I don't know that many alien words, but I'm trying to include some. I think that the way you spell those words doesn't matter really, since there are lots of words which nobody knows the true spellings of, I've spelled them the way I think is right.

And if you see whole sentences in italics, that means it's the alien language which has been translated.

Chapter 2: The Shining Path

'Oh, Lilo!' Nani exclaimed. 'I thought we already settled this. I said no more experiments in the house.'

Lilo protested. 'But Nani! It's just for a little while. I'll find a home for her soon, but until then she needs somewhere to sleep. Please?'

'Just how long is she gonna stay here?' At this point Stitch and 623 walked into the kitchen where Lilo and Nani were talking.

'Well, I've got to think of a place where she belongs,' Lilo explained. 'And I've still got to name her… but before that, we've got to figure out a way to make her good. At the moment Stitch is trying to show her how to be good.'

They watched as Stitch demonstrated the correct way to find food. She watched as he opened the fridge, took out a carton of orange juice, and drank all of it in one go. He considered the empty carton for a few seconds, then chewed it up and swallowed it, thus teaching her another of Stitch's life rules: always eat the container.

Nani looked at Lilo with concern. 'So if this thing's not good… doesn't that make it evil?'

'Don't worry about a thing, Nani,' was the determined reply. 'Stitch has it all under control and she'll be turned to good in no time.'

Stitch took 623 and they left the room. Nani didn't notice – she was worried about the safety of her Ohana, as well as the welfare of her personal belongings. Lilo hadn't exactly denied her accusation of that thing being evil… who knows what it might do?

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Stitch took 623 by the paw and led her across the living room to the sofa, ready to teach her about another important aspect of his life.

'Naptime,' he proclaimed, jumping onto a cushion and settling down to sleep. 623 did the same, but regarded him with confusion all the same. She twitched uncomfortably, how was she supposed to sleep? An almost overpowering instinct was telling her to jump up and burn the wooden bench to the ground, but she closed her eyes as the feeling was defeated by her will to do what Stitch asked her to.

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Meanwhile, Lilo was visiting Jumba in his room to ask for help.

'Why is it taking so long to make her be good? We had all those other experiments that stopped being destructive right after Stitch told them not to.'

'Maybe is luck of draw. The will of some experiments' cannot be broken so easily. Remember, I did not design these creatures to change immediately to good,' he chuckled.

'Don't you have any tips? Advice? Anything? We don't have many ideas of how to make something good.'

'All right, all right, I will tell little girl this. Remember that what you would call "evil" experiment is one which still obeys the original programming I set for it, and will pursue evil purposes. Experiment that is "good" is one which had been taught to ignore its instincts to destroy and can think for itself. Will make its own decisions based on what experiment itself wants to do, not what I told it to. If you want tip, try to give 623 opportunities to choose action for herself, and if she chooses good choice may speed up process. If she chooses to obey her programming to rip things apart, means is not completely good yet.'

Lilo frowned in thought. 'Maybe it would help if I got out the water bottle of karmic cleansing…'

Jumba grunted. 'Remember that experiment can still be unpredictable, even if is turned to good. 626 is considered to be good now, but even he gets out of control sometimes and claws things to shreds.'

Lilo nodded. 'Thanks, Jumba!' she called, running out of the room and back to the living room. 'Hey Stitch! I have some new ideas to –,' she stopped as she entered the room and saw the two experiments completely asleep on opposite ends of the couch. With a smile on her face she left them to their dreams and went to finish preparing 623's bed.

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The next couple of days went by in a rush. They kept 623 inside the house at all times and, thankfully, she didn't burn it to the ground. They managed to prevent her from using fireballs, but sometimes they would accidentally make her angry and she'd do hundreds of dollars worth of damage to whatever unfortunate object was within her reach. Lilo eventually gave up on making a bed for her; she was much happier just sleeping on the sofa. Lilo tried to think of all sorts of different ways to bring her to her senses, and she seemed to think quite clearly sometimes. Lilo felt that pretty soon she'd be completely good, so Stitch helped by telling her the story of how he had come to be on Earth.

'So I pulled the truck to a stop, got in, and drove it straight into the lava. Then I pulled the side open and BOOM, I was shooting into the air and smashed into Gantu's ship…'

'Naga!' she gasped.

