Note:

Well, this is the climax leading to the end, and I've noticed I've got a fair amount of viewers (I didn't even think I'd get any, so 100+ is a real achievement for me :3) so if there's anything that you'd like to say to me then review. Also, if you want to ask me anything then PM me and I'd be happy to answer, don't be shy! I'll give you a cookie if you do!

Hope you've enjoyed 'The Stitching' so far, but the final bit of this tale is going to be posted on Halloween itself because it seems fitting to me (and also because college has dished out homework up to my neck for half-term, woo-hoo… :P).

As I said, hope you like the story, and review if you feel so inclined, but I do need reviews, or I'll starve… :(.

Luce stood tall over Gamma, despite her notable distance from the duo, with striking intimidation. Her grey shirt, limp across the sleeves, clung to her body as she approached while her black trousers and boots were scathed in several places, possibly from previous fights with others, as she strode casually. Dexter stood in front of Gamma, defending her with hulking power. "Don't take another step," He warned, snarling. "You're not my partner any more, Luce, and you know that!"

Luce rolled her eyes. "Nice to see you too," She glared at Gamma. "You really need to invent a better internet connection," The girl examined her fingers in the same, smug way that Father did. "Hacking into your system used to be hard, but now it's a snap."

The hairs on Gamma's neck stood up as Dexter growled. "That's not possible," He insisted. "I took your laptop away when I kicked you out of the lab." Luce laughed with a cat-like voice.

"In this dimension, perhaps…" She played with her hair again for a moment. "But haven't you noticed how the other girls seem, oh, I don't know…. Robotic? Generic?" Luce's eyes locked onto Gamma cruelly. "… Dead?"

Dexter lowered his gaze, trying to mask the truth of Luce's words. "What…" He faltered, unsure where she was going with her language. "What do you mean?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Luce sneered, her shadow darker than coal. "You don't get why you thought I was so different," Gamma began to sweat as her rival spoke. "Ever heard of a place called 'Reality'?"

Dexter glared. "Yes," His voice was stern. "This is reality, how can you claim that there is another when you have no proof of it?" He received a smirk from Luce.

"I'm not the only one who knows of Reality," She replied calmly. "There have been others who know of such a place, and a lot of them work for you."

Dexter didn't seem scared at all. "Well then, where are they?" He clenched his fists tightly. "I certainly don't see any of them here!" Luce suddenly laughed again.

"What do you mean?" She pointed directly at Gamma. "There's one right behind you." Dexter turned to his friend, who, by then, become pale with fear.

"Is this… true?" Tears welled up in Gamma's eyes as her protector asked her a difficult question.

Then slowly, yet surely…

She nodded guiltily.

Luce walked past Dexter, then she whipped around and slammed her fist down onto his arm, causing the wereplushie to roar in pain. Upon instinct Gamma lunged at Luce, grabbing her shirt, and felt something hidden underneath the fabric that was probably a necklace of some kind. She gritted her teeth as Luce tore away, feeling whatever she'd grab cut into her skin and realised that Dexter had been the one who pulled her away from her enemy. "There she is!" Luce screeched, her lingerie only just showing where her shirt had been torn. "I've cornered her! Come here!" At first, nothing, but then stands of fan-girls emerged from the corridors, brandishing weapons and yelling angrily. Then Luce stood up like a dictator and pointed accusingly at Gamma. "Get her," She ordered. "Destroy her for what she's done, changing poor Dexter into a plushie like this!"

Dexter placed himself in front of Gamma and flashed a look at her. "Go, get out of here!"

Gamma backed away as the pressure began to build against her closest friend. "B-B-But what about you?" Her tears more powerful than ever before.

"Don't worry about me, just find the others and get out of here!" Dexter growled as he began to give in. "Now go!"

Gamma's watery eyes stole one last look at the wereplushie and then charged at the glass doors, causing them to shatter as she broke through and fled into the night.

