You have no idea what powers you are dealing with!
-Zim

Pelekai Household

Lilo and Stitch went to their bedroom at 11:00, but they didn't go to sleep. Instead, Lilo picked out the only black clothing she owned that still fit: a long-sleeved tee and capris. After changing and looking in the mirror, she could start to understand why Dib and Gaz wore so much black. She felt like a ninja.

Then Lilo dug out a child's sweat suit and held it against her shirt to check that it was truly black and not dark blue. When she turned around to show Stitch, he wrapped an inky scarf around his head so that only his eyes were showing, and his ears stuck out.

"That's perfect! Do we have another scarf like that?"

Bang bang bang!

The noise reverberated through the small metal lift in the center of the room.

"Lilo! Stop talking! Go to sleep!"

The girl and alien froze. Then Stitch crept over to the lift and pricked his ears.

"She is gone," he said, after a few seconds.

"Help me look for another scarf," said Lilo in a quieter voice.

1:00 am

Lilo and Stitch descended on the lift to find the house dark at last. Covered from head to toe in black, they sneaked up the stairs, avoiding the boards that creaked, and flitted to Jumba and Pleakley's room, where Stitch climbed Pleakley's dresser, snatched the key and dropped back down, his claws tapping on the hardwood floor. They skulked downstairs and out onto the porch. Dib and Reuben ran out from under the wooden structure.

"What kept ya?" asked Reuben.

The girl peered at her watch, struggling to make out the hands in the faint light from a distant street lamp. "We're right on time. How long have you been waiting out here?"

"Twenty minutes," said Reuben.

Lilo's eyebrows shot up under her scarf.

"I just got here five minutes ago," said Dib with a shrug.

The girl ran down the steps, jumping the last five and landing in a crouch on the packed dirt. Stitch curled into a ball and rolled down after her. Then the four of them darted across the dewy grass to the spaceship door.

Reuben wore a coal-black t-shirt that was far too large, reaching almost to the ground. The sole change Dib had made to his outfit was that he had replaced his trenchcoat with a black jacket that zipped up. The kid was going to give himself heat exhaustion, because the temperature had dropped but 15 degrees since the sun had set. Sooner or later, he would have to learn not to wrap himself like an ear of corn on a grill - and, with any luck, he wouldn't learn the hard way.

"Do you have the key?" he asked.

"Ih." Stitch nodded and held up the key - not much different from an Earth car key except that it glowed like a nightlight - and slid it into the lock.

Although the spacecraft itself had low security, Jumba had installed his own lock and alarm to his lab inside.

Stitch entered first, his motion triggering the lights to flicker on. He ran over to the manual switch behind Pleakley's desk and turned off the lights. Someone might wake up and see them at any moment.

"Come in now," said Stitch.

The kids and Reuben stepped inside the dry, cool sterility of the lobby, and scurried down one of the two halls in the ship. At the end of the hall was a door that required a password and iris scan to open.

Reuben cracked his knuckles. "Shine your flashlight here, Lilo. I'll need ta see the colors of the wires." Although Reuben had excellent night vision, his spectrum was limited to gray. Lilo pointed the beam on the security panel, while Reuben popped off the cover with his claws. Then, with deliberation, he pulled out the ends of several wires and reinserted them in different points on the grid. The metal door irised open.

"All right!" Reuben pumped his furry fist. "I finally did something!"

Lilo put her hand on his shoulder. "Good work, Reuben."

The four of them slipped inside the lab. Stitch pressed several buttons on one of the many consoles that lined the walls, and a nearby cabinet opened to show the experiment pod container. Dib pressed the keypad on the base, and the top half of the round receptacle separated from bottom, lifted by a rod. The two dehydrated experiments orbited the rod at a snail's pace, bathed in green light. Bolts of electricity arched between the two halves. It was a stunning display for a storage container.

"Select experiment," said the computerized voice.

Dib intuitively typed three numbers on the pad, and 349 shot out of the electric field, hitting him on the forehead.

"Ow." Dib rubbed his forehead and stooped to retrieve the orb, which had rolled under the lab's single chair.

"You okay?" asked Lilo.

"Yeah, thanks for asking," he said, examining the sphere and weighing it in his palm. "It's actually lighter than I thought it would be."

Reuben shook his head. "They lost a lotta water weight," he said ruefully.

"They should still weigh more than golf balls," said Dib. "And shouldn't one be bigger than the other?" He keyed in 350, and this time caught the pod in his right hand. He held the two together for comparison. "They're exactly the same size."

Reuben shrugged. "You'll hafta ask Jumba about that."

"Shh!" Stitch hissed, swiveling his ears.

Everyone else froze.

"What is it?" whispered Lilo.

"Someone is on the roof."

