It was the bright lights over at the human fortress of cardboard which grabbed the Fusion monsters' attention. They had seen the signs everywhere that something big was about to happen, the figurines that were just as ferocious as they were, the strange, glowing, sticky orange things that had faces that glowed at night, and nobody could miss the fact that all of their enemies were gathering at the same spot. "They must be planning something," Fuse had concluded. "They must be plotting my downfall and gathering their strength to finish me!" And so he had sent out the best of his troops to find out what the 'vermin' were up to this time. But, as they stood on the ridge near the castle of boxes, the monsters could deny their feelings no longer as orange light began to radiate from the walls within.

For once, the minions were utterly speechless.

Inside the cul-de-sac was another story, and it was indeed the night of a big event, but one which had taken place for many years in time. For this night, and probably one of the few nights that the could do it, the world threw away fear and revelled in the memories of Halloween.

"Welcome, I'm glad you could make it!" Double-D greeted as more of his recruits entered the gates of the cul-de-sac castle. Despite his warm attitude towards arrivals, Double-D was a little bit agitated, for he had donned the green, blob-shaped Bubonic Plague outfit once more and still gotten upheavals of laughter from Eddy, as well as a few other partygoers. He had managed to get his own back when the fan-girls had nearly crushed Eddy as they stormed over to him in an attempt to get his autograph.

"Hey, Sock-Head," A voice called. Double-D turned to find himself staring at what appeared to be a short, zombiefied Elvis walking towards him, however it was just Eddy in his old costume as well, something that all three of the Eds had decided to do for the first Halloween party in a very long time. "How's the greeting going?" Eddy asked, a smirk planted on his face. "Get a kiss from a girl yet?"

Double-D rolled his eyes and adjusted the black ski-hat that poked out of his costume every so often. "Not yet, thankfully," Then he turned to look up at the stars. "… Remember that Halloween Ed went as Lothar?" At the mention of the name Eddy's gaze began to soften.

"Yeah, running rampant in the cul-de-sac, that was mad," He suddenly turned sorrowful. "… Do you think we'll ever see him again?" Double-D remained speechless for a while.

"… I don't know, Eddy," He replied. "I really don't know," Then Double-D decided to change the topic. "I'm also here to greet the Guide who hasn't arrived yet," He insisted. "Mojo-Jojo arrived just a few moments ago, as did Ben, so the only one who's still not present is-"

Double-D didn't get to finish his sentence, for the whirring sound of jet engines made both of the boys turn to see a robot that looked similar to those which were often shown on anime programs fresh from Japan, a robot clad in white, fists adorned with purple and coming in to land quickly. Others had now begun to gather outside, with the two Eds in the lead, until a rather large crowd had gathered around the amazing mecha. Eddy chuckled as the roof of the robot's foot jerked and opened up, emulating the dome of a stadium. "I don't know how he does it," He remarked. "But he's always good when he's late for a party."

The crowd stayed silenced in awe, before a ricochet of fan-girl screams pulsated from the front of the swarm, all focussed and directed at the 'celebrity' revealing himself to his public. A serious, baby-blue gaze graced the faces of drooling girls, followed by a softer and more eager pair of similar eyes. For the celebrity himself, as his, bright, ginger, hair felt a soft breeze pass through it, he truthfully wished that he could just breeze through the party and head home as quickly as possible, while the other wondered if making her unicorn costume had really been better than buying one herself. The celebrity's stylish glasses fell onto Double-D in a germ costume, and the celebrity thanked his stars that he'd gone as Jack Skellington rather than the Bubonic Plague, as originally intended. "Ah, Double-D," He called, his Russian accent flowing with coolness. "Dressed up as the Bubonic Plague again, I see."

Double-D rolled his eyes and called above the cries of the girls. "Jack Skellington, Dexter, a good choice for the party, I have to say!"