Meanwhile, Dexter began to swerve. The tranquilliser Luce had slammed into his body beginning to take effect.

Gamma's lungs felt like as if they were on fire as she bolted from the angry mobs that had decided to follow her rather than stay with Dexter. She darted into the alleyways without thinking and soon skidded to a halt when faced up against yet another dead end. "Why does this keep happening to me?" Gamma groaned and faced the approaching crowd, her brow laced with lace-like sweat. The fan-girls babbled, firing insults at Gamma and readying weapons, signalising to her that the end was very near. She looked up to the heavens and pleaded. "If there's somebody up there, I could use a miracle right now!"

Suddenly the girls turned their heads and stared up at the sky, eyeing something above Gamma's line of sight. A tall figure, clad in a green jacket and blue jeans, had climbed up onto the wall behind their target, who then leapt down, his yellow skin glistening in the moonlight. He gave Gamma a reassuring glance with kind, black eyes and stared at the attackers, his mono-brow firm and his buzz-cut hair in need of a wash. Compared to everybody else, the figure was incredibly tall, and he fumbled around his pockets to pull out something from his pockets and held it up against the crowd. It was the fact that the item looked like a very old wedge of cheese that made Gamma gasp, but she held her breath, realising what was about to happen as the mob began to cough. Then slowly, one-by-one, the females fell like dominoes until only the figure and Gamma remained. The figure turned back to the person that he'd saved, revealing that he was probably only a little bit older than herself, and gave her a goofy grin. "Hello, my name is Ed."

Gamma couldn't believe her eyes. "Ed?" She examined his badly torn, red-and-white striped shirt underneath the jacket. "Where the heck did you come from?"

Ed pointed at the walls. "I was up there and came down because I saw you in trouble-" He showed Gamma the wedge. "-I could've used Angus, but Sheldon Junior is more powerful against mobs."

"Right…" Gamma replied, making the fact that she didn't quite understand Ed's explanation. "Anyways, I'm Gamma, one of Dexter's friends," Ed's eyes grew wide when her heard her name. "But, as you can probably tell, things have gone a little bit wild here."

"I remember!" Ed exclaimed and took out what appeared to be a very grimy newspaper article. "Peek-a-boo, I see you!" Gamma looked at a photo of the group as they rushed Dexter into the lab, with her trailing behind Numbah Five. "I found it on the ground and I cannot believe I saved a celebrity like in this photo!"

The two of them left the passageways and travelled in shadows as Gamma explained to Ed what had happened over the past few days. The new cohort seemed to pay attention to every word that she spoke. "… And that's when you came in," She finished as they entered Galaxy Gardens, a place where skyscrapers stood against lush plains, now the nests of Fusion Monsters. "But I'm pretty much stumped," Gamma hung her head as they walked passed a few uninfected shrubs. "I don't have any idea where the others are, and for all I know Dexter could be in agony as we speak!" Ed suddenly looked at Gamma's knuckles nervously.

"Um…" He pointed at her fist. "Your hand is bleeding, did that mob hurt you?" Gamma raised her hand to her line of sight and became pale at the sight of crimson threads dripping slowly through her fingers. Upon gracing the cut on her palm Gamma relaxed, knowing that the blood had nearly dried out around the wound, but then studied the heart-shaped locked she had grabbed from Luce's chest. Upon opening it, Gamma found herself looking at a slightly younger version of Dexter's head and shoulders, but then lowered her gaze, not really surprised by the photo. "Here." Ed offered Gamma a handkerchief, but she declined it after seeing the stains of dirt, ancient gumball remains and lord-knows-what-else clutching the fabric.

The sudden sounds of rustling leaves made both of them turn to the bush beside their conversation, only for Gamma to topple over as an oh-certain green blob exploded from the twigs, yapping joyously as if he was a little terrier. "Runty!" Billy's voice scolded above the mayhem. "You've blown our cover!" Runty licked Gamma's face as his master emerged, then he too noticed her as she struggled against the happy Fusion Spawn. "Gamma!" He celebrated, hugging Gamma before pulling Runty away from her. "Thank goodness you're alive! We thought you was dead!"

