TF: Okay, here's the second part, where we start really getting into this thing! Franci and Lily are owned by Lily Von Schweetz. Silver is owned by Rainbow Guppy.

Skye: The Network is owned by us, technically, since we live there. Although we call it iApple. :) Sticky is here for Sticky Wipplesnit, whose name TF keep spelling as "Stitchy" Wipplesnit. Oh, the irony. XD

TF: Hey!

Skye: Characters from Wreck-It Ralph and 9 are owned by Disney and Tim Burton/Shane Acker. TF?

TF: Fine. I only own the plot, and the fact we were the first to think this up!

Wilbur: We are also aware people don't use film rolls these days, but hey, this is FanFiction. We write what we want. Oh, and in case some people get confused by 2 using his left hand more then his right, let me clarify that 2 is left-handed. I also kinda dedicated this chapter to the reviewer Aoki Aoi 16 – Jesus loves you!

TF: And everyone else out there! Just look for him!

?: Can I come out now?

Skye: No.

?: It's getting boring ...

TF: Go talk to "Mystery", you guys aren't in here yet!

?: Mystery passed out. Sis didn't give him anything to keep him busy, so he ...

Wilbur: Oh, great.

Skye: Want me to get 2 again?

TF: Yeah ...

Skye: *leaves room*

TF: *looks at readers* Don't. Ask. -_-

"Curiosity is natural to the soul of man, and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections." – Daniel Boone

Stitchpunk Rush

Prologue: Part 2

Upon reaching the Technology section with 6, 2 found that 3, 4, and 5 had indeed gotten the rest of Numbers Clan together, with not only 3, 4, 5, and 7 there, but also three other Stitchpunks. The first one was an impatient-looking, dull white doll with steel-rimmed eyes, and his pupils, unlike the ones the other dolls had, were narrow and triangular. His body was sewn together with dark brown thread, the cloth appearing to be canvas or the non-stick side of Velcro, and there were two straps with buckles around his middle. His hands and feet were wood and steel, and he wore a somewhat ragged, red velvet cape, fastened at the front with a small, ruby brooch. He held a staff with half of a gear on top, forming a kind of hook with a bell attached to the top, and on his head was a tall, metal hat with red thread wrapped around it, the thread keeping in place an English, copper penny with the number "1" on the front. Whatever number the doll had was hidden by the cape.

The second doll, next to 3 and looking confused, was also white, made out the material of a sock, and twice as large as the other Stitchpunks. Half of his cloth was the outside part of the sock, while the other half was the inside, making it look like he was made out of two different cloths all together. Holding together the cloth in the middle were three metal fasteners, and around his neck like a protective frill or shoulder guard was a large cog, cut up but strung back together by leather string. His hands and feet were a mixture of steel, brass, and copper, with steel-rimmed eyes, and across his mouth were three faded, ink lines – courtesy of 6. On his back was tied a magnet, which held a large, steel knife with a rusty nail tied to the bottom by leather string as a handle, half of the blade of a scissors, and the top of a salt-shaker, and on his right shoulder was drawn the number "8".

The third doll, talking to 5, was burlap like 5 himself, but a lighter brown. His feet and fingers were bright copper, with his palms made of wood, and there was crimson stitching across his left shoulder. His eyes were steel-rimmed, with stitches above them that resembled eyebrows, and on his chest was a large, brass zipper. In his hands was a steel staff with a lightbulb on the top, the lightbulb of which was glowing at the moment, and on the doll's back was the number "9".

Hearing 2 and 6 enter the book-filled area, 4's eyes lit up, and he waved cheerfully. 6 waved back, running over to the twin, and the other Stitchpunks turned around. 7 stepped forward, her helmet back up. "2? What's going on?"

"And why are we all back here?" the caped Stitchpunk, 1, asked in annoyance. "If this is another one of your foolish ideas, I want nothing to do with it."

2 ignored the last part, used to his older brother's negative attitude towards things. A wonder their souls were even related ... "I found something last night," 2 explained, pointing father back into the Technology section. "Follow me!"

