Rufus
…
Author's Note: This takes place a few weeks after Lilo and Stitch found Rueben and Sparky their One True place. The other activated experiments are reformed and are in the process of being relocated.
...
It was a normal (or rather abnormal) morning at Lilo's house. Nani was at the stove, taking care of final aspects of breakfast, and Jumba and Pleakley were sitting at the table, eating toast, cereal, bacon, eggs and biscuits. Next to Pleakley, Sandy (the experiment that could convert her body into sand or rock) ate her meal quietly, and sitting next to HER was Hammerface (a hammer headed creature). Hammerface picked up his pancakes with his stubby fingers and stuffed them in his mouth, happily enjoying the home-cooked meal.
On second smaller table, four other experiments ate their meals Bright Eyes (a four legged laser eyed experiment) sat on her chair like a dog, having no opposable thumbs she simply picked her up food with her mouth and chomped the food greedily whilst Shifter (the tiny shape shifter) picked up his food with tiny green fingers. The experiment named Droplet (a tiny manta-like experiment) was perched top of the dinner table with a large cup, his tiny head submerged into the health drink he slurped happily whilst experiment 625, Reuben ate one of the five sandwiches in front of himself.
"Mmm," He said, patting his stomach. "That was a fine breakfast!"
"Well, how is finding a new home coming?" Nani asked as she prepared finished some pancakes.
"Er…it's not as easy as it sounds, gal!" Reuben said. "Finding a good home is hard enough. But finding a landlord who isn't biased towards non-humans is another matter."
Nani glanced at Reuben. "Well…aliens don't normally live on Earth." She said dryly.
"Yeah, we're a new trend on this planet!" Reuben said before taking another bite of his sandwich.
"What about the rest of you?" Nani asked.
The other experiments spoke in their own language. Nani looked toward Rueben.
"Some of them have careers, but want something different," Rueben translated. "Sandy and Shifter are wrestlers, though it's hard to find people who sponsor aliens. Bright Eyes works well with your boyfriend, David, but wants more action then lighting torches."
Nani blushing deeply at the word "Boyfriend"
Reuben continued. "Hammerface wants a life involving smashing things and the finding a way to use THOSE talents for good are slim pickings!" He glanced at Droplet. "Droplet is good at watering things, but no one really wants him because of how abnormal he is."
Nani frowned, unsure what to say. Luckily, Pleakley quickly offered up a solution. "Maybe the hammerhead monster can work at a junkyard smashing stuff," He suggested cheerily. "And the Rain monster can water gardens or something?"
"Great idea...if you can find humans who don't mind hiring aliens…" Rueben said with a touch of sarcasm.
"Yes, prejudice is a universal evil." Jumba commented dryly.
Just then Lilo and Stitch arrived. "Hey Guys." Lilo said, waving at everyone as everyone cheerily responded to the greetings. The two took a seat at the main table as Nani brought them food.
"Thanks, Nani. Mahalo!" Lilo said.
Nani sighed. "OK, I want you all to be on your best behavior…" She threw a glare at the aliens. "Yes, I mean you."
"Don't worry, Nani," Rueben said. "What could go wrong?"
Nani frowned, deciding not to answer that.
FAR INTO THE FUTURE
In a high security factory on a lone planet, everyone was quiet. A security officer, a rhino-like alien was eyeing the security monitor. There was nothing interesting, just guards doing their duty and technicians, scientists and workers doing their thing.
Then without warning, the monitors went blank. The rhino alien blinked in surprise. "What in the galaxy?!" He sputtered and tried get the monitors back online. "I better go to red alert!" He pressed some buttons and couldn't believe it. "The siren isn't online? How?!" He gasped, trying to type it again, his face stressed.
…
…In a laboratory several aliens in lab coats were at work with some kind of technology that resembled a ring on a pedestal. But within seconds the roof suddenly exploded from above with a mighty KRAKKA-THROOM! The scientists looked up in surprise, seeing several monkey shaped robots fly into the room.
"Run!" A reptilian scientist shouted as she hid behind some equipment.
The robots fired lasers from their eyes, destroying structure and intimidating the Staff. A few surrounded the technology while the rest unclamped it from the floor and hooked some teleportation disks and activated them.
The Ring shaped device glowed brightly, then vanished on the spot as the robots shot up through the opening they made and were gone in an instant.
"They got the Chronologic Manipulator," A fluffy alien with antennas shouted uneasily. "Where is security?!"
OUTSIDE THE LAB
Several guards reached the lab door and one tried touching the scanner pad, in order to recognized him, nothing happened.
"Something is wrong with the system, sir!" The lead guard growled as he tried again. It still wouldn't open.
