Hi everyone! I'm back, and I felt like responding to a few of your comments before I started.

Charon, I don't really watch Star-Trek, but I'm happy you understand the idea.

Nukerisr, maybe you and DanMat6288 should join forces to destroy all the Ban-Kar churches in the world. That would be a good thing.

Speaking of DanMat6288, I'm glad to meet a fellow Jackie Chan enthusiast. I liked your Jinx story, by the way. Are you planning on writing any others?

Devenus, thanks for the compliments on Gantu. He'll be back soon enough.

PIcaRDMPC, Ban-Kar is not a play on 'banker'. To be honest, I was at a loss when trying to come up with the name of my own god, and this was the first thing that popped into my head. Incidentally, the two parts of Ban-Kar's name are strangely similar to the names of a couple of fancharacters I created back when I was writing for Invader Zim. Weird, huh?

Now, let's start the chapter!

***

Experiment 158 AKA Finder, sat next to the tent for his "Found" business on the beach, polishing a gold doubloon he had found earlier that day. He tossed the coin into a large pile amidst all the junk that had not yet been claimed by tourists in his tent, along with the other hundred or so doubloons he had found earlier that month. Finder had a thing for shiny stuff. He could smell quite a bit of treasure out to sea just begging to be found, but he couldn't swim at all. Something about his body being made extra-dense so it could be bulletproof or something like that. Oh well, at least he could fly, that was something. He made a note to himself to see Jumba about rigging up some kind of diving suit or submarine sometime. Then he would be the undisputed champion tracker on land, air, and sea!

His giant ears perked up when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up to see Lilo and Angel approaching. He wondered what they wanted with him, and asked them just that in Turian. Angel had to translate for Lilo, whose mastery of alien speech was still amateur at best. "Finder, Stitch has been possessed by an evil god who wants to make everybody join his stinky religion," Lilo said. "Do you think you could help us find him before he does something bad like take over the world?"

This sounded more interesting to Finder than the scavenger hunt he had planned on going to that afternoon. He nodded. "Ih."

"Great!" said Lilo happily. They all went back to the waiting jeep. Finder crawled onto the hood and sniffed the air for the scent of his blue cousin. A big flashing arrow appeared in his head, pointing somewhere to the north. He enthusiastically pointed in that direction. Angel floored the accelerator, and they were off.

When they were roughly halfway to Stitch, Finder's mental arrow suddenly changed direction. A little disoriented, he pointed that way. Without a word, Angel changed course. But then the arrow changed again, and Finder had to point in a different direction. This happened several more times, until it seemed they were going in circles. A little frustrated, Angel stopped the jeep. "Finder, are you sure you know where you're going?"

Somewhat confused, Finder checked his mental arrow. It was constantly changing direction. Suddenly, it pointed straight up. He looked up and saw Stitch race overhead in the police cruiser. "Oh, that explains it!" Lilo exclaimed. "His cruiser's a lot faster than we are! He keeps zooming all over the place, so Finder's having trouble keeping up with him!"

Angel groaned. "Great. We'll never catch him on the ground. And I doubt Finder can fly fast enough to catch up to him."

Lilo paused. "Well he can't…but maybe we can!"

"What do you mean?"

"Jumba built the jeep so it could travel in any environment, including space. It can fly almost as fast as the cruiser!"

Angel's eye twitched. "You mean we could have flown after Stitch this whole time instead of going around and around in circles? Why didn't you tell me before?!"

Lilo looked embarrassed. "Um…I kind of forgot."

Angel immediately bit her tongue to keep from cursing. It was doubtful Lilo would understand what she was saying, but she didn't want to get yelled at for corrupting the little girl's innocence. After a little trial-and-error, she found the button that converted the jeep into Flight mode, changing it into a small rocket jet. Finder quickly climbed in the window and they took off.

Thanks to the jeep's rocket boosters, they managed to catch up to Stitch just as he landed back at the beach, close to where all the weightlifters were working out. They quietly landed nearby and discretely followed Stitch as he walked through the forest of heavy weights and sweating exercisers. "What could he possibly want here?" wondered Lilo.

They soon found out as Stitch approached Experiment 601 AKA Kixx, who was performing his daily workout routine to keep his finely tuned muscles in shape. "Hey Kixx, do you have a minute?" asked Stitch. Curious, Kixx put down the barbells he was lifting. Stitch pulled out Swirly and held him in front of Kixx's face, instantly putting the bodybuilder into a hypnotic trance. "You have lived as a heathen for far too long, Kixx. It is time for you to embrace the light of Ban-Kar. Go to my church and wait with the others. Together, we will bring Earth into a new era of enlightenment and order. MY order." Kixx nodded obediently.

Lilo gasped from behind the rack of weights where they were hiding. "So that's what he's doing! He's hypnotizing an army of experiments to take over the world for him!"

