Finally, somebody said, "Why is it so dark?"

Sparrow chirped something to Boris.

Boris said, "Eh, what's a solar eclipse?"

Abigail suddenly said, "It's when the moon moves in front of the sun. It doesn't happen very often. It's nothing to be concerned about."

After a few moments, almost everybody went back to whatever it was that they had been doing.

6 went back to his bag and desperately rummaged through it. He pulled out a drawing of an owl that looked at bit odd, looked at it briefly, and put it aside. It wasn't what he was looking for.

Boris went back to where he had been while Alice stayed so that she could talk to the stitchpunks.

The infertile annodite queen hadn't been close enough to hear 1 properly.

It went up to Boris and, in the language of the animals, said, "Greetings, um, Boris, I believe it was."

Boris, in English, said, "Hey."

"What was it that 1 said? Something about 7?"

Boris rather quietly said, "Ah yes. She's pregnant."

"…What?"

"I said, 7 is pregnant."

"…7's…pregnant?"

"Yes."

"…She's…going to have a baby?"

"Yes…"

"…"

"…"

"…Are you joking?"

"No…"

"…But…that's not possible."

"I know. But there it is."

"…Um…What-what are her symptoms?"

"Well, Anthony told me that 9 told him that 7 had been nauseous for the first three months."

The annodite queen knew who Anthony was. "…How far along is she?"

"About four months, I think."

The annodite queen looked at 7 and 9, who were talking to Alice (the rest of the stitchpunks had moved elsewhere). Then it looked back at Boris.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The queen then scuttled off towards 9, 7, and Alice.

Insert story breaker here

Alice said, "So you have no idea how exactly it's possible?"

9 said, "No."

"But you don't exactly care about that, do you?"

"…Not really."

Alice smiled. Then she noticed the annodite queen only a few inches away from her. Uncomfortable around such a large insect, she moved a few feet away from it.

The annodite queen had no interest in Alice. It went up to 7, bowed its head, and gently pressed its head against 7's stomach (somewhat unintentionally creating a rather awkward moment). The annodite queen suddenly felt something moving inside 7, and the queen was fully and finally convinced that 7 was pregnant.

Insert story breaker here

She peered through the doors to the cathedral, making sure that she didn't expose herself. When she saw just how many animals there were, she was very surprised. Her brother had told her that there were a lot of animals in the building the stitchpunks lived in, but she hadn't expected THIS many (of course, this was the first time she had actually SEEN animals).

She knew that she would have to rethink her plan. If she tried to go in there, she would last, at best, about a minute. There was no way whatsoever she would be able to get in there without being noticed instantly.

She suddenly noticed two living dolls (apparently the stitchpunks) heading towards the door. She quickly hid around the corner of the building and watched the entrance, waiting for the stitchpunks to come out.

Only one came out. It seemed to be missing an eye. It stopped about a foot away from the door and sat down. It seemed to be very stressed out.

It wasn't the one her father wanted, but he would be pleased nonetheless. She crept up to the stitchpunk as quietly as she could until she was close enough to the point where it was almost impossible for the stitchpunk to escape. When she was at that point, she charged forward. The stitchpunk almost immediately looked in her direction. The moment he saw her, he began to scream and tried to run back into the building. But it was too late. He had hardly even gone an inch before she grabbed him tightly in her talons. It briefly screamed louder.

Suddenly, the doors of the massive building opened. Standing in the doorway was a (admittedly) majestic creature that was considerably larger than she was. They both backed away from each other briefly.

Knowing that the creature would easily be able to take the stitchpunk away from her, she quickly flapped her wings and headed home.

Insert story breaker here

Even though it was dark, Boris was clearly able to see the machine. It was definitely not the Cat Beast. This machine looked like an owl, except that its wings were more like a dragon's (the skin being replaced by fabric). Its "beak" was also more like a hawk's, and its toes were ¾ sharp talons.

After just a few moments, the machine began to fly away, still holding 5 in its talons. Boris immediately took off after it, unaware that 9 had grabbed onto Boris' tail and was climbing up his back.

Boris, in the animal language, said, "Hey! Give him back!"

The machine looked back at him. In something similar to the animal language, it said, "You'll have to catch me first!" It flapped faster as it headed towards the factory.

Boris also flapped his wings faster, but he wasn't quite able to get up to the same speed as the machine, the Owl Beast.

At that point, 9 was at the point where Boris' neck connected to his torso. He stopped climbing there.

As Boris and the Owl Beast got closer to the factory, 9 noticed that the clouds above the factory seemed darker than the rest of the clouds. Just then, the sky began to get brighter as the eclipse began to end.

Boris noticed the darker clouds as well, but he was far more focused on getting 5 back.

When Boris and the Owl Beast were about 30 feet from the bridge when 9 noticed something else about the factory that made him nervous.

He thought, are those pumps…moving?

9 became even more nervous when he realized that they were. The sky became brighter.

