A word on my writing

I had always suspected that I was going to continue writing despite what I said. The reason being was not really your words of encouragement, or even any kind of principle. It was because I just can't not write. I write out of necessity, because whenever I'm not writing on a regular basis, I fall into a slump of depression and lethargy.
Than why did I ask you for your support during this time? I believe I already stated that. I just needed to know that you people could sympathize with me. And believe me, what you said really helped, especially you BlueFox. You were the only one that seemed to actually try to relate to me on my own terms, rather than just offering a very demanding form of encouragement or villainizing Disney Channel. (although you did do some of that)
So that said, let's get on with…

Review Respones

To Travis Hicks: You're whining isn't going to make me write any faster so just sit down and wait patiently like everyone else!

To Xoverguy: Let's just say I'm not the kind of person who would be inclined to write a romance between Lilo and Stitch. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it, I'm even a furry! But that's just not my particular style. I leave that to other authors.
Errr… I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there are places and times in our world that really are 'that screwed up'. In fact I based chapter 16 on things I heard about the regime of Pol-Pot. You should look into it.

To A. Nonymous: If you can't think of why I can't take your suggestion, then try looking up a small series of documents called Copyright Laws.

To Nukerjsr: I'll say it one more time. When you read the final climax between Stitch and Emperor 626. I'm fairly sure that at least some of you will be thinking 'this guy has seen Kill Bill one too many times.'

The sky that morning was almost black with cloud cover, but not a single raindrop could be felt. Little could be heard over the wind except for voices, and no one was talking. Sam's hand now holding open the front door of the abandoned lava observatory, Stitch walked inside with his arms over Lilo's shoulders, and her head resting on his. Lilo would barely walk herself, Stitch almost had to drag her inside, and that's how it was the entire way up the stairs to the observatory.

As soon as she was inside, Lilo pulled herself over to the wall just right of the door and plopped down against the wall, holding her chin in her hands. Considering Stitch's strength, it would be far from useless trying to drag Lilo away from that spot she was sulking in, but doing so would probably upset her, so he just sat next to her and laid his head on her shoulder.

The two of them barely noticed Sam coming in after them, or one of the rebels, a small man seemingly in his early twenties, looking at them from across the hall. Sam didn't seem to notice the other guy either, as he simply briskly through the now almost empty lobby toward one of the back rooms where Jumba's DVD still resided inside his laptop. Something stopped him. A hand pulled at his arm causing him to turn his head to he side and see one of the lower ranking rebels looking at him with a kind of unusual intensity for someone like himself.

Sam shrugged his arm, releasing it from the man's hand.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Did you show her the center of the monument?"

Sam stared back at the man without answering.

"You didn't show her the center, did you?" He asked again, and again no answer. "You didn't show her did you… … You did didn't you?"

Sam's answer was quick an abrupt. "I don't believe in holding anything back."

Both of them turned their heads to look at Lilo and Stitch sitting, leaning against each other, just to the side of the main entrance. They were so still they looked like they were asleep, though from their eyes being so wide open, and the occasional blink, it was clear that they weren't.

"How did she react?" the man's voice only came out as a whisper. Both of them still stared at Lilo and Stitch as they talked.

"That's difficult to say."

"You were there weren't you?"

"Reacting to something like that is a process that takes days. Anything I can tell you about her reactions of the moment would be irrelevant. I can only tell you it's something she needed to see."

"And just why the hell did she need to see her parents shriveled heads in a jar?"

At last Sam looked back toward the young man, who then looked back at him.

"Just in case she has to live the rest of her life in this world, that was the only way she could truly understand what it would be like. And even if she returns to the world she once knew, it would be a constant reminder to her not to take what she has for granted."

The two of them stared at Lilo and Stitch for some time longer. Neither of them moved the entire time except to blink, and occasionally to take an especially deep breath. They each wondered what Lilo and Stitch must've been thinking about, if they were thinking about anything at all. It was strange seeing them coming back from such an experience and not really seeming emotional in any visible way. If anything, they just looked tired. An odd silence was shared between the two of them. Odder yet, such silences are usually ridden with anxiety, but it seemed their silence was more a way to escape from anxiety. If one of them said a word, they would both have to talk about anything and everything until they were too exhausted to even move their lips. It was much better to just wait until their thoughts were in order so any conversation would have a coherent direction. They both knew this, so they did nothing but lean against each other and remain silent.