Dexter adjusted the bat-shaped bow tie on his neck and waved at the crowd automatically, his black dress-suit glittering in the light that shone from the depths of the cul-de-sac. The tall girl behind him was Dee Dee, his sister. A slim girl with her golden hair tied back in pig-tails and the fake unicorn horn that was for the costume already coming apart. She dusted her white dress off and also waved to the crowd, her black shoes representing hooves and her smile brighter than pearls.

But far away from this crowd was a pair of jealous eyes, watching from the top of the wall facing the dots below. A girl, skin painted blue with fake stitching stuck to the limbs of her body, looked enviously at the girls as they parted a way for Dexter to get through. She had made the rag-doll, savannah-coloured dress herself, and she seldom wore dresses even at parties like this. She fondled her copper hair sadly and recalled the insults she had received for coming as such a character. "Sally? You mean from 'The Nightmare before Christmas'? That's so cliché!" The words played over and over in her head, burning hatred in her heart and she wished she could join the girls below…

"You okay?" A rusty voice called from her side. The girl turned and almost yelped out in shock, her dark eyes wide as a dark-skinned girl, probably just a little bit younger than herself, climbed up onto the wall. Her navy jumper hid her shorts and platted black hair that had been tied back poked out from the girl's hat. The patchwork girl stepped back nervously.

"I-I-I'm fine Numbah Five," She replied, lowering her gaze shyly, her accent hinting British ancestry. "I just came up here to get a good look at Dexter, that's all…"

Numbah Five adjusted the straps on her shoes that shone milky-white and approached the patchwork-girl calmly. "Now, you ain't gonna get a good view of him from up here," She hadn't been fooled. "C'mon, dish it, what's the real reason you came up here by yourself?"

The patchwork-girl held her eyes at Numbah Five's shoes. "I…" She began, trailing off in the attempt to find her confidence. "I came up here because I'm not coping very well with the social side of it," She confessed. "What I mean is, I find it very difficult to be around the other recruits."

Numbah Five raised an unseen eyebrow and noted the girl's timid expression, then she realised what she meant. "Ah, I see, you're being picked on by the other girls, right?" The patchwork-girl nodded, causing Numbah Five's brain to start thinking. "What's your name?"

The patchwork-girl glanced up for a moment. "M-M-My name? Gamma Areothunder, I was lucky enough to create a name that didn't sound silly, thank god," Then Numbah Five attempted to reach out and touch the girl's arm, resulting in Gamma pulling away from her before gasping. "I-I'm sorry!" She stammered. "I didn't mean to do that, it's my Asperger's you see!"

"… 'Asperger's'?" The word had never been spoken to Numbah Five before. Gamma gritted her teeth in the realisation that she'd forgotten something very important.

"I didn't explain, did it?" The copper-hair girl groaned. "I'm someone with Asperger's Syndrome, a disability, in other words…" She explained. "I'm not good with eye contact, or people touching me, or crowds and noise," Gamma raised her head slightly in shame. "It's a curse, in some ways."

That explained why she wasn't making eye contact or even standing at the very back of the crowds like the other more quiet and shy recruits were, yet Numbah Five couldn't help but feel that there was something missing about this girl, that something was still being kept in the dark. There wasn't much point in trying to get any more information out of Gamma, however, for she had turned and become tense as she watched Dexter pass through the gates and into more roars from eager worshippers. A sly smirk appeared on Numbah Five's face. "How 'bout Numbah Five introduce you to Dexter face-to-face, eh?"

Gamma suddenly lost her breath, her cheeks turned rosy and she began to approach Numbah Five. "You must be pulling my leg, right?" She asked, half expecting the KND operative to nod her head in agreement. But Numbah Five turned her head to watch Dexter herself.

"Numbah Five never pulls legs," She promised. "C'mon, let's go show the other recruits what you're made of!"