Without waiting for a response, the leather doll ran past them and vanished around the corner of a bookshelf. The Stitchpunks looked at each other curiously, then went after him. A talent of 2's, besides being able to fix, operate, invent, and alter anything electrical, was being able to find what he called "riches among ruin". If he was excited enough about finding something to get them, it must be something special indeed. The eight dolls rounded the corner of the bookshelf, which led to a shadowy, some secluded area in the farthest corner of the Library, dusty from disuse.

Books and artifacts were shoved aside, the floor cleared off, and several cloths thrown in a messy pile in the center of the wooden floorboards. Stacks of books were piled around them, almost like a series of walls, and the place stopped in a dead end. Nobody was there. But hadn't 2 just gone in this direction? The Number with the zipper, 9, held up his lightstaff as he looked around. "2?"

"Up here!"

The dolls looked up. 2, perched on top of a cardboard box in one of the shelves, waved down at them. "It's a package!" he announced, patting the cardboard.

3 and 4's eyes flashed, and they faced each other, clicking excitedly as they motioned with their hands, and 9 looked at 7. "What's a package?" he asked.

7 grinned, pointing at the box. "That! Packages are boxes the beings sent to each other that held items! When the Machines attacked, they destroyed most of the packages and everything inside of them. Finding one these days is very rare."

She looked thoughtful. "I wonder why it's in here ..."

2 studied the top of the box, running his steel fingers over it while on his knees. "It's still sealed, so there's a high possibility that whatever was placed in here is still there. There's also some wording here ..."

He squinted at the faded print. "... Two ... zero ... one ... two? 2012? This is from 2012?"

8 raised an eyebrow, whistling, and 5 leaned over to 9. "That's almost a thousand years ago, right?" he whispered.

9 nodded yes to his best friend, and 7 swung down her helmet, running over to the bookcase and nimbly climbing up it. Reaching the shelf the box was settled on, she hoisted herself onto the wooden surface and, standing up, sprinted over to the cardboard package to go behind it. 2 carefully slid off the box, landing next to the female, and 7 called, "8! C'mon and catch this thing when it drops!"

8 shrugged, walking over and positioning himself under the shelf the box was on, and 9 blinked. "Drops?"

7 and 2 shoved the box hard. It slid forward, teetering on the edge of the wooden shelf, then tipped over and plummeted to the floor. 8 managed to catch it, despite it being five times his size, and carefully set it down on the floor, creating a puff of dust where it landed. 7 leaped off the shelf, landing on her feet on top of the box, and 2 slid down the cord of a drape that was hanging down nearby him. Reaching the ground, the older doll released his grip on the rope and ran over to the box, and 7 bent down, offering a hand. 2 accepted it, and she hoisted him up next to her with her literal steel grip. "How can we open it?" 9 asked, coming up to the box to tap it's side with a copper finger.

2 kneeled down on the box, feeling the tape that closed it up. "Hm ... something sharp."

He held his hand out to 7, not taking his brass-rimmed eyes off of a certain section on the tape. "Give me your spear."

7 reached behind her back, pulling free her knife weapon with an animal bone as a handle, and placed it in 2's hand. He held the blade over the tape, aiming carefully, then plunged it down as hard as he could. There was a ripping sound, and the metal tip pierced the tape, along with the cardboard below. 2 wrapped both hands around the handle, pulling it to the side, and the knife slit through the ancient tape, unsealing the box with another tearing sound. The leather doll finally pulled the blade out, laying it besides him, and grabbed the edge of the box-flap that was opposite to them and pulled upward. The flap came free, unfolding onto the other side with a sudden shift, and 2 accidentally lost his balance – and fell into the box.

The sudden movement in the box caused it to tip over, and it crashed into the wooden floor on it's side, throwing 7 clear with a yelp while almost flattening 8 and 9. The other dolls quickly backed away, and the contents of the box spilled out in a cascade of black circles before they came to a stop, laying still. One of the circles moved, then was shoved aside, and 2 gingerly climbed out of the pile, wincing as he shook one of his hands. "I'm fine. Accidentally twisted my wrist the wrong way, but fortunately, it was my right one and not my left. Perfectly fine."

