Lousy Lousy rules. Next chapter, here you go.

Oo Leonine 252, I don't know any of that sciencey stuff you said about antimatter. I just used what I've taken from sci-fi stories and Angels and Demons. And besides, this is just a story, so the laws of the universe don't always need to apply, right?

Celestial the Hedgird, I was originally going to have Team Dark bust in played by 627, Bonnie, and Clyde, but I figured everyone would be expecting that so I didn't do it.

…

A tiny speck of light appeared in the distance. That speck enlarged and grew into a large ship with a huge sphere for a front emerging from hyperspace, decelerating as it approached a green planet. "Shorca system destination reached," chirped the computer on the bridge.

Hamsterviel cackled. "Excellent! Gantu, your tour of duty is over. You can take one of the ship's excursion vehicles and fly to your home planet any time you please!"

Gantu nodded. "Yes sir. And now that I'm no longer working for you, I'd like to say what a displeasure it's been working for you. I think you're a crazy, greedy, evil sonofabitch who-"

"Gantu?"

"Yes?"

"Don't push it. Remember, you haven't taken your medicine today, and I'm the only one who can supply it."

Gantu laughed. "I won't be needing it after today, but I get your point. Goodbye, Doctor." He exited the bridge.

"You're letting him leave after he insulted you like that?" Mertle asked.

Hamsterviel grinned. "Don't worry my dear, we're not finished with ex-Captain Gantu just yet. You underestimate the lengths to which I will go to continue to possess whatever I want. Computer, land us on that planet over there."

"Yes Doctor Hamsterwheel." Hamsterviel clenched his teeth and said nothing.

"So why did we come here anyway? Other than to drop Gantu off?" Mertle prodded. "Is it anything to do with your master plan?"

Hamsterviel shook his head. "No, this planet just happens to be the home to a very rare fruit I like and I wanted to gather some of it for the trip to my secret headquarters. It's rather nice, I'm sure you'll like it."

As they approached the planet, Mertle noticed several small dots surrounding it. "What are those?"

"This planet used to be a military base back in the old days of galactic warfare. The specks you see are the planet's mine defense grid. Most of them have become useless with age, but I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of them were still active after all these years."

…

A few hundred yards behind Hamsterviel's ship, two smaller invisible ships followed him. "So what's the doc doing here, anyway?" Kixx asked Hacker over the communicator.

"Apparently this planet is home to a special fruit he likes. He's stopping here to pick some up for the trip to his hideout. This could be your chance to really sock it to him if you guys can reach his ship and blow it up while he's gathering food!" suggested the web spider.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. And maybe we can celebrate by having some of that fruit for ourselves, right guys?" said Stitch from his cruiser.

"Right! Hey Stitch, what are those small spherical things all around us?" asked Slugger.

"Those are old mines," reported Hacker. "They've been here for many years, so they're probably all defunct now. Nothing you should worry about."

The moment she said that, a mine the cruiser passed just a little too close to activated and exploded. The blast shook the Stitch Machine, destroying one of the engine nacelles and seriously damaging the rest of the ship. "Aw Blitznag." The ship spiraled out of control, leaving a trail of fire as it headed on a collision course for the planet.

"Stitch!" yelled Angel, horrified.

Kixx glared at Hacker. "'Nothing you should worry about', my patookie!"

She winced. "Sorry."

Clip patted Angel on the back. "Don't worry, they'll be fine. Stitch and the guys are tough enough to survive that!"

"Yeah, once we land I'll sniff around and we can go looking for them, okay?" asked Finder.

She nodded weakly. "Okay…"

Trying to redeem herself, Hacker spoke up. "And in the meantime, Team Kickass can still try and attack Hamsterviel's ship. They'll need to do something to distract him from investigating wherever the Stitch Machine crashed, since the explosion knocked them back into visibility. But don't worry. We'll find them."

…

"What was that trail of fire?" Mertle asked.

Hamsterviel frowned. "Hmm…I guess I was right, some of those old mines are still active after all. If I don't miss my guess, that must have been 626's ship. Who else would have been so close to us? Once we set down, I'll take one of my combat vehicles to investigate where that ship crashed. I'll leave defense of the ship to you, understood?"

"Yes Doctor Hamsterviel."

He smirked. "Well, I'm glad somebody gives me the respect I deserve…"

…

"So how bad is it?" asked Sparky.