"Lilo, be quiet!" Angel hissed.

It was too late. Stitch heard them. "Kixx, destroy the infidels!"

The purple powerhouse roared and leaped into the air, soaring at the trio with a flying kick. Just before he could hit them, Angel stepped forward and rammed her fist into his gut. Kixx wheezed and fell to the ground. Lilo blinked. "I didn't know you could do that."

Angel smirked. "Just because I prefer singing to fighting doesn't mean I can't do both."

Stitch growled in frustration and pressed a button on a strange device around his wrist. The police cruiser lifted off the ground and sped towards him, smashing through every exercise machine and weight rack in its path. Angel, Lilo and Finder got out of the way as the cruiser skidded to a halt next to Stitch. He leaped into the cruiser and flew into the air. As he passed overhead, he fired his plasma guns at the jeep, blasting it to smithereens. He then flew away to continue his evil plans.

Kixx groaned and got to his feet, somewhat confused. "Gabba?"

"I think he's back to normal. My punch must have snapped him out of Swirly's hypnosis," said Angel. She looked over at the smoldering wreck that had once been the jeep. "Great, we'll never catch him now."

Lilo grinned. "Maybe we don't have to. We already have an idea of what he's planning. If he's forming an army, we'll just have to make one of our own!" She turned to Finder. "Finder, find as many good cousins as you can who haven't been hypnotized and can help us out. Bring them all to the house as soon as possible. Kixx, you go with Finder and protect him in case you run into Stitch or one of his hypno-slaves. Don't let anything happen to him!" Kixx and Finder saluted. The two experiments started to run off to fulfill their mission.

"Wait!" cried Angel. They paused. "While you're at it, do you think you could find something that can help us get Stitch back to normal?" They nodded and ran off.

"We'd better head home and see what we can do to help Jumba. Hopefully, he's already found something that'll help us save Stitch." Lilo looked at the jeep wreck and sighed. "Too bad we can't drive home. Oh well, I guess I needed the exercise anyway."

Angel spotted something out of the corner of her eye. "Maybe not." She ran down the sidewalk, where Mertle was coming up on a tricycle. "Excuse me," she said, shoving her off.

"Hey, come back with my tricycle!" the obnoxious redhead screamed as Angel peddled back towards Lilo, grabbed her, and started for home.

***

Jumba was in his room, mixing chemicals in test tubes when Lilo and Angel got back. "Ah, Little Girl, 624, you're back. Any luck stopping 626?"

Lilo shook her head. "No, but we did find out what he's doing. He's using Swirly to hypnotize cousins into becoming his loyal army!"

Jumba's expression was grave. "That is not being good. Good thing I am preparing weapon to defeat Ban-Kar as we speak."

"What kind of weapon?" asked Angel.

Jumba turned from the bubbling chemicals and checked something on his computer screen. "After you left, I started looking up information on Ban-Kar. I knew science would be no help to us, so I am turning to magic instead."

"I didn't know you could do magic," said Lilo, impressed.

Jumba shrugged. "Eh, I dabbled a little before I was finding my true calling in genetics. Stopped because I was not wanting to risk loss of soul." He broke into a grin. "I was actually summoning lesser demon one time at university. It broke loose and destroyed half the campus before it could be stopped! Blamed it on lazy, no-good roommate. I am wondering what ever happened to him." He shrugged and turned his attention back to the chemicals. "Anyway, I found whole web site written by worshippers of Ban-Kar's antithesis, the serpent demon Ophis. They even had instructions for summoning her and everything. At first I was considering summoning her to this plane, but I was deciding not to. Ophis sounds like halfway decent demon from her description on the Internet, but even so, I am betting if we put her and Ban-Kar in the same room together it will result in a catastrophic battle that could destroy the planet. And that would be bad, yes?" He picked up a beaker and poured some silvery liquid into it. He shook it around and it turned orange.

"So what are you doing instead?" asked Angel.

"Found alternate method to channel demon powers to our aid. Worshipper legend speaks of a mystic blade that can be forged in times of need to strike down Ban-Kar whenever he is manifesting in this universe. It is being infused with the venom of Ophis herself, secreting a magical poison that heals the friends of the blade's wielder or kills their enemies whenever it is cutting into one or the other's flesh. It is called the Dagger of Ophis." He paused to pour the orange liquid into another beaker and swish it around, causing it to change color again. "I am attempting to recreate that magic dagger. Important part of forging dagger requires a special chemical mix that must be poured onto blade's surface to fully open connection to Ophis' realm and infuse the dagger with her power." He poured several chemicals into an empty test tube and sprinkled a little powder into it. He frowned when it turned a sickly green. "I am missing final ingredient for chemical mix. Need few drops of snake venom. I am already calling pet store, and they are out of poisonous snakes. Where can we be finding one at this time of day?"

