Chapter 2

Neurachem


Impervious to pain

Deletion of all fear

Our loss will be our gain

As human deficiencies all disappear


Rob awoke with a jolt. His vision was cloudy, and his body felt like heavy lead. He blinked a few times, trying to focus his vision. Then he came to his senses.

He found himself immersed in thick, viscous liquid, his body horribly mutilated and augmented with mechanical parts. His eye opened wide, and he tried to scream, but a tube connected to the gear on his face prevented him from making a sound.

What is this? This isn't what was supposed to happen!

Rob clenched his fists, and punched at the glass. Cracks appeared, and the glass finally gave way after a few attempts. The unknown fluid spilled out, dragging Rob along with it. He sprawled out on the ground, ripping the tubing off his face. He coughed hard, expelling unknown substances from his system and drawing fresh air into his lungs. He tried to stand, but collapsed on all fours, restrained by two cables attached to his back.

He tried to wipe off viscous goo that still clung to his face, but stopped abruptly as he felt the metal meshed with his flesh. He kept his face buried in his hand, now becoming aware of the mechanical parts fused to him. It covered the back of his head and continued all the way down to his waist.

What happened to me?

A siren started to blare, and flashing red lights shone in Rob's eye. The door to the room started to slide down, while a loud hissing noise came from outside.

Rob took hold of the cables connected to him, and pulled them off. They fell to the floor, leaking more unknown substances. Whether they were vital to Rob or not, he didn't care. He wanted them off.

He ran, and managed to slide under the door just seconds before it came down, heavy locks shifting into place.

The hissing sound was gas being pumped into the hallways. It didn't seem to affect Rob, but it did slightly obscure his vision.

I have to get out of here.

He sprinted down the hallway, using his heightened senses and enhanced physical abilities to jump over doors, slide under closing barricades, and punch through sealed entrances.

To anyone else, contact with the gas would have been an invitation to a slow and agonizing death. Oblivious to Rob, the experimentation allowed him to survive the toxic-laden soup being poured into the facility. Implants scrubbed noxious substances from each breath he drew into his lungs.

Where am I even gonna go?

"Don't run, Rob."

A voice on the intercoms. It was the doctor.

"The real word is not ready for you yet."

The red lights illuminated a shadow at the end of the hallway. Rob slowed, his enhanced eyesight piercing the murk beyond, showing a robot blocking his path.

"I'm not done with you yet. Please allow our security team to show you back to your room."

Room? That was a vat! Rob thought. His pace returned to a sprint as his anger grew.

"I promise, Rob," the doctor continued. "I will fix you. Not only will you have your normal body back, but you'll be better than before on the inside."

To heck with that.

Rob scanned the hallway, spotting a grate on the wall just above the floor, still spewing gas. He dug his feet into the ground, shifting his momentum, and threw himself towards the grate. The added force of his speed and enhanced strength allowed him to bust through the wall into a small vent shaft that extended into the lower levels.

As he fell through the shaft, his mind wandered to only two people who seemed to care about him. He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do, especially since he looked like a monster now, but he knew they'd help him. They were too good not to try, at least.

After a long descent, he finally landed on a metal floor that didn't crumple under him. Despite the long fall, he was surprisingly unhurt. He hoped he had reached the ground floor.

He spotted a thick metal door. Noticing no other reasonable paths, he readied himself for another shoulder bash. He yelled, charging at the door, and successfully bashed through, earning himself a glimpse at the night sky. He did not, however, expect to be 30 feet above the ground.

He screamed as he started another long fall, down to earth. During his descent, he could make out a stretch of metal-where he had busted through-slowly disappearing from sight, dematerializing in the same fashion as the robot had in the park.

The ground shook as he hit Elmore Park, his fall ending at the bottom of a tunnel he dug with his own body. He quickly got up, feeling no pain, and sprinted towards the Watterson household. He knew his captors would soon give chase, so he had no time to waste.

k_OS was deployed to contain the experiment. Due to the nature of the their work, they were authorized, and even encouraged, to use deadly force. Hovering robots took to the sky, and concealed themselves with light-bending technology, rendering them nearly invisible. They took off at high speed towards their target, set with a default command: kill_OnSight

Oblivious to Gumball and Darwin, a horribly deformed and extensively modified being with heightened senses was making its way to their household. It was late at night, yet the two boys were still very much awake, having a pillow fight with their little sibling Anais.

