Still making the same face he was at the table, the background was cutted away to his school hall. He looked down at the ground as he walked with Gumball, who still on all fours with a leash and collar around his neck. While Darwin refused to face anyone, Gumball was looking in every direction around him as many of his classmates.

"This is so awkward," Darwin whimpered to himself. "This is so wrong. Awkward, awkward, awkward." Darwin couldn't stop feeling embarrassed as he was quite literally walking Gumball down the school hall, and everyone took notice alright. Some looked at each other in confusion, like Alan and Carmen, while others were approaching Darwin from all sides of the hall, like Tobias, Carrie, BJ and Penny.

"Hey Darwin," cried out Tobias, "What is this all about?" Then came Teri from the back.

"Yeah, what's going on with Gumball?" BJ followed up.

"Is this a joke? 'Cause I don't get it." The circle of peers made him nervous, but he did his best to speak up. Gumball just looked around and watched everybody from the floor's view.

"Uhh, well-uh, I mean-I-uhh…" He couldn't find the words to speak up, or at least until Penny stepped in.

"Are you ok, Darwin?" she asked very concerned for his well being. Despite that Gumball was the one in trouble, Darwin felt enlightened to know Penny cared how he was too. It gave him the strength to clear himself.

"Uh, guys… Gumball is, oh how do I put this… he's not himself right now." From up above, Masami came into the circle and spoke out.

"What does that mean?" Darwin swallowed, but inhaled deep and continued on.

"Well everyone…Gumball is unable to talk or walk right. In fact, he had an accident that has… incapacitated his civility." Only Tobias had the nerve to continue.

"So what? Does that mean he's an animal or something?" Darwin suddenly remembered that it was Tobias's dare that caused the accident to happen. He got mad at him, pointing while calling him out to everyone.

"Yeah Tobias, that's right, and it's your fault!"

"What? How is it my fault?"

"You're the one who dared Gumball to jump off our house. He knocked his head so hard, he's acting without thought. The doctor's said he's become what's called a feral!" Within the crowd, a few students started mumbling to each other. Banana Joe decided to ask aloud.

"Uh, Darwin, what's a feral?" Carrie floated over everyone and into the center of the circle. She went out to Darwin's side while facing Banana Joe and answered him in her monotone, depressing voice.

"It's a word to describe animals that once acted civilized, but revert back to an untrained state of mind. What Darwin's trying to say is that: that over there is not Gumball; just a big cat." She pointed to him, catching his attention while everyone looked at him. The sight of Carrie made Gumball hiss at her. He could feel her spiritual presence, and it made him defensive. He stood up all fours, rose his back and legs up, and jumped for Carrie. He flew for only a couple seconds, going right through Carrie and pounced Tobias instead. Carrie didn't even flinch when Gumball passed through, but Darwin did when he jumped back to the side with his leash still in hand. While Tobias was starting to panic, crying out to everyone around him to get Gumball away, the blue cat raised his head up. He opened his mouth and revealed his fangs, ready to sink them straight into the colorful cloud child. Tobias looked right into his cat eyes and saw fear shooting down at him. He looked hungry, or angry, but either way, Tobias was frozen in place. Just as Gumball was about to pull himself down, Darwin yanked Gumball's chain and pulled him off. Gumball whined out at the yank.

"NO Gumball, bad-bad kitty." Darwin said as he finger pointed at his brother. Gumball looked at orange fish and hissed out at him in disgust. "Just stay. Staaay." Darwin extended his right fin out to Gumball's neck and started petting it. The cat did not smile, but remained in place and still, looking back at Tobias as he was pulling himself up.

"Your brother's a psychopath!" Tobias said, dusting himself up off the ground. Gumball caught onto the negativity and whined with Darwin coming up behind the feline's response.

"He's not a psycho. He just doesn't know better, and you consider yourself lucky I didn't let him bite you. He did it to me twice."

"Where are your bandages then, Darwin?" Carrie asked him.

"I threw them away this morning. I'm fine now." He got down to knee level with Gumball and settled him down. Gumball couldn't help but feel threatened by everyone around him. He gave them all dirty looks, worrying some of his friends, but not everyone. Joining Carrie, Gumball, and Darwin, Sarah came from out of the crowd and tried to observe Gumball.

"It really is weird that he thinks he's an animal now." She bent down more to look closely at Gumball's face. His eyes narrowed the closer she got to him. "I wonder if he-"

"RAANNN" Gumball roared out as he jumped Sarah's face. He wrapped hold around her while Darwin was struggling to get him down. All the fish could do was shout at Gumball to stop while Sarah was crying out. Because Sarah moved too much, Darwin lost grip of the leash as she went turning in circles around everyone. The crowd instantly spread out, some running away in panic while others just watched. Darwin chased after Sarah and Gumball, crying out to her to try and stay calm. (Of course) She did not listen as Gumball was biting and trying to claw at her. Being that she was made of ice cream, it did not hurt, but she was in so much shock from the jump that she couldn't stop panicking, waving her arms and shouting for Gumball to get off.