Downstairs, the doorbell rang. Pleakley opened the door and looked outside. Then he yelled, "Lilo, some friends of yours are here!"

Angel, Jumba and Lilo came downstairs and found a whole bunch of experiments standing outside. Finder stood at the front, looking proud of himself. Lilo gave him a big hug. "Great job, Finder! I knew you could do it!"

Finder really had done a good job. He and Kixx had rounded up Topper, Slugger, Deforestator, Yang, Slushy, Dupe, the gigantic Shortstuff, Sample, Sparky, Clip, and even Bonnie and Clyde! Wait a minute…"Shouldn't you two be in jail?" Pleakley asked suspiciously.

"We broke out," said Bonnie.

"Duh," added Clyde.

"Lilo, I don't think we should trust them," muttered Angel.

Lilo frowned. "You two can help us out as long as you promise to go right back to jail after we save Stitch."

The thieves snickered. "Oh, of course we'll-snort-go back to jail," Bonnie said.

"Yeah-heh heh- thief's honor," said Clyde, trying hard not to laugh. "Ah, I'm hungry. Let's see what they've got to eat." They shoved past everyone else and went into the kitchen.

"Do not be letting them near the silverware," Jumba muttered to Pleakley. He nodded and went to keep an eye on the thieves.

Finder wasn't done yet, though. He ran outside and came back in with Scales! "Ah, Experiment 451! Where were you finding her?" asked Jumba. Finder said something in Turian. "Sleeping on rock? Bah, she was always being lazy."

Scales slithered over to Lilo and licked her cheek, then hissed something. "What did she say?" Lilo asked.

"She's thanking you for saving her from Stitch before. She wants to know how she can help us," Angel translated.

"I am knowing how she can help. Her venom is being perfect as final ingredient for magic formula. Now we can begin the dagger forging ceremony!" said Jumba eagerly.

"You found Scales when you looked for something to help change Stitch back to normal, didn't you?" asked Angel. Finder nodded. "Good boy." She kissed him on the cheek. Finder blushed a very deep red and fainted with a big smile on his face.

***

A little later, they were all assembled out in the backyard. Jumba had stripped down to his shorts and painted strange demonic symbols all over his body, making him look like a carnival tattoo man. He stood in front of a small cauldron, holding a kitchen knife. He nodded to Pleakley, who began to enthusiastically beat his hands on a pair of Congo drums. "Demon Ophis! We call upon you to receive your blessing. Grant us the use of your powers, so we may banish your eternal foe from our world again!" He raised his knife into the air. "We beg of you! Lend us your power!" All around, the normal sounds of wildlife petered off, leaving the yard eerily silent. It seemed as if the universe itself was leaning in to listen to Jumba's words. Storm clouds suddenly manifested overhead, blotting out the sun. There was a single clap of thunder, but no lightning was seen. Taking this as a good sign, Jumba continued. "Forces of Nature! We ask you to infuse this blade with your protection and power, so it can never be destroyed by any of your kin!" He held the knife over the cauldron. "Metal…to form an invincible body, untouched by any mortal failings!" He dropped the knife into the cauldron. "Fire…to rekindle the flames of hope in our hearts!" Yang crawled under the cauldron and began increasing his body temperature, venting flames from the holes on his back. The bottom of the cauldron turned red from the heat and the knife melted into a liquid mass. Jumba pushed the cauldron over with a stick, pouring the liquid metal into a specially prepared mold. "Water, Wind and Ice…to extinguish rage and preserve a cool, logical mind!" Lilo threw a bucket of water at the extra-hot metal, causing it to give off a burst of steam. Angel turned on an electric fan, blowing away the steam and beginning to cool off the metallic mass. Slushy blew on the metal with his ice breath, causing it to cool off and harden in the mold. Kixx leapt forward and pounded the metal with mallets wielded in all four hands, trying to flatten out any bumps or dents. "Wood and Earth…to draw strength from all living things!" Jumba signaled to Deforestator, who knocked down a small tree and ground it into sawdust. He sprinkled it on the metal, along with some dirt from the ground. Kixx jumped into action again, pounding the dust into the unformed blade. "Thunder…to energize the spirit!" Sparky touched his antenna to the metal and sent a strong electrical charge into it, causing it to crackle with static. The clouds above them rumbled in response. Unafraid of getting shocked, Kixx pounded the metal again with the mallets. "Light…to heal any wound!" Topper turned her light on, nearly blinding everyone. Jumba flipped on some goggles and focused the light at the metal through a magnifying glass. The blade seemed to absorb the light, much like a black hole. Jumba waved his hand, telling Topper to stop with the light, and Kixx attacked the metal once more. "And Darkness…to destroy any enemy!" Jumba took out the test tube containing the completed magic potion, now a purple so dark it was almost black, and poured it on the blade. It started sparkling. The storm clouds multiplied, growing darker and darker. Jumba delicately pulled the blade from the mold and held it over one of Lilo's Barbie dolls, which had been 'volunteered' for the role of virgin sacrifice. A small packet of blood had been taped to the doll's chest, right over where the heart would be. "Ophis, Nature, we offer you this blood sacrifice in exchange for your blessings! Accept it now, and seal our bargain!" He drove the dagger into the doll's heart; popping the packet and spilling blood everywhere. The blood then crept back up the doll's body, getting sucked into the blade. The dagger started glowing bright red. A lightning bolt shot down from the sky, striking the blade. There was a great flash of purple light, and what sounded like the hissing of a million snakes.

