Chapter 2
Puka

"Come on, Dib. It's professional to get a nice hair cut before you go to the big city." Lilo pulled Dib into a barbershop where one of their best friends worked. Dib was hesitant, not because he was cutting the long lightning-shaped calic sticking out of his head, but because he wasn't entirely comfortable with having an alien do it for him.

"I don't' need a haircut." He argued trying to break from the grip Lilo had on his wrist. In all fairness he wasn't really trying that hard; he liked the squeeze of her palm on his skin. For as hot as it was on the island, her palm was comfortably cool.

"Awe, don't be like that. Clip is a great cosmetologist. She does Jumba's hair for him."

"Jumba has three measly hairs sticking out of his skull like antennae!" Dib cried indignantly.

"It'll be nice to have a change. You'll see. Clip knows exactly what people like."

He groaned but followed Lilo into a shop, if only reluctantly. He was grateful for the immediate breeze of cool air when they entered the building, the heat was nearly unbearable in this foreign state.

There was a woman at the front of the shop with a hairdo like an octopus. She sat at a desk and seemed to do most of the paperwork while the stylist worked towards the back. She spoke into a phone but looked up at Lilo when she walked in and waved proudly to her. Lilo waved back but didn't dare disturb her conversation. So instead she walked to the back leading Dib by the arm.

Dib's eyes swiveled to see a sandy colored hairball wiz over a man's bright red hair and trim it quickly with the long claws she used for scissors. A pink bow was tide in a single pigtail on her head and her buggy eyes were the color of denim. In a twister of fur and clippers, she'd trimmed the man's hair in mere seconds. Instead of eating it as the creature usually did, she twined the locks into a fine hairball and brought it over to another hairball curled on a pink cushion set upon a shelf lined with hair products. At first Dib mistook it to be a cat or some sort of small rodent. Then it moved and Dib saw two similar eyes looking into its mother's.

"Puka." The larger of the two said in a sing-song little voice. She held the orange bundle to the little creature and it opened its mouth wide and swallowed the hair whole. It burped happily and settled back into its sleep. Clip patted the little hairball sweetly and turned back to her customers.

Lilo's eyes went big, as if the thing was as cute as a little kitten. "Is that Puka, Clip? He's so cute."

"Whose Puka?" Dib whispered in her ear. With the number of aliens scattered over the island, it was difficult for him to keep up with all of them. He wondered how Lilo was able to do it so well and he admired her for keeping such good care of so many.

"Puka is Clip's baby. She had him three weeks ago."

"I didn't know she had a baby. Who's his father?"

Her voice was low as she spoke back in his ear. "Puka only has a mother. I think Clip must be a hermaphrodite so she can have babies whenever she wants."

Dib nodded. That made sense for some reason. He wasn't quite sure but the whole fact that she was just a fluffy ball of hair could've had something to do with it. Since Jumba hadn't exactly made a sufficient counterpart for Clip, perhaps this was the only way she'd be able to reproduce. He couldn't think of many the other experiments that would make a fine match for her.

Clip spotted them that minute and waved her right clippers to the two, making a happy noise that sounded like, "Ah! Ah! Batookah, Lilo."

"Batooka, Clip. How is your… um… little one today?"

Clip grinned happily and bounced back over to the cushion on the shelf. She cooed softly like a mother gently waking her baby from a nap. The mound stirred once and blinked its big black eyes.

"Goo?" It asked wearily. Clip pecked her mouth to the small thing's head and picked him up carefully. She hopped back over to Lilo and Dib and handed the furry creature to the girl. Lilo held him gentle just like she would with a new born human infant, though this creature leaned more towards that of a cat when it came to durability… as well as resemblance.

"He's so cute." She said swooning over it admirably. It purred once and smiled up at her. She fingered his paws and noticed something neither of them had before. "Hey, he doesn't have any clippers. Is that normal?" She looked at Clip and surprisingly she shook her head, not entirely certain herself. Maybe the clippers were based on gender, or perhaps it was merely because he wasn't fully matured, or maybe her offspring just didn't have them. No one could say for sure.

Then the little thing did something that surprised them both. He jumped out of her arms and climbed up to sit onto her shoulder cuddling closer to her.

"Aw, he likes me!" She patted him warmly and he nuzzled closer purring in her ear. Then she noticed something that sounded like munching. "Um… Clip, I think he likes me too much."

Clip zoomed on her shoulder, grabbing her little son and held him at arms length from her. Her look was that of a disapproving mother scolding her child. "Naga, Puka! Naga moonchin Lilo uburnium."

The creature looked at her blankly for a moment then it yawned and whimpered something in a language that must've been Tantalog. Then it opened its mouth wide and pointed inside. Clip responded to his need for more food by shaking her head and saying something in their native tongue. Then she bounded back over to the cushion and set him down, handing him a makeshift doll made from socks and buttons.

When she saw her baby occupied, she bounced back over to her customers and smiled. "Puka, naga… eeeat bulack hair." She stuttered with difficulty.

"He doesn't eat black hair?" Lilo repeated, "How come?"

"Too stro-ong… for teeny tummy."

"Oh." Lilo seemed to understand now. "It's bad for his diet. He's a baby, so I guess he's only able to stand light colors and silky hair, right?" Clip nodded, glad the girl could understand so quickly. "That's makes sense. I guess my hair is too coarse for him as well right?" Clip nodded yet again.

Dib wanted to tell Lilo her hair was perfect how it was but stopped himself in case he looked too much like a kiss-up. Lilo pushed him forward at that time. "You've met Dib before. He needs a haircut. We're going on a trip to Gothem City. What can you do for him?"

Clip smiled benignly gesturing to the chair she stood on. "Ah! Sit!"

