The Traveler
By Villicus
Chapter 03: Dreams
Faction 09 | Distant Worlds
Gone
are the days you used to know
Stranded with nowhere to go
In this desert left to roam
Now you're on your own
Searching for the answers
Underneath a foreign sky
"Hey, Darwin!" Anais shouted. "Snap out of it!"
Darwin shook his head as Anais snapped her fingers in front of him. "Huh? What?"
"You were spacing out. Are you okay?" she asked. "Skipping dinner isn't like you."
"Sorry." Darwin replied. "I was just thinking about today."
Anais sat on the bed next to him. "It's hard to believe all that's happened, huh?"
"Yeah..."
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the soft patter of the rain outside.
"Do you think we'll see him again?"
"Of course."
"No, I mean like, tonight?"
"As in a dream?"
Darwin nodded.
Anais thought for a moment and shrugged. "I mean, it's possible."
"I just want to see him again."
"Me too, Darwin. Look, let's just try to get some rest, alright? We can tackle this better when we're together again."
Darwin stared at the pendant in his fin. A voice echoed in his head, a memory that constantly surfaced whenever he pondered about his brother.
He gripped the pendant tight. "I know I'll see him again."
Anais sighed. "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night."
"Good night."
Anais flipped the light off and crawled into the top bunk. Darwin lay down, staring blankly, letting his thoughts consume him. He closed his eyes to the sound of rain and lightning, while he focused on a single thought, repeating it in his head, over and over.
Where do you go when you dream?
So much on my mind
We're given so little time
There's no way to hold on as it passes by
So lead me into denial
Help me forget for a while
"Whoa…" Gumball muttered.
A massive room stretched before him, large enough that he could not see the walls or corners. Glowing green craters pockmarked the ground, while colorful wisps of various colors floated in the air like fireflies.
Gumball walked among the craters and wisps, completely mesmerized by the incandescent entities. They flew around him as if curiously observing, circling his arms and head. He slowly reached towards the wisps, opening his palm under them. One of them broke off from the rest and approached him. He cupped the luminous ball in his hands, and it seemed to allow him to hold it. It flickered between various shades of purple, yellow, blue, green, and other colors more vibrant than anything he had ever seen before.
Gumball smiled and felt a warmth on his face that he had not felt in a long time.
A bright green glow surrounded him, revitalizing and filling him with energy while a stream of radiant particles poured from his Dreams pendant, swirling around in front of him. The brilliant mass began to coalesce into a figure. A very familiar-looking figure.
Gumball's memories stirred. The wisp in his hands flew into the cloud of light, emitting a lustrous glow and forcing Gumball to cover his eyes. When the light died down, he lowered his arm and saw someone standing in front of him. Gumball froze when he suddenly recognized who it was.
"D-Darwin?" he asked.
The goldfish in front of him seemed dazed for a moment. He shook his head and stared at Gumball listlessly with tired eyes. A few seconds passed before Darwin finally realized who he was looking at. His pupils dilated in shock and he remained frozen in place, before jumping back with a yelp. He shut his eyes and raised his arms to shield his face.
Gumball stared at him, unmoving. Upon noticing the silence, Darwin opened his eyes.
"Gumball?" he asked tentatively. He expected the cat to attack him like before. "Is-is that really you?"
Gumball was at a loss for words. A plethora of memories inundating his mind made it impossible to think, as if a barrier in his subconscious was being broken down.
He impulsively rushed forward. Darwin squealed and attempted to flee, but he wasn't fast enough. To his surprise, he wasn't attacked. Rather, he was caught in a warm embrace.
Questions flooded his mind, but the confusion melted away when he heard sobbing coming from his assailant. It was a familiar sound, one which he hadn't heard in a long time, but his memory could never forget. A sound that made his vision blur as hot tears filled his eyes.
He returned the hug. "I missed you, Gumball. I missed you so much."
His brother tried to respond, but only managed to produce incomprehensible wailing. Darwin allowed him to just cry into his shoulder. Gumball gripped him tighter and continued to bawl.
He cried for several minutes straight, repeatedly muttering to Darwin about how he missed him, before finally pulling away.
"I thought I was never going to see you again." Darwin said.
Gumball sniffed. "I can't believe…" He took a deep, shaky breath. "I can't believe I forgot you. How could I forget you? My brother! My best friend!"
Darwin tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Gumball made wild gestures with his hands. "I just… I couldn't remember anything from home, at all." he replied, shaking his head slightly. "Until you got here, that is. Speaking of which, how did you find me? You appeared out of thin air!"
"I-I don't know." Darwin replied. "I just went to sleep and..."
He gasped, then grabbed the pendant he was wearing and showed it to Gumball.
"This thing! I think that Dreamcatcher guy—"
"The Dreamcatcher?" Gumball interrupted. He gestured to his face and suit. "Bird mask? Dark clothes? Green glowy orb thing?"