Convinced that nothing more was going to happen that would be worth paying attention to, Sam turned away, but was once again stopped.

"Where are you going?" The young man asked.

"Back to my room." Sam answered. "Back to that disk."

Sam continued on his way until there was no longer any sight of him.

And so, the young man staring at Lilo and Stitch, thinking it best just to leave him be, also turned around and left, but not before pausing to look over his shoulder at them one last time.

Lilo and Stitch were now totally alone together. This was a sort of relief to both of them, though neither was sure why. Being alone it seemed easier not to think, not as to forced thoughts from one's mind, but simply to rest one's thoughts until they had enough energy and focus to do something productive with them.

A bolt of lightning flashed across one of the windows. Lilo's eyes darted up to see it. A few seconds later came the thunder. It was one of those slow thunders that sounded more like a very long rumble finalized by a light explosion, rather than the sudden cracking and recracking that are more commonplace.

It was too late now. That flash had focused the attention of Lilo and Stitch on something. Now with their attention focused, it couldn't be unfocused, and that led to the typical anxiety normally associated with long silence.

Both knew now that they would have to say something, and both their minds were a bustle with what they could possibly say that would have the least possible effect on their current mental states without sounding like they were trying to avoid the subject they both knew they were trying to avoid.

Stitch managed to beat Lilo to it.

"It is not good… to sit on cement floor." Stitch said. "Too cold."

"Where do you think we should go?" Lilo asked back. Neither of them moved a muscle except their lips when talking.

"Somewhere to… rest."

"The balcony over the lava flow sounds good."

Still leaning against each other, Lilo and Stitch got up and began walking out of the room.

On the way to the balcony, Lilo and Stitch had attracted some attention from those whom they passed by. Though none of them dared to stop and talk to them, most stopped what they were doing to follow them. It was just as well for Lilo and Stitch, they continued as if nothing were happening.

When they were finally at the balcony, sitting down on the ledge, each leaning against a column that supported the rail, their legs dangling down over the sides, a number of people had gathered in the room just behind it, all looking at them.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" One of them asked.

"If anyone can get her over what she saw, Stitch can." Another assured the first one.

"Quiet, their talking." Whispered a third harshly.

Lilo and Stitch could both feel the heat from the distant lava crawling up their legs like dripping water, only this water would drip upward. It was only a slight heat from the distance they were away from it. This was good though. With the sky clouded over for the past two days the sun was not there to heat the ground, and it had become pretty cold. It felt good to have their legs and feet warm while the rest of them was cool, it was usually the opposite, and that was an unpleasant sensation.

Despite the clouds for the past two days, it had not rained that entire time, and the lava flowed like honey with only a thin, rippled black skin. While it was true that the best lava to observe was the nameless state in between A'a and Pahoehoe, given a choice between the two, the liquid form was definitely preferred by vast majority. Lava could do many things with one's mind. To Nani it was once a way of becoming hypnotized and forgetting about the rest of the world, but to Lilo and Stitch right now, it seemed actually as a catalyst for their attention spans. It was so much easier to focus staring at that glowing orange stuff, and better focus meant a better ability to deal with what they both knew they were going to have to talk about.

"Lilo?" Stitch asked.

"Yes?"

Stitch blinked a few times before continuing, as if not knowing exactly what to say at that moment, even though he did. "What was real reason, for wanting to save parents?"

Lilo sighed an closed her eyes, only to find that doing so blocked the view of the lava, and was slowly bringing her back to the confused state she was once in, so she opened them again.

"I told you." Lilo said. "I wanted to have a whole family again."

"Naga… Lilo does have whole family. Me, Nani, Jumba, and Pleakly."