Stitch sighed and closed the hood of his poor, wrecked cruiser. Thanks to the ship's air bags, they had survived the crash unharmed and were blacked out for only a few minutes. Unfortunately, the Stitch Machine was now pretty much totaled. "Well, I'm no scientist like Jumba, but I think I know my cruiser better than anyone else."

"And?" Sparky pressed.

"We're screwed."

"Why am I not surprised?" Slugger grumbled.

"The hyperdrive's shot, one our engine nacelles is destroyed, the fuel tank's got more holes in it than Swiss cheese, the air conditioning is busted, the shields were fried when we streaked through the atmosphere…" Stitch shrugged. "It's amazing the ship hasn't fallen apart as it is. We'd need a trip to an auto repair satellite to fix this thing."

"Well, the Stitch Machine's always pulled through for you before, I'm sure it'll do it again!" said Slugger optimistically. That's when the cruiser's chassis collapsed and machine parts and engine coolant scattered all over the ground. "Well, at least it's still salvageable." Without warning, the ship burst into flames and exploded, throwing the three experiments into nearby trees. "Okay, maybe I should just shut up."

Stitch started to cry, something very uncharacteristic of him. "That cruiser carried me to Earth and to Lilo. It helped me capture Bonnie and Clyde, save my cousins from Gantu, defeat Hunkahunka and allowed us to pursue Hamsterviel all the way here and now it's go-ho-hone!"

"There, there…" Sparky patted Stitch's back, making sympathetic noises.

There was a sudden outcry from the jungle around them as dozens of birds rose into the air, screeching and squawking. Slugger frowned. "Hmm…" The ground started shaking. "Guys, I think we'd better move, I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Seconds later, Slugger's feeling was justified as a huge group of wild animals stampeded through the clearing formed by the crash, trampling whatever was left of the Stitch Machine into the ground in the midst of their flight. Only moments later, they were all gone, leaving a trail of trampled dirt and crushed foliage behind them. And with them went all the normal sounds of a jungle, leaving it eerily quiet. "What was that all about?" Sparky asked.

Slugger looked around cautiously. "I don't know, but I think it's-"

"Too quiet?" asked Stitch, recovering somewhat from his fit over the Stitch Machine.

Slugger nodded. "Yeah."

Stitch's ears twitched. "You're wrong. I can hear something."

"What is it?"

"It sounds like…" He paused. "Whirring…" His eyes widened. "GET DOWN!"

He shoved them to the ground as a huge spinning metal top with spikes growing from the sides smashed through the trees around the clearing, nearly hitting the heroes. The top spun back the way it came and was quickly followed by a huge flying machine, far more dangerous than any of the previous combat vehicles.

It was long and somewhat serpentine, with a big bulky front body followed by a long segmented tail with green lights, spikes, and lasers growing from the joints. The whole thing was blood red with glowing green lights everywhere. Two angled wings grew from the bottom of the machine with lights at their ends. A large crest grew from the top of the vehicle, with a bigger green light on it. Three long metal protrusions, looking sort of like the petals of a flower or like a set of claws, grew from the back of the vessel, just above the tail. The front of the ship was a chrome nose with a green laser lens at the end and a pair of green lights on either side of it. Just behind the laser nose was a heavily armored spot that suggested the cockpit. On either side of the ship was a huge rotating spiked wheel, clearly where the giant top they had just seen went.

As they watched, the laser nose pushed out from the rest of the vehicle, revealing Hamsterviel's hoverchair inside the armored spot. "Well, if it isn't my old pals 626, 608, and 221! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Hamsterviel!" cursed Stitch.

"Yes, that's my name. What do you think of my H-Viper? It's my favorite combat vehicle! Pretty cool, huh?" Hamsterviel said, patting the ship's control panel affectionately.

"We'll trash that thing just like we trashed all your other combat vehicles!" Sparky promised.

Hamsterviel laughed. "Oh, but I think you'll find this one much more difficult to defeat than the others. Go ahead, I'll give you a free shot!" The cockpit closed back up again.

Stitch nodded. "All right. Slugger, do that thing where you hit us with your tail!"

"You mean the Homerun Slam?"

They looked at him in confusion. "The Homerun Slam?"

"Yeah, I decided to name our combo moves," Slugger explained.

"Why?"

The pterodactyl shrugged. "I was bored."