…
…high above the planet was a ship, invisible by cloaking technology. In the ship's command bridge chair a being sat. He tall and wiry, He was roughly humanoid, though his skin was dark green, with a lean face, dark crimson eyes, and hair as black as his heart. He wore a regal-looking blue tunic and trousers with black boots and a black cape to match, and calmly smiled as his robots stood at the bridge, waiting on a teleportal receiver. With a flash of light what he sought was there: the Chronologic Manipulator had appeared.
"Lord Zog, we have the Chronologic Manipulator."
"Excellent," Lord Zog said with a grin. "Let's go before our friends recover from the mainframe shutdown we gave them."
"Affirmative!" A robot said as it typed the coordinates.
Zog's ship turned and in mere moments, it jumped into hyperspace and was gone.
PRESENT TIME
Several people had finished their breakfast and started putting their plates in the sink.
"Hey, I want everyone to wash their own dishes!" Nani ordered everyone.
"Aaah." Several experiments groaned. Droplet looked up from the cup he sat and made a chirping sound.
Reuben glanced at Droplet. "Droplet can't speak, but I think he's saying he can't wash his own dish." He explained.
Nani groaned. "OK, someone will have to do it for him."
"Fine, fine!" Rueben said irritably as he took his own dishes and washed them, grumbling angrily to himself. It wasn't long before everyone had soon washed most of their dishes.
"Well, I got to go to school," Lilo announced to everyone as she turned and left.
Stitch just sighed. He would miss Lilo. He always did every time she went to school.
FAR INTO THE FUTURE
In a ship deep in outer space, several robot monkeys were working on a Chronologic Manipulator, various devices interconnected with it, chirping and chattering as they worked long into the night. The main doors opened and Lord Zog walked inside, looking the scene over. "How goes the engineering?" He asked patiently.
"We are about ninety nine percent complete," A robot said dutifully. "Assembling a stable power source was complicated, but feasible. Soon it will be online and we can set the coordinates."
"Excellent!" Zog said pleased. "I know just when to go and what to do from there."
There was a beeping sound. "Chronologic Manipulator is online." A robot said dutifully.
"Set the coordinates I gave you." Zog said.
"I obey." A robot said.
The device activated, generating an energy field around the ship and within seconds, it vanished without a trance.
PRESENT DAY
Stitch and Lilo were walking down the beach. It was a truly lovely day. Last week had been very hectic with befriending and reforming Bright Eyes, Sandy, and the others, but now they were taking a break from their assignment. Very soon they would reform a new cousin, and another and another till they had turned all of Stitch's cousins from bad to good. But for now, they walked, feeling very carefree when all of a sudden...
"Hello, Lilo, Stitch." An unfamiliar voice said from behind them.
Lilo and Stitch turned in surprise and stared at a strange creature. It was like a weasel, only three feet tall, with furless pink skin, dark eyes, no visible ears, and three spikes protruded from its back.
"Who are you?" Lilo exclaimed.
"My name is Rufus!" The Creature said with a calm smile. "But there's no way you could have know that yet."
"It's a Cousin!" Stitch exclaimed in surprise.
"How did it get out?" Lilo exclaimed in shock, scratching her head.
"Now calm down," Rufus said reassuringly. "I can expla-,"
"Grab him, Stitch!" Lilo ordered Stitch.
"Ih," Stitch shouted and ran at the lean cousin.
Rufus frowned, unfazed as Stitch ran at him with outstretched claws. Stitch was about to pummel him when his claws touched...thin air. Stitch streaked to a halt and blinked his eyes. Without a sound, flash or any warning, the cousin had just...vanished.
"Where did he go?" Lilo exclaimed, unsure what she had witness.
"Over here." A voice said behind her.
Lilo jumped and turned to face Rufus who was casually standing nearby. "How did you do that?" She demanded.
"I have an advantage in matters of time." Rufus answered simply. "Which I have little OF, so are we now done with this futile game?"
Stitch growled and ran at the genetic experiment again. Rufus frowned and vanished without a trace again. "Huh?" Stitch exclaimed in disbelief. He turned and noticed the experiment standing several feet from him.
Rufus smiled and waved his hand at him. Stitch snarled and tried to grab him again, and experiment vanished again. Stitch looked behind himself and saw the experiment standing behind him again. Stitch tried to strike him again and the experiment vanished again.
Lilo stood back, watching the whole cycle repeats itself and getting quickly bored. "Stitch, stop!" She shouted.
"Huh?" Stitch exclaimed, wondering why Lilo told him to stop.
"This isn't getting anywhere!" Lilo told him. "Besides, if he was going to hurt us, wouldn't he have done it already?"
"Very good. Brain like a supercomputer, huh? SHE'S CLEARLY the smart one." Rufus said smoothly to his cousin as he stood next to Stitch. "Now are you ready to listen at long last?"
"Only if you tell us how you got out!" Lilo told him sternly.
"You activated me." Rufus replied simply.
