Ch. 2 Lessons

Gumball and Darwin stood outside of a martial arts class.

"You sure this will help me?" Gumball questioned his friend's intention.

"Trust me dude, you'll go in there a child, but come out as a man!" Darwin said. Gumball thought about this.

"Well... okay." Gumball and Darwin went into the building. There was already a class in session. The two boys watched in amazment as the students sparred one another. What surprised them even more was Penny sparring a boy. Gumball looked shocked.

"Penny?" Gumball couldn't believe his eyes. Then a sudden thought came to him. He slumped. "Aww man, I won't be able to defend Penny... it'll be Penny defending me!" Gumball dreadly said. Darwin patted his back.

"This why we are here. So you can defend her and others." Darwin said. Their sensai called for everyone to take a break. Penny sat down taking a swig of water. She spotted Gumball and Darwin walking over to her. She swalled the water too fast that it made her cough.

"G-Gumball? Darwin? What are you two doing here?" she asked them after clearing her throat.

"We were gonna ask you the same thing." Gumball said. "When have you started martial arts?"

"Ever since you two wore those karate costumes. It got me a bit interested in the art, so I started practicing." Penny answered.

"Cool." Darwin said.

"Now answer my question, what are you two doing here?" Penny asked. Gumball rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well... you see..." Gumball began.

"Gumball here wants to defend you, but he is completely usless in the art of fighting. So I brought him here so he could learn to fight." Darwin answered for him.

"Dude!" Gumball said with a blush.

"What?" Darwin asked him.

"Well, if you want to learn to defend yourself, I'll be more then happy to teach you." Penny said.

"Really? You would do that for me?" Gumball asked her with his hopes rising. Penny nodded with a smile. Not only will Gumball be learning how to fight, he would also be spending more time with Penny. Man did he feel lucky.

"How about this saturday at the park? There is plenty of space for us to practice." Penny suggested.

"That's perfect!" Gumball said.

"It's a date then." Penny said. "I gotta head back to practice. I'll see you around." With this, Penny got up and went back to her class. Gumball sighed.

"Isn't she the most awsome girlfriend to have?" Gumball asked Darwin.

"I don't know. I never had one." Darwin said. Gumball gave him a confused look.

"What about Masami?" Gumball asked him.

"She just did that to prove that she's better then most of the girls at our school." Darwin said. He was still pretty upset that Masami did that only to show up the girls. Darwin didn't come out of their room for three days. Gumball had to bring the food to him.

"Rachel?" Gumball asked.

"She's a high schooler. Why would a high schooler date a junior high kid?" Darwin said. Gumball realized he was asking too much.

"Hey, let's just forget about and head home, kay?" Gumball said leading his friend out of the building.

Tin was awoken by the sound of the trailer door opening. He immediatly sprung into action by carrying Tick away to the corner of the trailer. Luckily there were stuff tall enough to hide behind. He peeked out from the corner. Two crew man with flash lights entered the trailer.

"I don't get the captian. Are their really a couple of kids on our ship?" one of them asked the other. Tin felt a sudden jab at his feet. He looked down and saw Tick beginning to shake.

'Dammit, not now!' Tin thought to himself. He had to get them out of here. He gripped his right arm. He sighed. 'At least Tick won't be awake to see this.'

"So what did the captian say? To kill these extra cargo on sight?" One of them asked.

"The captian's cruel, but it's orders." The other one replied. Tin readied himself. He silently made his way behind them. Taking action, he kicked one of the crew man from behind the knee. The man yelped as he kneeled. Tin grabbed him from behind, drew out his arm blade and stabbed it into the man's back. The other fell to the floor frightened. He stared in horror as he watched Tin twist the blade out of his friend. The man fell face forward.

"Y-y-you demon!" the frightened man said to Tin. Tin looked at him without remorse. He licked the blood from his blade and advanced to him. Tin had a strange knack for the blood of his victim. Tin knew what he really was. Deep down, Tin was a cold blooded murderer. The man wasn't his first kill. It was the boy at the orphanage that locked Tick in the basement. After having taught the boy a lesson, it wasn't enough for him. Tin knew that the boy would go back to his troublesome deeds. So he snuck rat poision in that weeks of bread and pretended to apologize to him. The boy ate it and soon was found dead on his bunk. Tin remembered smiling as the police couldn't figure out who poisioned the boy. At least, one did find out, but Tin made sure the word didn't get out.

"Please, that isn't the first time some one called me that." Tin said with venom. He had another trick up his sleeve. He modified his round brown shoes with hidden daggers. He clapped the floor with the back of his heel and the blade was unsheathed. Without hesitation, Tin kicked up and the dagger penetrated the man's jaw. Tin lifted the man up. He choked as the dagger drew deeper into his jaw. Tin dangled the man by his feet. To finish the kill, he spun and swung his feet. The man followed the motion and was sent launching into a nailed board. Tin heard the confirmed kill as the man breathed his last breath. He drew the blades back in and walked over to Tick. His shaking was getting worse and soon he was beginning to mumble to himself.