Rob could hear their laughter before he even stepped foot into the same block. He ran as fast as his legs would allow, but the robots had already closed the distance. They flew silently through the night sky, but their aerial turbines roared in Rob's ears.

His legs begged for rest, but he kept sprinting. He could hear the androids drawing closer, flying just above him.

Then the sounds stopped.

Rob skidded to a halt as the robots dropped in front of him. They landed without a sound, synthetic appendages protruding from their torsos. They formed a semicircle in the street, surrounding Rob. He walked backwards as the robots marched slowly towards him.

They raised their arms, taking aim, the unmistakable clicking sound of metal on metal reaching Rob's ears.

The robots broadcasted an extremely weak transmission; loud enough for Rob's heightened senses to pick up, but quiet enough to be unnoticeable by anyone else.

"Stop right there, Rob."

It was the doctor's voice.

"You wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of mankind's future, would you?"

Rob's anger flared. He tried to yell, but he found that his voice was reduced to the same volume as the androids' transmission. "You lied to me. This isn't what was supposed to happen."

Rob gestured to his body. "You call this humanity's future?!"

"You misunderstand, Rob. You are not finished yet."

The doctor's reply only fueled Rob's rage. "Not finished? Look what you did to me! I'm a monster! How could you possibly fix this!?"

"Trust me, Rob. I will deliver my promise"

"Trust you? After all you've done?!"

"What choice do you have?"

Rob opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came from his throat.

"That's right," the doctor continued. "Without me, you can do nothing."

Rob stood his ground, but his mind started to sink into doubt. "No. I don't need you. I can get help-"

The doctor laughed. "Those children? What could they ever do?"

"They'll do something," Rob replied, stomping his foot.

Laughter again. "Don't be absurd, Rob. Remember that they turned you into a nobody in the first place. Only I can help you. Besides, why would anyone else even talk to you? You're nothing but a freak of life."

Rob remained silent.

"And a freak of death," the transmission continued. "Think, Rob. I can, and will, help you. You will come out even better than before."

The children's laughter seemed even louder in Rob's ears. He switched his gaze from the droid contingent in front of him to the Wattersons through the window, then back.

The doctor pressed on. "You will no longer be a nobody. You will be the face of Outland Industries as we make our grand debut. You will be known across all the earth, the only connection these mongrels will have to the most advanced technology this world has ever seen."

A deafening silence passed for half a minute. The robots broadcasted another message.

"This ends now, Rob. No more stalling. No more second chances. No turning back. What do you choose? Will it be tragedy, or hope?"

Rob allowed himself a few more moments to think.

He said, "Can you really fix me?"

"Yes, Rob. But there's a catch."

A loud sound echoes through the night, silencing the children's laughter and striking fear into all within earshot.

Rob crumpled to the ground, motionless.

"We need you dead."


The strong survive

The weak perish

It is the law of nature


"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. Sounded close."

The door to the room burst open, revealing a distraught Nicole.

"What was that? Are you kids alright?" she asked.

Gumball replied, "Yeah, we're fine. It came from outside." He walked towards the window, but was quickly pulled back by his mother.

"No! Let me check."

She carefully crept up to the window, scanning the road for anything out of the ordinary. After a few minutes of scrutiny, she sighed.

"Well, whatever it was, it's gone."

She turned, noticing the mess of feathers and pillowcases on the floor. With another sigh, she muttered, "I want this mess cleaned up before morning."

The kids groaned in response, but a mere glare from their mother was more than enough motivation to get them to work.


Recoded humans

Shifting paradigm

We can't see where this path will lead

And we're running out of time


At the front desk of the emergency room at the Elmore Hospital, a commotion broke out among the medical personnel.

"There's a man out there, killed by a shotgun blast."

"Who's got the shotgun?"

"Who was shot?"

"What the heck happened to him?"

"I don't know, we just found him outside!"

No one could answer the questions posed, but as the new patient was wheeled in, they stopped asking, focusing on saving Rob's life.

Before they could get to work, the doors burst open, revealing a lab coat holding a large toolbox.

"I'll handle this," he announced.

The medical personnel simply stared at the doctor. Before someone could speak, the high-pitched sound of an electrocardiogram rang out, signaling a flatline. Several people gasped. Some muttered swear words, and some bowed their heads.

However, the doctor seemed unfazed. He approached Rob's body, and opened his kit.

The physician-in-charge noticed this.

"What the heck are you doing?" he asked. "The operating room is no place to experiment!"

