Stitch's Test of the Heart.

Stitch walked down his hallway, not really observing the surroundings, for his mind was on other things. He was worried about Lilo, that she might be hurt, or suffering. His mind was a blur with the thoughts running through his head, worries of home, worries of Serenity, and anger for Chaos. His world had been turned upside down, and one experiment was to blame...

Stitch looked ahead, and was surprised to see an object blocking his way. It was a large ring, and in the ring appeared to be a large wall of water. It rippled calmly in the ring. Stitch stared at it, and understood it to be the next test.

Stitch took a step forward, and slowly reached his hand towards the water. He jerked his hand away, the old fear of water still remained within him. Stitch stared at the water, it rippled calmly in front of him, yet still he feared the icy liquid...

A vision of Lilo appeared in his head. She was smiling, a sweet beautiful smile that made him feel warmer inside. Stitch stared at the watery portal, knowing that beyond it, was Lilo, that beyond this portal, was his life...

Stitch steeled himself, and drew in a deep breath, and muttered, "Well, Geronimo..."

With that, he ran forward, closed his eyes, and jumped into the portal, and the feeling of ice cold water, rushed over him...

Stitch felt like he was rushed to a far off place. He slowly opened his eyes, and found he was in a lush tropical forest. Stitch examined the surroundings, and figured he was on Earth, on the land of Hawaii. Stitch gazed at the lush trees around him, he heard the bubbling of water not far off, and could hear the singing of birds in the trees. Stitch smiled despite the fact he knew this was a test, and took a step forward, and stumbled over his feet, and fell flat on his face.

Stitch shook his head, and checked his legs, and was shocked. He was back to being small, his genetic enhancements were not installed, and he was once again, very short. Stitch slowly stood, and checked himself, making sure nothing else was different. He found his old self to be satisfactory, and began to walk in the direction he estimated was town.

Soon after Stitch began walking, he began to hear something. Stitch perked up his ears and listened, it was a loud thumping, and it was growing louder and louder. An old fear awakened in Stitch, and he turned in the direction of the noise, to see what appeared to be a whale on two legs burst through the trees. Of course, it wasn't a whale, it was the former Captain Gantu. He stood well over ten feet tall, and was a dark grey color. His head resembled that of a shark with a short nose, and he had two grey tusk like appendages hanging on the side of his head. The captain was one of Stitch's oldest foes, and rival hunter of the experiments...

Captain Gantu smiled, and it was at this time, that Stitch noticed that Gantu's eyes were red. Gantu continued to smile, and said, "Now abomination, the final hunt begins..."

Gantu raised his gun, and fired a plasma shot at Stitch, Stitch dodged it expertly, and stuck his behind out to Gantu, and shouted, "MEEGA NALA QUEESTA!"

Gantu took no notice this time, and ran forward, and sent a punch to where Stitch had once stood. Stitch anticipated the blow, and ran up Gantu's arm, and sent the captain flying with a kick. Gantu slammed into a palm tree, and soon after rose once more. Gantu ran forward, and Stitch charged as well, and an old battle between rivals began. Gantu sent blow after blow to Stitch, occasionally firing his plasma pistol. Stitch dodged the shots and blows, and continued to retaliate as best he could.

Yet Stitch noticed something different about Gantu, for whenever Stitch knocked him down, Gantu would simply rise as if the blow were nothing, and continue his assault upon Stitch. The captain never seemed to tire, and Stitch was slowly beginning to feel fatigue as the battle wore on. In a swift kick, Gantu sent Stitch flying into a tree, and Stitch sat there, tired and in pain, as the captain approached. Stitch looked to see an experiment container in the captain's hands, and Gantu smiled and said, "Now abomination, your little adventure is at an end...time to say hello to the good Dr. Hamsterveil."

The glass container came down, and Stitch's vision went black, and the feeling of cold water, swept over him...

Stitch opened his eyes, and immediately noticed that his genetic enhancements were back, for he was back to his original height. Stitch's vision was still very fuzzy, yet he immediately noticed something was wrong. Stitch could see something, something beside him, it was so blurry, but then it immediately flew above him. Stitch rubbed his eyes, and his vision cleared, and he saw that the object was a sea gull, and it had not taken off for it was hovering motionless in the air. Stitch immediately realized that the bird had not taken off, but he was falling...

Stitch looked up, or in this case down, for he was falling headfirst, and saw the ocean stretching forth below him.

Stitch began to panic, he began to flail about in mid air, trying desperately to change his course, trying to aim for some small piece of land that might save his life. It was to no avail though, for Stitch noticed that there was no land about, only the deadly ocean that stretched onwards into infinity...

Stitch still flailed around, the ocean growing larger and larger as Stitch plummeted towards it. Stitch watched the ocean, watched it tumultuously ravage on below, it's waves crashing together, it's roar almost deafening. Stitch watched the ocean, his fear growing as it grew closer and closer, waiting to swallow him up in it's massive maw. Stitch began to think, think of anything to help him before the end...

Lilo, he thought of Lilo...

He hit the ocean, and the feeling of ice cold water swept over him...

Stitch was standing in a parking lot. He looked around, glad to see the ocean was not below him, instead it was lovely black pavement. Stitch noticed he was dressed in a tuxedo, and noticed now that he was standing in front of the church. It was a beautiful church, the white walls gleaming in the sunlight. Stitch noticed that wedding decorations were up, and the bells were ringing. His heart began to race, for he felt excited, 'Perhaps...Lilo and I...'