Gamma hesitated, but then she nodded, her face much brighter than it had been before, then the duo made their way down to where the swarm was flocking eagerly. They hovered for a little while as the girls gawked for a moment, and then Dexter broke away, dowsing their hopes of being asked to join him quickly and quietly. Compared to the others, Dexter wasn't quite the height everybody made him out to be, but it was a taboo to even mention words such as 'short' or small to the scientist, it had always been that way. But Gamma focussed on Dexter as he began talking to a brunette who was a head and a half taller than himself, dressed in a green jacket and denim trousers. It didn't surprise her, for Ben was a close friend of Dexter, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out at all. "I'm not sure about this at all," Gamma whispered to her new friend as they pulled through the waves of people. "What if he doesn't like me?"

Numbah Five glanced as she approached. "Don't worry, Big D ain't as scary as he seems, he's just stern, and Numbah Five don't blame him, either," She waited for Dexter to stop talking to Ben and when he finally did she looked at Gamma for a moment. "Wait here," And then she walked over to him, chuckling. "My, my," She exclaimed, grabbing Dexter's attention. "Jack Skellington, a fitting character for the occasion, Dexter."

"I was going to come as the Bubonic Plague," Her friend replied. "But Dee Dee said I looked stupid, and if Dee Dee says I'm stupid, well…" The young teen shrugged and looked around. "I don't like the idea of this, though," He complained, dipping into his serious tone again. "I'll have the fans drooling over me all night in this costume, and I do not want a repeat of the last party I went to."

Numbah Five decided to make a move. "Well, there's one way you'll drive 'em off, Dexter," She suggested and pointed over to Gamma. "See that girl?" Dexter nodded. "She couldn't pluck up the nerves to even watch you come in, she says that the other recruits give her a real hard time."

Dexter became unsure. "I don't know about it, Numbah Five," He protested. "I've tried to talk to other girls others have suggested and all they do is stare at me and not make any real conversation," Numbah Five listened to his reasoning casually. "Are you sure about this one?"

"I talked to her while she was watchin' you arrive," Dexter's friend spoke with intrigue. "She says she has… Asper… Asper…"

"Asperger's Syndrome?" Dexter asked, now he was interested. Numbah Five's eyes lit up with confirmation.

"Yeah, that's it!" She replied. "I don't know, Dex, she doesn't seem to be one of those 'drooly' kind anyways, and besides…" Numbah Five smiled at her. "I think she's alright, personally, a bit shy and don't like being touched, but she seems friendly enough to talk to."

Dexter looked at the girl for a moment and recalled her facial features and her similar height, had he seen her somewhere before? He couldn't tell. "I'm still not sure, Numbah Five," He finally answered. "Tell her that I need some time to think about it, okay?"

Numbah Five nodded and studied Gamma as she returned, she had to admit that the shy girl really didn't have a good-looking figure and it was fairly obvious to see that Gamma was a little bit plump. The dress did suit her, but her short height compared to the other recruits only made the figure more visible. But then Gamma raised her line of sight, showing one of the traits that had caught Numbah Five's attention in the first place. Those eyes, those dark, heavy ,eyes, a gaze that bore the sadness of the world in the iris that watched from afar. Eyes that looked out from misery, as if to say: 'I've got a story to tell, please, won't you listen to it?'

Suddenly the window into Gamma's soul closed, she lowered her head again as Numbah Five approached. "He said 'no', didn't he?" She asked sadly, expecting the worst. Numbah Five shook her head and glanced back at Dexter.

"He said he'd think about it," She sighed as she recalled past experiences. "I can't blame him, not after the way one fan-girl acted towards him," Intrigued, Gamma stepped a little bit closer. "I mean, they treated him as if he belonged to them, not as a human being!"

Gamma wasn't as surprised as she thought she should've been. "Just how bad were they?" She asked. Numbah Five looked around bitterly at the small 'packs' of girls which had been screaming when Dexter arrived.

"Dexter told me not to name them," She whispered. "But there was once girl, Luce, or something like that, got to the point of forcing Dexter to make her his assistant," She became wary. "Computress has enough trouble guiding the new recruits as it is, and obviously Luce thought that she had a chance…"

Gamma fell into deep thought, wrestling with an unsure decision. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked, voice quieter than it had been before. Numbah Five glanced down at the girl to make sure they weren't being spied on.