'Ih!' he continued, and absent-mindedly put his tongue into his nose while he was thinking. She looked at him curiously until he realised and took it out, saying, 'Oh, sorry.' She thought for a moment, then stuck out her own tongue. It was orange and forked at the end, allowing her to reach into both nostrils at once. After trying it she giggled, and Stitch laughed, glad to have found another cousin who enjoyed the habit.

'Stitch?' Lilo interrupted. 'How's it going?' She stood over the two experiments, who were sitting on cushions. Stitch was in his dog disguise but they hadn't been able to convince the other to pull in her obviously alien parts.

'Good!' he replied.

'Is her English getting better?' she asked.

623 smiled at her and said, 'I like stories.'

'Great! Now Stitch, Nani's taking us out for pizza this evening.' Stitch stood up, ready to go. 'Hang on, there's a problem. She said that there's no way we're taking both of you guys with us, because just one experiment can cause enough trouble as it is.' Stitch looked at 623, wondering what Lilo was trying to tell him. 'She also said that we can't leave her here alone, because we don't know what she'll do. Basically, we're stuck with you two staying home this time.'

Stitch's ears drooped and he looked disappointed. 'Don't worry though!' she continued. 'I'll bring you both back some pizza. In a doggie bag!'

Jumba and Pleakley were leaving the house with Nani, so Lilo went over to her sister.

'Well?' the older girl asked.

'Stitch agreed to baby-sit,' she replied, glancing back as Nani left.

'Be good,' she advised, 'and whatever you do, don't let her have any coffee,' she added as an afterthought, before following her sister and closing the door.

623 and Stitch were left alone in the house. She turned to him and asked innocently:

'Kata baka-dooka?'

As they came home Lilo ran ahead of the others and got to the door first. She opened it carefully and asked, 'Stitch? Is everything okay?'

A horrible scene met her eyes. Everything she could see was smashed or broken, except the TV. The walls and ceiling has claw marks in them. The sofa was on fire. Suddenly Stitch ran in, all four arms working, and threw a towel over the blaze to stifle it.

'Stitch?!' she cried, 'What's going on?! What happened?!'

'Stitch tried, Lilo…' he replied. 623 came into view, scampering along the ceiling. She whooped crazily and ran in, then settled her self in the lampshade and swung back and forth.

'I know that look,' said Lilo ominously. 'I told you not to give her any coffee!'

Stitch whirled around, now finding that he was the one to blame. 'Naga! She not have coffee!'

'Then what did you do?!'

Stitch brought out his two extra arms, which were holding two empty bottles of vinegar. Lilo knew they had been almost full when they left.

'Oh no…' Lilo despaired, covering her face with her hands. 'When Nani sees this she's gonna -,'

'LILO!' screamed Nani's voice from the doorway. The others were back. 'What happened?!'

'It wasn't Stitch's fault!' she started, protecting her friend. 'It looks like vinegar has the same effect on her as coffee does with -,'

'You then!' Nani yelled, pointing her finger at 623, who was halfway through eating the carpet, 'I've had enough of you! Get out!'

The severity of Nani's voice made her stop. She looked about in confusion, as if she had just woken up. Then she ran down the wall and climbed out of the window.

Lilo backed away and ran outside, grabbing Stitch's paw as she did so. She was intending to help clear up later, she just didn't want to be around while Nani was still angry. The two of them went around to the back of the house and looked for the disgraced experiment. They found her sitting on the steps, looking very upset.

'Hey,' said Lilo softly, sitting down beside her. 'Are you okay?'

'Soka,' she replied tearfully. The experiment's fur was a dull, lifeless brown. She bit her lip and looked like she might cry.

'It's alright,' Lilo tried to cheer her up. 'This happens with Stitch too, and Nani gets mad at us as well. She gets mad a lot.' It didn't seem to be helping. 'I know that sometimes, you can't help doing these things. But it's okay, really. Now we know that we've gotta keep you away from that stuff the same way as we keep Stitch away from caffeine.' 623 looked a little better now.

'I'll go and talk to Nani,' Lilo resolved. 'When we first got Stitch she wanted to throw him out too, and I had to remind her that he was still Ohana, even though we only got him that morning. All of Stitch's cousins are Ohana too, and that means that you won't be left behind.' She finished up and went back to the house to reason with Nani. The two experiments were left in silence.

Finally 623 raised her head. 'Ohana?' she asked.

