Oh my God. Oh dear, oh god, oh my... Oh my God. *takes a deep breath in* Phew. Well, okay, here goes. This was inspired by a dream I had Thursday night. I remember very clearly seeing Hogarth, 9, 5, the twins...and the Iron Giant. I don't remember much else.

Just like with my 9/Coraline fanfic, the stitchpunks got transported to Hogarth's world through a portal. I don't know how involved I'll be with this fanfiction, and it's the first one that involves these two movies. I think I wanted there to be a crossover with these movies.

So, until then, enjoy this first chapter.

The forest was limitless, light, and rich. Its canopy was dominated by sycamore, hemlock, and cedar, and rays of lights bursting through their canopies allowed for vibrant mushrooms to consume the crunchy layer of leaves below.

Curving tree limbs drooped from many a tree, and a hodgepodge of flowers, which were scattered sporadically, were a welcome change in the otherwise mundane lower level.

A variety of sounds, belonging mostly to small creatures, echoed in the air, which were out of sync with the splashing of fish in a nearby lake.

Hogarth kicked a pebble across the forest floor. Many times he'd ventured into this forest to pass the time, to have time to think, and to just have a good time. And it was in this forest where he met the Giant. The Giant that saved his town and everyone in it. Hogarth still remembered the explosion from outer space. It was quite a spectacle, he had to admit.

That all happened three years ago, and the Giant hadn't been seen since. Hogarth missed him every day since then. He remembered getting that screw in the mail. He remembered that very night, it was banging against the window to get out. Hogarth opened the window, watched the screw jump out and said goodbye to it. He knew the that the Giant was all right, that he would see him again. Three years have passed, and still no sign of it.

Rockwell became popular after the Giant's sacrifice. It became a tourist attraction. The main attraction was the statue of him and the Giant in the town square that was sculpted by Dean McCoppin. And that was another thing. Since the disappearance of the Giant, Dean and his mother Annie had been dating, and just last year, she and Dean got married. He liked having Dean in the family. Hogarth had fun with him when he helped him out with a sculpture every now and then. Dean was certainly a good father figure in his life.

Hogarth reached the spot where he left that piece of scrap metal for the Giant. He spent hours waiting for a glimpse of the Giant. He remembered having his camera and fiddling with it. And then the awkward encounter that took place afterwards. He still laughed to himself when he taught the Giant to speak.

Looking back now, it was one of the most fun moments he's ever had. All the kids at school wanted to know what it was like to hang out with the Giant. Hogarth told them everything he and the Giant did. His favorite moment was flying with the Giant. The breakneck speed, the wind combing through his hair, face, eyes, the ringing in his ears. It was the wildest ride of his life. He hated when the Giant got shot and crashed though. Hogarth thought that would be the end for him. Luckily it wasn't.

School was great for him. He started his first year of high school and every class was a breeze. He had friends, having become popular from the bond he shared with the Iron Giant. Even when he was eleven, older kids wanted to know where the Giant came from. That was the one thing Hogarth didn't know. Why did he land on Earth? Was it just an accident? Or was he here for a reason? And who made the Giant was the biggest question of all. That question had no answer, and Hogarth didn't bother trying to come up with an answer and just hoped the Giant was okay.

Hogarth meandered through the quiet field, absentmindedly scanning the tall grasses. He figured he'd stick here a while longer and then head back home. The forest would always be here tomorrow.

A series of voices reached his ears. Hogarth turned around. He wasn't exactly shocked, but he was also a bit curious. He waited. He didn't see anyone, and yet the voices were clear.

"...I don't recognize this part."

"I've never seen this before."

There were only two voices, and both were male. Hogarth snapped his head, eyes alert. He raised his brow. He heard a rustling in the grass. He also heard a twig snap. But he didn't see anyone. Nevertheless, Hogarth remained alert.

The voices were clearer and he could hear them coming from somewhere behind him. He turned around. The grass was being moved. He waited, and saw four figures emerge. Hogarth's eyes were as big as saucers.

Two of them were made of burlap, only one of them had an eyepatch, while the other had both eyes and a zipper on its front and carried a staff with a lightbulb. The other two were twins, and made of what Hogarth could discern as blue and yellow striped fabric. It reminded Hogarth of a pair of gardening gloves. Strangely the twins had numbers: 3 and 4. And by their expressions on their faces, they were just as shocked as Hogarth.

"No way..."

Hogarth crept closer and knelt down. The creatures backed away at his closeness. The twins hid behind the zippered one and the one with the eyepatch held up a weapon. It looked like a miniature harpoon, and by the way he was pointing at him, Hogarth knew he meant to protect his friends from him.

"Easy, easy," said Hogarth, holding his hands in a gesture for peace.

The creature lowered his harpoon. He wasn't going to trust him for a second, but he saw that Hogarth wasn't a threat to him. The other creatures—the twins—craned their necks to catch a glimpse of Hogarth. They looked at each other and the their protectors. The one holding the harpoon motioned for them to stay put. Hogarth remained silent.

Then the zippered creature stepped up to Hogarth. He had that look that Hogarth recognized. It was the look of curiosity mixed with trepidation with a trace of excitement.