"…Whatever. Just do it."

"Right!" Stitch curled into a ball. Slugger picked him up, flew above the Viper, and threw Stitch up. He swung his tail when Stitch came down, hitting him towards the cockpit with all his might. Stitch ricocheted off the armor and slammed into a tree, knocking it over. "It didn't work!"

"Of course not, fools!" Hamsterviel boomed. "The H-Viper is made of the same metal used to armor my cargo trains. It's virtually indestructible!" His nose laser started to glow. "In comparison to my Viper, even 626 is more vulnerable!" The cannon fired a powerful laser beam, knocking Stitch head over heels as he started to get up from the broken tree.

"Stitch!" cried Sparky. He clenched his fists and hit the H-Viper with a thunderbolt, doing absolutely no damage.

Hamsterviel laughed at Sparky's stunned expression. "Don't you remember? All of my ships are shockproof! Your electric attacks do no damage!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that…"

The spiked wheels detached from the Viper's sides and floated in front of it, looking for all the world like the galaxy's biggest and most dangerous tops. "Now to finish off 626 once and for all!" One of the tops started spinning towards Stitch, who was still dazed from the laser.

Slugger dropped down and swung his tail, deflecting the top back at the Viper. The death machine was knocked back by the hit, slightly damaged by the attack. Although the super-tough armor protected against most attacks, it was so strong it was actually capable of damaging itself. "Ha! Not bad! Don't think I've forgotten you my winged friend, I saw how you damaged my beloved H-Albatross! Take this!" A claw shot out of the top of the ship, grabbed the surprised Slugger, and held him in the air over the Viper. Slugger struggled to break free, and received a powerful electric shock from the claw. "Now 626 is completely unprotected! He has no chance of stopping me!"

"Hey, I'm still here!" protested Sparky.

"And what do you expect to do against my H-Viper? Thanks to my shockproofing, you can't damage it!"

Sparky backed up and picked up Stitch. "I may not be able to damage you…but that doesn't mean I'm useless!" He turned into a bolt of lightning and fled from the clearing, bouncing off trees as he zigzagged through the jungle with Stitch.

Hamsterviel laughed. "So that's the game you're playing? Very well, little experiment…you can run, but you can't hide from my voltage sensors!" The Viper plowed into the jungle, blazing away foliage with its lasers and knocking down trees with its wheels and body. Slugger shook his head mournfully in the claw, hoping his friends could save him and themselves.

…

"I'm scared. Let's go back," Houdini whimpered.

"You're always scared. And keep it down, will ya? We don't want to attract those clones," Kixx hissed.

Team Kickass had located Hamsterviel's ship in a clearing surrounded by trees laden with thick, juicy fruits that the clones were gathering and taking back to the vessel's cargo bay. The trio was attempting to sneak past the clones and enter the ship through the open cargo bay, allowing them to sabotage Hamsterviel's plans.

"Be on guard. Just because we are invisible does not mean we cannot be detected," Dracula cautioned.

Kixx rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, that's why I'm trying to shut up Ms. Scaredyrabbit here. Don't say anything until we get safely inside, okay?"

"Hai, Kixx-sama."

Silently, they approached the waiting cargo bay. Kixx was itching to fight the numerous clones around them, but knew it was too risky. They didn't want to alert the villains to their presence until it was too late. So he was very surprised when an array of electrostatic generators dropped down and formed a large force field. "What the heck?!"

"So, you thought you could sneak in while the boss was away, did you?" asked a familiar snotty voice from behind them.

The trio whirled around and found themselves faced with a new combat vehicle. It had a small body with four huge mechanical legs suspending it in the air. A pair of cannons grew from the back of the vehicle, and Mertle sat in the hoverchair cockpit. Kixx took a step back in surprise. "How the heck did that thing sneak up on us without us noticing?!"

"I noticed," said Dracula.

"Then why didn't you tell me?!"

"You told me not to speak until we were inside the ship. A ninja must always obey his master."

Kixx smacked his forehead. "Oh well, maybe if we act all quiet we can sneak past her. We are invisible, after all." He looked at the cowering Houdini. "Er, we are invisible, right Houdini?"

"Yes."

"Being invisible won't help you! I can see you with the H-Walker's heat sensors!" said Mertle proudly.

Kixx sighed. "Guess we have to fight then. Being invisible won't help us this time, so make us visible again Houdini."