The doctor replied, "He's dead. I can't do any harm."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they awaited the answer of the physician-in-charge.

"Very well. The corpse is yours. Do what you want to do."

The doctor had a grin from ear to ear.

"Alright. Make an opening into the chest cavity. Apply one hundred milliamps of current directly to the heart and massage it by hand. I'll handle the brain area."


"There is going to be a lot of expansion of the mind through interfacing the human brain with technology. There is an unanswered question of 'how far can you go and still be human?'"


"His pulse is coming back stronger than ever! It's unbelievable."

The doctor replied, "Nothing's unbelievable if you have the nerve to experiment. How's his pulse?"

"Strong and steady."

After a few hours, Rob sat up. He was awake and alert, his body fully restored, including the distortions inflicted on him by the Void. Gone were the floating parts, horrible augmentations and gadgetry fused to his flesh. He was, for all intents and purposes, normal again.

However, underneath, he was now flesh, circuit, and bone. Living proof of genetically modified man. He was stronger, faster, smarter, and better than he could ever hope to be.

The medical personnel were completely dumbstruck. They could only stare at the resurrected cyclops.

One said, "My eyes are deceiving me."

"What you see is real," the doctor replied. "What's done is done and what I've done is right."

He placed a hand on Rob's shoulder. "We will hold our end of the bargain. You will be our ambassador, so to speak. This world will never forget you again."

A tiny smile formed on Rob's face. The new had come, and the old was gone. His new life started now.

The doctor asked him, "Would you like to test out your new powers?"

"Powers?"

"Snap your fingers."

Rob did as he was told, and a blinding light engulfed him.

He opened his eye, and saw that he and the doctor were back in the laboratory in the facility hidden above Elmore Park.

The doctor chuckled.

"This is your beginning, Neophyte."

Rob nodded.

"I shall not fail."

Unknown to Rob, an entire squadron of robots had materialized in the operating room after he had left. The medical staff started screaming, but before they could run, the androids emitted a powerful flash.

When the light died down, the room was completely empty.


Welcome home, Neophyte
Eternal satellite
A darker place,
A darker time
Both stripped away beneath the light

An old vision to replace
A new knowledge to embrace

You will
Ascend

Until
The end

For this is your beginning,

Neophyte


The doctor sat in his laboratory, fake enthusiasm plastered on his face at the sight of the captain.

"What is it, captain?" he asked.

The captain replied, "I have heard of your little project's success."

"Why yes," said the doctor, beaming with pride. "It exceeded my expectations, as a matter of fact."

"Indeed. Rob will be a very useful asset, and I would like to thank you personally."

"Thank me? With what?" the doctor asked.

The captain continued, "I shall reward you by granting you access to what you have been so eagerly requesting to see."

The doctor's surprise turned into shock.

"You mean… the source of our technology?" he asked.

"Yes."

A robot materialized next to the two men, and generated a small portal.

The captain gestured towards it. "Please, enter."

"Ah, I knew it was in the Void!" the doctor said. He stepped through quickly, eager to see what lay beyond the light.

He gasped as he entered a dark, massive room with a large structure situated in the center, surrounded by four tall towers. He looked up at the strange machine with awe. It looked beautiful, illuminated by the portal's light.

"Finally. After all these years, I-"

The color from his face suddenly drained, his awe replaced by absolute fear.

The transparent glass container at the top of the structure was empty.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. Something big and fast.

He turned to look back at the portal, now dematerializing. The light dimmed and the room plunged into pitch darkness. He stared into the eyes of the person on the other side just as the portal closed.

"Enjoy your reward," the captain said.

A high-pitched, inhuman roar shook the room.

From the darkness, two arms that ended in large obsidian claws reached towards the doctor, pulling him into a crushing embrace. He was dragged away in a dark blur streaked with crimson red.

And then he was gone.


Where do you go when you dream?

The Dreamcatcher visits strange worlds under different suns, a witness to what the rest of us can not imagine. After an encounter with the strange dream entity, Gumball awakes to find a world he does not recognize, and a new body with which to travel - a body that, when combined with special pendants, allows him to visit strange alternate realities with every dream.

When back on terrestrial ground in the waking hours, he sets out in search of a way out of this alternate universe, seeking to find answers and overcome insurmountable odds to return home, where his family and friends team up with Rob in their search for Gumball. Join the Traveler as he traverses landscapes and realities where we cannot follow, collecting memories and unique experiences from across the barriers of space, time, and consciousness.

The Traveler
Coming Soon