"Yeah, him!" Darwin replied. "He showed up in my mind or something while I was asleep, and he asked me, 'where do you go when you dream?', and I thought... that maybe if I focus on you..."
"...That maybe he'd lead you to me." Gumball finished, prompting a nod from Darwin.
"I met him, too!" Gumball added. He pointed at his shoulder. "Look, it's the same pendant!"
"So they are connected." Darwin concluded. "Anais and Penny have pendants, too."
"They do?" Gumball asked. "Then how come I haven't— agh..."
He was interrupted by a sharp pain in his head, making him grunt and put a paw to his temple.
"Gumball?" Darwin asked, extending a fin towards him. "What's wrong? You don't look so good."
The cat shook his head. "Ugh... what was that? I feel like something just smacked me upside the head."
Darwin looked over Gumball's battered form and muttered, "Well, you look like something smacked you through a dumpster, so..."
Gumball glared at him, causing him to grin sheepishly.
"How about I actually smack you through a dumpster and then we'll compare?" the cat threatened.
Darwin waved his fins back and forth. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"
Gumball smirked at him and realized the headache had gone as quick as it had come.
"Well, I think I'll be okay." he assured Darwin.
"Hang on, I need to make sure of something." the fish said in a suddenly serious tone.
"What?"
Darwin raised a hand and slapped himself. "Ow!"
Gumball raised an eyebrow at him. "Making sure your goldfish intelligence is still intact?"
"No." an irritated Darwin responded. "I was just making sure this wasn't a dream."
Gumball replied, "I'm not so sure myself."
"Well, whatever. I'm glad to see you again regardless."
Gumball chuckled. "Me too, buddy."
Darwin gestured towards him, moving his fin up and down. "Where'd you get that cool suit, anyway?"
"I have no idea, but it's pretty awesome, isn't it?" Gumball replied. He tried to show it off to Darwin, despite all the obvious damage to the suit.
The fish rolled his eyes, but a smile remained on his face. "It's good to have you back, heh. What happened to you, anyway? You've been gone for days."
"I..." Gumball began, but his thoughts blanked. He blinked a few times as he tried to recall what had transpired the last few days, but once again, his mind's eye remained blind.
"I don't know..." Gumball said, his voice quiet and uncertain, replacing Darwin's smile with a look of worry. It was a dreary tone he rarely ever heard from Gumball.
"I don't even know where we are right now, or how I got here," Gumball added, his gaze focused on the ground.
This prompted Darwin to take in the surroundings for the first time. Yes, it was a dark and scary cavern, but colorful balls of light filled the air and flew around them with an almost enthusiastic energy.
Darwin took a deep breath. "Well... it seems pretty peaceful and beautiful, don't you think?" he asked, trying to uplift his brother's spirits.
Gumball shrugged. "I guess," he replied, not even looking up.
Darwin put a fin on his brother's shoulder. "Hey. We'll find a way home, okay?"
Gumball looked up at him. The cat's expression didn't change, but he gave a weak nod.
"We've got a lot to talk about, man." Darwin said.
Gumball sighed, forcing a smile. "A lot is putting it lightly."
Their reunion was cut short as the ground rumbled and flickered into static.
"Gumball? What's going on?" Darwin asked.
"I-I don't know!"
The wisps floating about in the room shimmered dark colors and quivered as if terrified. They formed into groups and retreated into the green rifts in the ground.
Darwin gasped as he felt something wrap around him. He screamed as he was dragged away into the darkness.
"Darwin!" Gumball yelled. He sprinted after his best friend, following his screams in the murk. The flashlight on his helmet flickered on, but died almost immediately. A sharp hit by Gumball's fist forced it back on.
Something in the dark chasm roared, a terrifying noise that sounded like what Gumball would hear if a thousand giant squid could scream. He heard Darwin shrieking in response, and then suddenly, silence.
Gumball dug in to the ground with his feet and skidded to a halt. In front of him was a massive crater. He saw huge trails dug into the rock, leading into the green, swirling rift within.
The traveler took a deep breath, and stepped over the edge into the seemingly bottomless pit.
He felt himself be pulled in by the whirlpool of green energy, until everything seemed to grind to a halt. He calmly floated about for an indeterminate amount of time until he felt the pull of gravity once more. He stretched out his right hand and punched the ground as he landed on one knee.
"Aw, yeah! Superhero landing!" he said with a smirk. "Man, I really hope Darwin saw how cool tha—"
A terrified scream pierced the air, making Gumball grimace. "Oh, right," he muttered.
He looked down and saw more trails in the rocky ground in front of him. It seemed like he was in another dark cavern. He got to his feet and began running as fast as he could.
Gumball's augmented vision detected a blur of movement within the shadows. He ducked as something swiped at him, passing over his head by a mere inch. He ended up shifting too much of his weight forward, which, coupled with his high speed, ended up with him faceplanting on the rough, rocky ground.