***

Stitch shuddered. "That's odd…why do I suddenly feel that something is very wrong?"

***

Jumba took off his goggles. He noticed the storm clouds had vanished as mysteriously as they had appeared. "It is complete," he whispered. Slowly, almost reverently, he walked over to the pile of ash that had once been Barbie and extracted the dagger from the ground. It was beautiful. The blade itself was double-edged, with one side cut into saw teeth. A serpent was carved into the flat of the dagger that glowed an eerie purple. The hilt was small and silvery, with a hissing snake head for a pommel. The crosspiece connecting the blade with the hilt was marked with an orange stone that looked like a snake's eye. Everyone looked at it with awe. Jumba handed the weapon to Angel. "624, you must be the one to wield this blade and use it to defeat Ban-Kar!"

Angel was stunned. "Why me?"

"Dagger of Ophis has best effect in female hands. I am not trusting it with 149 (She would no doubt be selling it on black market), 177's claws are too long to hold it, 451's arms are too weak, and Big Girl would be killing me if she found out I was letting Little Girl use demonic weapon. Therefore, that leaves only you." He shrugged. "Besides, you are closest Experiment we have in skill and power to 626. You have best chance of freeing him."

Angel stared at the blade apprehensively. "So how would I do this? I thought you said the dagger was poisonous, wouldn't I be hurting both Stitch and Ban-Kar if I stabbed him with it?"

Jumba shook his head. "Dagger has limited intelligence. It is sensing your connection with 626 and thus its venom will do no harm to him. Ban-Kar, on the other hand, it is instinctively recognizing as an enemy. Poison will heal any of 626's wounds and drive Ban-Kar's spirit from his mind forever. In fact, if you were stabbing any of us, I am doubting it would hurt at all. Not that I am saying you should test it on us, of course," he added quickly. Angel nodded and tied the dagger to her waist with a small piece of rope. Jumba started wiping off his mystic tattoos with a towel.

"Okay, we have a weapon, and we have an army. I think we're ready to take on Ban-Kar!" said Lilo.

Jumba nodded. "Yes! Let us be kicking deity patookie!" They all cheered at this.

***

Half an hour later, they were all assembled outside of the Ban-Kar church. Jumba was armed with a plasma cannon, and even Pleakley had come, saying he wanted to do something exciting for a change. The whole group looked very imposing and serious, as if they were about to storm the Gates of Hell. In a way, they were. "Is everyone ready?" asked Lilo. They all nodded. "In that case, CHARGE!"

Screaming battle cries, they all ran towards the front doors of the church. Without warning, the building started to shake, stopping them in their tracks. The ground around the church started cracking open, separating the building from the different churches next door to it. To everyone's amazement, the entire church started rising into the air at a phenomenal rate. Jumba blinked all four of his eyes. "Ohhhh…so THAT is why he is taking antigravity generator!"

In a bold attempt to be a hero, Shortstuff leaped at the floating chunk of rock supporting the rising church, attempting to use his colossal weight as an anchor to drag it back to the ground. It didn't work. "HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLP!" He screamed as he was carried up into the sky with the church. He couldn't let go, because he would no doubt crush half the town and die if he fell from that height.

"We have to get him down from there!" said Angel, worried.

Jumba nodded. "And we are needing to get up to that church anyway. Quickly, back to the house!" They all started running home.

***

High up in the floating church, Stitch consulted a computer screen. "Are we high enough yet?"

Hacker, a digital experiment shaped like a CGI spider, shook her head from the screen. "Not yet, your Holiness. If I am to gain control of all satellite and hard-wired communications on the planet, I'll need to be a few hundred meters higher to properly send out an overriding broadcast."

Stitch nodded. "Okay then. You'll have your few hundred meters." He looked around the church, which was now filled with machine gun toting priests and hypnotized experiments. He patted the head of the currently mindless Swirly affectionately. "And then I will have the world."

Looks like things are heating up! Tune in next time for an action-filled chapter you won't want to miss! See you soon!