"… 'We'?" Gamma asked as she heaved herself up. Billy nodded and whistled at somebody in the foliage, who turned out to be Dee Dee as Gamma recognised the torn and dust-stained dress as she came out into the open. The blonde girl's eyes glittered and she too ran over to Gamma when she saw the exhausted escapist.

"Gamma! Boy am I glad to see you!" Dee Dee cried. "We got lost and then some of Dexter's fans tried to get us-" She stopped when her line of sight met Ed, who smiled and waved at her.

"Long time, no see!" He greeted to his shocked cohorts. "Oh! Have you seen Eddy? I have to give back something that I can't remember borrowing from him." At least there was the comfort that Ed hadn't changed… much. The group decided to travel a little further, steering clear of the monsters that stalked the streets, and eventually set up camp between two, large skyscrapers that hadn't been claimed by Fusions yet.

"So, Ed," Billy began as everybody huddled around a small fire that Dee Dee had made using chemicals she had stolen from the lab (she only did it for emergencies… or so she told them). "What the heck happened to you, anyways?"

Ed pondered, his skin softened by the glow of the flames. "I was running away from May, who wanted to kissy-face me, and then I ended up in this jungle on Mount Blackhead," He smiled wistfully. "I was so happy there, but everybody tried to convince me to come back, and they'd drop really cool things like lasers, armour and-" Ed showed them the newspaper article that he'd shown Gamma earlier. "-Stuff like this!"

"Wait a second," Dee Dee cut in. "Why'd you come back when you liked living in the jungle?" Ed dug around in his jacket again and pulled out a comic book.

"This is one of my favourite comics!" He pointed at the title on the creased cover. "It's called 'The Stitching', a classic about a scientist who goes into a forest and gets bitten by a wereplushie, so every night he changes into a plushie until he finds a cure!" The excitement on Ed's face grew quickly. "Somebody had told me that there'd been sightings of a wereplushie in Endsville, so I came back, but then I got lost and found you guys instead!"

The others nodded in new understanding and sat in silence, then slowly, but curiously, the four pairs of eyes turned towards Gamma, who had begun to take slumber out of exhaustion. Eventually it was Dee Dee who managed to pluck up the courage to ask her. "Gamma?" Gamma's eyes flickered open dully. "Where do you come from?"

The copper-haired girl almost immediately became alert as her mind fell across her past. She glanced at the others nervously. "It's… hard for me to explain," She began slowly. "But you mustn't tell anybody we can't trust about what you hear, got it?" The others nodded. "Very well," Gamma focussed, slipping into a different life. "It all began about two years ago…"

October, 23rd, 2008

I flopped into my cream bedroom, exhausted by the work I had done at my drama classes, and crawled up onto my warm, soft bed. It had been another great day with my friends, my education and my life and I celebrated my victories mentally. I had overcome so much since college began: My fear of social life, my inability to state my needs and even, to a certain extent, the problems I had with loud noises. In, fact, I'd never been happier in all of my life!

Then the realisation that I was wasting time hit me and I proceeded to take out a black laptop as well as a very well loved panther plushie and I studied the soft toy as the web loaded up. The panther had been a gift from a very close friend of mine who had recently died in a car crash, I can say that losing her was hard… but that won't stop me from moving on… at the very least…

A sharp 'bleep' signalled that the laptop was done and I eyed the logo on the web-page eagerly, looking at a young boy with ginger hair, clad in a lab coat and adjusting his glasses in front of the word 'Fusionfall' in bold, metallic letters. The boy's smile always made me feel good, so I went downstairs to make some coffee, and then eagerly entered the game.