Lilo and Stitch frowned at this, clearly puzzled. "No we didn't." Lilo declared, glowering at the cousin. "I think I'd remember if I had."
"Yes, you did." Rufus assured her earnestly. "About three years from in the future- give or take."
"So cousin from future?" Stitch asked skeptically.
"Yes." Rufus answered simply.
"So you're a Time Traveling cousin?" Lilo asked.
"More or less!" Rufus said. "I shouldn't be here, but much is at stake."
Lilo and Stitch glanced at each-other. "OK, what's at stake?" Lilo asked.
Rufus stared intensely. "The future." He said gravely. "But so I don't need to repeat myself, let's get all the help we will need together." And with that, Rufus, Lilo and Stitch vanished without a trace.
…
…Jumba was working in his lab on an invention as Pleakley walked in. "What are you doing, Jumba?" He asked curiously.
"Ingenious stuff." Jumba said. "Now go away."
"Well!" Pleakley exclaimed irritably. "If that's how-AAAAH." When he noticed Lilo, Stitch and another genetic experiment appeared out of thin air before him.
"AAAH!" Jumba screamed knocking his invention to the floor. "Oh, now look what you made me do!" Jumba grumbled angrily. "You wrecked my invention."
Lilo and Stitch looked sheepish as Rufus blinked a bit. "Sorry, I guess my timetable is a little off." Rufus said politely.
Jumba looked at Rufus, forgetting his damaged invention. "Experiment 6-0-7!" He exclaimed in surprise. "How did you get out of containment unit?"
"Experiment 6-0-7?" Pleakley exclaimed, realizing that this experiment wasn't supposed to be loose. "What does it do?
"A time controlling experiment." Jumba said his back against a counter. "Can control time and cause havoc. Once he escapes containment, almost impossible to catch."
"Relax, Jumba." Rufus said patiently. "I'm not going to run away as long as you give me a chance to explain."
"How did you get out!?" Jumba demanded.
"He says we activated him." Lilo explained.
"Little girl, what did I tell you about activating my experiments when I'm not around? Jumba demanded.
"Actually, you were present when I got activated." Rufus explained simply.
"What?" Jumba demanded, not understanding what Rufus said.
"Did I miss something?" Pleakley asked, not understanding what happened.
"We activated him three years in the future." Lilo interjected. "He says he is a time traveling cousin."
Jumba looked at Rufus, unable to process this. "But that's impossible." He sputtered incredibly. "You can't travel through time, not like this anyway."
Lilo and Stitch stared at Jumba. "What do you mean?" Stitch asked. "Isn't he a Time Traveling cousin?"
"Not like this." Jumba explained, still fazed. "I designed 607 to manipulate the fabric time surrounding him. He can pause time, enabling him to invade enemy domains unseen. He can reverse time around himself, keeping himself from growing old, and he can even affect things to degree by touch. He can go forward and backwards in time several minutes at a time, but he can't travel far into the past or future at his own whim."
"You're right, Jumba." Rufus agreed. "I got an upgrade in the future, but that's another story. The point is that a threat is coming and I've come to warn you."
Jumba and Pleakley froze at the word 'threat'.
"What threat?" Pleakley demanded uneasily.
Rufus looked weary. "I'll explain in due time." He said. "No pun intended. I'll be right back with the others. Believe me. You're going to need all the help you can get."
Jumba crossed his arms and sighed. "Alright, we'll wait." He said.
Rufus vanished again. Lilo, Stitch, Pleakley and Jumba looked at each-other. "So how long is this gonna…"
Pleakley stopped in mid-sentence when Rufus appeared with Sparky. "How did you get here so fast?" He asked his breathing rapid.
"Temporal Displacement…saves time." Rufus said with a chuckle. "Pardon the pun. Bye!"
Rufus vanished again.
Sparky stared at the others. "Gabba iva vamma?" He asked confused.
"He'll explain after he…" Jumba started to say when Rufus appeared again with Rueben.
"Please wait." Rufus said as he vanished again.
"So what is going on?" Reuben asked.
"Just wait." Jumba told him impatiently.
A MINUTE LATER
Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, Pleakley, Rueben, Sparky, Shifter, Bright Eyes, Sandy and Hammerface were all present.
Rufus stared at everyone present. "Good." He said. "Now that everyone is present, I'll tell my story in a way you'll understand with a beginning, middle and end." A smirk touched his lips. "Let's start at the middle."
"Hold it." Rueben interjected, stepping forward. "How is starting in the Middle suppose to make sense?"
"Trust me." Rufus stated. "I know what I am doing. And you'll understand after I tell you."
Reuben stared skeptically at Rufus, the others looking equally perplexed.
