Three Months Later

No sound could be heard in the night; the birds cuddled together in their nests, animals on the ground lay in the lairs. The trees were still.

Nearby, a little girl and her best friend, who was an ocean-blue half-koala, half-dog alien, were sleeping peacefully in their dome-shaped bedroom. Nothing was going to disturb them that night.

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep.

Until now, that is. The little girl groaned, opened her eyes and saw her small round alien laptop, which was on her desk, was flashing its screen. She got out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and went to her desk as she mumbled, 'Stitch, wake up. Someone's calling.'

Stitch groaned, got out of bed and went to the desk, grumbling. The girl sat on the chair in front of the desk, clicked on the mouse button and immediately the computer screen came to life, almost blinding them. Once they were not blind, the girl noticed one of icons were bouncing up and down. Clicking on the icon, a window appeared with a live video feed of a pale blue horse-like alien.

It was the Grand Councilwoman, whom the girl and her friend recognised.

'I know it's late, Lilo and Stitch,' said the Grand Councilwoman, 'but there's a situation.'

'It's okay.' Lilo asked, yawning. 'What's the problem, Grand Councilwoman?'

'The United Galactic Federation is holding the annual Baaheth Jihadi Tournament soon.' The Grand Councilwoman replied.

Lilo frowned as she recognised the name of the tournament.

'Isn't that a fighting tournament where the UGF let anyone, including criminals, to enter?' She said, trying to keep her eyes open.

The Grand Councilwoman looked taken aback. Lilo smiled and said, 'I've been researching some history on Planet Turo.'

The Grand Councilwoman smiled and said, 'Yes, that's the one. But now there's a problem. Dr. Hämsterviel had entered his name in the tournament three months ago.'

That woke Lilo and Stitch up.

'What?!' They shouted at the same time.

'Are you crazy? You can't let him enter!' Lilo exclaimed.

The Grand Councilwoman arched an eyebrow ridge, slightly amused. Realising what she had just said, Lilo apologised, 'I'm sorry, Grand Councilwoman. But seriously, you can't let him compete.'

'I'm sorry, Lilo, but once a name is entered in the tournament's system,' the Grand Councilwoman said, 'it can't be taken out until it's over.'

'Stitch will enter.' Lilo said as she looked at her best friend. 'Right, Stitch?'

'Ih!' He said as he nodded. 'Meega enter tournament.'

The Grand Councilwoman smiled again and said, 'I was hoping you would say that. Thank you.'

Lilo and Stitch nodded, smiling.

'Let me get Jumba online so he knows what's happening.' She said as she clicked on a tiny icon that had a picture of her adopted alien uncle.

They waited until another live video feed appeared on the screen, this one of a large, purple alien with four tiny eyes. Jumba noticed the Grand Councilwoman was online and said in a Russian kind of voice, 'Nice to be seeing you, Grand Councilwoman.'

'It's nice to see you too, Jumba.' The Grand Councilwoman said.

'What is being the problem?' He asked sleepily.

The Grand Councilwoman told him what she had told Lilo and Stitch. Once she had finished, she added, 'There'll be a festival before the official opening of the tournament.'

'Cool,' Lilo said, getting excited, 'I wanna come.'

Then she said, 'But I'll have to ask my sister first.'

Just then, the lift to their room went down and came back up, revealing a tall slim woman wearing a nightgown, her hair a mess; it was Lilo's big sister, Nani.

'Why are you two up at 5 o'clock in the morning?' She said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Lilo turned around as she heard her sister, smiled and said, 'Hey, Nani. I was just talking about you.'

'To whom?' Nani said as she came to the desk, seeing two aliens on the computer screen.

'To The Grand Councilwoman and Jumba.' Lilo said as Nani bent lower so she was in the video feed.

'Hello, Ms. Pelekai. How are you?' The Grand Councilwoman said courteously.

'Sleepy,' Nani replied as she yawned.

Then she said, 'What's happening?'

The Grand Councilwoman told her about the tournament, about Hämsterviel being in the tournament and how there will be a festival before the tournament.

'I guess you want to go, huh?' Nani said as she looked at her little sister, who was smiling up at her.

'Can I?' Lilo said, hope in her eyes.

After a moment of thought, Nani said, 'Sure, why not?'

'Yay! Thanks, Nani!' Lilo said as she hugged her sister.

Nani smiled as she hugged back, then she looked at Jumba.

'But Jumba, I want you to look after her, okay?' she said meaningfully, remembering all the times Jumba had looked after Lilo and Stitch.

'Of course.' Jumba said seriously. 'I will be looking after her as if she is being my own daughter.'

Nani nodded. The Grand Councilwoman smiled and said, 'Then I'll see you three soon. I'll send the co-ordinates to your computer, Jumba.'

Everyone nodded and with that, the two video feeds disappeared from the computer screen. Knowing Lilo and Stitch would be too excited to go back to sleep, Nani said as she stood up straight, 'So, who wants breakfast?'

'We do!' Lilo and Stitch exclaimed.

And together they went down the lift to the kitchen.

An hour later, Lilo and Stitch strapped themselves in Jumba's huge red spaceship. It hovered above the trees that shield it from prying eyes as Jumba tapped some commands. And getting into the driver's seat, he flew the ship into outer space.