Promise

By: Kenjaje

Ch. 9: Corrected

Lilo looked only in distant shock as she saw her friend, no her brother, be hurled into a transport ship and thrown into space. The ship went at an amazing startup speed, it quickly left the spire and was now heading for earth's atmosphere. "No...this can't be..." Lilo thought in distress.

"He was no match, really, too blinded by anger to figure out what I was doing to...what?" 625 screamed in disbelief, Lilo looked up abruptly from her close-eyed sad position, to see the ship heading back down their direction. As the ship neared closer, Stitch was seen ripping through the metal doors that held him as he arched up into the air, and came back down in a dive. Coming closer to the spire, he flipped and landed on all fours as the ship behind him fell deeper into the crevice between the spire and the wall, exploding as soon as it reached impact to the ground, a stream of smoke and embers shot up behind Stitch, illuminating him with an orang-gray glow.

"Stitch!" Lilo said coughing.

"Why won't you just die!" 625 shouted insanely, aiming his blaster and preparing to fire another shot. Stitch ran on all fours toward him, the debris behind him blurred him enough to veer 625's vision by a short caliber, and Lilo held her hand out trying to move closer to the scene, when suddenly Stitch was thrown back by an unseen force. His body suddenly felt a great impact as he was hurled back into the direction he came from. His eyes opened a moment later and he jumped up ready to defend himself against 625, but when he looked over in his direction; 625 was behind a frozen blaster shot. He glanced over at Lilo, who was looking at him, and blinking her eyes in insecurity.

"Wh-what's going on?" She asked Stitch fearfully.

"Stitch." Came a familiar voice that seemed to come at them omni presently. "Stitch, can you hear me?"

"Chroney?" Stitch asked, recognizing the voice. "Padaga ju sheepa guata?"

"My friend, it's been a while, and it is apparent that my purpose, has not yet been fulfilled." Stitch continued to look around, but did not see the experiment anywhere.

"Stitch...who's-"

"Do not be concerned Lilo," Chroney's voice spoke, "Stitch will explain to you later, if he so wishes. Stitch I have an urgency with you, it concerns the battle with 625 that has already been severed from the main time stream."

"Eh. What about?" He responded, confirming what Chroney was saying.

"Jumba has spoken to me and told me to show it to you, he explained that this would most likely show you what happened that went wrong. I'm going to reattach it temporarily to the main time stream, this will cause you to disappear shortly, the severed stream will be the dominant for just a short time, then time will continue, and hopefully you'll be able to win." He said calmly and softly.

"Do it." Stitch replied.

"Do what?" Lilo questioned, trying to crawl toward Stitch, but as she came over to him, she found herself growing opaque. Off in the distance, another Stitch appeared, and another futuristic 625, as well as the ship. At one point, everything had become opaque, but soon the other set, the set from the disbanded time stream, became completely visible, and the present Stitch was watching the battle that had taken place at this same time, 10 years ago.

Stitch's eyes grew cold as he faced 625. He was tired of hearing about Angel's death; it began to grow into what seemed like reality. First he had deceived him with the letter, and then ambushed him at the spire, and now accusing him of being Angel's murderer, and all based of circumstantial evidence. It was too much for Stitch to look beyond.

His muscles tensed as he gradually felt himself grow with hatred for this false representation of his family member. His scent was nothing that of 625's, it was more tainted and cold-blooded then Achie-baba Kino's; and that dragon didn't even have free will. He was full of emptiness, his goal, his ambition, his motive; all empty, even his heart.

Lilo stared into Stitch's eyes, she did her best not to look straight into them; she had allowed Stitch to break his promise though he objected to her forcibly, but she opposed saying it was for the better, and the only way to defeat 625. Finally he agreed, and now she was somewhat regretting she had allowed him to do this, and now Stitch was gathering his anger.

His teeth gritting, his eyes boring, his mouth dry, his ears straight, his quills erect, and his mind loathing, Stitch quickly reached the apex of his rage, as the second time is always easier then the first, and lowered his head to look at 625. No sooner did 625 prepare to attack then was Stitch already behind him, moving at speeds by which Lilo could not even see; he back fisted 625, gripped him by the scruff of his neck before he hit the ground, and threw him far off into the distance. 625 caught the ledge of the spire, and hoisted himself up, and ran straight for Stitch.

A solid kick sent Stitch flying and rebounding to the other side, retaliating with a swift attack, gripping 625's legs underneath him and once again throwing him. This time 625 reached the wall outside the spire. He turned in mid air and caught himself on the wall, Stitch grabbed the blaster on the floor and fired at him, but 625 was too evasive to target accurately. He managed to reach the top of the outer wall and jump back down to the spire, not bothering to land, he side kicked Stitch, grabbed him by the feet as they both landed, and hurled him into the cryogenic transport shuttle, where he was frozen and unable to move, as the ship was silently launched into space. A blinding flash of light, and the severed set of characters disappeared, leaving the present set visible once again.

"I hope that has helped you, Stitch." Chroney spoke.

"Helped more then Chroney anticipates, showed Stitch what changes." Stitch told him, thankingly. Stitch looked up to hear for another response, but Chroney's voice had stopped. The world around Stitch was returning back to normal, unseen by him, and the blaster bullet was heading straight for him. He turned, and had no time to reflex; the bullet him in the chest, opening a wound and sending him backward, a distance that was halfway between the edge of the spire, and where he had just stood.