"Come on, I'm getting us a new trailer." Tin said as he carried his friend out of the trailer. Two more victims on his list of people he killed. The only people he wouldn't kill is Tick and the Street Rat gang. They accepted him as he accepted them. Tin stopped and looked over the starboard. He saw the town of Elmore in teh distance. He smiled.

"I'm almost home, father." Tin said. He noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. Startled, Tin readied to kill. He stopped though. This was no crew man. It was a man in armor. "What the...?" The armored man then looked at him.

"You..." the booming voice said. Tin tched.

"Who are you? You arn't one of the crew men are you?" Tin asked the man. The armored man just stared at him. He turned and walked past them. Tin couldn't move nor speak. 'This guy... I sense a strong aura resinating from him...' Tin turned around, but the man was no longer there. All there was was a wisp of yellow transparent smoke.

"Gumball, are you ready?" Penny asked him.

"Yes, sensai!" Gumball bowed. Darwin cheered along with Anais. They stood on a grassy plain in the park. Penny and Gumball both dressed in martial arts costumes.

"Now the key to fighting is controlled fighting." Penny said. Gumball raised his hand. "Yes?" Penny asked.

"Uh.. quick question. Isn't fighting... you know... not controlled?" Gumball asked her. Penny shook her head.

"To have controlled fighting is to have a calm mind. Basically, it'll help you read your oppenent's movements." Penny explained. "Swing at me." Penny then challenged.

"But, I don't want to hit you..." Gumball said with a bit of shock.

"Trust me." Penny got into position. Gumball scratched his head.

"Err... ok." Gumball readied and swung his fist to her. The next thing Gumball knew was Penny pinning him on the ground from behind. His arm was on his back and Penny held it there.

"Gah! What happened?" Gumball asked.

"I read your movements and I countered it." Penny said letting him go. Gumball rubbed his arm.

"I think I get it." Gumball said.

"Alright, one more time." Penny said getting into her fighting pose. For the next five hours, Gumball endured the pain and beating he was given by Penny. But out of all that training, he understood what Penny meant by controlled fighting. Gumball began to read her movements and was soon escaping her counters. That evening, they decided to hang out at the Wacky Burger. Gumball had some troublesome memories here. He remembered the day when the town was under seige and he was fighting the owner of this restraunt. They chowed down some burgers and fries.

"I had a great time sparring with you, Penny." Gumball said in between bites of his burger.

"Same here." Penny said with a smile.

"Oh brother." Anais said as the two of them shared the moment.

"So... err... how is the family doing?" Gumball asked Penny.

"They are fine. My sister just turned five." Penny said.

"Oh cool." Gumball said.

"And yours?" Penny asked him.

"Heh, same old. Dad being a couch potato and Mom hard at work to put food for us at the table." Gumball said.

"I have to say, Gumball, you are a quick learner." Anais said.

"Why do you say that?" Gumball asked his little sister.

"Well, in the period of two hours of sparring, you were escaping alot of Penny's counters." Anais said as she stuffed a french fry in her mouth.

"That is true." Penny said. Gumball couldn't help but blush at the praise.

"But you really need to work on your ready position." Penny said.

"Then tomorrow we spar again to fix it?" Gumball asked her now getting interested in this sparring.

"Sorry, but my parents are taking us to see Moth." Penny said.

"The ghost band? I didn't know they were into punk." Gumball said.

"Carrie is coming along too. I heard she's a big fan of them. In fact, her cousin Max is the lead singer of the band." Penny said.

"Oh wow. i guess we don't know much about our friends." Gumball said to Darwin.

"Probably." Darwin said with a smile.

"But next week we can." Penny said. She got up and waved to them. "See you guys later." With this, she turned and walked out the restraunt.

"We should be getting home too. Come on, siblings." The three Watterson kids walked side by side back to their quiet suburban neighborhood.

I think form now on these little author notes will become character bios. Let's test this.

Tin: A young huskey who had thaught he was an orphan. He is the leader of the Street Rats. His one problem is murdering intentions. He would go to such legnths as to kill the people who threaten the saftey of him and the gang. The one person he cares most about is his best friend Tick.

Tick: A small 8 year old squirrle who has schizophrenia. He is shy and kind. However, he feels himslef to be weak due to his problem and having to rely on Tin to calm him. WHen he and Tin were both little, they both created the Street Rats. Tick has been Tin's right hand man and best friend forever.

Tell me what you think. I'm thinking on this is because there really isn't much to say. Thanks for reading this chapter. A new one will be posted tomorrow.