He jumped off the circles, and 7 got to her feet, fetching her spear before walking over and poking one of the circles with the tip of the blade. They were large, as big as them, and had thin, brown plastic around the edges that was opaque, and white labels were plastered onto the top and bottom of the circles with writing on them. "What are these things?"

3 and 4 rushed over to the circles and started picking them up, flashing and clicking in excitement as they catalogued the objects. 2 straightened his hat. "My goodness ... I think they're actual emulsion analog recordings backed by rem-jet bases."

"In English?" 1 deadpanned sarcastically.

"Rolls of video film."

5 walked over, timidly touching the surface of one of the rolls. "Do they still work?"

2 studied the brown plastic at the sides. "I think so. The film itself is in excellent condition for something so old."

His black eyes suddenly lit up, and he pointed at some small writing on one of the rolls. "Look at this! It's from America!"

8 whistled. "Whoa."

9 looked confused. "America?"

2 waved a steel hand. "Another country, far away. Very into technology. Of course, they're dead like everybody else, but ..."

He tapped the roll. "Some of the fruits of their labour are still around."

The vested doll looked up. "Does anyone know where a projector is? Maybe we can watch some of these before bed."

7 nodded. "Yeah, by the bookshelf. Me and 8'll get it."

Motioning to the large Number, the two headed around the bookshelf, vanishing. They reappeared a moment later, shoving a black film projector across the floor, and positioned it nearby the box. 9 studied the rolls of film. "Which one should we put in first?"

6 pointed to the roll that 2 had been studying. "T-that one."

3 and 4 looked at each other, and 5's single eye blinked in confusion. "That one? Why that one?"

6 figured his key. "T-the Voice ... g-g-glitch ... there!"

1 raised an eyebrow, and 2 shrugged, picking up the film roll with some difficultly since his wrist still hurt, and lugged it over to the projector. "What have we got to lose?"

He leaned the roll against the projector before shoving a thick book next to it, and climbing onto the hard-cover novel, grabbed the roll again and lifted it up, placing it in the roll holder. "A good thing there's already an empty one there ..." he murmured, casting a quick glance at the empty roll at the other end, ready to be filled.

3 and 4 plopped down on the pile of cloth next to the projector, and the others followed their example as they waited for the "movie" to start, watching the blank wall the projector faced. 2 studied the panel of buttons on the device, then reached out with his left hand and pushed a button. The projector whirled to life, spilling a square of shimmering, white light on the wall in front of them. 2 jumped down from the book and, running over to the nearby wall, reached up and flicked a switch. The electric lights flickered, then went out completely, plunging the room into darkness. The leather Stitchpunk walked back to the others, sitting down to watch, and the screen flashed numbers as it began counting down. Surprisingly, it didn't start at ten ...

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1 ...

The numbers vanished as the screen flickered again, then cleared, showing an image. It looked like the inside of a building, with large boxes splashed with color all over the place, moving pictures on them. The video seemed to be recording from someplace high-up, the ceiling perhaps, and was aimed towards one particular box, pink and white in color. Seated in front of the box, staring at the two moving pictures on it intently, were ...

9 blinked. "Beings?"

5 shrugged. "I guess they're weren't extinct back then."

The two human beings were both girls, in their late teens and chatting together. The first one had tan skin, with golden-brown hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a blue and white outfit. The second one had unusually pale skin paired with dark brown hair tinged with gold streaks, and icy blue eyes rimmed with gold, wearing a blue, Japanese kimono. There was a screen in front of each of them, on which were what looked like fancy cars. The tan girl was operating a white and teal car with the figure of a black-braided girl in it, while the pale one was controlling a cyan car with another girl, one with equally cyan hair.

"C'mon, c'mon!" the pale girl exclaimed, twisting something that looked a wheel, which was attached to the box.