He flipped forwards twice before painfully skidding to a stop. Had it not been for his helmet, he would have sustained grievous injuries on his face.
"Gumball!" screamed a voice from the darkness, already fading from earshot. "Help!"
The injured cat pushed himself off the ground, grunting. "I-I'm coming, Darwin!"
He took a few breaths before giving chase once more.
As he continued pursuit, the environment around him changed, flickering into static.
Gumball growled in annoyance. "Oh, what now?"
He saw weak light in the distance, an opening in the cavern that contained him. As he stepped out, his vision adjusted, and he found himself somewhere deep in the mountains. Moonlight revealed large structures situated here and there, on cliffsides and in small caves. He looked behind him and saw no trace of where he had came from, just an empty rock face.
He exhaled heavily, a combination of an exasperated sigh and an annoyed huff. "Sure. Why not?"
Tiny particles fell gently from the gray, cloudy night sky, prompting Gumball to stretch out an open hand.
"Snow?" he asked no one in particular, as he collected some of the substance in his palm.
A deafening noise echoed throughout the atmosphere and spooked Gumball. He looked up at the night sky and saw a massive object that had somehow appeared from nowhere.
Grinding metal and hissing hydraulics could be heard across the landscape as the giant contraption in the sky began to assemble itself into a building while it fell to the surface.
"Aw, cool..." Gumball said as he gazed at the exceptional feat of technology unfolding—literally—before him.
The huge building completed assembly and crashed down somewhere in the distance with a thunderous roar and momentarily rocking the ground like an earthquake.
A monstrous noise echoed throughout the mountains, and was definitely not man-made. A bright column of lightning along with a powerful clap of thunder followed it.
Gumball locked on to the direction of the sound and immediately took off, the ice layer above the ground shattering under his feet.
He rounded a corner and smashed face first into Darwin, who had been running the opposite direction. They tumbled to the ground and rolled into a shallow river. Thankfully, Darwin's blubber absorbed the force of the blow and meant that both kids would suffer no more than minor scrapes and bruises.
Gumball got to his feet. "Darwin! Are you alright?"
The goldfish rolled over on his back, groaning. "Augh… That... really hurt..."
Gumball offered a hand, which Darwin gratefully took. The two brothers shared a short hug.
"How did you get away?" Gumball asked as he whisked water off himself.
"It dropped me," Darwin replied. "When I looked up, I saw it attacking some other creature. I guess it wanted something with a little more... meat." He gulped as he thought about how narrowly he had avoided a gruesome demise.
They jumped as another lightning strike pierced through the heavens, not far from their location.
Gumball looked up at the sky. "What was that thing?"
Darwin rubbed his fins together and stared at the ground. "It's, uh, something from my nightmares."
"A monster from your nightmares came to life?"
"Assuming this isn't a dream," Darwin replied.
"Ugh, it better not be."
Darwin detected something in the water with his submerged feet. He looked off to the side, at a large body of water which the river emptied into.
He jumped towards his brother. "Watch out!"
Before Gumball could react, he felt a massive creature erupt from the pool of water beside them.
He saw teeth as big as his head inches from his face as Darwin dove towards him. He quickly realized that his brother was too late, and that the gaping maw would claim them both. In desperation, he shut his eyes and threw a blind punch.
He felt it connect before Darwin crashed into him and sent them both to the ground.
The creature retreated out of sight before the two kids could even look at it. They flailed and scrambled away from the water's edge.
"Holy crud..." Gumball breathed, considering it a miracle they were unscathed.
"I think everything here wants to eat us..." Darwin muttered, panting heavily.
Another clap of thunder echoed behind him.
"Or worse," Gumball said, quickly getting to his feet. "Come on, get up. We gotta find a way home."
He pulled Darwin up and scanned the area before picking a random direction. "Let's try uh, this way."
"You saved us," Darwin said as he followed behind his brother.
"Huh?"
"That monster. It was too fast, but you punched it like it was nothing. How?"
Gumball remembered something he was told long ago. You're a plugin. Flesh, circuit and bone.
He opened his mouth to reply, but thought against it. He wasn't sure how to explain to Darwin that he was now apparently part-robot.
The silence did not go unnoticed. "Gumball?" Darwin asked. "Did you hear me?"
"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, I heard you," Gumball replied, his mind racing to construct a believable explanation.
"Is it the suit?"
Gumball blanked. "Uh... Yeah! It's the suit! It gives me enhanced abilities and stuff."
"And you have no idea where it came from or how you got it?"
"Nope."
Darwin scratched his head. "Well, I guess that's not important right now. At least you can defend us, right?"
Gumball felt sweat forming on his forehead. "Um, sure!"
"As long as it's not too scary or life-threatening..." he added quietly.