"Sarah, just stop!" Darwin shouted at her from across the hall.

"I can't," she replied with Gumball crawling all over her face. "He's too eccentric to make me calm down." Before she or Darwin knew it, Mrs. Simian came out of her classroom to see what the shouting was.

"What's going on out here?" she pronounced with great anger and disappointment in the kids. Gumball instantly shot his teacher a look and jumped off Sarah, grabbing hold of Mrs. Simian.

"HEY! What the-." Gumball was on her and refused to let go of her face too.

"Mrs. Simian, please don't panic!" Darwin called out to her. Sarah fell to the floor in exhaustion, but continued to look up at the student-teacher brawl with her head detached from her cone body.

"Get off of me this instant!" Mrs. Simian muffled under Gumball's body. He hissed at her like he did everyone and bit down on her bald, white head. His teeth shot a pain through her that stung, but did not hurt too much.

"DA-Haha." She grabbed hold of Gumball and finally pried him off of her face. She held him by the neck sleeve on his shirt and gave him a look of distaste that matched his own. "What is wrong with you, Waterson?!" He glared at her with his narrow cat eyes and tried best he could to claw at her. Waving his arms up and down, her arm length was too far for his to reach. He once more cried out at her, completely confusing her…up until Darwin caught up to the spectacle.

"Mrs. Simian," Darwin huffed, slightly exhausted from the chasing. "Please don't be mad at Gumball. He literally can't help it."

"What are you talking about? He assaulted a teacher. That's punishable by expulsion!" The words made Darwin tremble with fear.

"Mrs. Simian, please. Gumball was in an accident, and he doesn't know how to behave. He thinks he's an animal because he is. He doesn't know how to act, but he can't help it." She turned her attention away from the fish and back on Gumball, still looking at her with such contempt.

"Yesss… I see it in his eyes alright. Those aren't normal looking." She was silent for a short while. "I think this is something for Principal Brown to deal with." She started walking towards his office, still holding Gumball by his sleeve. Darwin followed her, wanting to say something, but couldn't figure out how to stop her. He decided to remain quiet, following his teacher to the office.


"So let me get this straight," Principal Brown started off, "You're telling me that Gumball jumped off his house and hit his head so hard that he now thinks he's a real cat?" In front of him were Darwin and Richard, who were sitting in the two seats in front of Mr. Brown's desk. Mrs. Simian was standing to the side of the desk facing everyone over herself, with Gumball kneeling on the floor beside her. He faced anyone who was talking while the conversation hit off.

"A-ha ha, well uh, you see Principal Brown," Richard said nervously, "I know it sounds crazy and all, but Gumball's not a danger to anyone." Mrs. Simian slammed her fists on her boyfriend's desk in anger as she cried out at the father.

"Not a danger? He bit me on the head just for seeing what was going on in the halls!" Darwin mumbled quietly to himself.

"You're not the only one".

"What was that?" she said looking at the fish. Darwin instantly went from irritated to scared.

"Nothing." he said nervously. She narrowed her eyes at him, but went back to the father.

"Your son attacked me, Mr. Waterson, and according to the school policy: any child who violates or hurts a teacher or staff of Elmore Jr. High must be expelled. Tell him, Nigel." She gave Principal Brown a stern look, making him slightly uncomfortable. If there was one thing Nigel Brown didn't like about his girlfriend, it was how demanding she was of her views and the school policies. He grabbed his glasses and re-elevated them up on his eyes. He focused his attention back on the parent.

"Mrs. Simian does raise a fair point, but on the other hand, if what you're saying about Gumball is true, then he's not entirely at fault here. You wouldn't happen to have medical papers that prove what you're telling me is true, do you?" Richard suddenly lit up in excitement.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He reached into his shirt and pulled a pile of papers, all neatly bounded in a paperclip and stuck together with sweat. He held the paper up across the desk, which Mr. Brown was hesitant to grab hold of, seeing the sweat drops run down one of the bottom corners. He pinched the papers from the top with two fingers and laid it down on his desk. On top, there was a yellow post-it note with Nicole's handwriting. It said Bring to school if called. He looked up at Richard with a raised eyebrow, making him smile nervously. He couldn't believe that he needed his wife to write a note like that, but even more annoyed about the salty water drenched on the paper. Nigel rolled his eyes and went on to look over the paper, humming yeahs and uh-huhs as he scrolled down it. After a few seconds, he looked up at the family.