"No Stitch." Lilo sighed. "It's different. A whole family is a family where you haven't lost anyone."

Stitch flicked his ears on reflex, and then blinked. Was Lilo saying that even with all these people who cared so much about her, even with him, her life was incomplete? It made him begin to wonder whether or not he was really that important to her.

"Is family broken, even with us?"

"No!" Lilo yelled out, turning toward Stitch, expecting to find him looking at the lava, but instead he was looking at her. This made her a bit self-conscious and she lowered her head.

"No." Lilo whispered. "I have a wonderful family with all of you. I couldn't wish for a better family…"

Stitch saw his opportunity to punch a hole right through Lilo's logic, and he didn't hesitate to take it. "Family either broke or not broke, which?"

"No!" Lilo saw what Stitch was trying to do, and she didn't like it. What if he proved her wrong after all? What if he proved that she had a complete family and a complete life even without her parents? There would be then no reason o her to have tried to save them. "No Stitch! It's not the same without mom and dad! There's just something missing without them."

"What is it?" Stitch asked, knowing she would never be able to answer that question.

As expected, Lilo just stared at her dumbfounded. What was missing in her life, a mother and father, that's what! But she knew that's not what Stitch meant. What did her parents once give her that she didn't have with him, and Jumba, and Pleakly. Lilo was at a loss for an explanation.

It was strange that she felt something was missing in her life, even though logically there shouldn't be. Try as she might, Lilo couldn't think of any answer that would satisfy. Stitch had won. He had beaten her.

"What do you think is missing Stitch?" Lilo said, in an only implied admission of defeat.

"Meega konota gaba?" Stitch hesitated, and rightfully so. His ears drew back and his eyes squinted in thought. Even at this point, his mastery of the English language wasn't enough to adequately explain something as abstract as what he was thinking. He knew exactly what to say, but couldn't find the words for it. It would have to something more than just words than. If he could only explain simple concepts, than he would have to do more than just explain what he was thinking.

Lilo stared at Stitch, waiting amazingly patiently for his answer. And then it came to him. His ears rose, and his eyes brightened. He turned back toward Lilo

"Is Naga outside where Lilo was missing something… but was inside."

Stitch pressed his paw up against the center of Lilo's chest, just below the neck. Lilo looked down at that paw. She watched it as it lowly lifted itself off of her chest and lay back down on the floor. She understood instantly what Stitch was trying to get at. It wasn't the absence of her parents that made her feel so empty, because Stitch had made her family and her life whole again she didn't need to feel empty. It could then only be something self-imposed. But that still didn't explain what it was.

Lilo looked back into Stitch's face with a confused and barely sad expression. He knew exactly what that meant. She needed more of an explanation than what he gave her. This was getting more and more difficult to clarify by the moment, for both of them. But somehow they had to find a way to accurately describe what was so wrong with Lilo, or else they might never know. Stitch sighed, wondering if this was a task he would be capable of.

Something extraordinary happened just then. The words came to Stitch. Everything he needed to tell Lilo what he thought in depth were right there, and all he had to do was say them. This was something that had never happened before, and it amazed Stitch more than anyone else. But he didn't know how long this moment of clarity would last, or if such a thing would ever happen again, so there was no time to marvel at it. He had to talk, and he had to talk right now.

"Stitch think Lilo never let Lilo get over crash and parents."

Lilo looked over at Stitch. What he said had just struck a nerve. It made her pulse race and her hair stand on end. What about those words could be causing that kind of fear. The only explanation was that they were true.

"I didn't let myself get over their deaths?" Lilo asked.

"Ih."

"But why would I do that to myself?"

"Only Lilo can answer that."

Lilo turned her head back to the lava, searching for why she would deliberately put herself through that kind of pain. It only took a few seconds of digging to find the answer.

"I think it was because if I got over it, that would mean I didn't really care, and then that would make me a bad person."

"Oh… Naga!" Stitch said shaking his head at Lilo. "Naga bad person. Naga not care."

Lilo just barely started to cry as she spoke. "How would you know?"