"Well, you should know..." Darwin continued. "That thing from my nightmares, the Kraken?"
"Kind of a cliché name, don't you think?"
Darwin gave the cat an unamused look. "Anyway, if we ever come across it again, you have to know it can summon lightning."
"What? For real? So the Kraken is responsible for all of that?" Gumball asked, pointing a thumb at the sky.
Darwin nodded. "I'm not sure what else it can do because in my dreams, I never really survive long enough."
"Well that's comforting..." Gumball replied.
"Hey, look on the bright side! We might never see it again."
Gumball remained silent for a few more steps before asking, "What happened when it dropped you?"
Darwin cheerfully replied, "Oh, it struck the creature that attacked it with lightning, completely burning it to a crisp and then gorging on it until it was nothing more than bones on the ground, all in a matter of seconds."
Gumball stopped and turned on his heel to look at his adopted brother.
His contorted expression confused Darwin. "What? You asked."
Gumball sighed. "I wish I didn't. How come that doesn't freak you out?"
"Oh, it does, but I've got you to protect me!"
Gumball coughed. "Dude. Lightning! From a tentacle monster! Come on!"
"I'm not telling you to fight it, Gumball. I just trust that you'll manage to get us home, safe and sound."
Gumball rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the ground. He had forgotten what it had been like to feel encouraged, to feel relied upon, to know that someone looked up to him with childlike innocent and trust.
"...Thanks, Darwin. I'm really glad you're here."
Darwin beamed at him. "Everyone misses you, Gumball. We'll make it, I'm sure."
Gumball returned the smile. "Yeah... Yeah, we can do this."
"Hey, look!" Darwin exclaimed, pointing at something.
Gumball turned and saw a massive white tower, piercing through the clouds and far beyond his vision. He felt slight déjà vu, but shook it off.
Orange lights lined the tower, flickering dangerously, while a red glow painted the interior. A warning siren could be heard blaring within. A sudden blur washed over the bottom of the tower, warping the structure into strange curves, before flickering back to normal just as suddenly. Static bathed the building for a fraction of a second.
"Did you see that?" Gumball asked.
Darwin nodded. "If there was a way out of here, that's probably it."
They approached the anomalous construct carefully. It intermittently warped and shifted, but the two Wattersons seemed unaffected. They entered the tower and saw a massive circular reactor situated into the wall, humming with electricity.
Darwin looked up and elbowed his brother in the side, prompting him to look up as well.
A large tear-drop shape floated in the air high above, crackling with energy. It was unnaturally dark, on a wholly different level beyond simple blackness. It seemed to absorb all light, making it impossible to discern any shape, curve, contours or any of the sort, as if there were a simple abyss in the space it took up. Everything around it seemed to warp and bend, distorting light on an incomprehensible level, like an optical illusion that had manifested in the material plane.
"What the what is that?" Gumball whispered.
They saw the abyss and its surroundings distort once more. Static appeared, twisting, contorting and disfiguring everything, like the two boys were watching an old TV channel. They momentarily saw something in the blackness that hovered above them, a flash of colors and figures.
"I'm gonna guess that has something to do with how everything is shifting around us." Darwin replied. "Um… probably."
Gumball looked around and saw a convenient platform connected to the wall, a simple elevator that could take them up to the strange hole.
He walked over to it. "Hey, let's try this thing."
They both stepped on the platform, and Gumball pushed one of the two buttons on a control panel.
"Hmm, that's weird," he said. "It won't move."
"Maybe the blaring sirens and warning lights should have given us a clue?" Darwin muttered.
"...I knew that."
"Uh huh. Sure."
Gumball turned to look at the reactor in the wall. "What do we do?"
Darwin walked over to it and studied a nearby screen. "It says 'low power, cables disconnected.'"
A crackling noise spooked the two Wattersons. They looked outside, and saw another column of light ripping through the air before fading away. Gumball buried his face in his hands as Darwin opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't. Even." Gumball said. He sighed and continued, "You want to me to lure the Kraken here and charge that reactor up with its lightning, don't you?"
"What? No! That's dangerous and irresponsible!" Darwin replied.
Gumball crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
His adopted brother looked down at the ground and quietly added, "...okay, fine, I thought about it. But I was never actually gonna suggest it!"
"And what were you gonna suggest?"
Darwin gestured towards the thick cables connected to the reactor. "We follow the power cables leading outside and see if we can re-attach them."
"Well that was the obvious solution," Gumball said.
"Then why didn't you think of it first?"
"Shut."
Gumball walked a few steps outside then heard a strange noise. His ears twitched within his helmet, trying to focus on the direction of the source.
He turned his head slightly and called out, "Hey, Darwin?"
"Yeah?" the fish replied.
"Stay here for a bit. I'm gonna check something out, then we can look at those cables together."
"Did you find something?"
Gumball kept listening closely. The noise was an intermittent fuzzy garbling, but even with his augmented hearing, he could not discern what it was.