"You're human?," he asked. Hogarth found he couldn't work his mouth.

"Yeah," said Hogarth. "What are you guys?"

The four of them looked at each other, confused. Hogarth was all of a sudden reminded of the first day he met the Giant. He felt like this would be like with him again, only these creatures were small, and easier to hide.

Hogarth knew he was going to have fun with these four.

Hogarth's mother wasn't home when he returned home. Neither was Dean. It was probably better that they weren't here.

Bringing the four robot-like dolls was rather interesting. The twins, 3 and 4, spent the walk home grabbing at Hogarth's hair, which bothered the boy a little. The other two, 9 and 5, at least that's what was written on their backs, sat on Hogarth's shoulders, watching the scenery pass them.

Once he arrived home, the house was empty, leaving time for Hogarth to come up with a game plan. He scurried up the stairs, while making sure they didn't fall off. He went into his bedroom where the conversation started.

"What are you guys?," was Hogarth's first question. He set the four on his nightstand while he plopped down on his bed.

"We're stitchpunks," said 5.

"Stitchpunks?" The word sounded new to him. It sounded like something out of his comics, though he's never seen anything like them before. This was going to be one long conversation.

5 did most of the talking with 9 jumping in when the time called for it. From what 9 and 5 said, they were created by a scientist who made them to protect the world from machines. Machines the twins showed him through a recording they projected onto the wall. It blew Hogarth's mind; the twins' talent was out of this world. Hogarth saw clips of soldiers, enormous machines that reminded him of the ones in his comic books. 5 said that they're called Steel Behemoths. And the voice over of the narrator made it sound ominous. Then it ended with machines killing the human race, and the very last one was of a ruined, abandoned city.

"That's what happened," said 5 as soon as the clip was over.

"God," uttered Hogarth, face falling. "It's horrible what happened to you guys and your home, but the world isn't as destroyed as it is."

"We've noticed," said 5.

"Huh?" Hogarth was obviously not following.

"I mean, we know that this isn't our world," explained 9. "We can tell because the air is cleaner, fresher than where we're from."

"And we haven't spotted a beast in the forest," interjected 5. "Everything here is...idyllic."

"You're right about that," commented Hogarth. "And...where did you guys...come from?" He tried not sound like he was offending them. It was probably for their own good that they didn't feel any offense, and they understood.

"When we were resurrected—"

"Whoa, whoa!," interrupted Hogarth. "Resurrected? How exactly are you guys walking and talking and all that?"

The four blinked. 3 and 4 flickered lights from their camera shutter eyes. Hogarth's eyes widened.

"How are they doing that?," he asked, pointing at the twins.

"That's how the Scientist made them," replied 5.

"How exactly did he bring you guys alive?"

"Well, where do we start?"

5, the twins, and 9 began their long explanation about how they came to be. They explained to him that their creator brought them to life by transferring parts of his soul to them with the help of a transferring device and an artifact called the talisman, which 9 just so happened to have. He unzipped and took out the talisman. He held it up for Hogarth to see. He saw that it had symbols etched on it. Three of them. One looked like a loop; another like a crescent moon, and the last resembled some sort of tower. At least that's how Hogarth discerned it.

"How did the Scientist make it?," asked Hogarth, arching a brow.

"We're not sure," said 9. "I was the last to wake up, and I was fairly new to the world." His face held a grim prophecy.

"What happened?," he inquired.

"It's a long story," said 9.

"I have time," quoth Hogarth, resting his chin on his palms.

9 sucked in a breath. "When I first woke up, I found myself in the Scientist's workshop, and I saw his corpse." Hogarth scrunched up his nose in disgust. 9 decided to skip that part and got to the part where he met 2.

"I saw 2 outside—"

"How many of you are there?," interjected Hogarth.

"Nine," said 5.

"And the resurrection part?"

9, and in other parts, 5 told Hogarth about how they went to rescue 2 from the Cat Beast after the former found the latter injured. They told him of the Factory, where they found 2, rescued him and had a run-in with the Cat Beast. Then came the part where 7, another one of their kind, killed the Cat Beast. After reuniting, 9 told Hogarth the part he didn't want to tell him: the moment he put the talisman into the slot of the B.R.A.I.N. and how its activation sucked 2's soul out of his body. This appalled Hogarth, but he kept a neutral face throughout the whole talk. They told him about how 7 took them to library where she and the twins resided and how they showed 9 the recording they showed Hogarth. Then came the part where they all returned to the cathedral, where 1, their leader, and his bodyguard, 8, lived. From there, a beast called the Winged Beast attacked the cathedral. With 7's help, who came just in the knick of time, they managed to kill the Winged Beast by lieu of 5 crossing wires from the jet that crashed through the ceiling. The cathedral caught on fire and the stitchpunks took refuge in the library. It didn't stop there.