I don't know how long I played for, but I knew that by the time I'd reached Fusion Dexter's lair my caffeine-loaded beverage had gone cold. Taking in a deep breath, I brought out Nano Eddy to keep my health up with the Jawbreakers he used to prevent me from dying, and charged, grabbing Fusion Dexter's attention through glowing scarlet eyes. He swiped at me as we danced in battle, ensuing cries of determination from my voice, before he slumped down, defeated.

I roared in victory as I grabbed the chilled coffee, cheering wildly, completely unaware that the mug was slipping from my grasp until-

WHAM!

Sparks flew from my caffeine-covered laptop, and within a second victory turned to panic as my drink spilled all over the machine. I cussed, and in my state of frenzy, attempted to grab the laptop, receiving a fairly nasty jolt of electricity as the monitor began to radiate with beckoning light.

Then I looked at my hands.

For a moment I stared in shock, unaware that the light was about to engulf me, as I examined my now very pixel-like hands. They were so computer-like that they reminded me of-

I began to weep, confused and afraid by my Fusionfall-like hands.

I was so frightened that I couldn't even move away from the light as it swallowed me, taking me away from everything I had ever known…

"… And that's it," Gamma finished, her eyes bright with tears. "I ended up in Tech Square, and thankfully the security system recognised me to be one of Dexter's workers, so I got free accommodation…" She sobbed and held her knees. "But every night I remember the parents who's daughter disappeared without a trace," Runty snuggled up next to Gamma sadly as she cried. "They must think I've run away, or been kidnapped, or…" The rest was drowned out by homesick whimpers. Dee Dee approached her and hugged her, eyes watering in sympathy.

Billy, who had been motionless the whole time, blew up in a flurry of snot and tears. "That… is… the saddest… thing… I've ever… heard!" He wailed as Ed put his arm around Gamma's back, pouting.

"Aw… don't feel sad!" He brought out Sheldon Junior. "Sheldon Junior will make you feel aaall better!" Billy's eyes became large as the group recovered.

"You have some cheese too?" He asked and took out his wedge of cheese. Ed gasped.

"Herbert!" And the two girls and the Fusion Spawn watched as the boys compared wedges. "So it was you who found Herbert!" Ed exclaimed. "Herbert likes to travel, so he doesn't stay with me and Sheldon Junior much," He turned to the girls, his face beaming. "Guys, this is Herbert, Sheldon Junior's long-lost, half-brother!" He gestured to Billy's wedge of cheese. Then a thought crossed Gamma's mind.

"What do you think happened to the others?" She asked, causing looks of worry to emerge.

"… I don't know," Dee Dee confessed, hanging her head. "Both Billy and the Fusion Spawn-"

"His name is Runty."

"-Runty… followed me to Galaxy Gardens when we got ambushed by the fans," She glared at Billy for cutting in sharply. "I think the others might've been separated, like us, or captured."

Gamma nodded, then touched her pockets. She could've sworn she'd heard a voice-

"Hello…? Hello? Pick up yer phone-thingy!" A beefy, but recognisable voice boomed. Gamma took a blue walkie-talkie from her trousers, pressed a button on the side of the machine and spoke.

"Lee? Is that you?" The static was terrible, however Lee's tone broke through the noise.

"Yeah, it's me," She seemed anxious, which was unusual for her personality. "I tried callin' what's-his-name and got no reply, seems that all his lackeys have gone on some major hunt," Gamma's eyes grew wide. "Anyways, that's not what I called for," The others now crowded around the walkie-talkie as if it was a sacred relic. "I saw some weird kid plottin' somethin' I don't like outside the trailer park," Lee's words were aggravated. "I was about to tell her to scram when she said your name mixed in with a buncha insults, Gamma."

Gamma's blood ran cold with fear. "By any chance did the girl have green eyes and golden hair?"