"Okay." She blinked, and they were all visible again.

"All right," said Kixx, shaking a fist at the Walker. "If you think you can beat us just cause you've got some fancy mech, think again! Team Kickass is gonna kick…your…ass!"

"I'm sure. Bring it on!" Mertle stomped one robot foot, cracking the ground. The fight began.

…

Sparky zapped through the forest, scorching trees with his electricity as he passed and lighting small brushfires. He didn't care about the damage he was doing to the environment, all that mattered was that he get far enough away from that monster to get a chance to stop and formulate a plan with Stitch. He halted abruptly, seeing he had broken out of the trees.

He was at the shore of a huge lake, with a large fishing village long abandoned by the planet's natives standing on stilts out in the water. A rickety wooden bridge floating on the lake led towards the village. Stitch, who had gotten jolted awake when Sparky converted to electricity, jumped off his friend's back and fluffed his fur back down. "I don't like the look of this place, Sparx. Too much water. Not a good place for a confrontation."

"We don't really have much of a choice when he catches up with us, either we try to fight him in that village, go back into the forest and run right into him, or we try to travel along the lakeside while he picks us off at his leisure."

"Damn. Where's Slugger?"

"The doc captured him after you were knocked out."

Stitch sighed. "We'll just have to get him back then." He stepped onto the bridge.

"Think that's a good idea?"

"If we go to the village we may have room to outmaneuver him. Like you said, if we go back into the forest he can easily find us and drive us back into the lake where we'll be trapped. The same could happen if we travel along the shore. The village is our best bet," said Stitch, not feeling even remotely as confident as he sounded.

Sparky shrugged. "Okay." They started to walk across the bridge.

When they were halfway across, they were startled when the planks ahead of them shattered as the H-Viper rose up from the water underneath it. Slugger, still in the claw's grasp, gasped for air, grateful to be out of the water. "Haha! Found you!"

"Blitznag! Run!" The duo turned and headed back across the bridge.

Hamsterviel laughed and submerged the Viper again. He emerged several yards ahead of the experiments, shattering another piece of bridge and leaving them trapped on a narrow span of wood. "You can't escape from me, fools!" He submerged again.

"Great, now what?" Sparky groaned.

The Viper leaped out of the water alongside the bridge and dove right back in, firing several lasers from its tail. These lasers were not as strong as the one from the nose, and only hurt Stitch a little when he blocked them with his body. A second later, the Viper popped out from behind them and fired more lasers. Sparky got hit this time, and since his skin wasn't as thick as Stitch's, it hurt a lot more. "OW! Blitznag…how do we see this thing coming?"

Stitch looked at the water and could see the shadowy form of the H-Viper moving around, preparing for its next attack. "Look for its shadow in the water, and move whenever it pops up!"

"Gotcha." The Viper emerged again, but this time its back was facing the heroes, revealing a circular indentation above its tail. The metal petals spread wide, and their ends began to glow. Lightning bolts shot from them, colliding in the indentation to form an energy ball which swiftly started to grow. Sparky hit it with a thunderbolt, but that only made it grow larger. "Hmm…hitting energy with energy doesn't seem to work…maybe a physical projectile could disrupt that thing. Stitch!"

"Yeah?"

"Get into ball form so I can throw you at the Viper!"

Stitch frowned. "Why?"

"I think it'll disrupt that energy ball and damage that thing," Sparky explained.

"Oh. Okay." Stitch curled up. Sparky grabbed him and flung him into the heart of the gathering energy with all his might. The ball exploded, damaging the Viper slightly. The ship shook a little and dove back into the water.

Stitch had gotten flung out of the explosion, but Sparky caught him before he could fall into the water. He uncurled and held his head, wobbling a little. "Woo! That was a rush."

The Viper jumped out of the water and fired lasers at them again. They barely got out of the way. "Well I hope you get used to it, because I think we're going to have to do it a lot before this thing goes down!"