His happiness faded when he saw the sign in front of the church. He felt a strange feeling in his stomach, and his heart failed to beat. Sweat appeared on his temple, and Stitch felt tears welling up inside his eyes. He quickly turned away from the sign, and walked quickly inside. He walked past the sign that read, "Welcome! For the marriage of Keoni Jameson and Lilo Pelekai."

Stitch walked up the steps to the church, he knew the test was inside, perhaps there was a chance that Lilo wanted him instead.

The doors opened, and Nani walked outside. She saw Stitch, and smiled and waved, saying, "Oh good you're here! We couldn't begin the wedding without the best man! Listen, Lilo's asked if you would come to her room, just go down the hall there," Nani pointed to the hallway past the main room, "and it's the last door on the right. You might want to hurry, the wedding's about to begin!"

Nani turned and hurried off to do other business. The room he now stood in had three doors, two on the left and right of the rooms, leading to different hallways, and one large door leading to the sanctuary. Lovely wedding decorations were hung everywhere, and flowers adorned every corner of the room. Stitch noticed Komalla and Serenity standing by the door to the sanctuary, they were the ring boy and flower girl, respectfully. Serenity saw him, and waved, a smile on her face. Stitch waved back, but did not return the smile, and he hurried down the hall that Nani had indicated.

Stitch walked briskly down the hall, hurrying, trying to find whether or not that this was really happening. He came to Lilo's door, and stopped. He knew that she would be behind it, that she would be there, the woman he loved, the woman that was for someone else. Part of Stitch felt like he needed to knock, yet another part felt he should turn away and run. Stitch stood by the door, his heart was racing, his hand was shaking as he reached upwards, sweat beaded his temples as he knocked twice. From inside the room, Lilo's voice could be heard, "Come in!"

Stitch carefully put his hand on the door, and opened it, and quietly entered the room. The room was empty, it wasn't a very large room, the light colors showing it to be a children's Sunday school room. A single window filtered light in, casting lovely rays upon Lilo, who stood in the room in a lovely wedding gown. Stitch gazed at her, she had her back to him, but she looked so lovely in the dress.

Lilo turned, and Stitch saw her as if for the first time. She wore gorgeous ear rings, and white gloves adorned her hands. Her hair was long and flowing, and sparkled in the afternoon sun. her dress was long and gorgeous, and Stitch marveled at her, for he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

Lilo smiled warmly at him, "Stitch, you're late! About time you got here..."

Stitch didn't know what to say, she looked so happy, so at peace. He finally found the words he was looking for, "Nani said you asked to see me."

Lilo smiled and nodded, "Yeah," she said hesitantly, "I needed to know something."

Stitch's thoughts immediately picked up, 'I'll marry you! He's wrong for you! Of course I love you! We belong together...'

Stitch looked at her, and said, "What's that?"

Lilo walked to him, and stood directly in front of him, her face became serious. She looked at him with those soft doe eyes, and asked him, "I'm really happy with Keoni, I love him, and I want to spend my life with him. I know this may sound strange, but I wanted to ask you for your blessing, because I want to know, that this is okay with you, do you understand?"

Stitch's mind whirled, so many thoughts sprang into his head. Thoughts of sweeping her into his arms, and taking her for himself. Thoughts of saying that Keoni was wrong for her. All these thoughts buzzed through Stitch's mind, yet one thing caught his eye. Lilo was happy, she was truly happy now, she stood in front of him on her wedding day, asking for his blessing, it was a torture in it's own, yet in another way, Stitch felt happy.

Stitch looked at her, she was happy. That was something Stitch wanted dearly for Lilo, no matter what, he wanted her to be happy. Stitch thought of Keoni, the man that had won her heart, the man that would be with her forever, the man that wasn't Stitch. Still Stitch looked at her, his Lilo, his love, his life, and understood. He could only do one thing now, only one thing that would make this all right...

"Lilo, you have my blessing."

Lilo smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. She leapt into Stitch's arms, and said, "Thank you Stitch."

Stitch held her close, remembering this embrace. Hot tears ran down his face, they didn't stop, he couldn't help it. He held her close, he had just given her away, lost her to another. Yet, still, she was happy, and that was all that mattered to Stitch...

Stitch stayed there a moment longer, holding Lilo close, then the feeling of ice cold water, spread over him...

Stitch fell from the portal, he fell on his hands and his knees. Tears ran from his eyes as he thought about the last vision. He pounded the ground in anger, cried in sadness, and kept telling himself, 'It wasn't real...'

Stitch stood, fur wet from the crying, and drew the Omega Sword. He turned and sliced the machine in two, and watched as the portal fell apart, and the watery ripple, evaporated into nothingness. Stitch watched, and wiped his eyes. He turned and walked down the hallway, and entered the small room near the door. Serenity was waiting there for him, and he came upon her, and found that her eyes were puffy and slightly red.

Stitch walked over to her, and hugged her close. He had no idea of the things she had gone through, but he knew that if they were even as half as horrible as the ones he had suffered, she needed someone now too. Wordlessly, they say together for a moment, and Stitch looked at her, tears in his own eyes, and asked, "Are you okay to go on?"

Serenity nodded, then looked at Stitch, "I hope whatever's through that door is ready to have it's ass kicked."

Stitch chuckled, "Let's find out."

They rose, and ventured to the door. Stitch reached up and pressed the button, showing the path that led to their next challenge...