Chapter 11: Darwin
Gumball and Nicky followed April and Zack through the watery planet. Gumball despised being in the ocean, but he frequently popped up for air at times when his lungs were getting filled with water. Nicky was mainly trying to encourage him during this time. They found ships and barrels scattered around, sometimes floating across the ocean. April swam to the surface in front of him. "Right, we live in a cave, so hold your breath and hang onto my foot," she said. Gumball nodded, grabbing Nicky with one hand. "C-can't I just stay here?" Nicky whimpered. "No," Gumball answered, taking in a deep breath before April dived under, dragging Gumball along with her. Zack swam off alongside them.
The group were swimming into a cave. As they entered, they swam upwards and surfaced from the water into an air pocket of the cave. Gumball was gasping for breath coughing up water. "I'm starting to hate the water..." Nicky claimed while dripping wet. "We're here," Zack announced as they looked around. Inside the huge air pocket of the cave was a much damaged pirate ship. It looked like it was caught up in a tornado. The wood it was made from was heavily damaged, the sail was torn terribly and the deck had holes all around it.
April helped Gumball and Nicky get on board. "I'm going back to the beach!" Zack called over before swimming away, like he couldn't wait to get away from the others. "What is his deal with him? He acts like we're monsters," Nicky wondered aloud. Gumball was curious about it too. "He's just paranoid. Some weirdo in a headband came and ruined our home, so he just hides from new visitors," April explained while leading them through a door below deck, its hinges broken. Gumball could feel his blood boiling, but his mind was confused wondering how Tobias could have done any of this.
April led them to the cabins where a line of beds were hanging from chains on the damaged walls. Gumball had his eyes set upon another thing entirely on the room. "Darwin!" he called out, seeing his younger brother flicking cards into a hat out of boredom. He spotted his older brother, and ran towards him, tackling him with a giant grin on his face. "Dude, where have you been?!" he cheered. "It's... it's a long story. Darwin, meet my friend, Nicky," Gumball referred to his practical sidekick. "Hi!" Nicky happily introduced herself, finding each of his friends interesting so far.
"Whoa... a living star! That's awesome!" Darwin exclaimed. His usual happy mood felt impossible to break, just like Rosalina's. The blue feline thought that it was best to cut to the chase and apologize. "Listen, Darwin. Long story short, I screwed up really bad and everyone's on other planets. It's all my fault you wound up here. I'm sorry," Gumball apologized and informed his younger brothers of his actions. It was where Gumball was so upset that he considered his actions to be sins.
"Dude, you act like it's a bad thing. My wish was to have fun, and April and her brother have made my time here fun," Darwin claimed while holding his lucky charm. His first toy. A rook shaped castle from his fish bowl that he kept since his earliest moments of life. "Let's just get back to Rosalina's. Carrie is waiting for you," Nicky said remembering his romantic interactions with the ghostly girl. "Really? Great! ...but how do we get there?" Darwin asked, his flipper scratching his chin. "We just need to get a star. Have you seen any, April?" Gumball asked the pink fish that was standing idly to not get involved with their brotherly moment. "Zack has one. He carries it with him all the time," she answered.
"Oh, great. And he hates us, so this'll be hard. Is there anything he likes?" Gumball responded while scratching his head, considering to trade items with him. "He likes to race," April claimed. Then they all thought for a moment. "Why don't we just race him for the star?" Darwin suggested. Since it was extremely important to get the star that it might be their only option. Gumball just sighed. "Alright… let's go," he agreed. "It is our best option," Nicky also agreed with them. "Good luck with that. I'm going to stay and work on the ship some more," the pink fish bid the trio farewell. The trio left the heavily damaged pirate ship after bidding a farewell to April in return.
Gumball, Nicky and Darwin left immediately to go try and get the star from Zack. Darwin had to pull his brother along through the ocean since he wasn't the best of swimmers.
Once they arrived back to the island which Gumball and Nicky had started at, they found Zack lying around the shoreline. "Hey, Zack! I think you have something we need," Nicky flew up to the green fish, trying to get it from him without needing a race. "What are you on about?" Zack spat back, pushing the Luma away. "That star you have. We kind of need it," Gumball explained. The green fish stood up, just as hostile as he was when Gumball first set eyes on him. "No way! You'll just hurt us with it like that headband weirdo," he turned his back on them.
"We need them to stop the headband weirdo!" Gumball explained while groaning. It was annoying to put up with someone this stubborn, but it was nothing new. He remembered far more stubborn people than that. "Fine then… if you don't mind racing me around the island for it," Zack challenged them to the race. "We accept!" all three of them said simultaneously.
One moment passed, and all four of them were in front of a black and white checkered starting flag that was on top of two buoys. Zack was swimming idly in place. "Are you sure this is a smart idea?" Nicky asked her friends while floating in front of the flag. Gumball was standing on Darwin's back like a surfboard. "We've done stupider. Trust me," Gumball responded. His younger brother tried to say something in return, but it wound up coming out as gurgling and bubbles coming from his mouth, since his head was under the water. They could see plenty of barrels set up and making the path for where to go in the race. It was set to tell them to swims around the island once. "Ready…? Three…! Two…! One…! Go!" Nicky announced. Darwin and Zack darted off like speeding torpedoes while Gumball was riding on Darwin's back. Zack glared while they were swimming up the path of floating barrels. He wasn't going lose this race. Not this time. After one third of the way around the island, Zack slammed into Darwin, nearly knocking his older brother off his back. "Hey! That's cheating!" he shouted. "There are no rules, kid! Just whoever crosses the finish line first wins," Zack laughed before he was suddenly grabbed by the foot by Darwin, causing Gumball to fall in the water. He looked at the finish line and grinned, showing his sharp teeth and swimming towards it.
"Let go! Neither of us can win if you just are going to wrestle with me forever!" Zack shouted while irritably kicking Darwin in the face, trying to get him to let go of him. "Yeah, neither of us, but like you said, anyone who crosses the finish line wins," Darwin laughed not letting go no matter how many facial injuries he received. Zack's eyes widened as he saw Gumball cross the finish line and finally gave up. "Now, I think you owe us something," the goldfish continued, holding his hand out. The green fish nodded, putting the star in his flipper and sinking to the ocean floor with an upset look on his face.
"You guys did good," Nicky said while floating in between Gumball and Darwin as they met back up on the island. "Yeah... let's just get back to Rosalina's," Gumball said. He watched the star turn into a launch star and suck them in. Gumball spun around, launching all three of them into the sky, the launch star turning back into a regular bright golden star and following them as well.
End of Chapter 11