Chapter Introduction: A few more Tima-esque things happen in this chapter, but thankfully, this is the last memory/dream/excessive Tima thought chapter, because something happens.(Yay!No more Tima overdosing after this!) Hold on though, because this is going to get a little confusing...but it's only for this chapter.(Lucky you!) Oh, and I forgot...I don't own Metropolis or Lilo and Stitch! I kind of wish I did, though...

Let's begin!

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Lilo was fourteen again and running down a path with Tima, and they were giggling merrily. Lilo had on white capri pants and a red shirt printed with tiny white flowers, and Tima was dressed in silk black dress. the sun was shining brightly, and flowers seemed to spring up from nowhere. Stitch joined the run, and a building began to form in the distance. At first it just looked like a broken down hut, but as they got closer, they realized that it was the Ziggurat, only looking small because it was so far away. Tima took the lead, smiling. Her green eyes sparkled with joy as she beckoned her companions onward.
"Let's go!"
The group picked up the pace, mixed colors and half-used sounds flying by them with incredible speed as the unbroken image of the Ziggurat edged nearer. Upon the steps which lead to the entrance, the Duke was sitting, also dressed in black. His face was in his hands and he was sobbing, almost hysterical. As Lilo paused to look at the forelorn figure, she noticed that Tima had gone, and Stitch was quite confused.
As if called by a force that she could not fight, Lilo picked up Stitich and entered the Ziggurat. Soft music filled the air as a cold chill ran down her spine and she was greeted with the smell of flowers and heavy perfume. Each step resounding, she made her way to the center of the room where there seemed to be some sort of soft blue light, calling to her, asking for her to come nearer...
As she approached the light she noticed that it was coming from some sort of box...a crystal box, sitting neatly in the center of a large Metropolis seal. She became uneasy as she edged up to the side of the box and peered in, coming upon the sleeping image of Tima, perfect and unscratched. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was emotionless and stiff, as if it had been drawn on with a ruler. She was cold, and without a heartbeat--needless to say, she was dead. But Lilo didn't seem to mind, she stared at the body for what seemed like an eternity. As long as Tima wasn't underground, she was fine.
And as Lilo was taking in the image of her dead friend, she neglected to notice what she was doing, and the eyes of the body eased open, and those glassy green doll eyes that the dead bodies of all the Red family deceased have until the worms make their meal or their very juices devour them. Tima sat up, and Lilo jumped back with a start, afraid. Silent and sad, Tima turned to her old friend and opened her mouth, speaking five simple yet heartbreaking words and breaking the peaceful half-silence of her guilded tomb with a sharp thrust of a silver sword.
"Why didn't you save me?"
The world went into chaos around Lilo, and Stitch appeared, Lilo didn't know how, standing on Tima's lap. He was emotionless and stared into nothing with Tima, who put her arms around him. Everything was on fire and black smoke filled the room.
"One more chance." Stitch whispered, as everything dissapeared beneath the smoke and flame. "One more chance to do what you have to."
The wail of fire-truck alarms filled the room, blending with the chaos. Through the ominous sirens there was a voice, broken and bleeding, utterly torn by grief.
"TIMA!"
Followed by sobbing, the Duke's voice echoed like a bad memory, rattling everything. The fire, the slowly crumbling Ziggurat...
"One more chance."


All those happy childhood moments flashed by in a ten-second movie...then it was over.



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Lilo awoke with a start. She had never had a dream that scared her so much, not to mention a dream about Tima. Next to her, Stitch was curled up on a pillow, half-snoring half-purring. He never had dreams like that. Being careful not to wake her friend, Lilo stood up and made her way to the mini-bar again to make another pot of coffee. The other pot was emptied the other night as she and Stitch decided how they were going to try and talk to the Duke. The pair had decided that they were going to go to the Ziggurat that day and try to get to him by talking to lots of secrataries slowly edging their way to the top. But breakfast had to be taken care of first, and that could not be taken care of in the hotel room. Lilo grabbed her bag and turned to see that Stitch was now awake and scratching his head, looking very much ready for breakfast.
"Good morning, Stitch."
The alien mumbled softly in his own language, and hopped off the bed. "Lilo." he said. "Breakfast."
Lilo laughed.
"We're going to go to L&L's. A *Loco Moco is good energy for before talking to many, many secretaries."
Stitch grunted in agreement, then made his way to the mini-bar. He poured himself a premature cup of coffee after making quick work of the climb to the counter, and drank it down in about five seconds-black. He was pretty much normal Stitch after that.
"Lilo, will you hurry?"
"Oh, someone's anxious today."
"I can't keep still...for...much long...hurry!"