"Sure, your secret's safe with me, girl." This caused Gamma to raise her line of sight a little bit as Numbah Five spoke.

"Well…" She began, a little bit timidly. "There's one other reason why the other girls torment me, the reason is because…" Gamma swallowed as she tried to find the right words. "Is… is because…" She took a deep breath and prepared herself. "Is because I'm from a-"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A rugged, masculine voice roared across the conversation, rendering it a second priority. Both girls joined the partygoers gathering in the middle of the cul-de-sac, people buzzed with worry, causing Numbah Five to shout. "Move along, friends comin' through!" Gamma's heart skipped a beat. Had Numbah Five said 'friends'? She felt flustered, for nobody had called her a friend before in her life… Then Gamma recognised the creature that everybody was flocking around as she caught sight of a purple pelt that sobbed mournfully. A pair of sharp horns protruded from the creature's forehead, his face completely covered by his hand-like hooves and Numbah Five stooped down to bring herself to his level as she stopped running. "Eduardo, what's wrong?" She asked soothingly, as if she were his mother. Eduardo looked up with wide, child-like eyes, his snout wet from tears.

"They're dead!" He blurted out between whimpers, his fangs sharper than daggers. The large creature sat down and held his knees that were covered by grey trousers and wailed. "Both of them, gone, all gone Numero Cinco!"

Numbah Five kept her motherly attitude. "Who's dead?" She asked, receiving the reply in the form of Eduardo pointing towards a tattered heap on the ground to his right. On closer inspection, the tattered heap were, in fact, the remains of cuddly toys which had been close to Eduardo. By then a path had been made and Dexter emerged into the open, face pale with anger as his eyes fell upon the 'corpses'. He turned accusingly at the crowd.

"Well?" He shouted, voice colder than ice. Spreading his arms out, Dexter scanned the faces of the audience, searching for a look of guilt, and then pointed at the victims. "Does anybody have an explanation for this?" The people remained quiet. "Anybody?"

"Don't take it out on them, Dexter," A sharp voice cut above the silence. A man, completely covered in shadows, pushed his way through the group to face the young scientist. "None of these kids are to blame…" The man's silhouetted hair gave him the figure of authority. "… Unfortunately."

Dexter eyed the man's topaz-yellow gaze that was stern and cold, then the man took out a black smoking pipe and placed it in his unseen mouth, causing the younger in the stand-off to scowl. "I take it that you know something that we don't, Father?" The man nodded, his dark features giving him the traits of a villain. "Then perhaps you'd like to shed a little bit of light on this situation like YOU SHOULD'VE DONE BEFORE!"

Father kept his mouth shut and examined his nails smugly before talking. "Oh," His voice became high and taunting. "We adults tend to spread the word around a little bit in our general chit-chat," He swaggered over to the ruined toys and inspected them. "These ruined rag-dolls have been appearing all over the forest near the cul-de-sac, and I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of Fusion Monster was to blame for this-" Father cleared his throat as he finished. "-'Tragedy', if you could call it that."

Then another set of girls were the ones to give a dreamy sigh as Double-D joined the drama, he too went over and inspected the toys. "Well…" He began as he looked down at them. "There doesn't appear to be any sort of blade damage, so it couldn't be a Power Painsaw, and the remains would be soaked if a Hydro Hammer had done any damage," Double-D turned to Dexter. "All I can say is that whatever's done it could be a major threat if it starts preying on us." Dexter looked over to Numbah Five.

"Well Numbah Five, think we should check it out?" He called, causing Numbah Five to smirk eagerly.

"I'm game," She replied and glanced over at Gamma, who had backed away slightly when Dexter began shouting at the crowd. "We'll need some extra hands, though."

Numbah Five realised the mistake of her words too late, for almost instantly squeals of fan-girls rose up in the hopes of being chosen, pleas flying from all corners.

