Disclaimer: I do not own "Lilo & Stitch" or any of the characters therein.

CHAPTER ONE:
THE BEGINNING

One month earlier:

It was a warm autumn afternoon, the breeze gentle and the leaves laying crisp on the ground, as two alien beings made their way up the hill toward the house that they shared with their new human family. Slung over his shoulder like a prize catch, Jumba carried a large burlap sack, dripping wet and full of unknown treasures from the sea. A short distance behind him, struggling with a similar load, was Pleakley, mumbling alien curses to himself as he attempted to drag a sack twice his size up the dirt road.

"Couldja wait up a minute, Jumba?!" he panted, trying to get a firmer grip on the bag. Jumba slowed only slightly, yelling back to his comrade without looking over his shoulder: "I told you this vas no picnic I vas going on. A day at the beach for me means research; collecting starfish, barnacles, seaweed, and vhat have you." "Yes, but you forget who's the Earth expert here," Pleakley replied. "Someone's got to make sure you don't tip the delicate balance of nature on this planet. I won't even go into all the damage you did to that tide pool, which, need I remind you, is an extremely delicate ecosystem!"

Pleakley shouted out these last words, exasperated at his friend's reckless conduct. Jumba laughed. "Earth expert! Hah! You don't even know a manatee from a man-of-war! That at least I know. And don't vorry about the tide pool, my little tree-hugger. By this time tomorrow everything vill return to its natural place. Urchins are mobile, you know."

Pleakley growled slightly. "I know. You stuck one in my trunks, remember?"

Jumba glanced back at him, shrugging. "I told you I vanted to put it in your pocket until I could find my specimen jar. Couldn't you be a good sport and lend me some pocket space?" "Possibly," Pleakley nodded, "IF THESE TRUNKS HAD ANY POCKETS!" Jumba sighed and shook his head, continuing up the road as Pleakley caught up to him and gave him a very nasty look. "If you're going to be sore for the rest of the night, then at least let me give you my special antibiotic ointment I concocted last veek. Is very soothing, and if you don't mind the small side effect of growing scales…"

"FORGET IT!" Pleakley shouted defiantly, dropping his bag and folding his arms across his chest. "Vhat? You don't like scales?" "NO! You see? THIS is what I'm talking about! You and your reckless research!" He grabbed the bottom of his bag and lifted it up, spilling the contents out all over the ground. Clams, mussels, starfish, seaweed, hermit crabs and barnacles writhed and squirmed in the bright sunlight.

"HEY!" Jumba shouted. "Vhat did you do that for?! I need those specimens!" He dropped his own bag and stood over Pleakley, trying to intimidate the smaller alien. "Yeah, you need them like you need a hysterectomy!" "VHAT?!!" "When we moved in with Nani and Lilo you swore you'd give up your research and experiments. You swore to the Grand Council woman, the entire Federation, and to Nani especially, because she doesn't want anything in her home that could endanger Lilo! And you broke that promise! If Nani finds out -"

"NOTHING," Jumba finished for him, "because she von't find out. Got it?" Pleakley gulped, but tried not to show that he was intimidated. "Besides, I did keep my promise. There is nothing in her house that can endanger Lilo, or anyone else for that matter. Now come on. Help me pick up this mess." A minute later Jumba and Pleakley had managed to gather up most of the specimens and drop them back into the bag. A few small items, such as the hermit crabs, had managed to scuttle away to safety under some nearby bushes.

"I guarantee you I am a changed man," Jumba was saying as they reached the top of the driveway. "The only research I am conducting these days is purely beneficial. You vill see. My latest experiments are for the betterment of living, not destruction and terrorism like my last six hundred and tventy-six! You vill be amazed at vhat the slightest alteration of variables can do to the overall experiment!"

On the front lawn, Pleakley dropped his bag and panted, rubbing his aching lower back. Jumba dropped his own bag next to Pleakley's and began to rummage through it for something. "I seem to have misplaced my rainbow anemone specimen. Let me see your bag. Perhaps I put it in there by mistake." Pleakley sprawled out on the grass, exhausted, while Jumba searched through their bags.

"Is this what you're looking for?" a deep voice asked, startling the two. Jumba looked up from his search to see Cobra, ominous as ever in his usual "men in black" ensemble. In his massive hand he held a small jar, half filled with seawater and a brightly colored anemone. Jumba waddled up to him, extending his own hand to take the jar. "Ah, yes. I vas vondering vhere that vent. Thank you, Cobra." Instead of handing him the jar, Cobra held it up higher, out of his reach.

"You want to tell me what you were doing down at Kilhua Cove a half hour ago?" he demanded. Pleakley was back on his feet, ready to explain. "I told him not to go, and to leave all the sea dwellers alone, but he wouldn't listen. I only went with him to make sure he didn't do any serious damages. 'A tide pool is a very fragile ecosystem,' I told him, 'you have to treat it with the utmost -'" "Enough small talk," growled Cobra, growing impatient.

Jumba, far from allowing himself to be intimidated like his spineless cohort, put on a very dignified manner as he proceeded to explain his latest research. At the end of his story, Cobra informed him that it would not be wise to raid tide pools again anytime soon. Something very serious was taking place back on planet Turo, the home of the United Galactic Federation. This caught the two aliens' attention, and they inquired about it.

"Let's go inside," said Cobra, handing Jumba the specimen jar. "I need to tell Nani, Lilo and Stitch also, because it's going to affect everyone, even me, if we don't do something about it first."