…

The H-Walker stomped towards the team, launching bombs from its back. The bombs landed in front of the trio and started ticking down to their detonation. Dracula quickly grabbed Houdini and Kixx and took to the air, flying just out of range of the resulting explosion's radius. He immediately dropped them, because Kixx was too heavy for him to carry for long. Kixx ran towards the Walker while Houdini hid herself underground like the coward she was and Dracula hurled shuriken at the cockpit from above. The throwing stars bounced harmlessly off the cockpit's thick glass. When Kixx got close to the Walker, Mertle tried to stomp on him. The purple powerhouse quickly ran beneath the cockpit, where none of the legs could reach. Mertle bent her walker's knees and drove her cockpit down in an attempt to crush Kixx, but he sidestepped her just in time and punched the cockpit glass, cracking it a little. Mertle stood back up and leaped across the battlefield, landing right over Houdini, who squealed in terror as the Walker's landing popped her out of her little burrow.

Dracula landed next to Kixx as the walker launched a few bombs again and started walking towards them. The two ran through the bombs, dodging them as they exploded, and quickly ended up beneath the Walker's legs. Mertle raised one foot and stomped hard on the ground, sending out a shockwave. The warriors jumped over the wave and struck the foot's joint, temporarily paralyzing it. As Mertle tried to get her leg working again, Dracula picked up Kixx, strained to fly him over the mech, and dropped him right onto the cockpit. The fighter punched the glass again and got thrown off when Mertle regained control of her leg and shook the mech about.

Mertle leaped to the other side of the field, turned around, and launched more bombs. This was going to take a while.

…

The Viper did another laser run, then popped out of the water, this time facing the duo. The nose laser glowed, indicating it was charging up. Stitch and Sparky quickly ran away as it fired, blasting a hole in the bridge planks they had been on only seconds ago. It leaped over the bridge and back into the water then came up again. The Viper's back was facing them, charging up the energy ball again. Sparky was about to throw Stitch when the ship suddenly moved further away, too far for Sparky to throw Stitch. "Damn! He's too far away!"

"Then how do we disrupt that energy ball?" asked Stitch.

"I don't know…wait! I've got an idea, get back into ball form!" Stitch obliged. Sparky picked him up and started spinning Stitch in his hands, supercharging him with electricity. When he was done charging, he hurled Stitch at the energy ball.

His power and speed boosted by Sparky's electricity, Stitch struck the energy ball just as it was about to fire, causing it to blow up and damage the ship even further. The Viper dived back into the water as Stitch landed on the bridge, looking a little dazed. "Whoa…I feel dizzy…" He stumbled around a little. Sparky grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the way as the Viper leaped past them, firing its tail lasers.

The ship did another laser pass, then flew out of one of the big holes it had made in the bridge and came towards them, firing its main laser repeatedly. "You can't win! Give up?"

The experiments quickly sidestepped the laser, allowing the ship to fly over them. "Never!" The two chorused.

"That's the spirit guys! Now GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" Slugger yelled as he was pulled into the water again.

The Viper jumped out again, flew off a distance, and started charging its energy ball. Sparky supercharged Stitch and flung him at the ball, destroying it and damaging the ship some more. Stitch recovered quicker when he landed back on the bridge this time. He was starting to get used to this. The Viper popped out of one of the bridge gaps, but instead of firing its laser, the two spiked wheels detached and hovered in front of the ship. One of them pulled back and launched at the duo, intending to slice them to pieces.

Since Slugger was incapacitated, it was up to Stitch to handle this. He jumped in front of Sparky and punched the top, knocking it back into the H-Viper and doing some more damage. Frustrated, Hamsterviel dived back into the lake, then came back up and drove through the bridge pieces leading back to the jungle or to the village, smashing them and leaving Stitch and Sparky trapped on their bridge section. "All systems full power!" He dived again, cackling.

…

Dracula grabbed a bomb and threw it at the Walker as Kixx dashed for the mech's underside. The bomb exploded, seriously damaging the cockpit, and Kixx punched the feet joints, paralyzing the robot. Dracula swooped down, grabbed Kixx, and dropped him on the cockpit, allowing him to damage it yet again. As he jumped off, Mertle started getting really angry. She refused to lose to these genetic freaks!

She leaped to the other side of the battlefield and launched a volley of explosive shrapnel. The shrapnel imbedded itself in the ground and exploded, nearly knocking Kixx into the electric force field. The Walker stomped towards them, firing more bombs. Dracula and Kixx evaded the explosives and got underneath the mech. Mertle stomped the ground with two feet, causing a double shockwave, one after the other. The experiments jumped over the waves and hit the leg joints, paralyzing the Walker yet again. But the evil apprentice had something new in mind when Dracula picked up Kixx and flew him above the cockpit. One of her cannons pointed towards Dracula and spat out a huge stream of fire. The 'ninja' saw the fire blast coming and immediately dropped Kixx, taking the full brunt of the fire.