"Anyway." Rufus continued. "Lilo and Stitch activated me about three years in the future. Like the rest of you, they taught me how to use my powers for good. A short time later, I got caught in a temporal anomaly, but instead of destroying me, it enhanced my time manipulative powers to ultra levels, allowing me to travel anywhere and any when I want to…within reason." He added.
"What happened then?" Lilo asked.
"Well that TV show we watched together was an inspiration to me." Rufus explained.
"What TV show." Stitch asked.
"Doctor Who." Rufus said. "But you haven't collected it, have you?"
"No." Lilo answered.
"Don't worry, you will." Rufus said approvingly. "And it will be a crucial point in my timeline. Anyway after the accident, I've left you and have spent many life times, crisscrossing the time-stream, making it a better place."
"So why are you here?" Pleakley asked skeptically.
Rufus grew grave. "I'm here because a criminal from the future is going to travel to the past with plans to turn the future inside out." He explained.
Sparky gasped in wonder.
"Who is he, or you can't tell us?" Jumba asked.
"He is called Lord Zog." Rufus explained. "To my understanding, he was a Federation General but got arrested for his involvement in a laundering conspiracy a few years ago in your present."
"You got that right, little monster." Pleakley said. "It was scandalous."
"Yes." Rufus said. "Well to make a long story short, he escaped about a year from now to become a renegade warlord, building a criminal power base for the past decade. But recently, relatively speaking." He added. "He stole perfected time traveling equipment and utilized it to travel into the past today."
"Time Travel has been perfected in the future." Jumba asked incredibly.
"Yes it is." Rufus said frowning. "And no, you can't try to invent your own time machine, Jumba."
"Why not?" Jumba demanded.
"Cause time travel possesses too many risks." Rufus told him. "And frankly your lack of responsibility isn't encouraging."
"He's got you there, Jumba." Pleakley commented with a giggle.
Jumba pouted, his arms crossed.
"Anyway!" Rufus continued. "Since he knows much of what's gonna to happen from now, he intends to use that knowledge to his advantage, like a chess player who know his opponent's strategy." He grew thoughtful. "He is also has a clever plan to avoid a time paradox."
"What's a paradox?" Lilo asked.
"In layman's terms, a paradox is a contradiction." Rufus explained. "If I travel back in time and kill Jumba before he creates me, then I shouldn't exist. But if I don't exist, then I can't have killed him. But if I didn't kill him, then I should exist."
"But how …what if…uh…" Lilo trailed off, unable to process what Rufus said.
"My point exactly." Rufus said slowly. "Paradoxes disrupt Time and everything in it. There are temporal physics in place to compensate, but too great a disturbance and things can get ugly."
"So how does he avoid his own paradox?" Pleakley asked.
"Assuming he succeeds in taking over the Galaxy." Rufus explained. "He is going to capture his past self, and make preparations to direct him to travel in the past and do what he did to change his past. You have to give him points for thinking things through."
"So what isa plan? Sparky asked with his raspy voice.
"Well, he knows how powerful Jumba's experiments are." Rufus said. "So first he intends to capture us while we are still pods and condition us to serve him. Then he will…"
"OK, we get it." Lilo interrupted. "He is after the cousins and is going to try to take over the Galaxy."
Rufus frowned at the interruption. "That is innately correct." He conceded.
"OK, so how do we stop him?" Reuben asked.
"Correction, you have to stop him." Rufus said. "I can't help you beyond giving you the information I just did."
"But why?" Pleakley countered. "You have power. Come to think of it, why don't you stop Zog before he travels into the past, so we don't have to stop him?"
"It's not that simple." Rufus countered. "I'm a complicated anomaly in time and space. There are places I can't go and things I can't do without serious consequences!"
"What consequences?" Pleakley asked.
"Well the series of events that lead to his master plan are vulnerable points in Time." Rufus said. "And my mere presence in them is putting strain on Time itself. If I get involved too much, I might crack the fabric of time and destroy this solar system!" He scowled at them. "And I'd RATHER not risk it."
"But how can you destroy the solar system by helping us?" Lilo asked.
"I told you, I'm complicated." Rufus reminded her impatiently. "And chronological physics is SO far beyond you, so don't ask me to explain."
Lilo and the others stared at each-other. "So what do we do?" Rueben asked.
"According to my calculations, he should arrive here mere minutes from now." Rufus told them. "The best thing you can do is to wait till he arrives and stop him."
"OK, Rufus. We PROMISE we will do it." Lilo told him earnestly, crossing her heart.
"Good luck to you all." Rufus said kindly and vanished before their eyes.
"Alright, Cousins." Lilo told the gathering. "We got a job to do, and let's do it!"
A cheer went up from the cousins, all of them hooping and hollering as Jumba and Pleakley threw glances at each-other.
"Jumba has some gear we can use!" He said dryly.
