Honolulu Nights
A retellling of the Anime 'Metropolis' with an extremely large twist.
Summary: The Honolulu Tower, also known as the Ziggurat of the Pacific, designed by a man called Duke Red, is built, connecting to many of the buildings in the buisness district creating one extremely large building. Eighteen-year-old Lilo and faithful friend Stitch go on vacation to Honolulu to see it alone, but come across more than they originally bargained for...you don't need to know Metropolis to read this. The inspiration for this fan fic came from the fact that the two stories are alike in so many aspects that they were just BEGGING to be crossed over in a retelling. More about this can be found in the authors' notes, bottom of this page. But for the full production notes, you must wait until you finished the entire story. And that's not exactly happeing in five seconds.
Let's begin!
"At this moment, we as a nation are about to touch the stars,
I tremble at the honor of announcing the culmination of the long history of mankind's intellectual and scientific achievement, Yesterday, our powers spanned the earth, Today, it can illuminate the heavens! May it stand forever, Our Ziggurat!!!!"
Cheers came from the semi-cluttered buisness district below the towering building, its many towers glistening the the wake of thousands of golden fireworks going up in beautiful shimmering showers. News teams cluttered to get into the exclusive party being held inside, their microphones coming before the welfare of their prim and prime gowns. Around the outer part of the parameter were thousands of people looking up at the spectacular two-hundred story building, gaping in amazement.
"Lilo, I have never seen a building this big!" remarked Stitch, sitting on Lilo's head. She was weighed down with luggage and was not really very mobile, but she could still see some of the building.
"It looks pretty big...Stitch, we can look at it tommorrow, it's late and we have to take our bags to the hotel."
Stitch sighed in dissapointment, but gave in.
"Alright..." he whined. "We can--"
There was a gunshot, and something fell from high up.
"What was that?!" Lilo exclaimed, jumping a bit. Stitch shrugged.
"Not sure..."
Out of nowhere a boy ran, chasing the thing that fell--that now got up--and started shooting at it. It fell once again, a shower of sparks signifying its defeat. The boy gave a victorious smile and walked off, triumphant. Lilo and Stitch were somewhat shocked at what had happend in front of them, blinking confusedly.Lilo was the first to speak.
"What just happened?"
Stitch gave some sort of odd chuckle.
"The boy shot that robot down."
"Right. You want to go back to the hotel now?"
"Yhea."
***********
There was a very refined ruckus happening inside the Ziggurat as the press and many of the richer inhabitants of Hawaii awaited the arrival of the architect of the building they were now standing in, the infamous Duke Red. Known for his architectual genius and even more so for his unusualy large nose, the man was a billionaire that everyone seemed to love. He adored children and was a strange mix between extremely humble and extremely proud. People thought that he should run for president! The cheers hightened as he came down the stairs accompanied by the governor, Ashley Smith, and the Mayor, Jamie Sholtz, also known as James. The press was in a rush.
"Mr.Red, are you going to be running for president?"
The Duke gave a smile, and made a simple gesture of humility. "Of course not." he said. "I'm definetly not qualified for the job, I'm just an architect. But if you must know what I'm going to be doing, I plan to settle down and live here in the Ziggurat."
"Sir, is it true that you are still single after the death of your wife and daughter in that fire five years ago?"
Red blushed.
"Actually, I'm still recovering from the loss. I am still single, but I plan to start dating again soon. Anything more related to our fine building or government?"
There was a fit of laughter in the press box and on the ballroom floor.
"I have heard that there is some sort of military weapon on top of this building. Is this true?"
The Duke looked as if he was giving some sort of thought, then he looked back at the crowd.
"That seems to be a popular rumor, and actually, I don't know what they put on top of this building. That was left to the secretary of defence, Miss Luana."
"Isn't she a bit young to be in charge of the government's military?"
"She's a genius--not only a military genius, but a genius! I wouldn't be suprised if there was some sort of cloning machine up there. Just because someone's under twenty that doesn't mean they're stupid. The world is changing."
Mumbling overtook the hall, and the Duke once again smiled warmly at the Ziggurat guests.