Kixx looked up in horror as Dracula screamed in agony from the flames. "Dracula!" Burned, the horror movie star plummeted from the sky and fell to the ground, motionless. "Dracula…"

"Don't worry, you'll soon be joining him!" Mertle brought one of her feet down on Kixx before he could move away. He caught the foot in his hands and futilely struggled to push it off of him. Mertle laughed. "Ha! This thing was intended for use against Stitch, so it weighs three thousand and one times his own weight! And you're not nearly as strong as he is, so you don't stand a chance!"

Kixx gritted his teeth as the foot slowly pushed down on him. Mertle was right, it was much too heavy for him. He couldn't hold out much longer. If something didn't happen soon, he'd be a purple stain on this metal mutant's shoe.

…

"Great, we're trapped. What now?" asked Sparky.

"We fight. If we beat that thing, we get Slugger back, and he can fly us out of here," said Stitch.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about him. Where's Hamsterviel?"

Stitch looked around. "I don't see his shadow. He could be anywhere."

Sparky got a horrible thought and looked down at the bridge he was standing on. "Maybe even beneath us…"

The end section of the bridge crumbled as Hamsterviel burst out from under it. "Peek-a-boo, I see you!" He fired a wheel at Sparky and Stitch. Stitch punched the wheel back at Hamsterviel. This was the same wheel Slugger had deflected back in the jungle, and two hits were apparently all it could take. When it collided with the H-Viper, the wheel exploded, doing even more damage.

"Hey, watch it! That almost hit me!" said Slugger, frightened by the explosion.

"Oh, sorry," said Stitch, embarrassed.

Hamsterviel submerged his vehicle without another word, and erupted beneath the other end of the bridge, shattering it and leaving Stitch and Sparky with only a few feet left. The remaining wheel detached and spun towards the heroes. Stitch punched it back (making sure not to aim near Slugger) and the wheel exploded, reducing the Viper's number of weapons. The combat vehicle submerged yet again.

"What do you think he's doing?" asked Sparky.

"I don't know, but it's got to be something-"

At that moment, the bridge exploded as Hamsterviel rose up from underneath it, nearly throwing the duo off. They barely managed to grab onto the sides of the Viper as it flew through the air and dove back into the lake. The metal serpent stayed under for a full minute in an attempt to drown the experiments, but they had managed to get a good breath of air before they had been submerged, and since the Viper didn't have its own air supply Hamsterviel had to resurface to keep from suffocating.

The H-Viper arced out of the water like some great mechanical whale and sank back into the lake, nearly throwing off the experiments. It turned on its side, grinding Stitch into the lake floor. The pressure forced Stitch to let go of the Viper, and it shot past him, nearly leaving him to die at the bottom of the lake. Before it could get away for good, Stitch grabbed onto the end of its tail as it flew over him, and was pulled behind the H-Viper as it breached into the air once again. As they rushed back under the water, Stitch fought the current tugging at him and pulled himself up the tail, using the spikes and laser guns as handholds. Hamsterviel flexed and swung the tail all about in an attempt to throw Stitch off, but his grip was too tight this time. He reached the energy ball generator as they breached once again and punched it with all his strength. Even though the generator was made from the same ultra-thick metal as the rest of the ship, it was no match for Stitch's indestructible gloves, and so it got damaged. As the vehicle shook, stalling in the air, Sparky climbed up the side of the Viper and started pulling at the claw holding the waterlogged Slugger. Stitch joined him a few seconds later, and together they managed to force it open, freeing their comrade as Hamsterviel managed to restart his engine and dive back towards the water. Slugger grabbed Sparky and Stitch and jumped off the Viper as it submerged, and flew them over to the fishing village that was still standing in the middle of the lake. There they landed, waiting for Hamsterviel's next attack.

…

Houdini trembled as she watched Kixx getting squashed by the giant foot. "That looks painful. Glad it's not happening to me."

"It could if you don't help him."

"Huh?" Houdini turned her head and saw Dracula, who had recovered somewhat from his burns. "How'd you get better so fast?"

"Ninjas heal quickly. Will you not help Master Kixx?"