The hesitation was agonising. "Yeah," Lee confirmed. "She mumbled somethin' strange about lurin' you guys to an unused Fusion base near the borders of Galaxy Gardens," Gamma listened keenly, forming a plan in her head. "She acted like as if she had an army of her own, darn freaky if you ask me."

Gamma spoke thankfully. "Right, thanks for the heads-up, Lee." She replied, plotting carefully.

"No problem," She was about to cut Lee off when she heard the voice speak again. "And Gamma?"

"Yeah?"

"… Make sure that witch don't lay a finger on my man for me, would ya'?" Gamma couldn't help but admire Lee's devotion to Eddy, no matter if he wanted it or not, as she left the group in silence. For a moment everybody looked at each other in silence, then Gamma got to her feet, pondering quietly.

"What do we do now?" Billy blurted out, unable to control himself. Gamma turned and smirked at Billy.

"We find the base," She began, fixing her gaze on him. "Then we'll need a wedge of cheese, some make-up skills and…." The others caught on and stared at Billy, who backed away nervously. "… A decoy."

Billy groaned and hung his head in defeat, knowing that he'd been chosen by the others against his own wishes. Dee Dee smiled as she dragged him into the darkness, getting out a very used make-up bag from her pockets as she mapped out her design.

The base entrance was blatantly obvious, for there were two girls standing beside a large opening in a ridge that had probably been created fairly recently as Gamma poked her head out from the boulder that the group were hiding behind. She spotted the girls eagerly and turned to the back of the group. "C'mon Billy, you're up!" She ordered to Billy, who was hiding behind Ed in humiliation.

"Nuh-uh! I'm not going out there like this!" Billy refused, making Dee Dee giggle.

"But Billy…" She went up to Billy and pushed him into Gamma's view, revealing that Dee Dee had put the poor guy in the pinkest, frilliest dress she'd ever seen alongside red high-heels, a blonde, pig-tail wig and slathered as much make-up as possible on Billy's face. "You look so pretty!"

Gamma also had a word to describe Billy's new look, but it was far from 'pretty' as she watched the boy scowl moodily. "Why do I have to be the decoy, anyways? Why not you girls or Ed instead?"

"Because," Gamma replied, holding herself back from busting into laughter. "They'd recognise us if it was Dee Dee, Ed or me instantly, and not may girls know you, Billy," She then shoved Billy into the view of the guards. "So embrace your feminine side and knock 'em dead!"

Billy grumbled, then he approached the girls, their gaudy clothing freaked him out as he lurched towards them in the heels awkwardly. "Hey, you!" One of the guards called, wielding a rather sharp indigo sword. "What do you think you're doing here?" Billy's nerves took over. He cleared his throat and put on the most girly voice he could muster.

"Um… hello," He began, his voice high but crude. "I was just wondering if you would let me join your group, y'know, because I hate Gamma, just like you?"

The two girls looked at each other sceptically before the first one turned back to Billy. "Okay, who do you want to love you and adore you for the rest of your life?" She asked, prompting Billy to look at his hand. The name 'DEXTER' was written on his palm in child-like handwriting.

"Uh… Dexter?" He answered, receiving a nod from both girls.

"Right, we'll take you to Luce, she'll give you a few more questions and then kick you out- I mean… decide if you can join us or not." The first one replied and gestured to the other girl and Billy to follow her.

What neither of the guards saw was Billy taking out Herbert, and when they were out of sight he shoved the wedge of chess in front of his escorts. Guards one moment, knocked out on the ground the next. Upon turning back Billy whistled, beckoning for the others to come.

Gamma perked up when she heard whistling in the distance and smirked.

The mission had started.

The others soon caught up to Billy, who glared at Gamma as she arrived. "Never ever make me wear this dress again!" He warned. Gamma shrugged her shoulders and looked up at the rocky walls.

"Well," She began. "This is it!" Then the group continued their attack, letting Ed take out the guards with Sheldon Junior as they went, and soon enough they reached a point where there were more than just one guards. They were crowded around a very beaten up Eddy, who was firing off insults at his captors.