7 cocked her head, mouth open slightly. "What the ... what are they doing?"

"It's a game."

Everybody turned and stared at 2, who shrugged. "I happen to remember Creator mentioning something like this. Gaming, he called it. Young beings called children went there a lot to amuse themselves. That kind of game with the cars is seeing who can be faster with the controls, and is referred to as racing."

"F-fun!" 6 exclaimed.

"Waste of time," 1 muttered darkly.

7 rolled her eyes, and they went back to watching. A theme-song in a different language, possibly Chinese or Japanese, was playing in the background of the game, and the pale girl made her character race through a white box on the screen. A voice announced, "Sweet Seekers!" as there was a flash of white sparkles as three missiles appeared out of thin air.

5 winced at the bad memories, and 9 patted his shoulder comfortingly. 5 shot him a thankful look. The rockets zoomed forward and crashed into three cars ahead, blasting them out of the way of the pale girl's player, and she laughed as she steered her character. "I'm ahead!" she exclaimed, blue eyes glinting as the car sped towards a checkered line ahead in the screen.

"Oh, yeah? Well vigilate hoc! Watch this!" the tan girl laughed, reaching for something.

6 blinked. "G-glitch."

She jammed her thumb against the button, and there was a flash of blue pixels as the black-haired racer dissolved, then reappeared a few feet ahead of the rival character, crossing the checkered line first. A voice yelled, "First Place, Lily von Schweetz! Second Place, Sticky Wipplesnit! Congratulations!"

Colored sparkles filled the screen as the car vanished, replaced by the black-haired figure, dressed in teal and white, being presented a large, golden cup with handles. There was a flash of light followed by a click as 4 took a picture, and 2 chuckled. The character squealed as she got the cup and waved at the tan girl, who grinned and pumped one fist. "Yes! I win!"

The pale girl grinned back. "Yeah, well, just wait until next time! Then I'll wipe the floor with you!"

"Wipe the floor ...?" 5 echoed in pure confusion.

8 shrugged. The tan girl laughed. "That day will never come! I am champion of arcade!"

The pale girl stuck out her tongue. "Pride cometh before a fall, Franci. Remember that."

"All right everyone, the arcade's closing! Last game, everybody out!" an elderly voice announced

Franci cast a last look at the character holding the cup and stood, stretching before she turned and walked out of the view of the video. The pale girl didn't move, and Franci called, "Silver! Come on!"

The girl rolled her blue and gold-tinged eyes. "Coming!"

She stood up, casting a smile at the screens showing the characters, then spun around, walking out of the camera's sight. A door closed, followed by the clicking of metal as something was locked, then footsteps fading away into the distance. The building was filled with silence except for songs playing faintly in the background, when abruptly, the screen of the camera began to flicker and blur, warping the images on it. 7 frowned. "What the ...?"

The screen flashed light, then began sputtering and scrambling itself crazily. 5 scooted away fearfully. "What's wrong with it?!"

9 stood up, running over to the wall the light-created screen was on, and reached out to touch it. 2 looked alarmed. "Wait! What are you doing?! We don't know what it is!"

Instantly, 9 froze as his optics widened in horror.

9 looked down at the circle object, then at the empty space in what appeared to be a huge, metal ball. "It looks like it goes in this machine thing ..."

7, 5, and 2 turned around, and 7 asked in confusion, "What?"

9 stepped forward, and 2's brass-rimmed eyes widened as he released 7's hand, running back towards 9. "Wait!"

9 didn't hear him and placed the circle in the space, which began to glow a strange, green light. 2 reached him and, pushing him out of the way, grabbed the circle, pulling hard as he tried to yank it back out. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed frantically. "We don't know what it is–"

There was a humming sound as the circle started vibrating, and 2 quickly stumbled back and away from it, tripping and almost falling to the ground, except that 9 quickly caught him. The two dolls stared at the circle as the glowing intensified, when 2's eyes widened and he yanked away from 9, spinning around and shoving the burlap Number backwards and sending him crashing to the ground.