Houdini nearly soiled herself at the thought. "G-go over there? Near the monster with the big smashing feet and bombs and flamethrowers and stuff? N-never!"

"If you do not, Kixx-sama will die," Dracula pointed out. "And what kind of ninja would you be if you let your master die?"

"But I'm not a ninja," Houdini pointed out.

"No, but you could be. You have the stealth and speed necessary for ninjas, all you lack is the courage." He pointed to Kixx. "This is it, the point of no return. Here is where you must decide which path you will follow for the rest of your life. Will you hide here like a craven coward as Kixx-sama is crushed, or will you conquer your fears and free him, proving yourself truly worthy of the title of ninja?"

Houdini looked across the battlefield at Kixx, the closest thing she had in the entire universe to a best friend. There was only one possible response she could give. "No."

Dracula almost fell over from surprise. "What?"

"No. It's too scary. Why don't you do it instead?"

Dracula stared at her in disbelief. Then he shook his head in disgust and spat in her face. "Disgraceful." He pulled out a shuriken and threw it, hitting the joint of the leg crushing Kixx. This paralyzed the limb and allowed him to get out from under it. Kixx quickly climbed up the immobilized leg, leaped into the air, and smashed into the cockpit, shattering the glass.

Frightened, Mertle ejected as the Walker collapsed beneath her. "My mech!" she cried.

Kixx grinned. "More like a mock now. Nice shot, Dracula!"

"Thank you, Kixx-sama."

Mertle fumed. "Big deal, so you beat my Walker! While we were fighting, the clones finished collecting fruit and went back into the ship. We're all ready for takeoff. So long, losers!" She flew her hoverchair into the cargo bay, which immediately closed. The ship rumbled and rose into the air, leaving Team Kickass behind as it flew away.

Kixx blinked. "…Well that was a complete and utter waste of our time."

…

The H-Viper erupted from the center of the village, destroying centuries-old houses and buildings. It fired lasers at Team Stitch, then smashed into the ground, digging back underneath the village. "Now that all three of us are together again, we have to find a way to stop that monster!" said Sparky.

Slugger got an idea. "When I was attached to that thing, I noticed you guys were only able to really damage it when you destroyed his energy ball or knocked his wheels back at him. The thick armor hides it, but that thing is really only one hit away from destruction. If we can trick him into generating an energy ball, we can beat him!"

"How do we do that?" asked Sparky.

The H-Viper erupted next to them, aiming its big laser at them. As it started charging, Stitch suddenly noticed its tail was a little too close to the ground and got an idea. He ran over to the Viper's tail, grabbed it, and started spinning the machine around in a circle. He released it, hurling the mech out into the lake. It hit the water with a huge splash and went under. Stitch grinned. "I think that'll do it."

The Viper burst out of the water. The Doctor was furious. "HOW DARE YOU TREAT MY BELOVED VIPER WITH SUCH DISRESPECT?! For that, I'm not going to blast you with my energy ball like I was going to, now I'll just keep using my lasers until you sink to the bottom of the lake and DIE!"

Stitch winced as the others glared at him. "Oops."

Hamsterviel fired his laser at some of the supports holding up the village, destroying them. The section Stitch and his friends were standing on immediately began to collapse.

Slugger grabbed his cousins and quickly flew to a stable section before they fell into the lake. "Well that went well!" he said sarcastically.

"If he's not going to use the energy ball, and he won't fly close enough for me to grab or punch him, we're going to need a new strategy. We need an attack strong enough to penetrate that armor!" said Stitch.

Sparky thought a moment. "Slugger's Homerun Slam wasn't powerful enough, and I doubt my Thunderball will work either."

Stitch blinked. "Thunderball?"

"Hey, if he can name his moves, I can name mine, right? Maybe if we combine the two moves, it'll be powerful enough to destroy that thing once and for all!" Sparky said enthusiastically.

Hamsterviel jumped out of the water and blasted away at some more supports, sinking the section of village they were on. Slugger flew the others to a safe spot before they could sink. "Okay, but we'd better do it fast, we're running out of places to stand!" said Slugger.