9 quickly opened the zipper on his torso…and a wave of horror swept through him.

The Talisman was gone.

At that point, Boris and the Owl Beast were close enough to hear the heartbeat sound caused by the machinery in the factory. 9, upon hearing the heartbeat sound, almost fainted.

The Owl Beast headed for the front entrance, not fully aware of how close Boris was to it. As it began to land just inside the entrance, Boris jumped on it and pinned it to the ground. The machine began screeching loudly. Boris ripped off one of its wings before the Cat Beast suddenly jumped on his head.

When he got it off, he saw that the Owl Beast was heading further into the factory. Boris chased it, failing to notice that several machines had come into the room.

The Owl Beast had slowed down due to the intense pain caused by Boris ripping off its wing. Because of this, Boris was able to catch up to it by the time it had reached the top of a chute. He jumped on the Owl Beast, causing them both to fall down the chute. Along the way, Boris was able to get 5 out of its talons. He immediately noticed that 5 was unconscious.

When they came out the chute, Boris quickly jumped over the small pool of oil near the bottom of the chute…and gasped at what he saw.

9 did not even try to see what had made Boris gasp. If it was what he thought it was, then he didn't want to be seen.

The Owl Beast, still at the bottom of the chute, said, "Father, the stitchpunk you wanted is on this creature's back."

It just sounded like screeching to 9, but Boris understood it.

Boris suddenly dashed to the right as something lunged at him. 9 looked back…and was filled with dread and horror.

The Fabrication Machine was very much alive, was staring directly at them, and had the Talisman in its socket.

As Boris desperately looked for a way out, the Fabrication Machine lunged at them again, moving faster than 9 remembered it doing so. Boris quickly hid behind debris in the factory, continually moving to avoid being caught by the Machine. Eventually, he got to a place where the Machine could not easily get them. He looked at his back and was rather surprised to see 9.

Boris then took a closer look at 5. There was a cut on 5's leg that ran the length of the fabric on his leg.

Suddenly, Boris heard a voice say, "Still trying to hide from me? There's no point in it. Not when I can hear your heartbeat." It was the Fabrication Machine.

When it said that, Boris grabbed 9, put him on the ground, put 5 in front of 9, and quietly moved to another hiding spot.

9 knew what he was doing. Boris was going to try to distract the machines so that 9 and 5 could get out.

Suddenly, there was a crashing sound just outside their hiding place. One of the Machine's claws came in, probing for the stitchpunks. 9 quickly picked 5 up and backed away from the claw.

Suddenly, something grabbed them from behind. 9 initially panicked, but he was calmed and surprised when he saw that it was the infertile annodite queen. The insect queen then let out a patterned chirping sound to the normal annodites behind them. Countless annodites swarmed towards the claw. 9 wondered what the queen had told them. He didn't get a chance to find out though, as the queen then hoisted the two stitchpunks onto its back and let out a different chirping pattern to the mass of remaining annodites. The annodites swarmed onto the queen and the stitchpunks until 9 couldn't see anything. Pressed up against countless annodites, the buzzing sound caused by their tiny wings flapping was almost more than he could stand.

He suddenly felt very faint…

Insert story breaker here

The first thing 9 was aware of when he began to wake up was that it was very quiet. The silence was quickly interrupted by a soft chirping sound. 9 looked up to find the annodite queen directly over him. He gently scratched the side of what could've been considered as its neck. The insect queen made a contented purring sound.

When 9 looked around, he saw that Anthony was sitting next to them and that they were just outside the cathedral. Heather was next to Anthony.

Anthony said, "Boris told me and Heather about the Fabrication Machine. He's talking to the adults about what they should do now at the caravans. Everybody else is in the cathedral. I haven't told the other stitchpunks about the Fabrication Machine yet."

Heather said to 9, "Speaking of the other stitchpunks, you better get in there. 7's raising all kinds of hell over you being gone. I think she's figured out that the Machine's back."

The moment she said "hell", Anthony and the annodite queen looked at her with humorous expressions.

Anthony said, "Sis…where did you hear that word used like that?"

Heather said, "From Stacy."

"Sis…do me a favor and don't say that in front of anybody else."

"All right, but that doesn't change the fact that 7's really upset."

The annodite queen got off of 9 and he quickly rushed into the cathedral. He had barely gone in when 7 suddenly ran towards him and hugged him. She ran into him with so much force, she knocked him over. 9 quickly sat up and, after a few moments, hugged 7 back.

1 went up to them and said, "You wouldn't believe how upset 7 was while you were gone."

9 slid one of his hands onto 7's stomach. 7 slid one of her hands onto his.

After a few moments, 1 got onto his knees and said, "So, 9…what happened after you and Boris followed that thing?"

Author's note: I gonna end this chapter here because I think it's a good place to stop.

Seriously guys, review this story. If I don't get reviews, I feel like people don't like my story.