'Family,' he explained.

'Cousin?'

Stitch's vocabulary was insufficient to answer in English, so he spoke his own language again. 'Everyone on the island calls each other cousin. Not because they are related, but because they feel like a big family. We may not be related, but we are cousins, because all of Jumba's experiments are family.'

She considered this for a moment and felt uplifted. For the first time, she had a family. A really big one. It was something that she was a part of, and nothing could ever change that. Suddenly a wash of calm spread over her and she was content. Her thoughts, which had previously been clouded with the urge to run off and begin a rampage, were clear and defined. She looked at Stitch again in amazement as Lilo came running back.

'Okay, I talked to Nani about it, and we came to an agreement.' Lilo's tone didn't exactly express that the agreement was fair. 'She wants 623 to stay outside for a while. And use this…' she held up the collar and metal chain that had once been used to confine Stitch. 623 just looked at her as if she was mad. Lilo explained, 'I think that if you stay out here, you can show Nani that you know how to behave. We tried it with Stitch once. I know you could easily break out, but if you can do it everyone will know that you can control yourself and I know Nani will be okay with you. So will you try it?'

'Ih!' was the determined response.

They walked up the steps at the back of the garden to where the hammock was tied up. Lilo put the collar around 623's neck and attached the other end of the chain to one of the trees supporting the hammock.

'You can sleep in here tonight,' said Lilo, patting the fabric. 'We'll come and see you in the morning.' Lilo gave her some cold leftover pizza, then she and Stitch made their way back to the house to start clearing up. 623 tugged lightly on the chain to test it and jumped into the hammock. She lay down and was left only with her confused thoughts until she fell asleep.

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'I'm sorry, Lilo. I know I overreacted,' Nani said. 'But you know that we get enough damage around here with just one experiment. I think you'll have to find a home for her as soon as possible.'

'She was really upset yesterday,' replied Lilo. 'And I told you that it kinda wasn't her fault. Nobody knew that vinegar made her go psycho. I think you should go out there and talk to her.'

'Have Stitch talk to her,' Nani picked up her things, ready to leave. 'I've gotta go to work. He's the only one she listens to, anyway.'

She left the house and Lilo turned to Stitch. 'She's right, you should go see her. And take her breakfast up with you.' Lilo gave him a pineapple and he set off out to the back of the house. They had already discovered that 623 had a soft spot for pineapples. She seemed to like them almost as much as Stitch liked coconuts.

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623 was sitting behind one of the supporting trees, out of view of the house. She still had her collar on and was tethered to the tree, and seemed to be working on something. She heard Stitch as he left the house and realised that he was coming her way. Quickly she got up and jumped into the hammock, pretending to be asleep.

Stitch walked up and found her lying in the hammock. He wondered about her lying in this late and decided that all that destruction yesterday must have tired her out. He placed the pineapple carefully next to the tree where she would see it if she woke up and turned to leave, but stopped and took one last glance at her before he left.

'She actually looks rather cute when she's sleeping,' he thought, and smiled. Then he shook himself out of it and went back to the house.

As soon as her was far enough away, 623 popped open one yellow-ringed eye. She hoped he hadn't seen what she had been doing before he showed up. She jumped out of the hammock and went to get the pineapple. She could have eaten it in one bite, but instead she picked at it slowly and thought for a while. An idea surfaced in her mind. She finished off the pineapple and waited for a few more minutes, then heard everyone getting into the car and driving off. She decided that they must be going shopping somewhere, and everyone was gone. The house was now empty.

She had plenty of time to do it now. With minimal effort she bit clean through the chain tying her to the tree and made her way to the house. She took the shortest way in, through the window, and regretted breaking the deal she had made with Lilo. She carried on regardless, and went into Jumba and Pleakley's bedroom. She switched on Jumba's computer and searched through the experiment list until she found the one she hoped was there. Then she looked around the database, eventually pulling up the details of Gantu's crashed ship and researching him and his boss, Hamsterviel. Hurriedly she shut off the computer and went back outside. She went up the steps and passed under the hammock, pausing to look back on what she had been working on before Stitch had turned up. She shook her head and ran determinedly off into the forest behind.

The words on the trunk of the tree stood out where she had carved them earlier. The bark had proved to be no match for her nails. There in the wood of the palm tree was a large heart shape, and inside was written:

623

626