"Because, Lilo always be sure to remember them. With pictures, with uhmmm… books and cards and things."

"You mean their journals and IDs?"

"Ih!"

"Then there was also that little Elvis Bhudda, dad's old sunglasses, and his trashy surfboard."

"Ih!"

"And… don't forget mom's old hula trophy."

"Ih! Is now lamp! Remember?"

"I can't count how many times that thing got broke."

"But Lilo always fix it."

Lilo sighed. Her tears just now beginning to give way, she looked back down at the flowing lava. A bubble rose up from the rippled black skin and popped releasing a puff of thick black smoke.

"It's very, very strange." Lilo whispered to herself, but Stitch overheard.

"Gaba?"

Lilo jumped a bit turning back toward Stitch.

"Oh. It's just, I'm thinking about them, but I'm not sad."

"Gabaga?" Stitch said, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, that's never happened before." Lilo turned back toward the lava before continuing. "I think, if they have to die I that accident, I won't feel bad about it."

Stitch racked his brain for something to say that would fit the moment. That was odd though. He wondered if his moment of clarity had finally faded away. But he realized it was still there, and that he couldn't think of anything to say because there was nothing to say that would be better than silence. So he too turned back toward the lava, both of them watching it drift by until a few shadows finally overtook them.

Lilo and Stitch climbed back up and turned around to see quite a few young rebels standing right behind them. One by one, as if they were all the same person, they began to speak.

"You know, if you're gonna' go back an' change history, then that means you're gonna' change all our lives too."

"That means none of us will ever meet each other, or you two."

"But before the Pacific Empire, we all had lives and homes and families of our own, just like what you described. Not anymore. The emperor took all that away from us."

"I'd much rather have my old life back, even if it means we won't rememba' any of each otha', or you."

"I think that can be said about all of us."

With nothing more to be said, Everyone on the balcony, Lilo and Stitch, and all the young rebels turns back to watch the lava flowing by.

"We can't make a move until the troops' weakness is found! It's too dangerous I told you!"

Sam shouted out at some stocky middle-aged Tongan rebel while banging his fist into the side of the wall. It felt a bit softer than hitting a wall should've. He looke to his side and found that his hand went straight through the drywall and had landed on one of the beams, but even that cracked with the force of his fist.

Sam instantly regained his composure, drew his hand from he wall and used it to slick back his unkempt fro. It took him a second to realize just where he was what with his sudden outburst. He was inside his dark office looking through that slideshow again, the one of the imperial soldier's anatomy. He went through that thing time and time again, hoping to find something, anything that he could use against those things. Then this guy had the audacity to burst into the room and tell him that they needed to strike at Capitol City A-S-A-F-P.

"No!" The Tongan shouted back. "Waitin' hea's too dangerous. What wit' 'dat traita' among us."

"How do you know Nani's even got her facts straight on that huh?"

"You wanna' take 'dat risk, fine, not me. I don' wanna' have nut'n to do wid' it! And now's da' time cause de' empora's not gotten' back yet."

That was true. After the emperor's skirmish with Stitch three day's back, no one's heard or knows anything about his whereabouts. Considering his incredible power though, he was certainly alive, somewhere.

"We gotta' hit 'em before 'de empora' gets back ta' Capitol City, and before whoever's blabbin' to 'de empia' tells them whea' we are!"

Sam clenched his fists and clenched his teeth. He knew the Tongan was right. There would never be a better time to attack Capitol City than right now, and if Nani was right, if there was someone among them who's spilling their guts to the Pacific Empire on a daily basis, than this needs to be done A-S-A-F-P, just like this guy said.

Sam stared this man right in the eyes. The intensity was clearly there. He really believed what he was saying, and was ready to follow it through to the end.

Sam breathed heavily and relaxed his shoulders so he wouldn't yell when he talked. "Somehow I get the feeling Emperor 626 only wants us to think his whereabouts are unknown. Regardless, if we're going to fight imperial enemies, we need imperial weapons, and every attempt to buy, steal, or con any for ourselves has been a dismal failure."