**********

Duke Red looked over the many pictures of his daughter and her friends crowding his desk. He picked up one in particular, smiling. It was a picture of his daughter, Tima, with freinds Lilo and Stitch, sitting in front of he and his wife.
"Soon, my dear..." he said, tracing his finger around his daughter, who was about ten in the picture. "Soon we will be together."
The door to his office opened, revealing a short man with funny blonde hair and a moustache.
"Dr. Laughton." the Duke said, standing. "Is she finished yet?"
"Yes, almost." answered the doctor. "Miss Luana asked for a few minor instruments to be put in, but the unit will be ready by tommorow at noon."
The Duke nodded.
"I am a very impatient man when it comes to her, Laughton. I want her to be completed by midnight tonight."
"But sir--"
"Don't make such remarks twoard me! I'm paying for her and providing your facilities, you should speed up production when I say, even if you have to work the entire day finalizing her! Do you understand? And what did Luana ask for? She's been acting strange lately."
"She asked me to put a small security device in, that's all. She said she didn't want 'It' to be damaged maliciously."
"'It' is a she. I want you to tell her that when she comes around."
"Yes, sir."
A knock came from the door of the Duke's office, and a young man, or a boy of sorts with brown hair wearing aviator sunglasses walked in. In fact, it was the same boy that had shot the robot. Dr. Laughton took one look at the boy and left the room.
"Hello, father." said the boy. The Duke winced.
"Don't call me that! I only adopted you after the--the...so don't flatter yourself. You've caused me enough trouble as it is."
"After all those years, you still--"
"There is no way I can forgive you."
The boy hung his head.
"I told you I was sorry so many times--"
"It doesn't matter. What you took cannot be returned completely, Rock. Now leave. I do not want to discuss the matter anymore."
At that, Rock turned around and headed for the bottom floor of Ziggurat tower four, where the laboratory of Dr.Laughton was.
Even if the attention he got was negative, it was still attention, and he was not going to let that be taken away.

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After finishing their Loco Mocos at the closest L&L, Lilo and Stitch left for the Ziggurat, and were now climbing the stairs to the first floor of tower four. You had to climb stairs to the first floor! And even if they had been walking for a good ten minuets, they were still more than twenty-five percent from the end. Stitch was being lazy and was perched on Lilo's head, smiling. The building made for a nice sight when you were moving twoard it.
"I could have sworn that the enterance steps were shorter." gasped Lilo. Stitch smiled even wider.
"These aren't the main entrance steps. Look, we're almost there."

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Rock entered the laboratory with ease, leaving the door open, seeing that he had clearance to all levels and areas of the Ziggurat, being both an honored resident and protector of the peace. It was then, that he saw it, in the middle of the floor. The doctor was buzzing about the tank that held it, adjusting knobs and pulling levers. Near the walls of the lab were computers and other random scientific items, all of which were getting somewhat dusty.
"Laughton" Rock said. Th doctor turned and looked the boy in the eye.
"What do you want?"
"I know what I want."
"That's not an answer to the question I gave you."
"And what if I answered?"
"I would have listened."
"No, you wouldn't have."
Rock pulled his pistol from its holster, shooting the doctor than many of the instruments around the lab. Explosions rang spilling vats of chemicals all over the place and several fires beagan...just like before. Running as fast as possible, Rock left the laboratory and headed for the exit of the building.
"I...must...not...fail!" gasped Laughton, pulling on a red lever and dying rather quickly. A strange wail surged through the lab and the small figure in the tank began to stir...