"Well this does seem to check out, but I am afraid that since Gumball is not acting appropriately, I am going to have to suspend him until he's corrected." Before Richard could say anything, Mrs. Simian let her temper out once more.

"Are you kidding me? He should be expelled; expel him this instant! You don't know how long I've wanted this for." Mr. Brown put his hand over her right fist and talked in the most calming, charismatic tone he could.

"Sweety, I know you want him expelled, but it wouldn't be fair. Besides, I'm sure Gumball must be suffering right now in his head even worse than any punishment we could give him." She turned her attention away from him and looked at Gumball. His eyes were not as narrow as before; more opened and innocent looking as he stared up at Mrs. Simian. Her breathing started to lower. "Can you really do such a thing to this poor child… or should I say, animal?" he finished off. As she looked into the young cat's eyes, those pointed, diamond shapes really hit her hard. She actually felt something she had not felt about Gumball in her whole life. She could only guess it was pity. She sighed in submission to her boyfriend's logic.

"Ohh, you're right Nigel. I can't stay mad at him like this." He got up out of his seat and came to her side, holding his other arm around her shoulder.

"Tell you what: when Gumball is all sane again, I'll give you the honor of putting him in detention. Sound good?" His offer brought a smile to her face.

"Oh, you know me too well my hairy man." They exchanged sweet looks and smiles at each other that sickened Darwin as he watched and made Richard uncomfortable. Gumball tilted his head slightly at the display of affection. The blue feline had the feeling he had seen this kind of behavior before, but not often enough to bring much back. Richard had finally had enough and gave in to get out.

"Well, I can see you guys make a fair case. I'll just take him home and, uhh…yeah." He could tell they weren't paying attention and grabbed Gumball as fast as he could. He slowly walked backwards out the office door, turning the knob and making a bolt to his car with Gumball wrapped around him. Darwin walked out behind, but did not follow. Before he could figure out where to go, he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Darwin." It was sweet, caring, and almost angelic to hear. He knew all to well when he turned around that it was Penny Fitzgerald. She ran up to Darwin as he came out of the office and looked worried. "Is Gumball alright? Did he get in trouble?" Darwin answered her in the most depressing tone she had ever heard him speak.

"He got suspended, Penny." She instantly became terrified.

"Really? I…I can't believe this."

"I tried telling them it wasn't his fault, but they said it didn't matter." For as bright as Penny was since she got rid of her shell, she couldn't help but feel the worst sense of sadness coming onto her.

"Will he even be alright? Is he ever coming back?"

"Principal Brown said he could when he's himself again." Penny shook her head back and forth in disagreement.

"No-no-no, I mean, is Gumball ever going to be back to himself?" Darwin didn't know how to answer. He wanted to say yes more than anything in the world, but given what's happened since the incident, it seemed pointless. He couldn't bring himself to say yes. Somewhere in his head, he knew it was wrong; it would feel like a lie to him. He begrudgingly tackled himself mentally to say what had to be told.

"I don't know Penny." He started tearing, quickly wiping it away from his closed eyes. "I really hope so, but I don't know." His voice sounded so upsetting that Penny almost couldn't control herself either. She felt like wanting to cry like Darwin, but he was more sensitive than her and held herself back. The situation was horrible for everyone, and Penny was included. Gumball was her boyfriend after all, and now, she felt like he was gone. The kind of disappearance where someone had died.

"This... this can't be possible. Please Darwin, tell me he'll get better. I need to know." She put her hands on his shoulders and shook him back, forcing his head to face up at her. He could see that she was just as upset as he was about the ordeal. He wanted to tell her he was okay, but he had finally lost it. Looking at how sorry she was had destroyed his hope entirely. His optimism had finally been defeated through the eyes of a sad fairy-creature.

"I can't!" Darwin whaled, covering his eyes to face her no more. "I ca-han-han-han-haaant." Darwin turned around and ran away in shame, crying and whining down the hall. He left Penny all alone with the truth. The thought that she would never see her actual boyfriend ever again. All she did was sob in fear, pity, and loneliness.

Darwin had to go the rest of the day in school alone, not talking or looking at anyone. He was making his typical puckered lip expression, feeling nothing but despair in his wake. He was at his desk, in the cafeteria, and on the bus, not breaking his look, even when getting off. It was not until he stepped through the door of his house, with Anais coming alongside him, that he looked up and found something scary. He could see his Nicole and Richard sitting at the table with Gumball plopped on a chair (still on all fours). Anais and Darwin looked at each other in dread of what this was, and they knew it couldn't be good as they took seats around the table. This was going to be one of the tensest moments the family might ever have, and they all knew it as they came out to each other. The only one spared of such tension was Gumball, and ironic enough, it was all about him.