"What are you all doing? This is an opening party, not a function to gawk at me!"
More laughter filled the hall and the people began to mingle.
************
Lilo and Stitch were very tired, but still a bit excited from their nightime visit to the Ziggurat. If anything, they wanted to go back as soon as they could. Stitch was hungry and lying on the bed, looking at Lilo with the very look of hunger in his eyes. Sighing, Lilo went to go fetch the alien something from the in-room bar, sifting through the mounds of snacks kept in it. She took up a bag of chips and a candy bar, handing them to Stitch along with a can of sprite. Picking up her bag, she went into the bathroom and changed her clothes, making a pot of coffee afterward and plopping onto the bed with Stitch. Unlike the people at the Ziggurat at the moment, they were not in the mood to party.
"What wrong?" asked Stitch. His improved grammar was wonderful to Lilo...it was much easier to talk to him when he wasn't refering to himself in the third person.
"I'm tired...and a bit disturbed. Who can use a gun like that, eh?"
"That boy..." Stitch sipped on his sprite and popped a chip into his mouth. "Lilo, why don't you turn on the news?"
"Good idea." grabbing the remote on the hotel nightstand, Lilo flipped to her favorite local news channel, where they were showing the Duke again.
"Hey, look..." remarked Stitch. "That's the guy who's family died in that big fire near our house remember?"
"Oh yhea! I remember now. They were really rich and had that nice little blonde girl with the green eyes...?"
"Tina?"
"No, Tima, I think...they had the really big funeral, and we went too because we were good friends with the girl and were always at their house...Tima...is correct..." Lilo frowned.
"That's right." Stitch said. "The Ziggurat was designed by the Duke, you know."
"He designed that big building? Wow...."
"He's a genius, but they say that the death of his family drove him mad."
"He doesn't look crazy."
"Nobody looks crazy."
"I guess you're right...Stitch, aren't you tired?"
"Yes, I'm tired, but not tired enough."
"I see." Lilo stood and went over to the balcony, which was facing townward. Upon opening the curtain that shrouded the outside from the inside, she was floored at the view. she was looking at an extremely huge building on the typical town skyline, glowing golden. She didn't realize it was THAT big.
"Do you think we should visit him, Stitch?"
"Huh?"
"Visit Duke Red. We're family friends, aren't we? We were like his kalabash kids."
"I'm not human."
"I forget you aren't...well, you were his kalabash alien."
Stitch chuckled strangely again.
"I guess we could visit him, but they wouldn't let us near him."
"You're right...we could have his secretary ask him if he knows us."
"His secretary probably has a secretary."
Lilo giggled. A secretary having a secretary... you know you're rich when that happens. She sat back down on the bed and sighed. She hadn't seen that man since he moved from his house nearby her own...there was a huge fire, and his wife and daughter couldn't get out. They both died in the blaze not of burns but smoke inhalation, and were recovered in the basement-typed den, where they were supposed to be spending the night as they did almost every friday night. Lilo had been down there a few times, and she knew that there were no windows and only one door, so they were trapped. By the time they figured out the house was on fire, there was nothing they could do. Tima was found on the couch, nestled in her mother's arms, glassy green doll's eyes wide open and sleeping at the same time. Lilo still remembered when the firefighters came out with Tima...they didn't have anything over her, they just had her...her head was hanging limp over the firefighter's arm, and her eyes seemed as if they shifted in Lilo's general direction. That's when she ran back to her own house--seeing one of her friends being carried off to be autopsyed was too much. Her breathing quickened and she bursted into her bedroom, crying. Stitch instinctively came to comfort her, and soon found out why she was crying. It was a black day for the unbreakable ohana...in a town as small as the one Lilo lived in, everyone was family. Even if she sometimes forgot names, that was because she wanted to forget something...she had tried to forget Tima on purpose...but nobody was supposed to be forgotten. How could you forget that stare, anyawy? That blank, glassy stare, and the tear-streaks under the orbs that shone a somewhat more peaceful form of horror...like knowing you were going to die, but not being afraid--being sad...or was that the other way around? Lilo didn't know. But what she did know was that she had to talk with the Duke somehow.