Instantly a beam light shot out of the circle, and 2 whirled around to face it in alarm when the beam slammed into his face, and he screamed in pain as his glass optics shattered. A glowing, green light flew out of his eyes and open mouth, the circle sucking it into the symbols carved on it's surface, and there was a burst of white light. The green light vanished, and 2 collapsed to the ground. 5 looked horrified. "2!" he screamed.

9 could only stare at 2's blank, empty eyes in horror ... "NO!"

"AHHH!" 9 screamed, yanking back his hand as he stumbled away from the wall, accidentally tripping and crashing to the floor.

"9!" 7 exclaimed, and she and 2 quickly rushed over to him, kneeling down on the wooden floor. "Are you okay?"

"Did it hurt you?!" 2 asked worriedly as 7 pulled 9 up into a sitting position, noticing 9 was trembling violently.

9 bit his lip. "N-no, but ..."

He suddenly spun around, surprising 2 by hugging him tightly, and choked out, "Never s-say that!"

2's brass eyes reflected confusion. "Never say wha–"

He stopped, then realized what 9 meant, and he sighed before hugging 9 back. "Sh, it's okay. I didn't mean to scare you, my boy."

9 nodded timidly, and 2 glanced over at the sputtering screen. "I doubt that will kill us, but you can never be too careful. It is odd, though."

"G-glitch ..." 6 murmured.

Everyone turned to look at him, and 7 raised an eyebrow. "Glitch? What in this sorry excuse for Earth is a glitch?"

5 looked thoughtful. "It's a malfunction. A mistake in a machine or in programming. You guys were able to destroy the BRAIN because of the programming glitch activated that sent it into shock and overload when you removed our souls from it's soul holder."

1 studied the square of light. "So that might be a glitch of some sort?" he asked in annoyance.

7 snorted, hefting her bird helmet over her head as the others looked at her. "Hmph. Just as long as it doesn't do anything freaky."

6 pointed at the screen. "L-like that?"

The Stitchpunks whipped their heads around and stared at the screen in surprise. It was still flickering, but had split itself in half, the left side pure white while the other was jet black. In the center was plastered a jagged lightning-bolt, the part on the black side white and the part on the white side black. Flickers of blue glitches zipped up and down the screen, flashing wording across the symbol, and 9 blinked. "... The Network?"

As if in response, there was a loud humming sound, and the dolls barely had any time to even blink before an explosion of black and white light erupted from the lightning-bolt symbol, engulfing them and their surroundings completely. 9 opened his mouth to yell something, anything, only to find his voice-box wasn't working due to the intense amounts of electromagnetic energy being aimed at him. He carefully opened his optics, and was shocked to see the light was still there, yet he wasn't being blinded. In the light, he could dimly make out the other Numbers, just as alarmed as he was at the moment.

Suddenly, 1 vanished from sight. Their black eyes widened, and 2 opened his mouth despite the fact he obviously knew their voice-boxes wouldn't work, when before they could blink, he was gone too. 3 and 4 looked at each other, when they also vanished, and it suddenly hit the remaining Numbers. They were vanishing in numerical order. 5 spun around to face 9 in horror, and their eyes met for only a second before he disappeared as well. 6 just sat still, almost waiting, and was gone. 7 gritted her teeth as she withdrew her spear to fight back, but the next instant, she had also vanished. 8 could only blink before he was gone with the rest of them. 9 sucked in his breath as he waited ... and was not disappointed.

A rush of burning-hot and ice-cold swept through his body, and instantly, the light exploded outward in red and blue flickers, then dissolved into black. It vanished, and the projector slowly ran to a stop. The Stitchpunks were nowhere to be seen.

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

1 Corinthians 15: 51–52, New King James Version (NKJV)

TF (TFTime)

Wilbur (Wilbur-Nator)

Skye (RobinsInTheSkye)

With guest appearance of ... well ... you'll find out. :) I and Wilbur own him. Don't own Mystery, though.