He replied, "Not sure… I'll let you know."
"I don't think it's a good idea to split up."
"It'll just take a sec!"
"A second is all it takes to-"
"Bye, Darwin!" Gumball said as he waved dismissively at him.
Darwin rolled his eyes and sighed. "Be careful!"
The traveler made his way towards the noise. It was coincidentally along the path of the power cables, so if he were to come across a problem, he'd be more than happy to kill two birds with one stone. Unless, however, the problem was monster-shaped and could summon lightning, then it would likely kill him instead.
He shook those thoughts off, reassuring himself that the Kraken was far away and seemed to be interested in hunting bigger prey. The lightning bolts in the distance confirmed his suspicions, and subtracted slightly from the dread pressing on him. But only slightly.
He approached one of the massive buildings that cut into the rock face. The howl of the cold and frigid wind accompanied the increasing volume of the strange noise. It sounded like radio static.
His heart dropped when he reached the massive doorway of the building. The light on his helmet revealed a red smear the ground, where the source of the noise lay—a discarded handheld radio, transmitting static. Gumball's pace slowed as he approached the object, fear rampant in his mind.
The amount of dried blood at his feet was a sight he thought he'd never encounter in his lifetime, and seeing it in front of him was a completely foreign and terrifying first experience. His shaky paw reached towards the radio, and he almost dropped it when a muddled voice came through.
"—still there? We … dome is down! You have to get the power … it, we're all done f—"
A garbled roar cut off the person on the other end. Ear-piercing static was heard for a moment, along with terrified screams, then the radio went silent. Thunder echoed in the distance.
Gumball pressed the transmit button with his thumb. "Hello?"
No response.
"Hello?" Gumball asked again, his voice high-pitched and shaky. Once again, he heard only silence.
He dropped the radio. Panic was creeping into his system and he simply wanted to run, but he focused on the task at hand.
He looked towards the cables and noticed that most of them were severed, but thankfully, one cable was left intact, and was simply unplugged. He stepped over the broken electronics, making sure to avoid getting shocked, then reached down and hefted the thick cable with a grunt, and inserted it into the massive socket in front of him. A humming sound echoed throughout the large structure, slowly increasing in pitch as power was redirected through the cable.
The lights within the building turned on, greeting Gumball with a haunting sight. The interior was completely wrecked, pocketed with scorched craters, broken fixtures, holes in the ceiling, smoking machinery and fried circuitry. Large grooves were in the walls and floor, while weapons and pools of red liquid were scattered about, but there were no bodies in sight.
Gumball turned on his heel and ran frantically back towards the tower, his breathing out of control.
The loud crunching of metal froze him stiff. It sounded like something massive was stepping around on a building. He looked up and felt the blood drain from his face as the Kraken appeared over the horizon, on top of a structure in the distance. The creature was miles away, but it looked down on Gumball with its four piercing white eyes. Its head was shaped like a big octopus, and large spikes that looked like ribs ran along its spine before ending in a long, sharp tail. Two large, tentacle-like wings sprouted from its shoulders, glowing with energy. It spread them wide and roared, revealing rows of bloody teeth inside the tentacles surrounding its mouth while electricity lit up its body like a terrifying beacon in the night.
Gumball turned tail and bolted as fast as he could. He heard a vibrating sound fill the air, and looked over his shoulder. He instantly regretted that decision as he saw the Kraken flying towards him. Its tentacles were spread out wide horizontally, emitting an electrical field that somehow allowed it to be buoyant. He saw with horrifying clarity how big and sharp the creature's claws were as it hovered after him.
The cat continued to flee, hoping that he and Darwin could escape well before it reached them.
He was horribly wrong.
I'm not clear
How it is
That I ended up here
...
Then let me help you clear your clouded memory
There's nobody in the world that could know you better than me
Rob opened his eye.
He sat up immediately and noticed he was in Elmore park. He also noticed that he had managed to camouflage himself unconsciously, one of the abilities he had gained since Outland had taken him in.
This thought struck him. He couldn't remember much of what had happened yesterday. He was helping Gumball's friends by using their pendants in his basement where a strange slab was stored, but after that he could not remember a thing. He realized as well, that he could not recall much before his first day at Outland. He knew that they had 'upgraded' his body, reverting the distortion that the Void had done and augmenting him in the process, but otherwise the organization was almost as much a mystery to him as his recent companions.
He stood up and made his way to the secret entrance of his 'house,' a door hidden in a tree trunk. He entered the tunnel and navigated the labyrinth within with ease, and eventually ended up in his new room.
It was a modest bedroom, one which he was able to fully customize thanks to Outland's technological advances. His most recent experiment with its features involved him turning the room into a wooden cabin, or at least giving it the appearance of one. It fit with the location, and when he looked outside the one-way window, he could pretend he was simply in a treehouse within the park, enjoying it like everyone else.