"Pick me! Pick me!"

"Over here, Dexter! Choose me!"

"No, me! Pick me!"

Dexter rolled his eyes and looked around, desperate to find a male face amongst the swarm of girls, but then he caught sight of something he hadn't seen before in the corner of his eye. As he fixed his sight he recognised the slightly plump figure of the girl that Numbah Five had mentioned earlier, she stood before him, quieter than a soft breeze, and no form of beg or plea passed her lips. Finally, the girl raised her head, and for a spit second made eye contact with Dexter before her head lowered again, and within that second Dexter saw a look of sympathy pass between each other. He looked at the yapping crescendo one last time, then he began to walk over to the silent onlooker. "Oh! Oh! He's walking towards me!" one expectant girl cried, the sound relayed above Dexter's head as he approached.

"No, he's walking over to me, can't you see him glancing in my direction?"

"Dream on, girl, he's coming for me!"

The girl began to glance at Dexter shyly, but kept her head down, obviously in belief that he had gone for somebody else, by then, the chatter had died down as expectation turned to shock. Then finally, Dexter decided to put the final nail into the coffin of the others who had probably joined his army for the sole purpose of gawking over him, he tapped the girl's shoulder lightly. "Autism is indeed a difficult thing to live with." He began, coaxing the girl out of her shell, and when she suddenly raised her head Dexter became very unsure if he'd made the right decision.

The girl's shocked face was a stark contrast to the many faces of disbelief behind her. "How did you… ?" She asked, slightly amazed and yet confused. Dexter looked at Numbah Five.

"A friend let me know about your situation, that's all," He watched as the girl glanced over to Numbah Five, who's face lit up with assurance, and then the moment was cut short by Father's cold laugh.

"Well, well, well," He observed as he looked at the despairing faces surrounding them. "Looks like the real reason you even joined Dexter in the first place finally wormed it's way out," Then he turned to Dexter as the group parted a way for the group to pass through. "So much for 'we want to join you to save the world!', more like: 'never mind saving the world, we'll join you so that we can worship you!', right Dexter?" Dexter scowled one last time at Father before nodding at the others, who left without a word. "Hey, Dexter!" Father called out one last time.

Dexter whipped around, face painted with irritation. "What?"

Father sniggered. "Take care of your 'girlfriend' now, don't let her get into danger!" He taunted before slinking back into darkness, roaring with laughter as he went.

It wasn't how angry Dexter had become which unnerved Gamma, it was glancing at the jealous faces that made her scared. Now she was probably on top of every one of those girls' enemy lists and they'd soon start sending her death-threats and be out for her blood, she sighed with relief when they passed through the doors to where the robot that Dexter had arrived in was waiting. "God, that was scary," Gamma groaned as she walked. "The looks on those faces…"

"They'll get over it," Dexter promised as he entered the robot's foot. "Hold on a second, I'll be right back…"

Double-D cleared his throat and smiled at Gamma. "Hello, I'm Double-D, but I'm sure you already knew that," Gamma reverted back to her shy exterior. "I've seen you around before, but I never got the chance to actually talk to you, I take it you work for Dexlabs?"

Gamma nodded. "Yes, but I didn't think I'd be at this party tonight, let alone coming on a mission with you guys!" She replied quietly as Dexter returned. Her nerves kicked in again as Dexter stood in front of her, holding something similar to a pistol with a large, blue, watch-battery attached to the barrel.

"I did not get your name," He added, offering her the pistol. "This is a Null-Void gun by the way, use it to protect yourself if you need to."

Gamma hesitated, but then took the weapon from him, her shell beginning to break away. "My name is Gamma Areothunder, sir," She introduced herself, retaining her formal way of talking when running errands for the other characters that she had met in the past. "Do you have any idea what we're up against, sir?"

Dexter seemed a little bit surprised by Gamma's sudden transition to a soldier, but he kept his focus. "No," He replied. "But whatever it is, it's a threat that needs to be dealt with."