"Can it, pipsqueak!" One girl barked, dressed in a soldier's uniform. "You say one more thing about my hips, and I'll rip your head off, kapeesh?"

Eyes fell on Billy again, who groaned and walked out, throwing Herbert at the girls. They looked at Billy with funny looks for a moment before they groaned and teetered, unable to stand against the force of Herbert's foul stench, and the boy in a girl's disguise walked up to Eddy, helping him up as the guards collapsed. "Wow, thanks, babe!" Eddy gave Billy a casual grin as he spoke. "Think I could have your phone number?"

Billy was not amused. "Screw this." Then he took the wig off, crushing Eddy's hopes and making his face gawk in horror.

"Billy?" He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I made him all pretty!" Dee Dee replied happily as the others emerged. Gamma couldn't help but smile as Eddy recognised Ed.

"Lumpy? Is that you?" Ed ran over to Eddy and hugged him, giving a very notable answer to his question.

"I missed you so much, I was so worried that you'd been eaten by the monsters!" Eddy struggled in Ed's grasp.

"Lemme go you big lummox!" But then he gave in and hugged Ed tightly. "I… I missed you too, pal." Then they continued up the path that weaved and narrowed in some places, getting greener and greener until, after knocking out as many fan-girls as possible, the group looked into the opening of a hallway-like chamber of the lair. Gamma heard the sounds of mumbling as a large group of girls huddled around two, exhausted figures.

"I won't ask you again!" One girl warned, concealed by her cohorts. "Where are the others?"

Another voice, sad and tired, sighed. "I don't know," Gamma recognised the speaker to be Double-D. "We… we all took off in different directions, I can't tell you where they are."

Suddenly there was a yelp, followed by a smacking sound, then somebody fell to the floor. "Alright, drop yo' weapons!" The strict voice of Numbah Five ordered. "This Freeze Ray is much more powerful than all of yours put together and I don't wanna use it on a human, got it?" Ed finally snapped and ran out to the crowd.

"Double-D!" The sea of females parted, revealing a very bruised Double-D and a pale Numbah Five. Double-D's eyes lit up when Ed revealed himself.

"… Ed?" His eyes began to water as the others joined them. "Is… Is that really you? Or… am I dreaming?"

Ed began to weep as he embraced Double-D, followed by Eddy, and for that one moment a long-lost friendship had been restored. "I'm here, Double-D, I'm really here! Don't you worry your sweet biffy, friend!"

Gamma smiled, but didn't see the one girl who'd recognised her and was aiming a pistol at her head. Numbah Five noticed the attacker and fired the ray, encasing the girl in thick ice.

That did it, the girls suddenly attacked in a frenzy, swarming around the group like a swarm of locusts. "Stand your ground!" Numbah Five ordered as the others got ready to fight back. Gamma was in the middle of the others, unable to pull out her Null Void gun and join the brawl, then Numbah Five glanced at her. "You go on ahead, we'll handle these goons!" She pointed at an angle where the wall of fighters were weaker. "There should be a hole to your left when you break through, that's a short-cut to where Luce is," Numbah Five instructed. "On my signal, head down it, and you'll find Dexter!"

Gamma shook timidly. "W-W-What if I can't do it alone?" Numbah Five charged her weapon and smirked.

"You can," She promised. "Just like when we first met, you climbed that wall all on your own, didn't you?" Gamma nodded. "Dexter needs you now to finish this, once and for all-" She then fired the gun at the wall, creating a mess of frozen fan-girls and a large exit made from ice. "-Now go!"

Gamma took one last look at her friends, then she charged, setting her eyes on a large gash in the ground as soon as she got out of the whirlwind. The girl glanced at the occupied swarm and gulped.

Then she teetered…

And then Gamma fell, embracing the depths of the darkness she had anticipated for so long…