The comfort it brought him was as temporary as it was illusory, but self-deception and wishful thinking was better than moping about. He was technically no longer a nobody but he was basically still a stranger to everyone, just "the guy on the news", so it felt functionally the same.
He wanted to go out, change the world and make a name for himself, but he couldn't do that, either. In due time, he was told, they would reveal themselves fully. Outland had been slowly establishing its presence in the city, but the leader, going simply by 'the captain,' made sure to take his time. He wanted it slow and methodical, like a flawless surgery, and Rob was in no position to say otherwise. Until then, he would just be another student at Elmore Junior High. An intelligent, physically augmented student, but a student nonetheless.
The captain. Rob needed to have a word with him. But before that, he had to check his station and see if there were any new orders issued to him. Thankfully, there were none, meaning he could do as he pleased, although he did see a message in his inbox.
"Huh?" he asked himself as he read the sender entry. "Why would I send something to myself?"
He opened the message, but it seemed to contain nothing, except a single attachment.
ThePhantom.k_os
His eye opened wide in both confusion and surprise. He had no idea where he got this, assuming it was actually him who sent it. Regardless, it was what he was looking for, and it might have information that would prove useful in tracking down Gumball, or at least some of k_OS's secrets.
Upon opening the attachment, he felt a surge of electricity that shocked him and made him jump. "Ow!"
He stared at his computer and growled. "Top of the line technology, and yet the hardware isn't static proof! Future of mankind my—"
Heheh…
Rob froze, feeling a chill run down his spine. He checked his peripheral vision without moving his head, before slowly turning around.
Nothing.
He gulped and slowly stood up, scanning his room. He stood deathly still for a full minute and yet his fear did not subside one bit. Another minute of silence passed before he decided to leave, paranoia rampant in his head.
To think it's only in their minds
will make them weaker
To think they know their enemy
will make you stronger
We will vindicate
The school bus arrived at the Watterson household and stopped to allow Anais to board. Students looked confused at the absence of not just one, but now both of the Watterson boys. The lone girl made her way to the back of the bus in a strange stupor. She kept her gaze on the floor and ignored all questions thrown her way as she slowly walked to her destination.
She sat down in between Carrie and Penny, who were worried beyond description upon seeing her state.
Anais took a deep breath, and quietly said, "Darwin won't wake up. Mom and dad tried everything, but he just won't..."
Her two seatmates remained speechless, frozen in shock and disbelief.
Anais continued, "Mom took him to the hospital after breakfast. I just hope he's going to be okay."
A loud noise and bright flash spooked everyone on the bus. Anais and Penny looked at the empty seat beside them and quickly realized where Carrie had gone.
Anais exhaled slowly, a hint of shakiness in her breath. She felt Penny's arms surround her.
"It'll be okay," the fairy said.
Anais returned the hug and remained in her arms for the rest of the ride.
Sick of this mind and the games it plays
Mental enemy-enemy-enemies want to push me back again
Here they come running, wanting me up on that tree,
crucified
A loud noise spooked Nicole Watterson and made her yelp. A flash of light came from behind her, and she turned to find Carrie Krueger.
"Is he okay?" the ghost asked.
Nicole clenched her jaw, her eyes red and puffy, with a face that bore utter exhaustion. She remained silent and simply stepped aside.
Behind her, splayed out on a hospital bed, was Darwin.
Carrie floated towards him and put a hand on his cheek. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but an obscene amount of equipment had been attached to him and made his physical state look a lot more dire.
"He's fine," Nicole croaked, her voice as fragile as cracked glass. She cleared her throat and added, "He just won't wake up. The doctors can't tell me why."
Carrie sighed in relief. At least he wasn't in critical condition. She could put some of her worst fears to rest.
Nicole sat in the chair next to the bed and buried her face into her hands. She took a deep breath and began to whimper. "First Gumball and now this… I-I don't know what else to do…"
She started sobbing again, and from how hoarse her voice was, the ghost could tell she had been crying all morning. Just hearing her weep already tugged at Carrie's heartstrings, but seeing her hunched over like that, her tear-stained clothes in disarray, it was an entirely different level of sadness and despair that the ghost had never seen before. It reminded her of the time she saw Gumball, Darwin and Anais get dragged into the underworld, and even the feelings she had felt back then seemed trivial compared to the suffering and loss this broken-hearted mother was now going through. It affected Carrie in a way she could not comprehend, like a weight in her chest that sucked at non-existent internal organs as it sunk down to her stomach.
Nicole sniffed and raised her head, her face a mess of wrinkles and tears. She placed a hand on Darwin's head, rubbing it gently.
"Please wake up, Darwin." she said in an almost-inaudible voice. "Please… we can't—I can't deal with this. I act all strong and unbreakable, but I can't bear to be without my sons."