…
…The various experiments took their place outside the ship. Sparky lay on top of a palm-tree, his deep blue eyes scanning his surroundings. Across from him was the ship. Sandy lay on the ground, disguised as a floor of sand, waiting for Zog's arrival. Hammerface and Shifter hid in the bushes, waiting to ambush Zog when he arrived.
Stitch, Rueben, Bright Eyes stood by the ship waiting for Zog while INSIDE the ship, Lilo, Jumba and Pleakley were wearing enhancer suits, though Lilo was the only one without a weapon.
Outside the ship, Stitch's ears suddenly perked up, his expression tense.
"Hey, do you guys hear something too?" Rueben asked.
Bright Eyes threw a glance at Reuben and Stitch and grunted a question. "A ship landed some distance from here." Reuben explained. "And I don't think they're friendly."
Stitch shouted in his own language to the other cousins who grew tense as they waited for the attack. Shifter tensed up, his yellow eyes glowed as his power got activated by the approaching danger.
There was a rumbling sound in the distant, followed by hacking and weapon firing. Several large robots that resembled monkeys flew through the air, towards the ship. Sandy stayed motionless in the ground, waiting to take them by surprise while Sparky, Hammerface and Shifter waited tensely in their own hiding places.
Near the ship, Reuben gulped nervously while Stitch and Bright Eyes posed for battle.
"We got incoming!" Reuben said his voice shaky as the flying robots started firing with guns installed in their arms. "AAAH! Rueben screamed as he dodged incoming shots.
Stitch jumped and ran, less panicky then Rueben as he dodged the shots. Bright Eyes fired energy beams from her eyes at the robots, but then jumped as an energy blast struck the ground where she was standing a second ago.
Stitch ran zigzag around the ground, grabbing rocks with his four arms and tossing them at the robots. The rocks struck individual robots, either damaging an arm or leg, or hitting something vulnerable like the head or chest. But more kept coming.
Sparky flew into the air, dodging shots and charged at the robots, generating streaks of lightening as he took out a dozen in one swoop.
A few robots reached the door; one of them produced a device and attempted to trigger the door to open.
"RRRAAAHHH!" Shifter roared as he ran out of his hiding place in his juggernaut form, his body muscles bulged, and his face full of rage. "I'll slash and gnash you!" He screamed as he ran from his hiding place and jumped at some robots attempting to override the door-lock, smashing them with his empowered fists.
Shifter grunted painfully as flying robots from above pummeled him with weapons fire. Shifter braced himself as energy bolts pelted his body. With a snarl, he jumped into the air, causing the flying robots to scatter.
Hammerface jumped into the air, bashing a robot that was flying low. The robot hit the ground, destroyed while Hammerface landed on his feet, but then he ran as weapon fired rained from above him like hail.
Some of the robots reached the door of the ship and attempted to break/melt/erode the door with various devices. The ground suddenly moved as Sandy reared up, her body ensnaring them like living quicksand as she crushed them. Sandy grunted as flying robots weapons from above fired at her.
The robots flew around the ship, attacking it on all sides, attempting to break inside. Several were attempting to melt the front windows, which were fortunately resistant to weapon fire. Sparky zoomed at them, taking them out with his electric powers.
Rueben ran around, dodging fire power, unable to get his bearings and ran past Bright Eyes who took out another robot.
Stitch looked in one direction and ran towards it, puzzling the cousins who had time to notice that he was leaving them.
ZOG'S SHIP
Zog sat in his chair, eyeing the monitors of the battle taking place some distant away. "How can this be?" He demanded irritably. "Its like they were expecting me."
"Sir, our robots are dropping like flies." A droid said mechanically. "Our arsenal will soon be depleted."
Zog frowned. "Then we better move in." He snarled. "Direct all robots to return to the ship."
"Yes, sir." The droid said mechanically.
Zog then pressed some buttons on the arm of his chair. The ship headed towards the battle.
"I still have one ace to play." He growled.
…
…In a tree, Stitch climbed it and looked. He felt strong gust of wind blowing towards him, he suspected it wasn't natural. His eyes went into heat seeking mode, glowing like rubies. Fortunately the cloaked ship didn't conceal its heat and Stitch saw it flying past him.
Stitch jumped from branch to branch and then jumped, his paws clinging to the metal hull of the ship.
…
…Down below, the various experiments were destroying robots. The robots suddenly turned and flew away. The experiments looked around, surprised.
"What is going on?" Rueben shouted.
Then a gush of wind blowing, surprising the experiments.
Shifter rasped wondering what was going on. Sparky hovered in midair, wondering what had happened.
The cloak ship then emitted a powerful shock wave that sent the experiments flying everywhere, and rocking the ship.
INSIDE THE JUMBA'S SHIP
"AAA!" Jumba, Pleakley and Lilo screamed as the ship rocked, causing them to fall to the floor.