Suddenly the echo of distant foot-steps fell upon the group, causing Gamma to turn and face the emerald-green eyes that belonged to Ben, who was running towards them with Dee Dee in tow. "Hey, Dex," He called. "You weren't thinking about having a 'beat up the monster' party without me, were you?" Dexter kept his serious face.

"Sorry Ben," He apologised but held his gaze on Gamma for a moment. "We had to get out as soon as possible, you know what the fan-girls are like," Then Dexter turned to Dee Dee. "Dee Dee I want you to stay here and keep watch over the party in case anything happens."

Dee Dee's eyes flickered angrily. "But Dexter-"

"No 'buts', and that's final," Dexter insisted, stifling a groan from his sister. "Now return to the cul-de-sac, it's not safe out here." Dee Dee hung her head and took one last look at Gamma before walking back to the cardboard fortress as slowly as possible.

Gamma savoured the gaze Dee Dee had given her, a begging plea that seemed to ask: 'Whatever you do, please look after my brother for me.' Take care of Dexter? Shouldn't Dexter be the one protecting her? In Gamma's eyes the day was getting stranger and stranger…

"Well, I'm ready!" Ben spoke, bringing Gamma back to the present. He was adjusting a device that reminded Gamma of a large, green, wrist-watch. "You guys game?"

Numbah Five smirked as she loaded a pistol that used ice for ammunition. "You bet!" She replied. Double-D gave a nod while Gamma fingered the pistol nervously, she hadn't even realised that the others were waiting for a reply from her. She looked up and nodded quietly.

"Father said that he'd seen the plushies in the forest," Dexter began, planning quickly. "So the forest would be the best bet if we want to find the creature that's caused all of this."

"Hold on," Ben protested. "Father might not be telling the entire truth, you know what he's like."

"I could go check out Delightful Developments," Double-D offered. "Who knows, there might be something there that could be useful!"

"I'll go with you," Ben volunteered. "There's safety in numbers, and I've been getting warnings from others that the monsters there are acting more aggressive than usual."

Numbah Five glanced at Gamma. "I'll go over to Candy Cove and check things out there," She shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows, maybe Stickybeard and his crew know somethin' 'bout this, too."

Dexter nodded, pleased with the strategic moves. "I'll look around the forest and make sure that the creature isn't too close for comfort." Then Numbah Five pointed over to Gamma.

"Why don't you take Gamma with you?" She suggested. "I'll be fine getting' to Candy Cove alone, so maybe another pair of hands will do you good, Dex."

Almost immediately Dexter turned pale, at the same time Gamma almost turned completely scarlet. "Wouldn't it be better if she went with you? The forest is a much more dangerous place than Candy Cove, you know." By then the others had caught on to Numbah Five's plan, and as Dexter talked a smug grin appeared on Ben's face. Double-D only just prevented himself from giggling and Numbah Five suddenly became serious.

"Listen, Dex," She began. "I found Gamma on top of the castle walls, and I didn't see a ladder nearby, nor was she on the wall which could be gotten to by a jump-pad," Numbah Five went up to Dexter, she seemed incredibly tall compared to him. "I can only assume that she climbed up the wall herself to catch a glimpse of you, so go on, give her a chance," Dexter sighed as he started to give in. "I've got the feeling that she'll make you very proud."

"Fine," The scientist said, voice dragged down with annoyance. "Gamma will come with me, then," He glanced at Gamma again for a moment and then pointed at the giant robot behind him. "We'll meet up by the 'Dexo-Robo Two-Thousand' when we've searched as much as we can," Dexter looked at the others as he finished. "If anybody isn't back by midnight then I'll send a search-party out, okay?"

The group broke up, giving Gamma one last chance to see Numbah Five, who winked at her as she left with Ben and Double-D. Gamma smiled for a moment before turning away and following Dexter, leaving her thanks to her new friend unuttered.