5 told Hogarth of the the symbols on the talisman and their meaning. Then came the part where 7 confronted 1 when she found him guilty of sending 2 to die. After that fight, a new machine, the Seamstress kidnapped 8, and then 7, and took them to the factory. They all embarked on a rescue mission that involved sneaking in and blowing the factory up after 9 managed to rescue 7 and 8. It was too late to save 8, but managed to rescue 7 and they both escaped the factory just as the others sent a lit oil barrel rolling into the building. The factory blew up and it was all over...or so it seemed. The B.R.A.I.N. survived and was out to get the stitchpunks. It killed 5 and then 6, who told 9 to return to the First Room. While the others were losing hope, 9 went and did just what 6 said. He returned to the First Room, the Scientist's workshop, and learned the truth.

"The machine," said 9, "was meant to be an intelligent being, but without a soul, it couldn't feel anything. So, I returned to the others and told them my new plan. We had to take the talisman out of the B.R.A.I.N.'s slot and use it against it. I grabbed its attention and was about to let it take me when 1 pushed me out of the way and took the blow. It was down to 7, the twins and me. I had the talisman in my possession and used it against him. Their souls were saved, and the machine was dead.

"We had a funeral for the five, and we watched them ascend to the sky. And then, after they were gone, it started to rain—for the first time in years. We knew then that life would return."

"So, the resurrection?" Hogarth tried not to seem like all he cared about was finding out how they came back. 9 chuckled.

"It was about a week after they died," he said, "and it was when we went out to scout, and we saw 5 wandering."

Hogarth turned his attention to 5.

"I remember waking up in my body," he said, "near the remains of the factory. I started wandering the Emptiness. I was relieved when they found me, and we went back home to the library."

"Then we found 2," said 9, "he was washed up near a drain. We took him home and built him a new set of legs. He was attached to the Seamstress, so it seemed like the right thing to do."

"And then we found 8," interjected 5. "His fabrics was covered in soot and we managed to clean some of it off, and gave him new patches to cover the burns. And then 9 and I went down to the ravine to rescue 6. He wasn't as damaged as the others, but his left leg came out of place, so 2 and 9 fixed it. And last was 1."

"He wasn't exactly looking forward to coming back with us," said 9. "He told me and 7 that he didn't want to come back, that we didn't need him and didn't feel needed. It took an enormous amount of convincing to get him to come back home with us. His hand got damaged in the explosion; 2, 5 and I fixed his hand, good as new."

Hogarth sat up, brow furrowed. He was lost in thought.

"So," he began, coming to a conclusion, "the rain brought you back?"

"Pretty much, yes," said 5.

"That's the only way they could've been brought back," replied 9, "and several weeks after we saw grass patches sprouting."

"That must've been a sight to see," quipped Hogarth.

"It was," replied 5, "considering it was our first time seeing it."

"And," said Hogarth, "how did you guys end up here?"

5 took a breath.

"We decided that all of us should go on a holiday, so to speak," he said, "we traveled far from the city and we found ourselves in a forest. It wasn't as expansive as the one here, but at least the leaves on the trees were turning green again.

"We were near a creek, and I came up with the idea to build a raft. 9 and I gathered branches to make one and after it was done, 9 and I, and the twins, who insisted on riding with us, got on it and rode the water."

"The others were following alongside the river," said 9, "we agreed to take turns, but then we ending up taking a wrong turn, right where the waters traveled faster. Problem was, the fork in the river, where we went, was on the left. 7 and the others were on the right, and they couldn't reach us.

"We saw that we were going to go over a waterfall, and the river was so wide, we couldn't jump out; we were going to get swept anyways. And then, we went over the fall. All of us fell, and we all grabbed on to each other, we held on to a rock. We thought we would float to the surface, but we were sinking. It was as though something was pulling us down. We were too afraid to let go, so we held on to the rock. And then everything began to spin, and I shut my optics, holding on to dear life. The next moment we opened our eyes, we rose to the surface, and we were here—we were in the nearby lake. And so, here we are now."

Hogarth bit his lip, brow raised. He tapped his chin.

"What do you think?," asked 5.

A moment passed in silence.

"It sounds like the river you all fell in was like a...portal," said Hogarth, unsure. "I don't know how to explain it, but I've read about these things in my comic books. Of course, comic books are just fictional, and I've never heard of a lake being a portal before."

"We don't know what else to think," said 9.

"Do you think your friends came through the portal, too?," inquired Hogarth, hopeful.

"We're not sure," replied 5. "We've been hiking through the forest for almost the whole day, looking for any signs of machines. When we were sure there weren't that's when we knew we weren't in our world."

"That's tough," said Hogarth.

The sound of a car pulling in could be heard outside. Hogarth figured it was his mother and Dean.

"Hey, listen," he said to the stitchpunks, "tomorrow we can set out to find your friends. And maybe we can find a way to get you back home."

"You would do that?," asked 9.

"Yeah," retorted Hogarth, "I would do anything to help you."

"That's nice of you," said 5. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," said Hogarth, rising to his feet. He walked toward the door, then stopped. He turned around and asked, "They," he pointed at 3 and 4, "they don't talk, do they?"

"Not vocally," responded 5. "But they flicker lights from their optics to communicate. That's how they talk."

"That's cool."

Not bad for chapter one, huh? Like I said, I don't know how dedicated I'll be to this fanfciton. And it is my second crossover story.

Be on the lookout for the second chapter.