"Lilo?"
"Huh?"
"You went blank. Is something wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking about Tima."
"Oh..."
"You know, I tried to forget her, because of how she--how they were carrying her out. It was like she was looking at me, and asking me to help her..."
"There was nothing you could do, Lilo."
"She was my first really real friend after you! She looked after me from the fourth grade all the way up to the nineth grade, when the fire happened. And I wasn't there when she needed me...I wished that I could have gone back in time and tried to warn them. I wished that she would come back. I waited for days hoping she would just come over and knock on my door; and when they buried her, I was hysterical, because if she did come back to life, she would die anyway...then I remembered what they did to bodies..."
Stitch nodded. Lilo was talking in circles, which was not a good sign. This outburst was Stitch's fault for asking her to put on the T.V., but for some reason, he felt that this was good for Lilo. Maybe not? On nights like this, minds are full of questions, and interruptions are not key to finding answers. the alien sighed.
This was going to be a long vacation.
AN: Sorry about how short that was...I'm in a bit of a muck. The paragraph (I call it THE paragraph...the really fat one about the past) is meant to be somewhat poetic and run in circles like...hmm...like angsty thought, I think. I'm not really sure why I just get all poety-like like that, but it helps. Maybe I'm a really distant relative of Tolkien? *Laughs* Not. Well, I guess I'll be writing more, because the story is SO not done. And if you've seen Metropolis, you now know what EXTREMELY LARGE TWIST means. *Smiles even wider* Lilo and Stitch AU...redefined. The thing about 'Metropolis' and 'Lilo and Stitch' is that they are both about finding out where you belong, but there are WAY more similarities than that...there's a doctor like Jumba in Metropolis, and he even looks somewhat like him! but don't worry, I'm pretty sure they're not copying off each other because Metropolis was written way before most people who are 40 were born. And the story was different. Stitch was made in 1983. And his story was REALLY different. Relax. Kick it. Uh.
A retellling of the Anime 'Metropolis' with an extremely large twist.
Summary: The Honolulu Tower, also known as the Ziggurat of the Pacific, designed by a man called Duke Red, is built, connecting to many of the buildings in the buisness district creating one extremely large building. Eighteen-year-old Lilo and faithful friend Stitch go on vacation to Honolulu to see it alone, but come across more than they originally bargained for...you don't need to know Metropolis to read this. The inspiration for this fan fic came from the fact that the two stories are alike in so many aspects that they were just BEGGING to be crossed over in a retelling. More about this can be found in the authors' notes, bottom of this page. But for the full production notes, you must wait until you finished the entire story. And that's not exactly happeing in five seconds.
Let's begin!
"At this moment, we as a nation are about to touch the stars,
I tremble at the honor of announcing the culmination of the long history of mankind's intellectual and scientific achievement, Yesterday, our powers spanned the earth, Today, it can illuminate the heavens! May it stand forever, Our Ziggurat!!!!"
Cheers came from the semi-cluttered buisness district below the towering building, its many towers glistening the the wake of thousands of golden fireworks going up in beautiful shimmering showers. News teams cluttered to get into the exclusive party being held inside, their microphones coming before the welfare of their prim and prime gowns. Around the outer part of the parameter were thousands of people looking up at the spectacular two-hundred story building, gaping in amazement.
"Lilo, I have never seen a building this big!" remarked Stitch, sitting on Lilo's head. She was weighed down with luggage and was not really very mobile, but she could still see some of the building.
"It looks pretty big...Stitch, we can look at it tommorrow, it's late and we have to take our bags to the hotel."
Stitch sighed in dissapointment, but gave in.
"Alright..." he whined. "We can--"
There was a gunshot, and something fell from high up.
"What was that?!" Lilo exclaimed, jumping a bit. Stitch shrugged.
"Not sure..."