They all glanced up as if it would somehow help them hear the mysterious noise. Reuben titled his head to catch the sound better, since he couldn't move his ears independently. Lilo strained her ears and heard nothing at first, then a distinct scrape against the metal hull.

"One of the experiments?" whispered Lilo.

"Naga," said Stitch.

"Not unless Clink had a baby," added Reuben.

"What's Clink?" asked Dib. "And would it be bad if it had a baby?" He imagined some alien terror melting the ship or something.

"A big crablike experiment," said Lilo. "But that's not important right now."

"So what do we do?" asked Reuben.

Stitch shushed them again to listen to the scraping and then, tapping. "It's moving - to the door!"

The kids and aliens shared a panicked look.

"Quick! Shut the container!" hissed Dib.

Lilo took aim and tossed her fake experiment pods (which were just ping-pong balls with numbers written on them) into the green energy, and then she shut the receptacle. Dib crouched behind the metal chair.

"What are you doing?" asked Lilo.

"Hiding. What does it look like?"

Grabbing his arm, Lilo and yanked him upright. "There's an emergency exit, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Dib had been hoping to spend the night in an alien laboratory, or at least stay long enough to observe the mysterious monster. But having no real excuse to stay, he followed the others out of the lab.

Reuben paused to fiddle with the wires in the security panel, shutting the lab door and replacing the panel cover. Then they darted into a narrow side corridor that ended in a door leading outside. The tapping noise increased until Dib was certain it was inside the spacecraft. There was something very familiar about the noise, and hiding in the narrow hallway…

Lilo opened the emergency exit. "Here is where we split up."

Dib stole a backward glance, the beam of his flashlight wandering toward the main hall until Lilo grabbed his hand.

"Flashlights off! It'll see us!"

The boy switched off his flashlight, but he still peered into the gloom, listening to the tapping and itching to find out its source.

"I ain't waitin' around here any longer," said Reuben. "See ya tomorrow."

Lilo nodded, shooing Dib out and shutting the door behind them. The four ninja thieves returned to their dwellings, keeping to the shadows.

3:30 am

Snug in his bed, Stitch woke for no apparent reason. He pricked his ears, wondering if he had heard something in his sleep. Maybe it was the unidentified creature from before.

Then he heard Lilo's blanket rustle, and her intermittent breathing.

"Lilo awake?"

"Yeah," she murmured, rolling onto her stomach. "I can't sleep."

"Oh, soka."

"Not your fault. It's just…that thing on the ship…I keep thinking that we shouldn't have run. We should have confronted it and seen what it was." She sighed. "Only, I know our cover would've been blown."

Stitch reassured her in whatever way he could. "Lilo did good. Freed cousins."

He saw her smile in the dim green light from the alarm clock.

"You're right Stitch. I should stop worrying."

Stitch stretched and slid out of his bed. "Stitch will get warm milk."
"Thanks."

7:30 am

"It's gone!" yelled Pleakley, flopping into the kitchen.

Lilo's eyes widened over her bowl of Count Cocofang (her new favorite cereal). She fought to keep her expression neutral.

"What's gone?" she asked.

"The Bed-but-not-breakfast!" He clutched his head in his spindly hands. "The whole thing's just gone!"

"Gaba?" exclaimed Stitch.

"Are you sure?" asked Lilo.

Pleakley folded his arms. "No, I'm playing an April Fool's prank."

Lilo blinked. "When did you learn sarcasm?"

"Last week."

"Really?"

"No, that was sarcasm too. I actually picked it up two months ago. Anyway, I have to go tell Jumba that our ship is gone!" He ran out of the kitchen, and Lilo and Stitch stood and headed in the other direction, toward the front windows.

Even with Pleakley's warning, Lilo's mouth fell open at the sight of the bare stretch of earth where the big red spacecraft had been sitting for past six or seven years. The awning, bushes and flowers were smashed. It was as if a tropical storm had blown through just their front yard.

"Whaaat?" bellowed Jumba, thumping down the stairs. "How could this happen?" He joined Lilo and Stitch at the window. "I don't believe this! The only ones who would do such a thing are dehydrated!"

Lilo bit her lip and looked at Stitch. The blue experiment was resolute.

"Stitch will find ship."

A/N: I'm evil for ending the chapter there. But you know what would be even more evil? Making you wait another four months to find out what happens. I'll very much try not to do that.

And while you are waiting for the next chapter, check out "Revenge of the Invader" by Doodlebug QT. You can find it in the IZ/L&S crossover section. It's a spin-off of this story (which is itself a spin-off of a dead series. It's enough to make your head spin). I haven't finished reading it yet, but so far it's cute and has some fun moments between Dib and Lilo, and Dib and Keoni. Go check it out.