"Every time we tried ta' steal 'dem before, we didn't have Stitch, or Skyboat Blue."

He was right, every time they tried to steal imperial technology, they never did have Stitch, or Skyboat Blue.

The moment seemed perfect. Lilo sat in the lap of a young woman, where she could just look over and see Stitch sitting in the lap of some young man. Though everyone there were strangers to Lilo and Stitch, seen many times, but never having had a serious conversation with, they already felt like they had known these people for years. And everyone was content simply to sit or stand there and watch the lava oozing by below. This was the most content Lilo had felt in a long time. Stitch could sense this, he could sense it in his gut, and he could sense it in his nose. Lilo's relaxation in turn relaxed Stitch, and this was now the most content he had felt in while as well.

The moment was perfect. But as so many times before, as always, the moment had the unfortunate habit of not lasting very long.

Sam swung open the sliding glass door to the balcony so hard that the glass shattered upon the frame's impact with the wall. Everyone jumped up with their hands at their pistols or knives, some of them even yelping as they did it, but then stared perplexed to see that their invader was in fact Sam Winnfield.

"I need to see Stitch." Sam said with a kind of quiet ferocity that frightened even those who knew him for years.

Stitch stepped forward nervously, his ears swept back and his hands clasped and just resting against his chest.

"We're going on a mission, and you need to dress in something classy."

The clouds had now cleared over a two-lane freeway hugging the southeast coast of Big Island. It had just rained and the air seemed fresher than it usually did, almost as fresh as the average day of the old Hawaii. All the plants seemed to sparkle in the dew, and only one thing seemed truly out of place.

A small convoy of five matte black semi trucks drove down the freeway from Capitol City to Hawaii-03, or what used to be the sizable town of Honuapo. In front and back, two matte black tanks escorted the convoy through down the highway. At least they looked like tanks. They were much smaller than what one would think when hearing the word tank. They were almost as small as minivans, and also unlike tanks, their surfaces were not at all boxlike, but sported stylish curves, not a single sharp angle would be found on them. Above the convoy, a single skyboat flew just ten feet above the third of the five semis.

Everything moved in perfect synchronization. If you didn't see the space between the vehicles, than you might conclude that there was only one missive vehicle there.

The convoy slowed to a halt at a sight in front of them.

The doors on the sides of the two front tanks slid open much like those of their airborne counterparts, and two imperial soldiers cautiously stepped out with plasma carbines in hand to see in person their greeters.

There were two other imperial soldiers staring back at them, each with two carbines, one in each hand. That might not have been surprising, but what was definitely surprising was who was standing right I between these soldiers. It was the emperor! He stood motionless wrapped in an orange shawl that seemed more like a robe on such small body, with that smug-ass smirk he always sported, and his head raised as if to say I'm better than you!

Emperor 626 had been found it seemed, but the soldiers were hesitant. The emperor's facsimile wasn't exactly secret knowledge, but the emperor was missing, and in the end, the instincts of the soldiers overruled logical thought, and they holstered their carbines, and knelt down.

At that instant, the costumed rebels beside Stitch fired their carbines at the kneeling soldiers, throwing their bodies what had to be thirty feet backward. Stitch threw off his shawl, sporting a plasma carbine of his own, and he and the rebels bombarded the skyboat with Plasma.

But the shields of the skyboat couldn't be overwhelmed before it opened fire and left nothing but craters where the two rebels once stood. The blasts knocked Stitch back with singed ears and the carbine flew from his hands.

In that time, the two tanks in the back had pulled up front and aimed their guns at Stitch, as had the skyboat. Stitch looked up at so many plasma cannons aimed right at him. His ears drooped and he went wide-eyed and wide jawed. That this was going to hurt would be the understatement of the day. But the instincts of the imperial soldiers couldn't be ignored so easily. They hesitated before firing at Stitch. They hesitated for several seconds.

This was just long enough for a sudden small earthquake to strike. No! It wasn't an earthquake. Something big was pushing its way up from underneath the sand of the beach just to the left of the freeway.

It was Skyboat Blue, coming out blasting all of its guns at once.