Out of nowhere a boy ran, chasing the thing that fell--that now got up--and started shooting at it. It fell once again, a shower of sparks signifying its defeat. The boy gave a victorious smile and walked off, triumphant. Lilo and Stitch were somewhat shocked at what had happend in front of them, blinking confusedly.Lilo was the first to speak.
"What just happened?"
Stitch gave some sort of odd chuckle.
"The boy shot that robot down."
"Right. You want to go back to the hotel now?"
"Yhea."
***********
There was a very refined ruckus happening inside the Ziggurat as the press and many of the richer inhabitants of Hawaii awaited the arrival of the architect of the building they were now standing in, the infamous Duke Red. Known for his architectual genius and even more so for his unusualy large nose, the man was a billionaire that everyone seemed to love. He adored children and was a strange mix between extremely humble and extremely proud. People thought that he should run for president! The cheers hightened as he came down the stairs accompanied by the governor, Ashley Smith, and the Mayor, Jamie Sholtz, also known as James. The press was in a rush.
"Mr.Red, are you going to be running for president?"
The Duke gave a smile, and made a simple gesture of humility. "Of course not." he said. "I'm definetly not qualified for the job, I'm just an architect. But if you must know what I'm going to be doing, I plan to settle down and live here in the Ziggurat."
"Sir, is it true that you are still single after the death of your wife and daughter in that fire five years ago?"
Red blushed.
"Actually, I'm still recovering from the loss. I am still single, but I plan to start dating again soon. Anything more related to our fine building or government?"
There was a fit of laughter in the press box and on the ballroom floor.
"I have heard that there is some sort of military weapon on top of this building. Is this true?"
The Duke looked as if he was giving some sort of thought, then he looked back at the crowd.
"That seems to be a popular rumor, and actually, I don't know what they put on top of this building. That was left to the secretary of defence, Miss Luana."
"Isn't she a bit young to be in charge of the government's military?"
"She's a genius--not only a military genius, but a genius! I wouldn't be suprised if there was some sort of cloning machine up there. Just because someone's under twenty that doesn't mean they're stupid. The world is changing."
Mumbling overtook the hall, and the Duke once again smiled warmly at the Ziggurat guests.
"What are you all doing? This is an opening party, not a function to gawk at me!"
More laughter filled the hall and the people began to mingle.
************
Lilo and Stitch were very tired, but still a bit excited from their nightime visit to the Ziggurat. If anything, they wanted to go back as soon as they could. Stitch was hungry and lying on the bed, looking at Lilo with the very look of hunger in his eyes. Sighing, Lilo went to go fetch the alien something from the in-room bar, sifting through the mounds of snacks kept in it. She took up a bag of chips and a candy bar, handing them to Stitch along with a can of sprite. Picking up her bag, she went into the bathroom and changed her clothes, making a pot of coffee afterward and plopping onto the bed with Stitch. Unlike the people at the Ziggurat at the moment, they were not in the mood to party.
"What wrong?" asked Stitch. His improved grammar was wonderful to Lilo...it was much easier to talk to him when he wasn't refering to himself in the third person.
"I'm tired...and a bit disturbed. Who can use a gun like that, eh?"
"That boy..." Stitch sipped on his sprite and popped a chip into his mouth. "Lilo, why don't you turn on the news?"
"Good idea." grabbing the remote on the hotel nightstand, Lilo flipped to her favorite local news channel, where they were showing the Duke again.
"Hey, look..." remarked Stitch. "That's the guy who's family died in that big fire near our house remember?"
"Oh yhea! I remember now. They were really rich and had that nice little blonde girl with the green eyes...?"
"Tina?"
"No, Tima, I think...they had the really big funeral, and we went too because we were good friends with the girl and were always at their house...Tima...is correct..." Lilo frowned.
"That's right." Stitch said. "The Ziggurat was designed by the Duke, you know."
"He designed that big building? Wow...."
"He's a genius, but they say that the death of his family drove him mad."
"He doesn't look crazy."
"Nobody looks crazy."
"I guess you're right...Stitch, aren't you tired?"
"Yes, I'm tired, but not tired enough."