"That's for thinking you're better then me!" 625 shouted, firing another shot. Stitch quickly reoriented himself to his feet, only to be hit by another shot sending him once again flying, this time closer to the edge. "That's for destroying my ship!" 625 threw the blaster in Lilo's direction and ran toward Stitch with his claws extended in his left and, and a balled fist ready in his right. "And this is for killing Angel!" He shouted louder then the two before, as he uppercut Stitch hard and solid, sending the unconscious hero plundering down the crevice between the spire and outer wall. "It's finally done!" 625 triumphantly shouted, giving off another satanic laugh.

Dark clouds surrounded the islands once more; the rain, which had subsided during the battle, was now back again. The clouds were dark and low, shielding the sunlight and casting a dark blue glow about the island. Rain began to drizzle, then quickly turned to a downpour as a thunderstorm raged all about the two left standing on the spire.

Her hair was now drenched, and her clothes greatly saturated. The blood that covered her arm, and decorated the rip in her dress near her stomach now washed away from her wounds. The rain clouded her tears of sorrow and regret, pessimism and tragedy stayed within her for only a second, but was quickly replaced by another emotion. The same one that changed Stitch, was now changing her, and though she feared it she let it take over her.

Rain sleeked past the blaster's metal coating and dripped inside it's rifled shaft and streaked across the finger that lightly pressed against the trigger. Rain soaked the anger surrounding her mind; rain allowed her to see her target clearly; rain was now one of her allies.

"You don't deserve to live." She said lowly. 625 turned around.

"And you." He said, continuing on as if he had been talking the whole time, "are the whole reason why Stitch ditched Angel. You were in there with him, and you were the one he had to protect."

"You just won't stop will you?" A clap of thunder and lightning flashed behind Lilo. "You'll blame anyone you can until you forget about her."

"Think what you like but it won't matter," he said preparing to charge, "I'll get rid of you as well!" She cared not for a charge by him, she had already pulled the trigger and the bullet was already on its way to the mark. She looked away and began to run, as the bullet came quickly to 625, then quickly slowed down. Lilo heard a loud gust of wind, and looked behind her to see what was the source of the noise. A small tornado had formed behind her, and the sky above them was bright as the clouds were separated into an oval shape. The current of winds spiraled upwards into the clouds, and at the bottom of the gales, 625 was gripping the ground.

"625!" Shouted Chroney's voice. "I cannot allow you to abuse the time stream for your selfish purposes. You have attempted to throw the balance of the future off twice now, and I'm afraid this time you have failed. However, Stitch has not managed to send you back through time, and I cannot cease to exist until my purpose is fulfilled."

"What are you?" Shouted 625 up into the torrent.

"I am Chroney, and my purpose is make sure you are not able to disrupt the time flux continuum again; even if I myself must take you back."

"I'd like to see you try!" Just as this was said, another loud gale of wind was heard, and 625 scratched the claws as his body was stretched out and vacuumed into the void in the skies. Lilo stared at him, and he stared at Lilo. The expression on his face showed nothing but sheer horror, his eyes reflected panic and shock as he was quickly consumed. The winds dispersed and the rain stopped abruptly. Lilo was left in a catatonic state, gazing into the sky. A moment later she woke from her stupor, and stared at the edge where Stitch had fallen.

"Chroney..." she whispered, "Thank you for taking care of 625. But Stitch..." she breathed in, not wanting to speak, "Stitch wouldn't be able to survive that fall, not with his wounds." A gentle breeze lifted her hair, and she shivered as the cold dress clung to her skin. She doubled over and hit the ground with her fist. "Why? Why did Stitch have to break his promise? I'm sure things would've turned out differently if he just hadn't listened to me." Lilo began to lose herself in sadness, not wanting to move. She laid on her hands and knees in silence. Giving up on staying, and figuring there was no point in lingering around, she picked herself up and slowly made her way to the cliff that led down into the valley, and back to her home.

She was just about to reach the cliff when something caught her attention. Her heart skipped a beat as rocks crumbled near the far end of the spire. She twirled her head around to look, but saw nothing. Disappointed, she turned once again and prepared to step over the tiny rift between the spire and the cave. She was stopped once again by the sound of crumbling rock, but this time a grunt sounded along with it. Ecstatically Lilo twirled around and ran to the center of the spire. Her heart raced with suspense, she was sure she heard a grunt; she wasn't imagining anything. "I'm positive, please let me be positive." She spoke silently. Another heart skip was missed as Stitch's blue bloodstained arm was lifted above the lip of the spire, and soon his whole body was up and over. She ran toward Stitch and kneeled at his side and gazed into his eyes, which she soon realized were closed; Stitch was still unconscious.

"But how...?" Another crumble of rocks came from the far off distance, Lilo got in front of Stitch and blocked him with her body in case something unwanted was coming up. The air was silent for a moment, but only a moment as another crumble of rock came. Lilo's heart leapt with adrenalin, ready to pounce on a new threat, and she almost did. As soon as a pink arm showed over the lip, she ran two steps toward it then stopped sharply, her eyes opened wide with surprise. Another pink arm came up over the edge, as Angel lifted herself up and onto the spire, panting heavily as she reached the top.