Stitch curled into a ball and hopped into Sparky's hands. Sparky started charging him with electricity. The H-Viper jumped out of the water and blasted their section of the village, sending it down into the lake. Sparky almost dropped Stitch, but Slugger grabbed them and flew them over to the last remaining section of land. As the Viper jumped out of the water one more time, Sparky released Stitch, throwing him up to Slugger with the speed of a bullet. Time seemed to slow down as Slugger swung his bat at Stitch. The water dripping off of the Viper slowed in mid-drop, the lasers' charging time increased, and the supercharged ball that was Stitch seemed to hover as it rotated in the air. The instant Slugger's tail made contact with Stitch, the 626th experiment shot off like a laser beam, piercing the H-Viper's chest and ripping through the other side like it was wet tissue paper. As arcs of electricity and explosions began to blossom from the machine, Stitch landed on one of the few remaining pieces of bridge out in the lake and struck a stylish pose.

"NOOOOO!" Hamsterviel quickly ejected as segment by segment, the Viper's tail exploded, then the entire craft fell into the water below. Moments later, it exploded, sending up a huge pillar of water and causing a tidal wave which shattered the remnants of the fishing village and threatened to capsize the few planks Stitch was standing on. Using surfing techniques learned back on Kauai, Stitch jumped onto a single plank and used it as a surfboard to ride the tidal wave as it rushed to the shore, battering down trees and putting out brush fires that had been started by Sparky's frenzied flight. Stitch jumped onto a tree and waited for the tide to recede, then climbed back down to the ground, which was now covered with fish displaced by the tidal wave. He grinned as Slugger and Sparky flew down to meet him, and the three performed their victory pose, further infuriating Hamsterviel. "YOU…YOU…YOU LITTLE TROGS! YOU DESTROYED MY VIPER!"

Slugger stuck out his tongue. "Serves you right for capturing me and dragging me underwater all those times!"

"Yeah, we'll play with you again some other time!" Stitch taunted.

As Hamsterviel's blood boiled, his ship appeared overhead. A hatch opened on the underside, and a tractor beam locked onto the doctor, carrying him up to the ship. "THIS ISN'T OVER!" he promised. He vanished into the ship, which then took off.

As the ship left, Team Angel came running over to the trio. "Finally, we've been looking all over for you guys!" said Angel.

"Are you three okay?" asked Clip.

"Well, the Stitch Machine's totaled, and we almost got killed by a huge mechanical serpent, but other than that we're fine," Sparky said.

"That's good. Well, except for the part about your cruiser getting wrecked, that sucks. Do you guys wanna come in our ship?" asked Finder.

"Won't it be cramped, with all nine of us in there?" asked Stitch.

"You don't really have much of a choice, seeing as how your ship was destroyed. Either you come with us or you stay here on this planet. What do you say?" asked Angel.

Stitch shrugged. "Well, since we don't really have a choice…lead the way!" The six experiments headed back into the jungle.

…

Gantu's tiny ship rounded the sun as it continued on its course. Inside, Gantu relaxed in his chair as daydreams about his home planet ran through his mind. It had been so long since he had last been there, on a trip to rejuvenate himself at the Purity Ocean. He hadn't taken the time to look around and really enjoy the sights. He promised himself that after he had purified his body, he would remain on his world for the rest of his life to enjoy its natural wonders.

The computer beeped, bringing him out of his fantasies. "Destination reached." Gantu eagerly looked out the window to see the blue-green sphere that was his home.

Except it wasn't there. The spot where his planet should have been was empty. Confused, he checked the computer. According to the data, this was supposed to be the location of his home world. So where was it?

He was startled when a screen lit up, revealing the smug face of Hamsterviel. "If you are hearing this message, then you have reached the destination your navigation computer states is your home planet. And I'm sure you're wondering why this space where your planet is supposed to be is empty. Did the computer make a mistake? Are we perhaps in the wrong solar system? No, my dear Whark, the answer is simple: I blew it up. Your world was an excellent test subject for my antimatter bombs. Not even dust was left from the explosion." Gantu stared at the screen in disbelief, feelings of hatred and sorrow and fury mixing about in his mind. "Now I'm sure you're wondering why I destroyed your planet, right? The answer is equally simple: because I could. And because it would allow the seed of evil that has been festering in your heart all this time to fully bloom into a flower of vengeance." Shackles sprung out of the arms and legs of Gantu's chair, restraining him in his seat. "We have much work to do, you and I." A helmet lowered onto the Whark's head. "It's time to get started."

There was a flash of light. Gantu screamed.

…

An eerie ending, yes? I bet you're all wondering what the doc's gonna do with Gantu? Find out next time!