"What was that?" Pleakley whimpered fearfully.
"Something exploded outside." Jumba explained uneasily.
"Stitch!" Lilo exclaimed worrying. "He and the others might need help."
"There is nothing we can do, little girl." Jumba said, touching her shoulder.
"Yeah..." Pleakley agreed. "If the little monsters couldn't do it, what makes you think we can?" He admitted as Lilo pouted, unhappy with the whole thing.
INSIDE ZOG'S SHIP
"Targets have been neutralized!" A robot said.
"Finally." Zog said. "Order robots to renew infiltration."
Suddenly the main doors to the bridge went flying across the room, smashing the robot before he could send Zog's order.
Zog turned and saw the Infamous monstrosity called 6-2-6, posed for battle, his eyes narrowed, his teeth bared, his claws flexed.
"6-2-6!" He exclaimed in surprise.
"Stupidhead." Stitch growled and ran towards him.
Zog calmly stood where he was. Then without warning energy beams shot from his eyes at Stitch's face. Stitch fell backwards, grunting in pain.
"You're not the only one with powers, 6-2-6." Zog said contemptuously. "I'm stronger now than I once was!"
Stitch rubbed his face, eying Zog cautiously. "Hava we met?" He asked.
Zog smiled. "In a matter of speaking." He said as he rose in the air, defying the laws of gravity. "But I don't have time to explain temporal mechanics to you." He then drew a sword hilt from his belt, which generated an energy blade. He flew at Stitch, weapon raised high as Stitch jumped out of the way, the blade striking the spot where he was, creating a blackened crack. Zog raised his weapon and charged at Stitch.
…
…Shifter grunted as he got to his feet, his rage rejuvenating his strength. He looked at the other cousins who were either unconscious or slowly waking up. Shifter then went over to Rueben who was sitting up, rubbing his head. "You Okika?" He asked harshly.
"I'm going to feel that tomorrow…" Rueben groaned painfully.
Shifter glanced up at the sky. There was a flicker of light as if something was trying to be visible.
"Soma fing upa there." Shifter said, pointing a talon figure in the direction. "Ita shot us."
Rueben looked up, noticing the outlining flickers above them. "Probably a cloaked ship." He guessed. "But what are they waiting for? Shouldn't they have attacked us after taking us out?"
Shifter grunted, his eyes glowering at the near invisible target.
Rueben glanced at Sparky who was lying some distant from them, still out. "I don't know what they are waiting for, but let's take advantage of it." He told Shifter as he ran to where Sparky lay, Shifter was behind him. "Sparky, wake up." he said, shaking the knocked out cousin. "Sparky, wak- Ouch!" He jerked back as the electrical cousin sent a current through him.
Sparky blinked his eyes and sat up, groaning.
"Hey, I was only trying to help." Rueben retorted, rubbing his sore hands together. "You didn't have to shock me.
Sparky sat up. "Meega canda help it." He muttered, rubbing his head in the process.
"Look, Sparky, I don't have time for this." Rueben said, changing the subject. "We got a problem and we need you."
Sparky grunted as he sat up and looked at Rueben and Shifter.
"There is a cloaked ship up there." Rueben said, pointing to the sky. "I don't know why it stopped, but we need you to short it out."
Sparky grunted, trying to ignore the aches in his body.
Reuben waited anxious for Sparky to recover, while Shifter glanced around as he waited. Sandy was slowly reforming her body, while Bright Eyes slowly got to her feet, still dazed. Hammerface was barely awake.
Then with a burst of energy, Sparky soared into the air, a trail of electricity behind him.
Shifter and Reuben stared intensely at Sparky's trail as the electrical alien reached the ship.
…
…Stitch grunted as Zog's energy sword struck him in the side. He fell backwards as Zog hovered over him, sword held inches from Stitch's body as if expecting him to rise again. Stitch groaned painfully. "This ends now, 6-2-6." Zog growled softly.
But then, sparks flew from a control console as electricity overloaded the ship's every mechanical system. "What is happening?!" Zog demanded, his sword raised high.
…
…Reuben and the others watched as they saw electricity and a purplish shimmer high above their heads. Then they saw a ship which glided sideways and hit the ground about twenty feet from Jumba and Pleakley's ship.
"RAAAH!" Shifter shouted. "I'll slash and gnash!" He shouted as he ran towards the ship.
"You heard him, cousins." Rueben called out half-heartedly. "Let's go get them."
Bright Eyes and Sandy took off with Reuben right behind them.
…
…Zog glanced around. Things were going terribly wrong.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" A maniacal laugh echoed in the room as Sparky zoomed out of the console and looked around. "Huh?" He stopped laughing when he saw Stitch lying on the ground. "Stitch." He rasped. Then glowering he zoomed at Zog, surrounded by electrical waves.