Dib hesitated. He dropped his bag next to the shelf as he was pulled forward towards the mirror. He really wasn't too sure about this. What if she made him bald or gave him a mohawk or some ridiculous hairstyle of the sort. Lilo pulled him into the chair and a cape was tied around his neck. The hairball creature was already zooming over his head before Dib had the chance to cry out, "Not too much off."

He shut his eyes tight, fearing the results. "Dib open your eyes." Lilo prompted, pulling on his sleeve a bit. He slowly opened one eye and gazed at his reflection.

"You look great." Lilo stated, and to be honest, Dib couldn't disagree. He did look pretty good. His hair looked windswept and seemed to have filled his head a lot more now so that he didn't look so bald in the back. The lightning bolt spike might have been gone but somehow he didn't seem to miss it all that much. He looked actually kinda cool, if he said so himself; kind of like he was a character from the Matrix. In fact, he resembled something more like a futuristic Harry Potter.

"Wow!" He observed himself closer. "It looks good… I didn't think it would."

"Clip is a very practiced hair stylist." Lilo announced patting the creature a little on the back. "Now for the bill. How much do we owe you?" She dug in her purse for some money.

"Tienet, doolar."

"Ten dollars? Is that it?"

"Ih."

Dib nearly wanted to whack himself. Why on earth was Lilo paying for his hair? He snatched his bag up and caught Lilo's hand as she was handing some money over to the woman at the counter. "Let me get it. It is my hair after all."

"But I'm the one who pushed you to get one."

"Yeah, but still," Dib insisted, not wanting to come across as a jerk that made the girl pick up his tab. "I think in all fairness you should let me do it."

"Well I guess that makes sense."

Dib rooted in his pocket for the money. He sure hoped he had a ten. It would be pretty awkward for him to insist on paying when he didn't even have the required amount. He fished out five bills and four quarters, which turned out to be all the money he had for the day. Looks like he wouldn't be able to stop for an afternoon snack. He handed the woman the money and she exchanged it for a receipt. He stuffed it into his pocked without looking at it and walked back out into the blistering heat with Lilo.

"Wow, Dib, your hair looks really nice. Did you cut it?"

Dib stood with the rest of the hula team in the comfortably cool airport. Families of the girls, wishing them good luck, stood behind the metal detectors as the children began to board the plane. Elena stood uncommonly close to him as she admired his new hairstyle with disturbing interest.

"Uh, yeah. I got it cut today with Lilo." He moved to stand closer to native Hawaiian, attempting to escape the strange little girl bearing down on him. She merely inched closer.

"It's so cute!" She squealed joyfully. "You should leave it that way from now on." Then she reached up and ruffled his hair playfully.

That just about made Dib feel totally awkward. He escaped from the hand that groped him and swiveled around to put Lilo and Stitch in between him and the creepy little blond girl. Elena pouted, feeling the taste of rejection first hand. Lilo seemed to wear an expression of smugness at seeing her teammate's failure to win over his affections.

"Okay, everybody." Moses announced handing out pieces of paper to his class. "Everybody take your tickets and make sure not to loose them. You all have the proper identification, correct?" Everyone nodded. "Okay lets get going."

They all boarded the plane, leaving paradise far behind and entering into an altogether new world.

Thirteen hours and three exhausting flights later, they arrived at a large airport overlooking a dark city. Lilo told herself that it only looked dark because it was nighttime. Even still, it looked daunting, like there was a looming criminal presence within it. She made a promise to definitely stay with Stitch and Dib during her visit. She didn't want to run anything unwanted.

"There's Mr. Drake over there everyone." Moses announced pointing to a man hardly older than possibly nineteen. He was dressed respectively in a suit and tie with a sign that read, "Kokaua Town Hula Team." The girls along with Stitch and Dib followed Moses over to the man who spotted them as they were walking over.

"Aloha." Moses reached out, shaking his hand promptly. "We are the hula team recruited for Mr. Wayne."

Mr. Drake eyed the curious group. His gaze lingering mostly on Dib and then Stitch who stood out as a questionable addition to the team.

"He's our mascot." Lilo said, answering the silent question in his wrinkled brow. He shrugged with her words, turning and bidding them to follow him. They all filed into a van, stowing their bags in the back. Dib jumped to get the spot by the window and dragged Lilo in the seat besides him. Just as he'd thought, Elena looked over to the place she'd hoped for and frowned when she saw it being occupied. Stitch crawled in and took the remaining seat besides his best friend and they all settled in for a ride.

After a while Dib noticed a low squeaking. Both his friends turned to him, hearing it as well. They looked around, trying to distinguish where the strange noise was coming from. Their gazes turned to the back and they listened closer. It was definitely coming from in the back. They searched the bags till they came upon Dib's old backpack. The moment they opened it a fluffy brown head popped out and they were blinking into big black eyes.

"PUKA?"

The TV series for Lilo and Stitch is pretty limited to the separate characteristics of Myrtle's clique. So I wanted to give them a sense of individuality in this story when I made one of the girls crushed out on Dib. Even though these girls seem to be more like different looking clones constantly tagging close to Myrtle, I felt that they still are separate people and needed some of their own personalities. I didn't want to make Myrtle rival Lilo in this instance because I felt she's mentioned enough in the TV series and movies. Plus, judging from her superior disposition to all others, she would think it was beneath her to like someone who associates with Weirdlo and her alien dog. Even still she's mentioned "teasing" Dib a bit in the first chapter along with the rest of the girls.

I'm sorry to say that Gaz and Dr. Membrane will not be featured in this story, however, both Zim and Gir will make an appearance later on.

Thanks for reading my story:) Please review.