She covered her face again. "I can't, I can't, I can't…"
Carrie hesitated for a moment, then attempted to hug the weeping mother as best she could.
"It'll be okay, Mrs. Watterson," she said. "Darwin's a tough guy, I'm sure he'll pull through. Gumball will, too. When push comes to shove, they're just as headstrong as you, and they'll stop at nothing to come back."
Nicole's crying subsided slightly, and then faded after a few minutes.
She took a deep breath and quietly muttered, "Thank you, Carrie… Darwin's so lucky to have you."
The ghost smiled at her as tears dripped down her face. "He's lucky to have a mom like you, too."
Nicole returned the smile. She turned to Darwin once more.
"I love you, Darwin," she said, rubbing his head. "You may be adopted, but you are my son. Please come back to us soon."
Ghosts
in a place of fear
Dreams and memories
are decaying here
Cold
constantly turning sphere
Where shadows gather up
and quickly disappear
Gumball sprinted into the tower and quickly backed up beside the entrance, hiding as best he could. He noticed that the red emergency lights had been replaced with bright white lights, thanks to his efforts reconnecting the power cable.
"Gumball?" a voice called.
The cat turned his head and saw Darwin looking at him strangely.
"What's wrong?" he said.
Gumball beckoned to Darwin with quick, frantic motions.
The fish furrowed his brow, but sprinted over. "What are you—"
Gumball grabbed him and slammed him into the wall beside him as something large crashed down outside. The two boys froze in fear and did their best to suppress their panicked breathing. They heard it stomping around outside, approaching the structure.
That noise again. That bone-chilling noise that sounded like something from the dark depths of the ocean was swirling around, just out of sight.
Then they heard something new, like the creature was spitting. They kept still, listening closely.
That was when Gumball noticed the spheres.
A large transparent sphere, about as big as a beach ball, floated into the tower.
Then another.
And another.
They floated in straight lines in different directions before sticking to the walls. The Wattersons did not dare to move when they heard the Kraken take off. The vibrating noise that its electrified wings emitted persisted for about a minute before fading from ear shot.
They waited a minute longer, and with no signs of the monster, they felt safe enough to sigh in relief.
"Alright, let's go." Gumball said, walking towards the elevator.
"What about those things?" Darwin asked, pointing at the spheres.
"Ehhh, we'll probably be fine as long as we don't touch 'em."
Darwin pointed at something. "Uh, Gumball..."
"Oh. You've got to be kidding me."
One of the spheres had stuck on the elevator, completely blocking off access.
"What do we do now?" Darwin asked.
"Maybe we can—"
As soon as Gumball took a step forward, a shrieking sound filled the air. The spheres grew long spikes and their inner core turned red. Before the two boys could get over their surprise, one of them launched towards Gumball.
"Watch out!" Gumball yelled as he dove towards Darwin.
He tackled him to the ground as the sphere flew past them and crashed into the ground, detonating in a wave of heat and light. The shockwave sent the two Wattersons flying, kicking up dust and filling the area with smoke in the process.
Gumball hit the ground hard and rolled over twice before coming to a stop.
"Aughh…" He grunted in pain and remained there for a second before getting to his knees.
"Darwin!" he yelled. "Are you okay?"
He heard coughing within the smoke. "Yeah… I'm fine." a voice replied.
The wall of smoke exploded outwards as another sphere flew towards Gumball. He saw it just in time and rolled to the side. It crashed into a wall and blew it to smithereens, sending dust and concrete fragments flying everywhere. Fortunately, Gumball was in front of his adopted brother and shielded him from most of the shrapnel.
That's two, Gumball thought. He turned around and saw the third sphere right in his face. It stuck to his helmet and colored his vision red. He screamed as his reflexes took over his hands and grabbed the bomb's spikes. He chucked it into the air as hard as he could, and it exploded a mere three feet in front of him, sending him flying. His back painfully hit the ground as he flipped backwards, ending up on his face.
He grit his teeth and clenched his fists in pain as he waited for the aching to subside and the ringing in his ears to fade. He tried to push himself up.
And that's when he heard Darwin's terrified scream.
Before he could react, two clawed feet descended in front of him with such force that it cracked the ground and cleared the area of smoke. He looked up and saw the thirty-foot-tall Kraken towering over him, the tentacles on its shoulder blades crackling with electricity. It raised them both high in the air.
Gumball looked around and saw five white tendrils of electricity circling him, growing larger as they slowly approached his position. He smelled ozone and felt the air around him vibrating. The tendrils coalesced into one large bubble as the Kraken brought its tentacles down.
Gumball's vision turned white as got to his feet and jumped as far as he could.
A massive column of electricity shot up from the ground where he was laying moments ago. The ear-piercing clap of thunder almost deafened him as the shock wave threw him from the strike zone. He flew several feet and bounced a few times off the ground before rolling to a stop.
