Disclaimer: This fic was written to make up for my last two Lilo and Stitch failures "On the Road Again" and "Alone." I still think they sucked. What was I thinking? Those have got to be the worst thing I've ever written since my Invader Zim stories.

I don't own Lilo and Stitch or 625. Estelle owns him now and I own Estelle. I also own 188, but that's not such a good thing.

****Chapter 1*********

"Why do you have to be such an idiot?"

"I blame society."

"I was saving that bacon!"

"But I needed it!"

"Can't you be serious for once?"

"But I needed it!"

Estelle stomped out of the house through the dog-door. Ozzy followed her holding a bacon and peanut butter sandwich and watching as she stormed off towards the sea.

"Awww come on, ya know life's better when you love me!" He yelled after her innocently. She stopped, picked up a small rock, and threw it at him.

***

An hour later, she sat on the beach staring out at the sea. Why did Ozzy have to be so immature? He'd never admit anything he did something wrong. He'd just stick in a sarcastic comment and assume that made it OK. He was lucky she loved him under all her anger.

Why couldn't he act like a mate instead of an annoying little brother?

"Hello."



A deep voice floated the empty lifeguard's standing a few feet away. Estelle leapt up and faced it, shocked.

"Up here."

She followed the sound to the top of the stand. Two violet eyes shone down from above. The speaker jumped down, landing perfectly on his feet. Estelle got a good look at him in the moonlight.

He was an experiment, there was no doubt about it. But then how come she'd never seen him before? She had been the 600th of Jumba's experiments and had met them all at least once.

This creature was about an inch taller then her but just as muscular as Stitch. He had the "bat-koala" look typical of Jumba's experiments, save 625 and a few others. His ears hung back over his head like Estelle's, but they weren't anywhere near as long. They reached his neck. His fur was black, frosted by twilight. He had four arms and long silver claws on his feet and hands. Sharp spikes ran down his head and back. His nose was small, black, and doglike. Sharp spurs were on the back of his feet. His tail hadn't been docked like her's-it was long and tipped with spikes and two frills. Stitch was strong but cute and harmless looking. This creature looked like a fighter.

The experiment stepped forward and bowed low, taking Estelle's paw and kissing it before straightening up.

As he spoke, Estelle saw teeth like daggers.

"Hello. What is your name?'

Estelle's hard was pounding hard and with those ears, she knew he heard it. But she answered him anyway.

"Estelle."

"You are one of Jumba's experiments, correct?"

She nodded. The black creature grinned.

"So am I. A rejection. Experiment 188."

"Experiment 600," Estelle said. She was beginning to feel calmer around him, knowing he was one of her own kind.

"How did you get to earth?" she asked.

"I took a ship. No one was using it," he said. "I escaped early on in life. So, what's happened while I've been gone?"

The two talked long into the night. It turned out that 188 had landed in England and traveled in various ways. Clinging under a truck here, stealing a boat there. He had stowed away on a cruise ship and come to Hawaii. Estelle grew to like him more and more. Far away, a clock struck midnight. Estelle got up and said she had to go. She'd forgotten about her argument with Ozzy.

"Maybe we can meet again?" 188 inquired.

"Definitely. How about the same place tomorrow night?"



"Wonderful! Good-bye, Estelle."

He bowed again and vanished into the darkness.



**********

Estelle knew she shouldn't. But she did.

The aqua furred creature slipped out a window in the dead of night and climbed down a tree like a spider. She quietly ran down the road towards the beach. She'd told no one about 188. Not Ozzy, not Aba, not even Jumba.

"I'll tell them soon," she decided.



Maybe she'd been expecting to see him see him silhouetted against the moon and ocean. But when she got to the beach, 188 was nowhere in sight. She called out his name in alien.

"Hello Estelle," came his deep voice.

A black blur sprang from a huge log of driftwood. Estelle was pinned in a second, 188's four arms holding her like shackles. She was about to scream when he hissed in her ear.

"If you scream, I'll tear out your vocal cords and use them to strangle you."

If she was stronger, she might have been able to throw him off or at least hurt him. But she'd been created for brains and hearing, so she was trapped.

She felt his claws slicing into her, raking across her slowly. Fangs tore chunks from her fur. And so it went on for the rest of the night.



*********

"Estelle! Estelle!"

Aba, Stitch, and Ozzy walked down the road calling her name. It wasn't unusual for Estelle to go for late night muse-walks. But the window had been open and she hadn't come back in the morning.



"This is horrible! What if she drives off a cliff to teach us a lesson?" Ozzy cried.

"What did we do?" said Aba.

"Um...well, there was that time you got chocolate on her $400 book."

"That was you," Stitch replied.

"Oh. Hey, what's that down on the beach?" When he realized what it was, nothing could stop him from tearing to her side and holding her close to him.

It was Estelle, lying in a shivering ball. Her dark green fur was caked with blood and sand. They got closer and noticed she was covered in deep gouges. Gouges put there intentionally, laid as if they were art. Ozzy and Stitch could smell a strange creature in the area. One somewhat like them. But it was hard to detect under the smell of blood. Estelle was alive, but had passed out from shock, pain, and blood loss.

"Estelle...I swear I'll kill whoever did this to you."



to be continued...