It became fairly obvious that Father had spoken truthfully, for the path leading up to the forest had become a wash with shredded plushie remains. The trees looming over the duo was spooky enough on it's own, but the corpse-like entrails on the ground made Gamma shudder and feel like as if she was in a horror movie of some kind. "You haven't spoken much," Dexter commented, grabbing Gamma's attention. "I expected you to be much more thrilled by the fact I chose you."

"I am, sir," Gamma replied, slightly distraught. "I'm just shy, could I at least give that as a reason?" Dexter halted and turned to face her, his gaze stern.

"Did you think that I was accusing you?" Gamma shook her head and hid her eyes from Dexter, making him feel the edge of frustration jab at his side. "Come on, look at me!" He suddenly realised that he'd said something painful, for Gamma had turned pale. She began to weep, locked in a dark memory that Dexter could not portray. "Look at me-"

Gamma backed away and turned, surprising Dexter a little bit. "I can't, sir! I can't!" She whimpered, almost mechanically. She placed her hands on her face and pleaded. "Please, don't punish me!"

"Punish you?" Dexter echoed, shock replacing surprise. "Why would I want to do that?" Gamma raised her head in disbelief but kept her back turned from him.

"A teacher at one of my old schools used to punish me for being unable to make eye contact with him," She explained, guilt present in her voice. "I'm… I'm sorry, the wounds still hurt a lot…"

Dexter hesitated, but then approached his cohort. "I won't punish you," He promised. "You can trust me."

Slowly, Gamma turned until she was face-to-face with the scientist she was now opening up to, her height only a little bit taller than his. Then, wary at first, her eyes flickered open and she held Dexter's gaze, followed by a small gasp. "Oh wow," She exclaimed, now enthralled. "Your eyes are so beautiful, I wish I had eyes like yours," Gamma began to smile. "It'll take a little while to get to the point when I can look at you easily, but it doesn't take much time, I promise."

Dexter studied Gamma's heavy eyes for a moment, then he too began to smile, his uncertainties fading away. "That's okay," He reassured. "Take your time," Then a question crossed his path. "Why did you choose me as your guide in the first place?" Gamma hesitated.

"I need to think about that for a moment," She replied as they headed into the forest, swallowed up by dark foliage. "Well… I guess the main reason why I chose you is because you promised tasks that I could handle much better than the others were offering," Gamma hadn't noticed that Dexter was trailing off in another direction, unaware that she had begun talking again. "You are a character I've known for a long time, so I chose you, okay, Dexter?" Dexter had completely gone out of hearing range. "… Dexter?" Gamma looked around to find herself alone, turning around, she suddenly realised how lost she was. "… Oh dear…"

Dexter, unaware of his separation from Gamma, remained patient as Gamma 'pondered'. But after several minutes of wandering around the forest with no response, Dexter found that his patience was wearing thin. "Gamma?" He asked, calling so that she could hear from behind. "Is something wrong?" He turned around to see that Gamma was nowhere to be found. Dexter looked around, and then realised what had happened: They'd accidentally split up in different directions. This wasn't a good thing at all, now that there wasn't so much support from his cohort, Dexter became very tense, he'd have to be very careful in finding his way back.

Suddenly, a twig snapped, causing Dexter to jump in fright and topple over, soon sprawled out on the muddy ground. Sweat dotted his forehead as fear claimed him as its victim, and his chest hurt as he heaved himself onto his feet again. "Stay calm, Dexter," He told himself. "You just stepped on a twig, that's all!" Rustling in the distance soon stripped Dexter of his calming thoughts, he began to back away as the monster approached, his arrival made known by the rapid movements of the shrubs. Dexter's mind began to prepare itself to bolt, legs tensed as the beast exploded out of the leaves and Dexter looked into the dark, black, eyes of…

… Dexter relaxed, staring into the gaze of the innocent rabbit which had hopped out onto his path. He laughed loudly and groaned. "A rabbit," He chortled. "How silly of me." But a throaty growl made him turn and face a pair of yellow eyes that shone with a hunger for blood. Dexter's heart pounded in his chest as the owner of these eyes reared up onto its hind legs, giving the body a bear-like appearance, and roared at the full midnight moon. Dexter began to pull away, but was pinned down as the monster toppled over, pouncing upon him like as if he was a toy. Helpless, Dexter screamed louder than he'd ever screamed in his life, wrestling against fur, claws and… stuffing?