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Lilo wheeled around as the robot-shooting-boy ran past them, a small explosion coming from farther up the stairs.
"A terrorist!" gasped Lilo, putting her hands to her mouth in shock. Stitch wasn't as shocked, but was still a bit excited.
"Well?" he said, "If anyone's in there, it would be best to get them out!"
"Right!"
The duo ran up the remainder of the stairs at top speed and somehow found their way into the building through the flames. Lilo was overcome by the sudden rush of heat, but still fine. It seemed as if the fire wasn't as bad as they had previously thought. It followed a pattern, and was confined to certain areas, which probably meant it was a chemical fire. It was when this conclusion was found that Lilo brought her shirt over her mouth and nose.
"Look!" remarked Stitch, who was overall unnaffected by the fire. A directory mounted on the wall pointed to 'Laboratories' where the fire most likely came from. Lilo shook her head.
"I can't stay in here!" she mumbled. "i'm going to get out; you go through the laboratories and find survivors...!"
Lilo ran back down the hall and out the door to find a complete fire team getting ready to put out the blaze.

Stitch opened several doors, finding nothing, until he came upon a door at the end of the hall. Inside, the fire was huge, and in the middle of it all was a naked little girl bathed in blue light, shivering. Stitch ran up to her, and tugged on her hand, telling her to come with him. She proceeded to follow the little blue alien, looking somewhat confused. Noticing that nobody else in the room was alive and the door was now blocked, Stitch headed for a window on the unburnt walls. It didn't have a bad drop, it only went about five feet to a little patch of grass and some bushes...letting the girl down first, he followed, hitting the ground with a thud. The girl sat next to Stitch, the light fading from her.

Stitch nearly fainted at what he saw.

********

Lilo was franticly searching around the building for Stitch, asking everyone she say if they saw a little blue talking dog. Most people looked at her like she was crazy--the nicer ones said nothing. Coming around the first side of the building after twenty minuets, she passed the little garden-thing, and heard someone beckon her from inside. She stepped near the bushes.
"Hello?"
"Lilo, it's me."
"Stitch?!" Lilo was about to go into the bushes when Stitch spat out a quick warning.
"Don't come over here, you'll faint!"
"Did you find a survivor? Are they that bad?"
"No..it's..."
"What?!"
Lilo was annoyed. She could enter the bush if she wanted! But when she did enter the bush, she regretted ever doing so, because she did faint.
And Stitch decided to go through her wallet.

*********

"Lilo? Lilo?"
Stitch sat on Lilo's chest, trying to wake her up. He had carried her all the way back to the hotel after leaving for a quick moment to buy the little girl some clothes. (The shopkeepers were shocked)
Lilo woke up, and smiled at Stitch.
"Stitch, I had a dream that you were hiding in the bushes with Tima."
"But I was!"
"Oh, okay."
"Lilo, look!"
Lilo sat up, letting Stitch tumble to the bed, and looked around. Sitting at the table dressed in a coat and looking curiously at the room service menu was Tima, just as Lilo remembered her. Her hair was blonde and curly, somewhat darker than the Dukes', and her eyes were the same life-charged emerald green that Lilo remembered from when she was alive. The only thing that was different about this Tima was that she looked utterly confused at everything--she was now picking at a button on her coat, which still bore the tag from Stitch's rush to get the girls to the hotel.
"Stitch, what...is Tima doing here? Let alone alive?"
"I don't know." the alien answered truthfully, the room service menu hitting him square in the head not long afterward.

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The Duke pulled on his sheets, tense. Everything he had worked for was gone! Tima...no matter what, he couldn't reach her. No matter how hard he tried, some force stopped him from ever getting her back. Tears escaped from his eyes as he proceeded to rip his satin sheets to shreds. What was life without light?

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AN: Oh my gosh...I did this when I was tired! I'm so sorry...I just had to get it done with or else my head would have exploded.... the next chapter will be clearer. Tima, Tima, Tima. Tima's a fun character, you'll like her, she's always confused. All these refrences of her are plot devices! Sorry about the fire part O_O I think it's kind of off...I hardly write scenes like that... anyway, here's a bit more information!
You probably found out how Stitch and Tima are alike--they were created. I've been writing a lot about her to make the plot smoother-- after this chapter there will be no more Tima memories or dreams!(Well, maybe a little, but they already have her with them, so...)
I know that you havn't met miss Luana yet. You will.
How confusing! Well, my notes are beginning to get out of hand, so I'll stop writing now.

Thanks for reading!!

*Loco Moco--(LOW-ko MOW-ko) Def.: A popular dish in Hawaii composed of a hamburger patty, rice, an egg, and gravy. Particularly delicious Loco Mocos are served at any L&L drive in, which are all over Hawaii.