I took out a much thicker and rougher brush, which was one that I had used to groom the horses back in The Last of Us universe.

His eyes widened at the obviously used on animals brush, then he ran over to hop onto the bed and sat beside Lilo with shakes of anticipation. I smiled at a surprised Nani and walked over to the bed and climbed on to sit beside her and behind Stitch.

The two of us sat there for the next twenty minutes taking care of the two kids and both Lilo and Stitch calmed right down and started dozing off. I glanced at Nani and she nodded at the pillows at the head of the bed. We still had work to do, so putting them down for a nap until suppertime was a good use of the time.

Nani moved the files to the far end of the bed and sat on the floor, patted the spot beside her, and she started asking me many questions about everything she had read and wanted clarification for everything. As I sat there and talked with her about it all, I felt like hiring her was the best decision I could have made, both for myself and for her.

*

The debut of the best cheer routine was a huge success during the halftime show of the big football game. Even the visiting team and their cheerleaders had applauded us. It also inspired our team to totally dominate the other school's team during the second half.

When the timer ran out and ended the game, everyone from Middleton cheered and celebrated. We had won by three touchdowns and it was a new record for the quarterback, so everyone was really happy. Half of the cheerleaders were dating the football players and there were many hugs and a few kisses shared between them.

Right after Tara kissed me, I was surprised when Bonnie kissed me, too. In public. In front of the whole cheerleader squad and the football players. I was again surprised when most of them shrugged and dismissed it as her being too happy to not celebrate like them.

Of course, Bonnie's face was flushed and she tried to not make a big deal about it, so I only whispered how hot she was to defy everyone like that. Tara giggled and pulled her into a three-way hug and I felt them both grab my butt. I did not do the same, because their butts were facing everyone else and I wasn't going to give them a free show.

The after-party went on for quite some time, thanks to the quarterback inviting everyone back to his place. I went, just to keep an eye on Tara and Bonnie. I also wanted to make sure there wouldn't be anything questionable going on. They were teenagers about to become adults and I suspected something bad was going to happen with alcohol being involved.

Even after I changed the alcohol content to water, the all still acted like they were getting drunk. It was kind of funny that the act of drinking itself was psychosomatic and caused drunkenness, if a lot more exaggerated than it should have been. It was pretty much used as an excuse for them to let themselves go.

I did stop a couple of incidents before they got out of hand. Two fights and one of the guys taking advantage of a drunk girl in a back room. The guy was angry at me for ruining his once chance to have a hot girl and he stormed off to tell all of his friends. The girl on the other hand, she was very thankful for saving her virginity and offered it to me instead.

I very politely refused the offer, telling her to not waste it. She should find someone she loved to share herself with and to cherish the memory for as long as she could. That earned me a sloppy kiss, a thank you, and being called an idiot for not plowing her ass like she wanted. She walked away and back into the party and I went back outside with Tara.

By the look on her face, she knew something happened, and I made a bit of a show to wipe off my face and whispered to her what happened. Tara looked very happy and gave me her own sloppy kiss, laughed at me having to wipe off the lipstick again, and then dragged me over to where Bonnie was.

“Let's go home.” Tara said and took Bonnie's hand, said goodbye loudly, and led us out of the backyard to the street. A familiar BMW was there and Tara's mom waved at us.

I kissed Tara for being so smart, told her so, and helped her and Bonnie into the backseat. I climbed into the passenger side in the front and her mom gave me a knowing look and a nod of permission, started the car, and drove us back to her home. She said goodnight and went to her bedroom to leave us all alone.

Tara took our hands again and led us to the guest room, then stripped off. Both Bonnie and I took the hint, stripped off as well, and the three of us climbed into bed. We didn't go at it right way, either. Tara wanted some cuddle time first, only without clothes involved, and Bonnie and I were more than happy to share that with her.

Spoiler

Here's Kim Possible, her mom Ann Possible, and Bonnie Rockwaller.

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