Before he could get his bearings, the moonlight shining on him vanished, engulfed by a massive shadow. He saw the Kraken standing on all four legs, almost right on top of him, the crackling electricity on its tentacles illuminating its face and giving it an even more fearsome appearance.
It once again raised its tentacles in the air. Instead of summoning a lightning strike, it intended to crush and electrify the cat simultaneously in one motion.
Gumball clenched up and braced himself.
The loud clang of metal hitting flesh echoed through the air. Gumball opened his eyes and saw Darwin in front of him, holding a large metal pipe that had been twisted at an angle. His adopted brother was panting hard and trembling in fear, but stood his ground against the creature.
"Stay… away! From Gumball!" He yelled in between breaths.
Gumball looked up and saw the Kraken slowly turn its head to face Darwin. Its tentacles crackled brightly with electricity, more fierce than before, and raised them to crush the boys.
The cat tried to yell at Darwin, to scream at him to get away, to get safe, but his voice could not come forth. He watched helplessly as tears fell from Darwin. He saw the tentacles fly downwards at high speed, about to smash them both to bloody paste and then shock them into ashes.
And that's when Gumball felt something filling his head. Something ancient and sinister, completely alien to him, vastly different to anything he had ever felt before and in ways he could not even make clear to himself. Time seemed to grind to a halt as the foreign thing continued to spread in his mind, taking root, overwhelming his system and drowning every corner of his thoughts with—
Darkness.
A vast darkness that would swallow him whole and leave no trace.
He writhed on the ground helplessly as it grew deeper. He felt himself fading, and he wanted to scream, but he felt like he was drowning. In that instant, he surrendered to the thing in his mind and the sky suddenly turned black.
Something like a large eye appeared in the atmosphere, staring down at him as he convulsed in pain. The endless abyss of a pupil in the sky was the size of a planet, emanating strange, blue waves of energy akin to an iris. The visual quickly disappeared and the sky returned to normal, but it remained in his memory like a burning scar.
The thing filling his head seemed to grow even more, and Gumball felt like his head was going to explode. The pendants in his suit grew hot while an unknown force seemed to surge from within him, emanating from him.
Clouds of white particles appeared all around him, being siphoned from the air and channeling into his body. He glowed brightly as astral energy filled his being, supercharging him with power that he could not comprehend.
Darwin turned to look at him, but was simply blinded by the brilliant blaze of light that exploded outward, lighting up the landscape as if the sun had come up. The resulting explosion rocked the entire mountain, astral energy incinerating everything organic in a wide radius and leaving a massive crater in the ground.
The Kraken dug into the ground with all four of its legs, leaving deep furrows in the ground as it was pushed back several feet, before collapsing on the ground. Its white, scaly skin was scorched and smoking, but was already regenerating.
Darwin opened his eyes and found himself on the elevator inside the tower, somehow unscathed by the explosion. He looked down and saw Gumball passed out in his arms, and a stream of white particles hanging in the air, dissipating. Before he could do anything, the groaning of the Kraken petrified him in fear.
He slammed the elevator's controls in panic and prayed the monster would not get up until they had reached their destination The elevator shook for a bit, then slowly began lifting the two boys upward towards the strange rift that hovered above.
Oh, come on! Darwin mentally scolded. Move faster you stupid pile of junk!
Every noise the Kraken made instilled panic into Darwin's heart, but he forced himself to remain calm and quiet. The monster made sounds like a twisted demonic horn being blown underwater, but it didn't seem to be moving just yet.
The elevator had just passed the halfway mark when Darwin once again felt panic rising up in his system. A large thud came from outside. The monster was on its feet!
Darwin hugged his unconscious brother tight and backed up into the moving platform's corner, trying his best to conceal them both should the monster look inside.
Another thunderous footstep, closer this time. And another.
The Kraken stomped into the tower and roared. Electricity tore through the structure and raced up the walls, breaking light fixtures and frying circuitry. Darwin grabbed his brother and bent his knees, preparing to jump.
The monster had focused on the large reactor in the wall, and was battering it relentlessly with its wings. The elevator was barely three-fourths of the way to the rift, but Darwin only needed it to get close enough to jump. He hoped the reactor would hold against the creature's assault for just a little while longer. A loud buzzing siren began to sound as the Kraken started to tear out components from the reactor.
The tower shook as explosions ripped through its length while powerful bolts of electricity leaped across the interior. The chaos did not faze the monster even as explosions scorched its face, and it kept up its unrelenting assault.
That's when Gumball woke up, screaming out in fear.
And that's when bad became far worse.
And almost instantly got even worse after that.
STEPPING THROUGH TIME AND OUR MINDS ARE ALWAYS FOCUSED ON OUR PREY
OUR SPIRITS GONE ON RECON, OUR FORMER LIVES HAVE FALLEN FAR AWAY
Chapter 04
Coming Soon