"I see." Lilo stood and went over to the balcony, which was facing townward. Upon opening the curtain that shrouded the outside from the inside, she was floored at the view. she was looking at an extremely huge building on the typical town skyline, glowing golden. She didn't realize it was THAT big.
"Do you think we should visit him, Stitch?"
"Huh?"
"Visit Duke Red. We're family friends, aren't we? We were like his kalabash kids."
"I'm not human."
"I forget you aren't...well, you were his kalabash alien."
Stitch chuckled strangely again.
"I guess we could visit him, but they wouldn't let us near him."
"You're right...we could have his secretary ask him if he knows us."
"His secretary probably has a secretary."
Lilo giggled. A secretary having a secretary... you know you're rich when that happens. She sat back down on the bed and sighed. She hadn't seen that man since he moved from his house nearby her own...there was a huge fire, and his wife and daughter couldn't get out. They both died in the blaze not of burns but smoke inhalation, and were recovered in the basement-typed den, where they were supposed to be spending the night as they did almost every friday night. Lilo had been down there a few times, and she knew that there were no windows and only one door, so they were trapped. By the time they figured out the house was on fire, there was nothing they could do. Tima was found on the couch, nestled in her mother's arms, glassy green doll's eyes wide open and sleeping at the same time. Lilo still remembered when the firefighters came out with Tima...they didn't have anything over her, they just had her...her head was hanging limp over the firefighter's arm, and her eyes seemed as if they shifted in Lilo's general direction. That's when she ran back to her own house--seeing one of her friends being carried off to be autopsyed was too much. Her breathing quickened and she bursted into her bedroom, crying. Stitch instinctively came to comfort her, and soon found out why she was crying. It was a black day for the unbreakable ohana...in a town as small as the one Lilo lived in, everyone was family. Even if she sometimes forgot names, that was because she wanted to forget something...she had tried to forget Tima on purpose...but nobody was supposed to be forgotten. How could you forget that stare, anyawy? That blank, glassy stare, and the tear-streaks under the orbs that shone a somewhat more peaceful form of horror...like knowing you were going to die, but not being afraid--being sad...or was that the other way around? Lilo didn't know. But what she did know was that she had to talk with the Duke somehow.
"Lilo?"
"Huh?"
"You went blank. Is something wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking about Tima."
"Oh..."
"You know, I tried to forget her, because of how she--how they were carrying her out. It was like she was looking at me, and asking me to help her..."
"There was nothing you could do, Lilo."
"She was my first really real friend after you! She looked after me from the fourth grade all the way up to the nineth grade, when the fire happened. And I wasn't there when she needed me...I wished that I could have gone back in time and tried to warn them. I wished that she would come back. I waited for days hoping she would just come over and knock on my door; and when they buried her, I was hysterical, because if she did come back to life, she would die anyway...then I remembered what they did to bodies..."
Stitch nodded. Lilo was talking in circles, which was not a good sign. This outburst was Stitch's fault for asking her to put on the T.V., but for some reason, he felt that this was good for Lilo. Maybe not? On nights like this, minds are full of questions, and interruptions are not key to finding answers. the alien sighed.
This was going to be a long vacation.
AN: Sorry about how short that was...I'm in a bit of a muck. The paragraph (I call it THE paragraph...the really fat one about the past) is meant to be somewhat poetic and run in circles like...hmm...like angsty thought, I think. I'm not really sure why I just get all poety-like like that, but it helps. Maybe I'm a really distant relative of Tolkien? *Laughs* Not. Well, I guess I'll be writing more, because the story is SO not done. And if you've seen Metropolis, you now know what EXTREMELY LARGE TWIST means. *Smiles even wider* Lilo and Stitch AU...redefined. The thing about 'Metropolis' and 'Lilo and Stitch' is that they are both about finding out where you belong, but there are WAY more similarities than that...there's a doctor like Jumba in Metropolis, and he even looks somewhat like him! but don't worry, I'm pretty sure they're not copying off each other because Metropolis was written way before most people who are 40 were born. And the story was different. Stitch was made in 1983. And his story was REALLY different. Relax. Kick it. Uh.