Zog grunted and swung his sword, which absorbed the electricity surrounding Sparky, causing the cousin fall to the ground dazed.
"My weapon was designed to absorb electricity, specimen." He told Sparky contemptuously. "And that includes your powers." But then Zog froze when he heard a sound of crashing metal as if something was crushing metallic obstacles. Turning he saw, Shifter charge through the damaged entrance. Shifter noticed Sparky lying dazed and Stitch currently sitting up.
"I'll slash and gnash you!" Shifter snarled and ran at Zog.
Zog fired at Shifter with his energy beam eyes, hitting him in the chest. Shifter grunted painfully, but kept coming. Zog grew nervous at this as he hovered several feet off the ground, his sword raised high.
Shifter jumped seven feet into the air, his arms outstretched, his claws flexed. Zog swung his sword, striking Shifter in the shoulder blade. Shifter fell to the floor, his body in pain. And to Zog's surprise, Shifter got to his feet, snarling, though he didn't spring at Zog, as if calculating the best attack formation.
Stitch shook himself and noticed that Sparky was out and Shifter eying Zog like a wounded predator eyes it prey. Then he got an idea.
"Hey, STUPIDHEAD!" Stitch called out and gave Zog a raspberry.
Zog shifted his attention towards Stitch, growing uneasy. WAM! At that moment of distraction, Shifter had jumped and punched Zog in the face, sending him flying into a wall.
Zog quickly got to his feet, his sword ready, though his confidence was gone.
Then Bright Eyes, Sandy Rueben and Hammerface came running inside. Stitch glanced at them.
"Get him!" He pointed at Zog.
Zog's eyes widened. That was all he could do before Bright Eyes fired at him in the face. Sandy swirled over, like a living blob and reforming herself into a sand monster. Grabbing Zog with six foot wide hand, she slammed him into the wall, and again and again.
Shifter shouted at Sandy. She turned to face Shifter who gestured at himself. Sandy swung her arm and tossed Zog at Shifter. Shifter suddenly spun and wacked Zog with his whip-like tail, sending him flying.
Stitch ran ahead and punched Zog before he hit the ground, sending him flying towards the floor; he lay there, barely moving. Suddenly Sparky (who had recovered) flew into the air and let Zog have a massive shock.
Stitch and the others approached him. He was unconscious; his uniform was torn and his face had a black-eye and other bruises.
"Your time…up." Stitch proclaimed with a grin.
…
…Zog was securely bond by special shackles. Lilo and the others surrounded him. "What will you do with me?" He wished to know, frowning in annoyance.
"We'll take you to jail of course." Pleakley retorted.
"A job I'll take from here." A familiar voice said.
Pleakley, Lilo, Jumba and the others turned and saw Rufus casually walk up to them.
"So you show up when it's all over." Pleakley complained. "Nice."
Rufus scowled. "Hey, I saved hundreds of planets dozens of times and the universe at least one." He said defensively. "What did you ever do that was heroic?"
"Well..." Pleakley stuttered. "I helped with this task."
Jumba and the others all groaned in aggravation.
"Riiiiiight." Rufus said disdainfully. "Well you were more helpful NOW than when I met you later." He said teasingly.
"Yeah well..." Pleakley frowned. "HEYYYY! Did you insult me?"
Everyone present laughed, causing Pleakley to just stand there, looking ridiculous.
"Now time will return to normal." Rufus said. "And you'll lose all memory of this event."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Why will we lose our memory of this?" Lilo asked.
"There are temporal laws in the fabric of Time to compensate for paradoxes." Rufus explained. "Since we prevented a major change, the minor changes will correct themselves."
"But we mustn't forget you, Cousin." Stitch pleaded.
Rufus smiled. "Oh don't feel sad, we'll meet again." He assured them. "And when we do, it will be our real first meeting. Until then..."
Rufus touched Zog and they both vanished without a trace.
"Yeah." Rueben called out. "Thanks for remembering to take me back to my job."
Rueben reappeared. "Don't worry, I didn't forget you guys." He assured Reuben.
He and Reuben vanished. Everyone was silent. Then Rufus reappeared and transported Sparky back to his location. In seconds, all the experiments were relocated back to where they needed to be. He then appeared next to the wreck ship. "Can't leave future stuff laying around." He siad as he began to clean up. Within seconds, all the damaged future tech was removed.
Lilo looked distant as she waited for Rufus to reappear, which he didn't. "Lilo, OK?" Stitch asked.
"I miss, Rufus." Lilo explained. "I wish he was here again." Then she looked thoughtful. "He's still in storage. We can activate him today."
"Yeah." Stitch agreed, looking excited.
"I guess." Pleakley said, reluctant to see the smart-mouth monster.
…
…Lilo, Stitch and Jumb and Pleakley reached the lab. "Activate him, Jumba." Lilo said.