Then the monster opened its heavy mouth and bit down on the scientist's arm, the thundering pain shot up his shoulder blade caused Dexter to scream louder and his costume began to feel wet and sticky as blood flowed from within. But then another noise joined the scream, the sound of a gun being fired, causing the creature to let go and bellow a defeated cry. Then it lumbered off into the shadows from whence it came, leaving Dexter sprawled out on the ground helplessly. Two female figures emerged onto the path, roughly about the same height. One bent down over Dexter, her denim trousers torn and her red, polka-dot vest in need of a wash. "Well, well, well," She inspected with a beefy voice, her curled, ginger hair covered her surprised gaze. "Wouldja' look at this, Marie, it's that lab-kid we've heard all about, uh, y'know, what's-his-name!" The second figure came over, clad in green camo-jeans and a black vest.

"Gee, he's bleeding, that beast got 'im real good, Lee," She pocketed a revolver she'd fired at the monster, her indigo hair brushed by the wind. "Hey, what's-your-name, need help? Or are ya' just gonna lie there an' bleed to death?"

Dexter's vision was blurred, but he looked up at the two girls. "First of all, my name is Dexter," then he pulled himself up. "And second of all, why the heck are you two in the forest at an hour like this anyway?"

"We came looking for our sister, May, she went into the forest to follow Ed," Marie answered. "But we ran into that dumb monster and got lost, then we found you, about to be mauled by that thing," She shot an intimidating look at Dexter. "And you?"

"We came looking for whatever it was that was destroying plushies," He countered Marie's intimidation. "I feared that it would start preying on humans next, but I got separated from my partner, Gamma." Lee's face lit up, struck by memory.

"Oh yeah," She whistled to the bushes and another figure emerged. "We found this girl wandering about in the forest named Gamma Areothunder, she the one you're missing?"

Gamma stepped out into the moonlight, her costume torn in places. "Dexter, thank god! I was worried about you!" She came up to Dexter and saw the wound on his arm. "You've been hurt!"

"I'll be fine," Dexter reassured. "Let's just get out of here-" He doubled over and clutched his arm, groaning in pain. Gamma's concern began to grow.

"C'mon Dexter, you need rest," She looked at Marie and Lee as she put Dexter over her shoulder. "Could one of you help carry my friend, please?" Eventually Marie took Dexter's other side and they advanced out of the forest, walking along the path that they'd entered just an hour ago, but the silence changed to worry when Numbah Five saw the fallen scientist when the giant robot came into sight.

"What happened?" She asked as she ran over, followed by Ben and Double-D. Dexter groaned in pain as Gamma looked up at the others.

"Dexter got hurt, badly," She explained. "He needs treatment, even if he says he won't need it." Double-D froze as soon as he realised the sisters were present. Marie rolled her eyes.

"Relax, sugar," She reassured unsympathetically. "I've got no time for kissing today, we've gotta get back to the Trailer Park anyways."

"Tell Eddy I said 'hi' would ya'?" Lee called as the two girls walked away, unfazed by the situation. Numbah Five looked at the Dexo-Robo quickly.

"C'mon," She called. "We need to get Dexter to Tech Square, ASAP!" She looked at Gamma, who'd given Dexter to Ben and had begun walking back to the cul-de-sac with the mindset that she wouldn't be needed any more. "C'mon, Gamma, you're comin' with us!"

Gamma turned, her eyes glowing with new-found acceptance, she followed Numbah Five into the robot unaware that somebody was watching the drama. For a slender figure had seen the whole scene unfold, and smirked when she had seen the bite-mark on Dexter's arm, giving her assurance in every possible way.

Everything was going according to plan.