"Alright, hold your horses." Jumba said briskly as he activated the supercomputer.
"Guys..really?." a familiar, disapproving voice said from behind them.
Lilo and the others turned, seeing Rufus standing some feet away, his arms crossed, and a stern look on his face.
"Cousin?" Stitch exclaimed, surprised.
"Rufus." Lilo exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Well it's a funny thing." Rufus said drolly. "I was in the thirtieth century when without warning I felt a disturbance within the Time Stream."
"You can't fool us!" Pleakley interjected. "You got that line from that movie!"
Rufus glanced at Pleakley. "I'm a time traveler. How do you know I didn't come up with it first?" He said scornfully, folding his arms over his chest.
"Well-" Pleakley's words died in his mouth as he realized that he was stumped.
"What are you doing here, 6-0-7?" Jumba asked.
Rufus's face grew stern. "I'm here to stop you from doing what you are about to do." He told them.
"But we're about to activate you." Lilo countered. "We're supposed to activate you, right?"
"Yes, but your at least two years ahead of schedule." Rufus told her crisply. "You can't rewrite history, or in your case, future history."
"But isn't it OK to change history." Lilo argued. "Zog was able to change history a little. He wasn't suppose to be here, right?"
Rufus looked wearily at Lilo. "Just because changing a timeline is feasible doesn't mean you should." He told her. "How do you know that by affecting my timeline, you won't undo the good things I've done across the universe?"
Lilo looked speechless, mouth slightly agape.
"I know you mean well, but you need to be patient." Rufus told her. "We'll have lots of adventures when the time comes."
Lilo bowed her head. Then she looked up. "But when can we release you?" She asked.
Rufus looked thoughtful before replying. "When you have less then a hundred pods stored away then you can activate me." He told her. "You just have to be patient. Aloha!" He laughed as he vanished again. Lilo looked at the containment unit, imagining Rufus stored away, waiting to be activated and becoming the amazing person she had recently met.
Next Day
The sun was beginning to rise. Lilo woke up, yawning. "What a strange dream." She said.
"Huh?" Stitch exclaimed, suddenly curious.
"I dreamed that we visited a time traveling cousin." Lilo said.
"Really?" Stitch exclaimed in surprised.
"Yeah." Lilo said. "Why…?"
"Meega had a dream of time traveling cousin." Stitch explained.
"You and I had the same dream." Lilo said. "What was he like?"
"He was snakelike, and made jokes." Stitch said.
Lilo frowned. "He was small and fluffy in my dream." She said.
"Hmmm." Stitch looked thoughtful. "In my dream, his name was Russell."
"In my dream, his name was Ron." Lilo said.
Stitch murmured in alien, scratching his head. It was all so…STRANGE!
"Well it's time for breakfast." Lilo said.
Both went downstairs where Nani, Jumba, Pleakley sat at their usual. Reuben, Shifter, Bright Eyes sat at the secondary table.
"It's strange that we have same dream..." Pleakley said.
Stitch and Lilo froze. "…what are you talking about, Pleakley?" Lilo asked.
"Everyone except Nani had a strange dream last night."
"How so?" Stitch asked.
"I dreamed of a time traveling cousin named Rachael who helped me save the island from a sandwich monster." Rueben said.
"I dreamed of a time traveling cousin named Ralph who saved the Earth from a black hole." Pleakley said. "He was a bit of an antihero. Thought he was smarter then me."
"I dreamed of time traveling experiment named Razor." Jumba said. "The universe was going to implode and I gave this experiment an upgrade enabling him to travel back in time to prevent the implosion from occurring.
Stitch looked at Shifter and Bright Eyes. He questioned them in alien and blinked when he heard their answers.
"This is strange Stitch." Lilo said
"Ih." Stitch agreed.
"Well what isn't strange in this family?" Nani interjected. "Everyone, please. Eat! I worked really hard on this meal."
So Lilo and Stitch took their seats, Stitch raising his head slightly up. "What you dream of, Nani?" Stitch asked curiously.
"I...I don't remember." Nani said.
Lilo and Stitch glanced at each-other. Somehow…they didn't believe her.
...
The End
…
Author Note
Rufus is based off the Doctor from the Doctor Who series. The idea was given to me by Julianmon (that's his penname at the time). Some of the details were inspired from the animated episode "Rufus"
Sandy, Shifter, Hammerface, Droplet, Reuben and Bright Eyes are still living in Lilo's place but will eventually move out.
Lord Zog was based off a character Nightw2 shared with me.
The reason no one remembers their adventure with Rufus is due to the nature of Time Travel and Paradox. This wasn't meant to be their first meeting, but altering history changed it, but the Laws of time altered reality, giving it a semblance of the original reality. Rufus will appear in the Future and it will be their first meeting with him.